How Safe Are The Products We Use?

A BBC News article, "Office printers 'are health risk'", published July 31st, reported that an investigation of a range of printer models. The study showed that almost a third of them emitted potentially dangerous levels of toner into the air which can cause a range of health problems, including respiratory irritation and other chronic illnesses. The article states that a team of Australian scientists has found that the "humble office laser printer can damage lungs in much the same way as smoke particles from cigarettes".

As illustrated in a previous post, "Becoming More Aware of Toxins In Our Environment", it would benefit us all to be more aware of what products we use in our daily routine. While it's not possible to know which products are not beneficial to the health, we can minimize the use of those that are known or suspected to be harmful, and we can take measures to ensure that our local environment is well ventilated.

On August 16, Science Daily reported on an article published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine that states researchers in Taiwan have demonstrated for the first time that urban pollution simultaneously affects key indicators of cardiovascular risk in young adults. The lead author of the study, Chang-Chuan Chan, Sc.D., of National Taiwan University's College of Public Health wrote: "This study provides evidence that urban air pollution is associated with systemic inflammation/oxidative stress, impairment of the fibrinogenic system, activation of blood coagulation and alterations in the autonomic nervous system in young, healthy humans."

Another article published in the same journal and also reported on August 16 by Science Daily: "High Pollution Linked To Poor Lung Function Growth In Children In Mexico City" states that "Children who are chronically exposed to higher levels of air pollution show marked deficiencies in lung growth and function, and not just short-term breathing problems." The lead author, Isabelle Romieu, M.D., M.P.H. of the Instituto Nacional de Salud Publico in Mexico wrote: "In addition to the important impact of lung health, early lung deficits may increase the risk of developing chronic obstructive lung disease later in life, as well as cardiovascular morbidity and general mortality."

A BBC News article published July 13, "'New tests needed' for chemicals", states that scientists writing in the journal Science say that about one-third of organic substances (which could amount to approximately 10,000 substances) in commercial use need re-testing for possible toxicity to human and environmental health.

Conventional tests for toxic substances involve measuring how effectively a substance dissolves in fat versus water; the measure is called Kow. This works well to estimate the accumulative potential in food chains involving fish, shellfish and plankton. The scientists performing this study concluded that a different measure is needed to estimate the accumulation of toxic substances in air-breathing animals, that would measure how well a substance can be absorbed across the lung membrane during respiration. This measure is called Koa.

The article states: "Classes of compounds possessing low Kow but high Koa include endosulfans and HCHs, which are used as inseciticides, musk xylene, an ingredient of perfumes and soaps, and the tetrachlorobenzenes." These substances would pass the conventional tests for toxicity. It's interesting that these substances very commonly present respiratory and other problems for people with chemical sensitivities. See previous post "What Is Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?"

As discussed in post, "Chemical Sensitivity and the New EU Chemical Law", there are, in addition to the omissions in the conventional measuring system, great gaping omissions in what substances are being studied at all. As individuals we can try to protect ourselves as much as possible from the hazard of the many chemicals that have found their way via products into our daily lives. There are a number of other articles here in the DweezelJazz blog, under Chemical Sensitivity, Asthma and Allergy, that you may find helpful.