A technician takes a sample from a toothbrush to measure how much of phthalates it contains during a demonstration at a laboratory in Berlin October 8, 2010. Phthalates are a range of chemicals regularly used to make plastics more flexible. In recent decades these colourless, odourless chemicals - there are about 25 common types - have permeated the very fabric of our society, right down to the shoes on our feet. They are in the air we breathe and the paint on our office walls, they soften the vinyl floors of kitchens and bathrooms, they put the flex in our shower curtains and electric cables. A report published last week by a consortium of 140 environment groups shows that these potentially risky chemicals are present in dozens of everyday plastic items for sale by European retailers -- from shoes to erasers, from pencil cases to sex toys.
Credit: Reuters/Thomas PeterBy Pete HarrisonBRUSSELS | Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:35am EDT
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Imagine a child sitting in his classroom, gazing through the window at the rain. He picks up his pencil and chews distractedly on the eraser at its top. Chemicals, classed in Europe as "toxic to reproduction," dissolve in his saliva and enter his body.
It's a scenario that may not be unusual. A report published last week by a consortium of 140 environment groups shows that potentially risky chemicals are present in dozens of everyday plastic items for sale by European retailers -- from shoes to erasers, from pencil cases to sex toys.
The study focused on a group of chemicals known as phthalates, six of which have been virtually banned in toys in the European Union since 1999 over fears they can damage the sexual development of children. But as the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) found in its study, phthalates are present in items routinely used by children and on sale in big supermarkets such as Carrefour and Tesco.
The study, based on a chemical analysis by PiCA, an independent chemical laboratory in Berlin, found one pink pencil case with levels three times those which the EU says should be the maximum in toys and "childcare articles." A phthalate that scientists suspect may be particularly harmful to humans was found in an eraser at a level close to that which would be banned in a toy.
Concerns about phthalates are not new, and retailers selling products containing them are not breaking the law, because the regulations do not cover objects such as pencil cases and erasers.
But the EEB study also found that retailers appear to be ignoring a legal obligation to provide information about the presence of phthalates to shoppers. Less than a quarter of retailers in its survey provided satisfactory answers to requests for information about chemicals in their products.
"All citizens ought to be given full information about properties of chemicals in the products they buy," said Christian Schaible, EEB Chemicals Policy Officer. "A parent, for instance, should automatically be informed whether a pencil case for their child contains phthalates which can impair sexual development.
"Unfortunately suppliers are only obliged to give information under specific conditions. We have shown that not even this legal right is guaranteed in practice."
Carrefour told Reuters that it does adequately address requests for information on risky chemicals and said it deals with such requests within 45 days. Tesco said it was aware of its duties and has its own code of practice in place to keep worrying chemicals out of clothes and shoes. "We have worked closely with our suppliers to identify these substances and have replaced them with suitable alternatives," it said in a statement.
LINK TO SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
Phthalates are a range of chemicals regularly used to make plastics more flexible. There are about 25 of them, and in recent decades they have permeated the very fabric of our society, right down to the shoes on our feet. They are in the air we breathe and the paint on our office walls, they soften the vinyl floors of kitchens and bathrooms, they put the flex in our shower curtains and electric cables.
In your car, phthalates coat the chassis against rust and soften the plastics of its doors, dashboard and the steering wheel in your hands.
They are in our food, some scientists think, after leaching out of the pipes and plastics used in food processing machinery. They are in our bodies.
The global chemicals industry produces nearly six million tonnes of phthalates every year. Some scientists, and an increasing number of governments, have begun to suspect that phthalates might be connected to a massive drop in male fertility globally over the past few decades -- in the developed world, repeated studies have shown sperm counts have decreased by about 50 percent in the past half century -- as well as to problems with the sexual development of boys in the womb.
The most volatile of the chemicals disperse easily from plastics and have been shown to interfere with the sexual development of fetal rats, by interrupting the production of testosterone. Some studies have suggested similar effects in humans.
It is ironic how we in the “developed” world are subject to such enforced ignorance by the lobbyists from the plastics industry. Every citizen, especially students, should be made aware of the phthalate controversy, as well as the results of the ongoing research (not to mention pesticide research, among other areas). To do otherwise is to deliberately mislead our youth and “dumb down” the population.
jajagabor Report As AbusiveSigh, the american public has no idea they are eating dangerous GMOs everday in there pop tarts and anything made from high fructose cornsyrup because almost the entire corn crops in the US is genetically modified. Nice right? As our government feels that GMOs are so safe but refuse to label them in our foods. Soy is also another GMO crop in the US. Your best bet for non GMO foods is to buy organic or from a farmers market. Our government in hand with the media have done thier best to keep GMOs secret in the US and continue to do so. More developed seems to go hand in hand with greed, just ask Monsanto.
ReneeC2010 Report As Abusive
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