Top doctors have issued a global call to arms to regulate toxic chemicals linked to a rise in childhood cancers and autism.
A group of scientists and doctors from 17 institutions in the United States and Europe called for a crackdown on more than 350,000 synthetic chemicals and microplastics found in everything from clothing to cosmetics to food packaging.
Researchers said these chemicals have increased 50-fold worldwide since 1950 and are expected to triple by 2050.
However, fewer than one in five substances are tested for toxicity, the Consortium for Children’s Environmental Health team wrote in a medical journal.
At the same time, an alarming trend has been the increase in childhood cancers by 35 percent in the last half century, even though cancers in older people have decreased.
And autism rates have tripled in the last decade.
The team also suggests that synthetic chemicals and microplastics could be responsible for sharp increases in other childhood diseases such as asthma and obesity.
The researchers also called for greater regulations on these chemicals and said manufacturers should be required to monitor their products similarly to prescription drugs for long-term health problems.
Toxic chemicals have contaminated the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink and have been found in virtually every major human organ, including the brain, where they cause generalized inflammation.
A group of independent scientists called for greater regulations around toxic chemicals that have been linked to childhood cancer.
The chart above from the Environmental Working Group shows a gradual increase in childhood cancers over the past few decades.
Toxic chemicals such as BPA and PFAS, also called permanent chemicals, have also been shown to disrupt the production of sex hormones such as estrogen and testosterone, causing reproductive problems, which may be contributing to the fertility crisis. of the West.
The authors wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine: ‘Protecting children from the dangers of chemicals will require a fundamental reform of current legislation and a restructuring of the chemical industry to prioritize children’s health.
‘Under the new laws, chemicals should not be presumed to be harmless until they are proven to harm health.
“Instead, chemicals and chemical-based products should be allowed to enter and remain in markets only if their manufacturers can establish through rigorous, independent pre-market testing that they are non-toxic at levels planned exposure”.
Researchers said toxic chemicals have been shown to cross the placenta, an organ that forms during pregnancy to provide nutrients and oxygen to the fetus.
They also noted that children are more vulnerable to lasting damage from synthetic toxins because their organs are not fully developed, leaving them less able to filter out toxins.
Younger children are also more likely to put toys and other objects with synthetic plastic in their mouths, increasing exposure.
Microplastics have also been found in breast milk, increasing the chances of them being transmitted to the child.
One study of children born in Sweden Between 1960 and 2015, they found that children whose mothers were exposed to the heavy metal arsenic were 38 percent more likely to develop childhood cancers such as lymphoma.
Furthermore, a study published in the Magazine of the National Cancer Institute found that mothers exposed to PFAS during pregnancy increased the risk of their children developing leukemia.
PFAS are microscopic substances that take thousands of years to break down in the environment or the human body, earning them the name “forever chemicals.”
Its main purpose is to repel water and oil, which makes nonstick cookware easier to clean and the reason certain jackets and tents can withstand rain.
Chemicals can leach into the water supply when washing dishes and can get into food if the packaging is made to be grease-resistant or if the nonstick coating on pots and pans begins to deteriorate.
The team called for several measures to reduce children’s exposure to environmental toxins.
They suggested new laws requiring safety and toxicity testing of chemicals before allowing them to enter markets.
The team also asked for a mandatory chemical fingerprint. Similar to carbon footprinting, this involves measuring the amount of chemicals produced by an individual or organization to help reduce exposure.
Dr Philip Landrigan, lead author of the study and an epidemiologist at Boston College, said: “Pollution from plastics and synthetic chemicals is one of the great planetary challenges of our time.
‘It’s getting worse quickly. Continued unchecked increases in the production of fossil carbon-based chemicals endanger the world’s children and threaten humanity’s ability to reproduce.’
The United States is also behind countries in Europe when it comes to regulating these chemicals.
Europe, for example, has strict regulations against chemicals called phthalates, which are used in food packaging and cosmetic products.
At least nine commercially used phthalates are still authorized in cosmetic products in the United States, compared to just one in Europe.
Although Europe also regulates the levels of heavy metals like lead in baby foods, the FDA also has no legally binding limits on this.