06/05/2005 – Most people
have no idea that their bodies are contaminated
with synthetic chemicals found in everyday
products - nonstick pans, fire-resistant textiles,
furniture, tin can linings, toys, cleaning
products and even computers. There is a good
chance that a cocktail of toxic chemicals
is flowing through your bloodstream at this
very moment and will continue to accumulate
over your lifetime.
During their manufacture and use, chemicals
are readily released into the environment,
traveling vast distances by air or water to
be absorbed by humans and wildlife alike through
the skin or ingested in food and water.
The Inuit people of the Arctic, who live
thousands of kilometers from most sources
of pollution, are some of the most chemically
contaminated people on Earth as a result of
wind and sea currents that dump chemicals
from Europe and North America. Even polar
bears have been reported to have very high
chemical levels in their systems, such as
polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and organo-chlorine
pesticides, including DDT.
But you don't have to go to the North Pole
to witness chemicals accumulating at a rapid
pace. The global conservation organization
WWF (formerly known as the World Wildlife
Fund) has tested hundreds of citizens across
Europe - including the environment ministers
of Britain, Sweden and Spain, as well as Italian
Parliament members, Polish celebrities, and
British mothers - to highlight the possible
threats to our health from toxic chemicals
present in our bodies.
There is unequivocal evidence that a number
of widely distributed chemicals can alter
sexual and neurological development, impair
reproduction, and undermine immune systems.
There are easy ways to reduce the number
of chemicals we are exposed to, such as avoiding
the purchase of synthetic carpets, artificial
air fresheners, tinned food products, heavily
scented cleaning products such as dishwashing
liquids, floor cleaners and washing powders,
and polycarbonate-plastic baby feeding bottles.
But the bigger question we should be asking
is, where is the information that would enable
us to make our own decisions about exposure
to toxic chemicals?
When given the choice, most people would
not consent to artificial substances entering
their bodies. But as consumers we have little
choice about being exposed to computers, furniture
and other products that contain potentially
harmful chemicals.
Many companies know more than they are revealing
about the potential effects of their products.
That information should be made public. Just
as tobacco manufacturers have been made to
advertise health hazards associated with smoking
on cigarette packets in many countries, chemical
manufacturers and retailers should do the
same for their chemicals and the products
they produce.
Protecting human health and the health of
the environment would not only benefit the
industry, open new markets for safer products
and ensure easier introduction of new chemicals
onto the market, but, most important, it could
improve public trust.
Delegates from 130 countries have gathered
in Uruguay this week for the first conference
of the parties of the Stockholm Convention
on Persistent Organic Pollutants. As they
discuss the identification and phasing out
of the world's most hazardous pesticides and
industrial chemicals, they should think about
ways to strengthen regional and international
law to reduce or eliminate the chemicals that
pose the most serious health threats to humans
and wildlife.
Perhaps if everyone at the international
conference were tested for chemicals in their
own bodies, the surprising results would move
them to act with urgency.
* Clifton Curtis is Director of WWF International's
Global Toxics Programme.
Reprinted from the International Herald Tribune,
6 May 2005.
