Do you believe that chemicals in products sold to consumers have been proven safe?

[Guest guest]

http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/Myths/safetymyth.htm

 

Do you believe that chemicals in products sold to consumers have been proven

safe?

 

Think again.

 

Most chemicals in modern use have simply not been tested for their impacts on

human health, even very basic effects.

 

According to a report by the Environmental Working Group, Beauty Secrets:

 

" No pre-market safety testing or approval is required under any federal law for

chemicals in cosmetics, toys, clothing, carpets, or construction materials, to

name just a few obvious sources of chemical exposure in everyday life. This

little known fact is the premeditated result of an orchestrated campaign by the

chemical industry to avoid testing and regulation of their products. It largely

explains why products like hair spray, hair dye, pacifiers, stain repellants,

glues and children's toys get on the market, only to be found to contain highly

toxic compounds at unsafe levels after decades of widespread use. "

 

If tests have been carried out, they usually are far too simplistic to

anticipate many important health effects.

 

 

This graph shows the percentage of high production chemicals made in America

that have never been tested for different health effects. Most have not been

tested.

 

from Environmental Defense

 

 

 

 

For example, many cosmetics including nail polish, eye glitter and

anti-perspirants, contain phthalates, including types of phthalates that are

known reproductive toxicants.

 

A growing number of studies with animals have discovered that modest fetal

exposure to one or more of several phthalates causes reproductive birth defects

--including males with feminized reproductive systems-- but there are virtually

no epidemiological studies examining the impacts of exposure to phthalates on

the reproductive systems of people exposed in the womb.

 

Based on the animal studies, the safest prediction is that they will cause

problems for people, too. But industry claims that because there are no data

proving harm, there are no effects. What is really a proof of ignorance they

claim instead is proof of safety.

 

Industry's argument is superficially more plausible than that. They point to the

fact that some phthalates have been in use for decades. They argue that were

they not safe, we would have discovered their risks by now. But the reality is

that no study has ever looked at the effects of exposure in the womb to

phthalates on subsequent reproductive health during adulthood, or indeed many

other plausible health endpoints, exactly the sort of studies that would be

necessary to lay to rest concerns raised by the animal studies.

 

And heightening those concerns, the Centers for Disease Control has discovered

that women of child-bearing age are the most likely of Americans to have high

concentrations of phthalates in their bodies. Beauty Secrets, by the

Environmental Working Group, revealed that the source of these phthalates is

likely to be cosmetics. The CDC's study did not sample children, but many of

these products are intended for use by children.

 

For more information on the myth that the current approach to chemical testing

establishes their safety, visit The Chemical Industry Archives.

 

 

Gettingwell- / Vitamins, Herbs, Aminos, etc.

 

To , e-mail to: Gettingwell-

Or, go to our group site: Gettingwell

 

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now