BRUSSELS (Reuters)-
Imagine a child sitting in a classroom staring at the rain through a window.
He picked up the pencil and chewed on the top of the eraser distraught.
Chemicals classified as "reproductive toxicity" in Europe dissolve in his saliva and enter his body.
This is a scene that may not be rare.
A consortium of 140 environmental organizations released a report last week showing that there are potentially hazardous chemicals in dozens of daily plastic products sold by European retailers
From shoes to erasers, from pencil cases to sex toys.
The focus of this study is on a group of chemicals known as phthalates, of which the EU has banned almost six since 1999 because of concerns that they could harm the sexual development of children.
But as the European Environmental Protection Agency (EEB)
In its study, it was found that among the commodities frequently used by children and among the commodities sold in large supermarkets such as Carrefour and Tesco, there were neighboring benzene ester.
The study, based on the chemical analysis of the Berlin independent chemical laboratory PiCA, found a pink pencil case in toys and "childcare supplies" at three times the highest level as the EU says.
"Scientists suspect that neighboring benzene compounds that may be particularly harmful to humans were found in an eraser close to the level prohibited in toys.
Concerns about O-benzene ester are not new, and retailers selling products containing O-benzene ester are not illegal because these regulations do not include items such as pencil boxes and erasers.
However, the EEB study also found that retailers seem to have ignored the legal obligation to provide shoppers with information about the presence of phthal salts.
In the survey, retailers in less than a quarter provided satisfactory responses to requests for information on chemicals in their products.
"All citizens should get complete information about the chemical properties in the products they buy," said Christian Schable, EEB chemicals policy officer . ".
"For example, parents should be automatically told whether their child's pencil case contains phthal salts that can impair sexual development.
"Unfortunately, suppliers are only obliged to provide information under specific conditions.
We have shown that this legal right is not even guaranteed in practice.
Carrefour told Reuters that it did fully meet requests for information on hazardous chemicals and said it processed them within 45 days.
Tesco says it is aware of its duties and has developed its own code of conduct to prevent the entry of worrying chemicals into clothes and shoes.
"We work closely with suppliers to identify these substances and replace them with suitable alternatives," the company said in a statement . ".
Neighboring benzene Ester is a chemical used to make plastics more flexible.
There are about 25 of them, and in recent decades they have penetrated into the fabric of our society, all the way to the shoes on our feet.
They are in the air we breathe and the paint on the walls of the office, they soften the vinyl floors in the kitchen and bathroom, they place flexible devices in our shower curtains and cables.
In your car, the neighboring benzene Ester is coated with a rust-proof coating on the chassis and softens the plastic for the doors, dashboards, and steering wheels.
Some scientists believe that after filtering out pipes and plastics used in food processing machinery, they are in our food.
They're in our bodies.
The global chemical industry produces nearly 6 million tons of neighboring benzene per year.
Some scientists, as well as more and more governments, have begun to suspect that in the past few decades, phthalate may have something to do with a significant decline in male fertility worldwide --
In developed countries, repeated studies have shown that sperm count has decreased by about 50% in the past half century.
And the sexual development of boys in the uterus.
The most volatile chemicals are easily dispersed from plastics and have been shown to interfere with the sexual development of fetal rats by interrupting the production of testosterone.
Some studies have shown similar effects on humans.
In addition to the toy ban, the EU also controls or prohibits certain phthal salts in items such as cosmetics and paint.
It has also begun to study limiting the use of some neighboring benzene Ester in other products, a process that could take several years.
Since 2008, the United States has restricted the use of certain phthal salts in toys and said it is investigating the safety of other products.
Australia prohibits the sale of items containing more than 1% per cent of a single neighboring benzene ester.
If there is a link between phthalates and the impaired fertility of people, they will not be the first chemical to produce this effect.
On July 10, 1976, a pesticide factory in the Italian town of seviso exploded and released a heavy fog containing chemical dioxin.
No one died and the accident was basically not noticed, at least initially.
