04/05/2006 - Echoing
on the results of the UN report, the Environmental
website, Edie News says that “with chemical poisoning
responsible for the deaths of 47,000 people each
year, trans-national corporations should be held
accountable for human health damage caused by
toxic substances contained in food and other everyday
product.”
As the article highlights, the
production of chemicals for use in everything
from air fresheners to electrical appliances and
insecticides shot up from 1m tonnes in 1930 to
400m tonnes today, yet the safety standards in
the developing world did not follow suit: the
World Health Organisation estimates that 47,000
people die and millions fall ill each year due
to poisoning from toxic chemicals like pesticides.
In his latest annual report,
the article reads, "the UN Rapporteur pointed
to wide ranging scientific evidence of damage
to the nervous and immune systems from long-term
exposure to a cocktail of chemicals such as dioxins
and PCBs, even at low concentrations. He said
that the full effects of such exposure are still
unknown, and warned in particular of the risk
to children and unborn babies."
