Chemical investigations

House Dust

Greenpeace teams armed with vacuum cleaners sampled house dust from homes and offices across Europe, and had it analysed for hazardous chemicals. The results, from 13 countries (Netherlands, France, UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Slovakia, Austria, Poland and Czech Republic), showed substantial quantities of the kinds of hazardous chemicals contained in everyday household products like textiles, televisions, cosmetics and toys. The findings suggest that we are exposed in our homes and offices to a daily cocktail of chemicals suspected of causing harm to human health.

Rainwater

To most people, rain is the pure refreshing act of nature that washes away the dirt and refreshes the landscape. But along with the rain come some nasty chemicals. Recent research on rainwater in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany revealed that rainwater is polluted with a range of toxic chemicals. This pollution is particularly worrying because the chemicals identified include known and suspected hormone disrupters. This means they act like the hormones that we and other animals naturally have in our bodies. They can disrupt the correct functioning of the body and harm reproduction and development. While most of our exposure to these chemicals is likely to come from other sources (food, contaminated indoor air and dust or from products themselves), their presence in rainwater is an illustration of their widespread distribution through the environment and represents a further source of contamination.

Umbilical Cord Blood

The umbilical cord is more than a prenatal lifeline: it's also the unborn child's link to the toxic burden of our planet. Analysis of maternal and umbilical cord blood provided by volunteers in the Netherlands, published in a report entitled 'A Present for Life', reveals that known or suspected hazardous substances, present in everyday household products, are entering babies' bodies through the umbilical cord. The chemicals include some that are known to affect physical and mental development in animals.

The report, commissioned jointly by Greenpeace International, Greenpeace Netherlands and WWF-UK, investigated the presence of hazardous chemicals in maternal and cord blood samples. The results clearly show the presence of these chemicals in the blood serum samples from both mother and child.

Professor Pieter Sauer, Professor of Pediatrics from University Hospital Groningen, is concerned about the findings: "Our children are being exposed to polluting chemicals, though we have hardly any information on the long-term effects."

Particularly worrying are the hormone-disrupting chemicals, which may cause most damage during the vulnerable stages of development that is during periods of rapid cell division, such as in early life and particularly when in the womb. A small disturbance in early development can have serious and irreversible consequences for later life.

Consumer Products

We have investigated the levels of hazardous substances in electronic equipment, textiles, toys, cosmetics, cleaning products, sport shoes, mattresses, food packaging and flooring. In a project focusing on children's textiles we found six types of hazardous substances in 21 samples of Disney clothes purchased around the world, some at very high levels. Our tests on perfumes didn't smell that sweet either; none of the 36 perfumes tested was free of the two groups of hazardous substances we looked for.

Engaging progressive companies

In order to demonstrate clearly that substitution is possible and already happening we organised the "Substitute with Style" catwalk. Such an event showed the steps taken by major consumer brands to stop using hazardous chemicals in a wide range of products, including clothing, cosmetics and electronic goods. The show highlighted how progressive and innovative companies can remove hazardous chemicals, such as brominated flame retardants and PVC among the others, from their products and substitute them with available safer alternatives.

Unfortunately many industrial sectors are making no such efforts to stop using toxic chemicals. The purpose of the catwalk was, therefore, to send out a clear signal to EU decision-makers, for them to understand that it is only by setting a strong legal requirement to substitute hazardous chemicals that human health and the environment can be protected effectively, through triggering eco-innovation and further research into safer substances.

Freshwater and Threatened Species

It is not just us - humans - paying the price of chemical pollution. Our investigations have revealed that the European eel is contaminated with toxic chemicals, including brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Adding insult to injury, the eel is already vanishing from lakes and rivers across Europe, and some of these toxic chemicals look as if they might last longer than the species itself.

Is this contamination a problem for eels? No one knows for sure but the evidence is mounting that BFRs and other toxics have the potential to damage development and hormone systems in humans and wildlife. Certainly for an eel already under pressure, it's an extra dose of bad news. Some scientists are concerned that these toxins could harm the eel's ability reproduce or its young to survive. With populations in some European waters are estimated to be as low as 1 percent of historic levels, the eel clearly doesn't need a toxic insult to add to its injuries.

Help us to ensure that REACH protects us from hazardous chemicals. Act now!