plastic contaminants

Many blogs ago, I shared my, well, hatred of the chemical industry and my anger at the huge number of chemicals out there which are untested even though we have reason to believe they are causing us and the rest of the planet much harm.

Women's eNews and Greenpeace provide us a follow-up to that story today - focused on reproductive health:

Greenpeace, the Netherlands-based environmental group, has surveyed 50 years of scientific studies indicating that tens of thousands of poorly-regulated chemicals used in household products may contribute to reproductive disorders in Europe, the Associated Press reported May 3. Timing its report to the European Union's debate over a new law that will regulate the chemical industry, Greenpeace warned that the European Parliament had watered down the proposed law in discussions. A decision on the law will be made by the end of 2007.

"Right now the burden is on the governments to do the research. This law would help shift the burden to industry," said Helen Perivier, who heads the Greenpeace campaign against toxic materials. Perivier also said that of the 70,000 to 100,000 human-made chemicals in use in Europe today, only 150 have been evaluated for health risks.

Chemicals believed to damage female hormones and alter their production are found in food wrappings, plastic goods and perfumes. Some can contaminate blood in the umbilical cord of a pregnant woman, and others, such as polycarbonate plastic--found in baby bottles and CDs--can decrease the amount of breast milk a woman produces. Insulation used in electronic devices can leak into household dust and has caused birth defects in rats in laboratory experiments.

See the full report at http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/fragile-our-reproductive-heal.pdf