The facts on everyday poisons
Clifton Curtis International Herald Tribune
FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2005
GLAND, Switzerland Most people have no idea that their bodies are
contaminated with synthetic chemicals found in everyday products - nonstick
pans, fire-resistant textiles, furniture, tin can linings, toys, cleaning
products and even computers. There is a good chance that a cocktail of toxic
chemicals is flowing through your bloodstream at this very moment and will
continue to accumulate over your lifetime.
During their manufacture and use, chemicals are readily released into the
environment, traveling vast distances by air or water to be absorbed by humans
and wildlife alike through the skin or ingested in food and water.
The Inuit people of the Arctic, who live thousands of kilometers from
most sources of pollution, are some of the most chemically contaminated people
on Earth as a result of wind and sea currents that dump chemicals from Europe
and North America. Even polar bears have been reported to have very high
chemical levels in their systems, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins
and organo-chlorine pesticides, including DDT.
But you don't have to go to the North Pole to witness chemicals
accumulating at a rapid pace. The global conservation organization WWF
(formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund) has tested hundreds of citizens
across Europe - including the environment ministers of Britain, Sweden and
Spain, as well as Italian Parliament members, Polish celebrities, and British
mothers - to highlight the possible threats to our health from toxic chemicals
present in our bodies.
There is unequivocal evidence that a number of widely distributed
chemicals can alter sexual and neurological development, impair reproduction,
and undermine immune systems.
There are easy ways to reduce the number of chemicals we are exposed to,
such as avoiding the purchase of synthetic carpets, artificial air fresheners,
tinned food products, heavily scented cleaning products such as dishwashing
liquids, floor cleaners and washing powders, and polycarbonate-plastic baby
feeding bottles.
But the bigger question we should be asking is, where is the information
that would enable us to make our own decisions about exposure to toxic
chemicals?
When given the choice, most people would not consent to artificial
substances entering their bodies. But as consumers we have little choice about
being exposed to computers, furniture and other products that contain
potentially harmful chemicals.
Many companies know more than they are revealing about the potential
effects of their products. That information should be made public. Just as
tobacco manufacturers have been made to advertise health hazards associated
with smoking on cigarette packets in many countries, chemical manufacturers and
retailers should do the same for their chemicals and the products they produce.
Protecting human health and the health of the environment would not only
benefit the industry, open new markets for safer products and ensure easier
introduction of new chemicals onto the market, but, most important, it could
improve public trust.
Delegates from 130 countries have gathered in Uruguay this week for the
first conference of the parties of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent
Organic Pollutants. As they discuss the identification and phasing out of the
world's most hazardous pesticides and industrial chemicals, they should think
about ways to strengthen regional and international law to reduce or eliminate
the chemicals that pose the most serious health threats to humans and wildlife.
Perhaps if everyone at the international conference were tested for
chemicals in their own bodies, the surprising results would move them to act
with urgency.
(Clifton Curtis is director of the global toxics program at WWF, the
global conservation organization.)
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