If you can't pronounce them, they're probably bad for your health

We breathe and live with them. They’re at home and in the workplace, lurking in every corner. These hazardous chemicals are found in industrial products/household cleaners/disinfectants/antibacterial sprays that promise to protect us from bacteria but can actually pose a threat to our health.

Especially vulnerable are the young children because they are still developing their basic body systems — brain, internal organs, respiratory and immune systems, says Dr. Gideon Koren, pediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. For example, it was found that the babies of women exposed to chemical solvents were born with vision problems. Vision is a function of the brain — the chemicals find themselves through the mother through the umbilical cord into the baby and into the developing brain.

One antibacterial spray was found to contain denatured ethanol which may cause irritation of the eyes and affect the central nervous system if inhaled or ingested. One glass cleaner was found to contain silicone, butane gas, and propane while most others contain glycol ethers that affect the reproductive system.

Beware of chemicals that you can’t even pronounce, says Dr. Virginia Salares, indoor air quality expert. She adds that just because they’re in the shelves of supermarkets doesn’t mean they’re safe.

Household cleaners fall under the Hazardous Products Act that dates back to the mid 1960s. It requires that product labels provide hazard symbols like “poison” or “flammable.” The label should also carry information on first-aid treatments. But there’s no requirement to list other chemicals that cause long-term health problems or warnings like “may cause respiratory problems.”

The spate of cases linking hazardous chemicals in products to serious health and environmental problems has prompted a green coalition into stepping up its work on chemical safety issues.

“We are deeply alarmed by the unhindered use of hazardous chemicals in products that we find on the market today, many of which are reproductive and developmental toxins, carcinogenic, and toxic to the brain,” says Manny Calonzo, president of the EcoWaste Coalition. “Consumers need to be adequately informed and protected against health and environmental toxicants in production processes, products, and disposal practices that are harmful to humans, wildlife, environment, and the climate.”

With the public health and safety in mind, the EcoWaste Coalition, an active network of some 75 public interest groups, recently launched a project called “Chem Safe,” short for Enhancing Consumer Knowledge and Action towards Chemical Safety. The project seeks to empower consumers to make informed decisions that will protect them from the adverse effects of toxic chemicals, and to strengthen the capacity of the civil society to address chemical safety issues and concerns using the Strategic Approach on International Chemicals Management (SAICM) Global Plan of Action as reference.

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC), the largest and most influential   environmental organization in Sweden, is supporting the project under its small grant program on toxic chemicals.“We are impressed by EcoWaste’s work. By starting this global collaboration on toxic chemicals, we will strengthen civil society to the benefit of public health and the environment, in the Philippines and elsewhere,” said Mikael Karlsson, president of SSNC.

According to EcoWaste, the presence of hazardous chemicals in food, water, child care articles, toys, school supplies, household items, cosmetics, computers, and other products presents factual risks and hazards that consumers must know and be really concerned about.

The group noted that Republic Act 7394 or the Consumer Protection Act of 1992 has failed to protect consumers from the onslaught of goods containing hazardous chemicals that can afflict humans and animals alike with toxic body burdens, while polluting the environment.

In launching ChemSafe, the EcoWaste Coalition hopes to make available to the general public accurate and intelligible information on injurious industrial chemicals such as those that are known to be persistent (or remaining in human bodies and the environment for long periods of time), bioaccumulative (building up in animal and human tissue), and toxic (causing serious harm to the health and life of living organisms). Aside from disseminating fact sheets, posters, and other information materials, the EcoWaste Coalition will carry out popular education activities to explain the risks and hazards of priority chemicals and draw support for the application of precaution, prevention, and substitution to prevent exposure to toxic harm. 

 A national workshop is also being considered on the topic “Chemical Safety: Protecting the Filipino Consumers from Toxic Harm.” Some of the chemicals in the EcoWaste Coalition’s priority list are arsenic, lead, chromium, mercury, and other heavy metals, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls and other persistent organic pollutants, and phthalates. “Through ChemSafe, we hope to add value to the shared responsibility and work of empowering the Filipino consumers, especially the most vulnerable groups, with  essential information to make sound choices and actions towards chemical safety and environmental health,” says the EcoWaste Coalition.

The children, elderly, pregnant women, farmers, workers, waste pickers, and other informal recyclers are widely recognized as most susceptible to the adverse effects of exposure to toxic chemicals.

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