There is a significant difference between the way the United States and the European Union regulate the use of chemicals in consumer products.
In the European Union, many chemicals that are merely suspected by scientists to be dangerous have been banned from consumer products as diverse as electronics, children's toys and cosmetics. Legislation called REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) recently went into effect in the EU that will require chemical companies to provide data on how their chemicals affect human health and the environment.
The United States, on the other hand, takes a very different approach to chemical regulation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will only ban a chemical after governmental testing has exhaustively proven that chemical to be harmful.
Defenders of the EU's approach to preventative regulation say that it properly puts the burden on chemical producers to ensure the safety of their products that we use every day. Rigorous studies are required before new substances are released into the marketplace.
Opponents, however, argue that providing conclusive scientific research on every chemical is not feasible. With tens of thousands of chemicals in commercial use today, the sheer volume would grind the entire process to a halt. Also, with many chemicals, it is uncertain how many of the health effects seen in animal testing will actually occur in humans.
What do you think? Should the U.S. ban chemicals that are only suspected to be unsafe? Should testing be required for every chemical used in consumer products? Whose responsibility should it be to test those chemicals?
California actually has a brand new bill modeled after REACH, it was just signed into law this autumn by Governor Schwarzenegger. The big buzz in Sacramento is so-called "Green chemistry" (which sounds like and may well turn out to be an oxymoron). The California law does not go as far as the European law, however. It does not apply to pesticides, for example.
The irony of this is that US manufacturers often already comply to stricter EU laws -without going out of business -while continuing to use chemicals of questionable safety in products for the US market. An excellent book on this issue is Mark Schapiro's "Exposed".
In my view, the European approach is the sensible one. The demand for scientific certainty before a chemical can be pulled off the market has become a way to buy time for the chemical industry -at great cost to public and environmental health.
Just recently we have learned that the pesticide that was used in the aerial spraying for Light Brown Apple Moth last fall was indeed more harmful than claimed. This was a new product that had never been tested and yet thousands of people were directly exposed to it with hundreds reporting health effects!
We have to take a precautionary approach, and thanks to the EU we have the proof that this is possible and will not ruin the economy.
We also need to pay attention to everyday use personal care products. Most products sold in stores are made with chemicals which are banned in EU. Absorbing through skin has more harmful than injested by mouth. FDA has almost no regulations on these products so consumers are on their own to reserch and avoid them.
Dr. Samuel Epstein from Univ. of Illinois has been an internationally recognized authority on the causes and prevention of cancer, and has published some 270 scientific articles and 12 books, states in his book "Unreasonable Risk" "While numerous ingredients are listed on products labels, there is no warning whatsoever as to the cancer, hormonal and allergy risks from any ingredients."
Accumulation of toxins in our body will eventurelly cause health problems. Switch your daily personal care products to safe ones. That also means you are protecting environment by not polluting water with your house waste water.
Dr. Epstein also stated "Neways International is now one of the few global companies that will be in compliance with new European regulations" in his book.
The Center for Environmental Health in Oakland is offering free toy testing to the public this holiday season in Berkeley and Oakland locations. Go to www.ceh.org for complete listing. Our tests screen for the presence of lead and other harmful materials. We also test toys at our office, Monday-Thursday noon-6PM until December 23rd, Address: 2201 Broadway, suite 302, Oakland (510) 655-3900 or (510) 207-8643.
Please consider the phthalates in dental appliances (night guards, retainers) as a source for all people (young and old). They act as hormone disruptors and can cause estrogenic responses. (Or, it may be the BPA in the plastic -- that commonly marches alongside phthalates.)
Chemicals should be tested before use, and our current chemicals should also be tested; no grandfather clause. I got stage 2C prostate cancer at age 43, possibly from BisPhenol A in epoxy.
Most Soda has HFCS High Fructose Corn Syrup, which forms reactive carbonyls when carbonated, a chemical that causes diabetes and kidney damage http://www...081007.php
12/16/2008 4:55:49 PM
