Waste To Toxic Chemicals IndustryBelow From Australian ABC TV
Dirty Little Secrets
4 May 2006
Fine particle pollution is estimated to kill nearly a million people each year.
The toxic particles are so incredibly small they can slip straight through lung walls into our bloodstream.
The ELPI’s readout shows that even when ultrafine numbers are high, their mass is practically zero. They would have gone undetected by the less sophisticated weighing machines used by our governments.
So small, are they beyond the reach of government agencies charged with protecting public health?
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1630007.htm
25:00mins | windows media . real player
2 comments:
Recent evidence has shown alarming evidence of body
burdens of chemical contamination in the general population and more
worryingly shows that newborns are being born with their bodies already
polluted.
http://www.ecomed.org.uk/content/IncineratorHPAResponse.pdf
This again shows how present regulations are failing to protect the
public from toxic exposure.
The BSEM report also highlights important new
evidence that pollutants can cause genetic changes that can be passed on
through subsequent generations – the implications of this research are as yet
unknown but demonstrate how little we understand about the dangers of toxic
chemicals and just how serious they can be. All these facts should serve as a
red flag to us all.
It is disappointing that the UK Health Protection Agency have not grasped
these points but this is not surprising as regulators and government bodies
have rarely been correct about the risks from chemical pollution in the past
and have usually only acted after considerable harm has been done.
http://chemicalreaction.org/
Unfortunately, the legislation contains major loopholes. Concessions granted to the big chemicals industry may allow companies which import and manufacture chemicals in volumes below 10 tonnes per year - 60% of chemicals covered by REACH - from the requirement to provide any meaningful safety data.
Moreover, REACH will still allow many chemicals that can cause serious health problems, including cancer, birth defects and reproductive illnesses, to continue being used in manufacturing and consumer goods. Even if safer alternatives to those dangerous substances are available, many of these chemicals of very high concern will be allowed onto the market if producers claim that they can ‘adequately control’ them. The approach of adequate control – and safe thresholds - is flawed and premised on a risky gamble, given the unknown effects of chemicals in combination, on vulnerable hormone functions, and on the development of children from the earliest stages of life. Medical associations, consumer groups and innovative businesses across Europe had called for a legal requirement to substitute them with safer alternatives as the minimum necessary measure against hazardous chemicals.
The loopholes and provisions for self-regulation contained in the law leave REACH very vulnerable to further manipulation by the chemical industry.
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