A team of international scientists signed the “Madrid Statement,” their view on the potential health and environmental hazards of certain chemicals which are used in almost everything, from pizza boxes to outdoor clothing, from microwave popcorn bags to carpets and furniture.
They expressed their worries in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, which is published by the National Institutes of Health.In a separate study also released Friday, the Environmental Working Group also targets this chemicals.
The focus of this chemical aggression are substances known as PFCs — perfluorinated chemicals that make jackets waterproof, frying pans less sticky, and pizza boxes grease-proof,. The chief concern of the 200 researchers from 38 countries that have signed the journal’s “Madrid Statement,” is that exposure to these chemicals can be detrimental to our health and also bad for the environment.
Some of these chemicals have already come under fire, especially the one called C8. From 2005 to 2013, scientists carried out exposure and health research in the Mid-Ohio Valley, where communities had been affected by the release of C8 from a DuPont factory in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
They discovered is a probable connection to C8 exposure and diagnosed kidney and testicular cancer, high cholesterol, , thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, and pregnancy-induced hypertension. By the end of 2015, manufacturers from the United States will eliminate C8 from all products.
Since some of the newer alternatives may be less efficient, manufacturers will need to use larger quantities in order to achieve the kind of product performance consumers want, which could lead to other health problems and environmental issues.
“The concern really is that we are replacing old chemicals, with new chemicals that have similar structures. We don’t want to repeat history again here,” says Bill Walker, an EWG consultant and co-author.
But major industry companies aren’t believing into the equation and argue the Madrid Statement, for example, is not ” a true consideration of the available data,” according to DuPont spokeswoman Janet E. Smith, adding however that the newer types of chemicals are “better than the ones they replaced.”
“Regulators around the world have analyzed the data and approved these chemicals as being safe for their intended uses. And it’s important to know that all fluorinated chemicals are not the same” she mentioned, according to The FluoroCouncil, a global group which is representing the world’s most important FluoroTechnology companies.
Image Source: Pix Shark
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