Lax regulation of toxic chemicals turns us all into human guinea pigs.
By
There
are more than 1,000 chemicals known to be toxic to the brains of animals in lab
experiments. Yet we only know of 214 for humans, and just 12 for developing
fetuses and infants, a recent study revealed.
Why are
these numbers so far apart? Is it because lab animals’ brains are more feeble
and susceptible to chemicals than ours?
No. It’s
because we can conduct experiments by feeding mercury, lead, and arsenic to
rats to find out what happens to their brains. It’s unethical to do so in
humans.
Unfortunately,
that’s exactly what we’re doing — just not in a lab.
Typically,
most of us are exposed to low levels of a wide variety of the chemicals in our
lives — from paint, carpet, food, food containers, air, water, and more. If,
after 60 years, you get sick, it’s hard to say what caused it.
Sometimes
the harm can be much more subtle, like the loss of a few IQ points in a child
who was exposed to a chemical before birth.
The
exception is usually when a group of people is exposed day after day to high
doses of a chemical on the job. When they all become acutely ill, it’s obvious
there’s a problem. The cause is fairly easy to track down.
This
method works for adults — resulting in the discovery of 214 neurotoxicants in
humans — but not in developing fetuses and infants.
To find
the dozen chemicals that harm the youngest brains, scientists compare exposure
levels among a group of babies while still in the womb and then track their
growth in their early years. Only by comparing them to one another, scientists
can detect which chemicals cause problems.
For
example, one study tested pregnant mothers for levels of a pesticide,
chlorpyrifos, and then followed their children for many years. They linked
chlorpyrifos exposure to reduced head circumference at birth and
neurobehavioral problems that lasted at least seven years.
These
studies recognize that we’re all being used as human guinea pigs.
Back to
my first point: We know darn well that over 1,000 chemicals harm the brains of
animals — and animals’ bodies are not all that different from ours. About half
of the chemicals on this list are chemicals that are in our industrial
solvents, pesticides, flame retardants, and other common products.
What’s
our current approach? Just keep using them. Move along, everyone, until
scientists can prove beyond a doubt that a specific chemical made a specific
person sick.
Trying
to steer clear of dangerous chemicals can drive you crazy. Just try to discover
which products in your life contain chemicals that are toxic to you or your
kids, and how you can find non-toxic replacements for them. It’s hard not to
grow exasperated and give up.
And as a
society, we should theoretically have more control over the process of
identifying and banning toxic chemicals. But the federal law that regulates
them, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, has no teeth.
Corporations
don’t even have to test their products for toxicity before putting them on the
market. And the government has a very limited ability to prevent toxic
chemicals from being sold. Why?
Why do
we prioritize a corporation’s right to make money over the right of our
citizens to be healthy?
People,
particularly children and the unborn, shouldn’t be guinea pigs.
Corporations
should be required to prove their products’ safety before they are allowed to
sell them.
OtherWords columnist
Jill Richardson is the author of Recipe
for America: Why Our Food System Is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It.
OtherWords.org