The
New York Times article by Nicholas Kristof on 30 November, coinciding with
Paris climate conference creates more awareness of the dangers of domestic
pollution.
Citing
independent warnings of two major medical organizations it deals with dangers
of toxic chemicals in products surrounding us. Unregulated substances, they
say, are sometimes linked to breast and prostate cancer, genital deformities,
obesity, diabetes and infertility. “Widespread
exposure to toxic environmental chemicals threatens healthy human
reproduction,” the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (IFGO)
warned last month.
The
IFGO’s focus is on endocrine disrupters, chemicals that imitate sex hormones
and often confuse the body. These are found in pesticides, plastics, shampoos
and cosmetics, cash register receipts, food can linings, flame retardants and
countless other products.
“Emerging
evidence ties endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure to two of the biggest
public health threats — diabetes and obesity,” the Endocrine Society said in a
150-page “scientific statement.” It added that “mounting evidence” also ties
endocrine disrupters to infertility, prostate cancer, undescended testicles,
testicular cancer, breast cancer, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer and
neurological issues. Among adults these problems are apparently due to exposures
decades earlier in fetal stages.
Tracey
J. Woodruff of the University of California, San Francisco notes, “One myth
about chemicals is that the U.S. government makes sure they’re safe before they
go on the marketplace.” In fact, most are assumed to be safe unless proved
otherwise.
Of
the 80,000 or more chemicals in global commerce today, only a tiny share have
been rigorously screened for safety. Even when a substance is retired because
of health concerns, the replacement chemical may be just as bad.
Every
day our body contaminates itself with breakdown chemicals from its own
metabolism. Europe is moving toward testing chemicals before they go on the
market, but the United States is a laggard because of the power of the chemical
lobby.
For
now, experts say the best approach is for people to try to protect themselves.
Especially for women who are pregnant or may become pregnant, and for young
children, try to eat organic, reduce the use of plastics, touch cash register
receipts as little as possible, try to avoid flame-retardant couches and
consult the consumer guides at ewg.org.
Among
customers at Herbally Radiant, the harmful effects of chemical ingredients in
skin care products used by them are increasingly evident; at times their skin
allergies are directly attributable to exposure to harsh chemicals in their
cosmetics. Even the so-called vitamins claimed to be in the beauty products are
synthetic and may not support the claims of the companies. The ‘wonderful’
formulations touted by major manufacturers have more to do with their marketing
strategy. Customers need to read the labels and satisfy themselves with the
ingredients for taking care of their body or facial skin.
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