08/09/2005 - Amsterdam,
The Netherlands/Brussels, Belgium/Gland, Switzerland
– Unborn children are being exposed in the
womb to potentially harmful man-made chemicals,
according to new research commissioned by
WWF and Greenpeace Netherlands.
Research into maternal and umbilical cord
blood, published today in a study entitled
A Present for Life, reveals that known or
suspected hazardous substances present in
everyday household products are entering babies’
bodies through their pre-natal lifeline: the
umbilical cord.
The chemicals include some which are known
to affect physical and mental development
in animals.
The report contains reactions to the findings
by two pediatricians and a toxicologist.
"Babies feeding through the umbilical
cord are exposed to toxic chemicals from products
like vinyl plastics, cleaning products, electronics
and perfumes," said Helen Perivier, Toxics
Campaigner for Greenpeace International.
"It is shocking that such chemicals
are in the human body at any stage of our
life, let alone at the very start, when the
child is most vulnerable. Governments need
to act and require industries to substitute
these contaminating chemicals with safer alternatives."
The chemicals in question are contained in
countless items ranging from food tins and
electrical goods to pesticides, deodorants,
and toothpastes.
They include artificial musks, used to add
scent to perfumes and perfumed products, and
perfluorinated compounds, used in water-repellent
coatings and to prepare non-stick surfaces
such as teflon.
Also found were flame-retardants suspected
of causing learning and behavioural problems
in animals, and the antibacterial agent triclosan,
which is classified under EU law as ‘very
toxic to aquatic organisms’.
About 50 per cent of the cord blood samples
tested for triclosan contained concentrations
of 0.5 to 5.0 ng/g (nanograms per gram) serum.
The sensitivity of a developing baby to low
level chemical exposure, either singly or
in complex mixtures, remains largely unknown.
"It is urgent that we end the loophole
that permits industry to continue using chemicals
of very high concern by claiming adequate
control of their use, even when safer alternatives
exist," said Karl Wagner, Director of
WWF’s DetoX Campaign.
"If these chemicals are ‘adequately
controlled’, as industry claims, how do they
end up in unborn babies?"
Proposed new EU legislation on chemicals,
REACH, gives Europe a crucial opportunity
to take the necessary action to protect humans
and the environment from the effects of harmful
chemicals and to make producers responsible
for the impacts of their products.
Greenpeace and WWF are calling on legislators
to put the interests of public health and
the environment first, by ensuring that the
worst chemicals are identified and phased
out, and by making it obligatory to substitute
toxic chemicals with safer alternatives.
NOTES:
1. Eight groups of synthetic chemicals were
tested in 42 maternal and 27 umbilical cord
blood samples taken from volunteers at University
Hospital Groningen (Netherlands).
2. Sony, H&M, Nokia, Ikea and other companies
have all made commitments to phase out their
use of hazardous chemicals in consumer goods.
