HUFFINGTON
11.11.12
RICCARDO S. SAVI/FILMMAGIC
TOXIC DANGERS
other vulnerable populations.”
Other countries have begun to
follow the EU’s lead, including
Taiwan, China and Australia.
Of course, even with REACH, the
EU needs to be able to adapt to new
challenges and new science to better protect public health, admitted
Malm. European authorities are
involved in an ongoing discussion
about how to take into account the
effects of exposures to chemical
combinations, he said, as well as
cumulative low-dose exposures.
Scientists are finding more and
more hints that standard risk assessments, which typically test
chemicals one-by-one and rely on
the old adage, “the dose makes
the poison,” may fall short of pro-
tecting the public. Exposures to
multiple chemicals may magnify
the dangers. Lead and tobacco,
for example, can interact to cause
more harm together than each
alone. Meanwhile, tiny doses of
synthetic chemicals appear able to
trick the body’s natural hormones.
“We are learning a great deal
about how chemicals can affect
our health in different ways,”
said Denison.
NYU’s Trasande, for example,
published a study in September
that found a significant association
between levels of BPA in kids’ urine
and obesity, after accounting for
other factors such as caloric intake
and television watching. BPA is currently banned by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration from sippy
cups and baby bottles but continues to be used in everything from
Jessica
Alba, left, on
Capitol Hill
to discuss
the Safe
Chemicals
Act.