UN HIGHLIGHTS CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY FOR TOXIC FOOD AND PRODUCTS

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."