TOXIC CHEMICALS TOPIC : HEALTH GLOBAL ESSAY

 

The wristbands look like those you might find at a souvenir shop : bends loops of silicone, in the colour of your choice.

But scientists are increasingly using the bands to measure exposure to toxic chemicals present in the air around us and in everyday items we use, including personal care products.

Silicone mimics the way the human body absorbs harmful chemicals and has little pores similar in size to pores in human cells. Having people wear wristbands, and then studying the chemicals the bands absorb, can give scientists a good understanding of the chemicals the wearers were exposed to.

Many chemicals found in plastic products are known or suspected to disrupt the human endocrine system, and play a role in reproductive disorders, cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease and other serious health conditions.

The vast majority are unregulated at a global level.

Dr. Kim A. Anderson, a professor of environmental and molecular toxicology at Oregon State University, who was not involved in IPEN study, said a group of chemicals called phthalates, for example, which are used to make plastics more flexible and durable, are also present in many cleaning and personal care products.

Phthalates are thought to negatively affect pregnancy, child growth and development.

As part of the new study, IPEN partnered with a Thailand-based nonprofit group, Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand, or EARTH, to use wristbands to study exposure among local plastic workers and recyclers - and found that plastic waste and recycling workers were the most exposed.

Research has also increasingly shown that people can be exposed to chemicals found in plastic not just from contact with plastics but from the air, food, water and dust.

That's what Marcos A. Orellana, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, rediscovered after wearing one of the wristbands.

Thirty four different chemicals were detected in his wristband, including a phthalates and a UV stabilizer, a chemical added to materials to protect them from ultraviolet radiation.

''It made me think : '' If I am exposed to these levels, what about my kids?'' Mr. Orellana said.

The World Students Society thanks Hiroko Tabuchi.