“The chemical lobby spent the equivalent of $121,000 per member of Congress last year, so expect chemical companies to enjoy strong quarterly profits, more boys to be born with hypospadias and more women to die unnecessarily of breast cancer.”
– Nicholas Kristoff
In an article in the New York Times called “Contaminating Our Bodies with Everyday Products,” Nicholas Kristof highlights the ever growing similarities between Big Tobacco’s history and the current chemical industry’s strategy to stifle new chemical regulation in the US. In both instances, large companies spend tons of money to push down scientific evidence, delay new regulation, and manufacture doubt. In both instances, citizens bear the burden of harm in the form of health problems and chronic diseases.
The current fight is over thousands of chemicals found in pesticides, plastics, furniture treated with flame retardants, personal care products and cosmetics, receipts, food packaging and cans, and much more. Many of these are endocrine disruptors, chemicals that mimic and disrupt the normal functioning of hormones in the body. Exposure to endocrine disruptors has been linked to infertility, neurological issues, reproductive issues, and many cancers including breast, ovarian, uterine, testicular and prostate.
There is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel: medical associations including the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and World Health Organization have issued statements about the dangers of endocrine disruptors on human health. Hopefully if citizens along with environmental, health and consumer organizations and institutions continue to demand it, Congress will be able to agree on a meaningful update to our outdated and ineffective chemical safety legislation.