TOXIC
DANGERS
plastic water bottles to the lining of
aluminum cans.
The obesity epidemic, said
Trasande, may not be fully explained by a lack of exercise or
overeating — although drinking
cans of soda could pose the double
threat of hormone-altering BPA
and extra calories. And obesity’s
societal price tag is one of many
potentially costly consequences of
chemicals not included in the $76.6
billion he associated with common
childhood conditions in 2008.
Unfortunately, as Andy Igrejas,
national campaign director for
the nonprofit Safer Chemicals,
Healthy Families, noted, current
U.S. regulatory rules are handicapped from responding to any of
this new science.
“TSCA never even responded to
the old science,” he said.
The Safe Chemical Act would
not only give the EPA the legal authority to require testing to identify and restrict toxic chemicals —
both those on the grandfathered
list and those coming through the
pipeline for the first time — but it
would also compel the agency to
update their scientific methodologies to ensure those assessments
consider the same subtle health
effects that scientists are now see-
HUFFINGTON
11.11.12
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‘Made in America’ could no
longer be a selling point but
rather a WARNING LABEL.
ing, explained Igrejas.
As other countries move forward with their own stricter
chemical policies, Igrejas pointed
to another economic consequence
that might be worth considering:
“Made in America” could no longer be a selling point but rather a
warning label.
Brown’s parents, since seeing their son’s film, have begun
changing their own buying habits.
They now choose organic products
whenever possible. Yet, they too,
have found a revised shopping list
isn’t always sufficient.
His mom recently came home
from a salon with a bottle of shampoo labelled “organic”. Brown recalled reading the names of several
synthetic chemicals on the back
label, just as he once did when
narrowing the cause of Brayden’s
eczema down to a baby shampoo.
“People want to do the right thing,”
he said, “but turns out it’s
still just as wrong.”