Check out this video from CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the problem with how we manage chemicals in our country. The policy of chemicals being innocent until proven guilty, as he puts it, is harming our kids.
And this important article from Nicholas Kristof about how toxic chemicals in our products, land, air, water and homes may be causing autism and other developmental delays and behavior problems. Here's a striking quote from the article:
"Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, professor of pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and chairman of the school’s department of preventive medicine. While his article is full of cautionary language, Dr. Landrigan told me that he is increasingly confident that autism and other ailments are, in part, the result of the impact of environmental chemicals on the brain as it is being formed."
Kristof comments on the increasing rates of cancer and autism-- and the science now linking these diseases with chemicals. Thankfully, Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey is drafting legislation that would strengthen the Toxic Substances Control Act, despite his own recent cancer diagnosis.
We need to support him in this critical work to protect our most vulnerable-- our children from unecessary chemical exposures. I'm glad to hear these two mainstream media commentators taking on the need for massive TSCA reform to happen as soon as possible.
1 comments:
I think one of the most important things chemical reform can do to protect us is to include nonanimal methods of testing into the language of the bill.
Currently, many toxicity tests are based on experiments in animals and use methods that were developed as long ago as the 1930’s; they and are slow, inaccurate, open to uncertainty and manipulation, and do not adequately protect human health. These tests take anywhere from months to years, and tens of thousands to millions of dollars to perform. More importantly, the current testing paradigm has a poor record in predicting effects in humans and an even poorer record in leading to actual regulation of dangerous chemicals.
Alternatives to animal testing exist in a powerful way and many scientists advocate them. If we want to see true changes in our health we must reform the ways we conduct science.
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