CHEMICALS
Chemicals in food, the home, the workplace, and the environment have become a hallmark of modern civilization and are a major cause of the modern health and environmental crises. According to U.S. government estimates, 87,000 chemicals are used as industrial wastes, solvents, cleansers, pesticides, food additives, plastics, cosmetics, nutritional supplements, and petroleum byproducts. An estimated 15 percent of Americans suffer from chemical sensitivity, though their sensitivity is often labeled as psychosomatic. See Attention-Deficit Disorder, Environment, Fluoridation, Infectious Diseases, Pesticides, Sewage Sludge, Water.
• Reproductive and Genetic Effects of Chemicals - Chemicals used in industry and agriculture may be responsible for the epidemic of reproductive problems since 1940. Tens of thousands of chemicals have been introduced in the last half century, many of which remain in the environment for generations. Even small amounts can lead to the accumulation of considerable quantities of toxins in human and animal tissues. This can seriously imperil health, reproduction, and fetal development.
Source: “Male Reproductive Health and Environmental Oestrogens,” Lancet 345(8955):933-35, 1995.
• European Report Faults Hormone Disrupters - The European Environmental Agency has confirmed evidence that many synthetic chemicals in the environment “may be threatening normal hormone function in both humans and and wildlife.” The synthetic chemicals can masquerade as hormones and disrupt the delicate cycles in living organisms. For example, snails, mussels, and other molluscs have turned from female to male as a result of exposure to hormone disruptors. Fish, including the Great Lake salmon, have developed both male and female sex organs. Testicular, breast, and prostate cancers in humans have risen dramatically in recent years and may be associated with exposure to chemicals, including laundry detergents, cosmetics, plastics, and soaps. The report upheld Principle 15 of the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, known as the precautionary principle, which states that “where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.”
Source: Jennifer Kalnins, “European Report Recognizes Hormone Disruptions,” Alternatives Journal 24(1):4, 1998.
• EPA to Test Thousands of Chemicals for Cancerous and Mutagenic Effects - In 1998, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a massive project to screen thousands of common chemicals, including pesticides, plastics, and cosmetics, for possible carcinogenic and mutagenic effects. The initial test will examine 15,000 chemicals for estrogen and other endocrine-like effects. Known as endocrine disrupters, certain substances in chemicals can mimic or interfere with hormones, causing problems with development, behavior, and reproduction. These have been associated with causing birth defects, low sperm counts, breast cancer, mental impairment, and other disorders. After initial screening, suspects chemicals would be subjected to comprehensive testing on laboratory mammals, birds, amphibians, fish and shrimp.
Source: John H. Cushman, Jr., “EPA to Hunt Dangers in Everyday Products,” New York Times, August 28, 1998.
• Toxic Deception - In a study of the chemical industry, two researchers document how the chemical industry manipulates science, bends the law, and endangers public health. The book also summarizes many studies detailing the abuse of pesticides, toxins, and carcinogens in the food supply, environment, and workplace.
Source: Dan Fagin and Marianne Lavelle, Toxic Deception (Birch Lane Press, 1997.
• Our Stolen Future - Three researchers examine the worldwide threat of PCBs, DDT, and other toxins to the ecosystem, the food supply, and human beings and the threat they pose to fertility, intelligence, and survival.
Source: Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers, Our Stolen Future (New York: Dutton, 1996).
• Toxic Chemicals in the Deep Ocean - Toxic industrial chemicals have shown up in the tissues of whales that normally feed in the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean, raising concern about the safety of the ocean’s food chain. Dutch researchers reported that the chemicals, polybrominated compounds that are used as flame retardants in children’s clothing, TV casings, and other products, behave like PCBs and DDT. The chemicals enter the atmosphere and river and sea water as a result of incomplete municipal incineration and eventually find their way into animal and human tissue. The findings are particularly troubling because the whales normally feed at a depth of between 1000 and 3600 feet and hunt in northern waters that are believed to be clean.
Source: Marlise Simons, “Whale Tissue Raises Worry on Toxic Chemicals,” New York Times, August 30, 1998.