UN: Mankind soaking in chemicals

REUTERS

A chemist is reflected in a beaker after mixing chemicals that give the beaker a reflective coating during a demonstration at the 21st annual Ig Nobel prize ceremony at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, last year. The use of chemicals in manufacturing various products has made modern living more comfortable, but the chemical intensification of our environment puts us at greater risk of contracting dread diseases.

The UN has sounded fresh alarm bells about the growing torrent of chemicals seeping into the bodies of billions of people and into soil, water and air across the world.

In a joint report, the UN Environmental Programme and the World Health Organisation warn that the rapidly expanding production and use of chemicals have created a “new level of urgency” for governments and industry to safeguard the health of humanity and the environment.

While disasters and drama continued to make headlines, “the true costs of chemical mismanagement are dispersed and hidden throughout the population and over time”, while most of the human health costs were carried by taxpayers and individuals rather than the companies that profited.

Across the world, more people now died from chemical |pollution of the environment than the combined number |who died of Aids-related disease, tuberculosis, malaria or in car accidents.

The production and use of chemicals were also shifting to poorer nations where governments had weaker laws or were less equipped to monitor and regulate contamination and exposure.

Eight years from now, more than 31 percent of global |chemicals would be made in developing countries.

UN Under-Secretary-|General Achim Steiner said spending on chemical pesticides in SA had grown by almost 60 percent since the late 1990s, while China now accounted for more than 42 percent of the the consumption of textile chemicals.

The report recognises that millions of people are leading richer, more productive and more comfortable lives because of the development of at least 140 000 chemicals now on the market.

But there was a hidden price tag attached to this “chemical intensification” of the world – in the growing risk of cancer, birth defects, asthma, diabetes, respiratory disease and damage to brains, lungs, kidneys and other body organs.

Drawn up over two years by health, environment and chemical industry experts across the world, the UN Global Chemicals Outlook report says there are tens of thousands of chemicals on the market today, yet only a fraction have been evaluated thoroughly to establish their effects on human health and the environment.

Compared with 50 years ago, humanity is now exposed to a far greater variety and complex mixture of synthetic chemicals which spread rapidly over distances of thousands of kilometres through the air, rivers and seas.

The food value of the world’s fisheries was being damaged or “lost completely” as toxic and hazardous chemicals were absorbed by fish and spread through the food chain.

Young children were parti-cularly vulnerable to even very small doses of chemical mixes as their cells and bodies |developed rapidly from the womb into puberty.

“Due to their size, children’s responses to small doses of toxic chemicals are disproportionately large compared with adults. Because their metabolic pathways are immature, children are also slower to detoxify and excrete many environmental chemicals and thus toxins may remain active in their bodies for longer.”

While the extent of chemical contamination in humans had yet to be measured in most parts of the world, the US Centers for Disease Control carried out a study in 2009 that found traces of more than 200 chemicals that were spread throughout the US population.

Between 90 percent and 100 percent of the people sampled had detectable levels of a wide range of toxic substances, including mercury and industrial chemicals used in flame retardants or refrigeration.

Unlike a century ago, when most consumer products were made using natural products from plants, animals or sand, modern products were in-creasingly derived from petrochemicals and used in synthetic coatings, adhesives, soaps, gels, plastics, perfumes, dyes, creams, and detergents.

Industries and research bodies were developing ever |more sophisticated mixtures and microscopic “nano-scale” chemical products for non-stick frying pans, stain-resistant furniture, or fire-proof, water-resistant or anti-rust coatings, along with a range of metallic conductors for cellphones, computers and cars.

Children were being exposed to a growing range of chemical hazards – chemical softening agents used in making some plastic toys, lead in the paint on bedroom walls, lead in kiddie jewellery products, and chemical residues in their clothes, curtains or shoes.

Many of the findings had remained largely buried away in scientific journals.

The UN synthesis report for decision-makers helps to consolidate the research findings and to highlight the global scale of the problem.

Every year, at least 4.9 million people die from chemical exposure, compared with two million Aids-related deaths, 1.5 million deaths from TB, 1.3 million in traffic accidents, and 0.9 million from malaria.

“This global estimate is an underestimation of the real burden attributable to chemicals,” says the report.

It notes that chemical death statistics exclude deaths owing to mercury, dioxins, organic chlorinated solvents, pesticides and a family of chemicals known as PCBs.

Turning to possible solutions, the report makes recommendations on what should be done to reduce human and environmental health risks. It points to the need for industry to produce safer chemicals and to be held liable for harms – starting on the production line and extending through to end-of-life disposal at the dump.

There should also be more emphasis on preventing harm rather than cleaning up or treating victims afterwards.