But the subsequent study led scientists to understand for the first time that tiny concentrations of chemicals could have an incommensurate effect on human fertility.
Hours after the explosion
Similar lesions began to occur in local children.
In the following weeks, many people developed chloracne, a serious skin disease represented by acne.
Like blackheads, cysts, and pustules.
In the years after the accident, the proportion of boys born by parents exposed to the chemical cloud was unusually high.
Later medical studies showed that the number of sperm in these boys was unusually low.
Just as Seveso has taught us a lot about dioxin, we are now learning more and more about neighboring benzene ester --
Not because of an event, but because scientists are conducting an increasing number of reviews of trends such as declining male fertility.
In pregnant rats, many studies have shown that exposure to some phthalates reduces testosterone levels in the male fetus and interferes with the normal development of the penis and the decline of the testicles.
But it was not until 2005 that scientists linked chemicals to human change.
A group of researchers at the University of Rochester in New York studied the male temperament of new boys.
As an indicator, they measured the distance between the anus and the base of the penis
Natural distance-
This is usually twice that of men and is also a male marker that scientists often use.
Low birth distance is associated with reproductive health issues such as undiminished testicles or deformed penis.
The researchers then compared the results with the level of neighboring benzene in the urine of the infant mother.
"We found that, as predicted by the Institute of animals, in human male infants, when the mother came into contact with some neighboring benzene Ester, the boy's reproductive development has changed, says Shanna Swan, who led the study.
The respected Journal of Environmental Health outlook named The Swan team's research as the "annual paper" of 2009, as it has had a huge impact on current thinking about neighboring benzene ester.
Research is not perfect-
The sample was very small in 134 babies.
But Swan is working on a new, larger, and more rigorous study to help solve scientific problems.
Other scientists are also trying to determine the link between phthalates and human change.
In a lab in Edinburgh, a mouse hovers in a cage, sipping some water contaminated with plastic softener.
Under the skin of its back, small pieces of tissue were transplanted from the testicles of the human fetus.
The aim is to determine directly whether these softener will confuse our hormones and vary the genitals of unborn babies.
Professor Richard Sharp, an expert in male reproductive health at the University of Edinburgh and a leader in this study, believes that people will find the connection between our environment and lifestyle and male reproductive health.
"We have solid evidence that in the past 50 to 70 years, there has been a gradual increase in testosterone in Europe," he said . " "This is happening in a time space that coincides with lifestyle and environmental changes.
"It is critical to understand whether phthal acid salts play any role in human male reproductive diseases," Sharp argues . ".
Animal research, he said, "clearly points out the effects, but human research is very complex.
In the next 12 months, we will have a clearer idea.
If we don't find any effect of neighboring benzene Ester in the testicles of the fetus, they will really pull down the suspect list.
If we find a positive effect, I think it may be the end of phthal acid salt.
"In Europe, the group responsible for assessing and limiting potential hazardous chemicals such as O-benzyl ester is the European Chemicals Authority (ECHA)
Headquartered in Helsinki.
Its main role is to implement a 2007 law aimed at increasing awareness and control of the 30,000 chemicals often used in Europe, which are currently rarely regulated. Called REACH-
Registration, assessment, authorization and Restriction of Chemicals
This law is one of the most intense lobbying laws in European history.
European chemical companies are opposed, as are the George w. Bush administration.
Bush believes it will hinder transatlantic trade.
The law now forces companies to register chemicals they want to sell;
The agency is sorting out the data the industry has provided it to decide which data should be eliminated as soon as possible.
From the initial extensive list of about 1,500 of the chemicals of concern, so far 38 have been classified as "substances of great concern", including four neighboring benzene ester
DEHP, BBP, BP, DIBP.
Many activists are not satisfied with the pace of progress and believe that the agency should go beyond the 38 substances it is dealing.
Environmental activists and health activists, including Greenpeace and the Health and Environment Coalition, have put together a list of 356 chemicals they want to curb immediately.
The Union of European Union has listed 334 lists that it wants to be banned from the workplace.
