Maybe you live in a nice house, with a sparkling bathroom, comfy carpet, air that smells of alpine meadows and lovely polished surfaces? Well next time you buy polish, shampoo, detergent, toys for your kids or a new television you could also be bringing some nasty chemicals into your home. Do you want to remain an unwitting chemical consumer?
Unborn babies are exposed in the womb to toxic chemicals.
Synthetic chemicals arrived in our lives on a large scale over
50 years ago on a tide of unbridled optimism. However it soon
became apparent that some, such as DDT and PCBs had disastrous
effects on the environment. Only now are the worst 12 of these
chemicals being outlawed worldwide. But what about the thousands of
other synthetic chemicals currently used and marketed in Europe
alone?
Irreversible Harm?
The worrying reality is that no-one really knows what effects
these chemicals have on humans. Governments are permitting their
use without adequate information on their effects on health and the
environment:
The European Environment Agency noted in 1998, "Manufactured
chemicals are widespread in the air, soil, water sediments and
biota of Europe's environment following the marketing of up to 100
000 chemicals in the EU, their use and disposal and degradation.
There is a serious lack of monitoring and information on these
chemicals...widespread exposures to low doses of chemicals may be
causing harm, possibly irreversibly, particularly to sensitive
groups such as children and pregnant women..."
The European Commission estimates that 30,000 chemicals are
currently marketed in Europe in quantities over one tonne. Many of
these chemicals have been shown to build up in our bodies and
scientists have little knowledge about the possible dangers to our
health. We do know that these chemicals can interfere with
reproductive and immune systems, imitate hormones and cause cancer
in a variety of living organisms.
Consumer Products
New research has shown that our homes are contaminated with many
types of hazardous chemicals. Many of these pollutants come not
from traffic fumes, industrial chimneys or pesticides. They are
brought into our homes as unseen and unlabeled chemical additives
in everyday consumer products. Industry downplays the risks of
these chemicals and manufacturers claim that the chemicals remained
fixed in the products and that consumers are not exposed. But these
chemicals were present in the house dust of almost every single
house of the 100 we tested in the UK and in homes in France, Spain,
Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
Experimental subjects - No thanks!
It is unacceptable for a child to be born already contaminated
by industrial pollutants. The chemical industry and product
manufactures are subjecting us to involuntary exposure to
industrial chemicals, many of which have unknown characteristics.
Studies show over a hundred synthetic chemicals have been found to
contaminate people's bodies.
Current chemical laws that should protect us from the
profit-driven experiments of the chemical industry are weak and
ineffectual. The EU is currently drafting new chemicals legislation
which could be the first to really protect Europeans from these
unseen and unlabeled hazards in the home. You can help by telling the EU you want
them to bring these chemicals under control.
The Way Forward
We must take the first steps to end this dangerous experiment.
The chemical industry, with support from the US administration, is
lobbying hard to protect irresponsible companies rather than our
health. New laws must mandate that hazardous chemicals not be
approved where safer alternatives exist. This would help ensure
that products in our homes do not contain hidden poisons. If the EU
acts now and implements strong laws, other areas of the world will
follow. If not, a dangerous global experiment on you and me will
remain unchecked.
Act:
You can help by telling the EU you want
them to bring these chemicals under control.
Send
an ecard to your friends.
More:
Download the full report
Consuming Chemicals - Hazardous chemicals in house dust as an
indicator of chemical exposure in the home. (pdf file 321Kb)
Find out
more about these chemicals and attempts to control them.
Take our virtual house
tour to find out where toxic chemicals may be lurking in house
and in
your kitchen and what the alternatives are.