But the task of assessing the evidence is so huge and the agency's resources are so limited that it will take years for even the initial 38 chemicals to be phased out or approved.
Geert Dancet, executive director of ECHA, said it may not be possible until 2014 to decide how to deal with these initial chemicals.
"There are also some chemicals that we don't know yet, in which case 2020 is the target date.
"It's not just children who are at risk.
In addition to testing children's shoes, cosmetic bags and pencil cases, the Berlin lab tested E09-
039/10, smooth blue vibrator.
This is one of five sex toys tested, four of which show a high concentration of DEHP.
The weight of the blue vibrator is 55% DEHP, while the weight of the other vibrator sold as "Prince Charming" is 63% DEHP.
Many experts feel uncomfortable discussing the issue in public, but all agree that sex toys may increase the total level of neighboring benzene salts in adults and pregnant women and may affect unborn children.
Scientists begin to understand better how to get into our bodies.
One of the main channels is probably the food we eat.
In a 2006 German study, three volunteers did not eat for 48 hours and only drank mineral water, while the content of neighboring benzene Ester was measured in their urine.
The level of DEHP dropped sharply in the first 18 hours and remained low for the remaining 30 hours, indicating that food was the main source.
"I am sure that food is the main exposure pathway for DEHP, but the peaks seen in the study also indicate that there are other exposure pathways," said Dr. Holger Koch ,". Who led the study?
"We suspect that the plastic used in each step of food processing will enter the food.
Despite new evidence, some people in the chemical industry have denied the problem.
"The EU has confirmed that DEHP has no general risk to human health," said DEHP Information Center, an industrial website managed by the European Council of plasticizer and intermediates (ECPI)
It represents the interests of producers including oaks, Germany and Akoma, France.
But Maggie Saykali, ECPI manager, has taken a more subtle approach, emphasizing the European shift to safer phthal salts such as DINP.
"Scientific evidence has repeatedly shown that they are safe," said Saykali . ".
"The danger is that all of the neighboring benzene Ester is applying oil with the same brush.
Some producers have begun to use higher prices.
Scientists believe that the risk of O-benzene Ester is small.
According to Helsinki
DEHP, a Western European-based registry, today accounts for about 18%, down from 42% in 1999.
The use of DINP with longer chemical chains is growing. But even DINP —
Made by companies like BASF and USAS. -
Exxon Petrochemical-
Not without doubt.
"Scientific information about DINP. . .
"There is either a lack or conflict, but it cannot rule out the potential risks associated with their use in toys and childcare supplies," the EU 2005 toy directive said . ".
Even if European manufacturers phase out phthal salts such as phthal, it can still import products into Europenearly two-
Three of them are mainly from Asia, mainly China. “If a non-
Toy products are produced outside the EU and are imported with little protection
There is not much notice to the authorities, "said Schable of EEB.
"Only a few very high processes are removed --
It will take decades to focus on chemicals at this rate. . . Decision-
Manufacturers proposed to phase out more than a dozen substances as early as October 2008, but by 2016, some of them will not be in place.
Protecting European consumers at the same time
Or if people are worried about the chemicals in their products, help them protect themselves --
The EU has established transparency provisions and laws to provide information about the chemical composition of the product to any requested consumer.
But Vito Buonsante of ClientEarth, a rights lawyer, said that due to pressure from industry lobbyists, these "right to know" laws were deprived of a lot of power from the beginning.
As research by the European Environment Agency shows, almost no one in the EU has heard of this right --
Not a shopper who should ask questions, nor a retailer who should give an answer.
In addition to sponsoring laboratory tests, the EEB issued 158 "right to know" requests to 60 European retailers between April and August.
More than half of the people did not answer at all, and only 22% responded to the minimum standards set by law.
"In practice, it is extremely complicated to find that there are hazardous chemicals in the products we buy, even for companies that want to comply," said Buonsante . ".
"There is expected to be a fine due to the lack of information provided, but so far these provisions have been ignored.