US Regulators FDA and EPA Cover Up Chemical Dangers

Warning: Chemicals in the packaging, surfaces or contents of many products may cause long-term health effects, including cancers of the breast, brain and testicles; lowered sperm counts, early puberty and other reproductive system defects; diabetes; attention deficit disorder, asthma and autism. A decade ago, the government promised to test these chemicals. It still hasn't.

Chemical Fallout: A Journal Sentinel Watchdog Report

Autism is certainly not the only possible negative consequence of the untested chemicals which surround us and lurk inside each of us. Anyone interested in getting up to speed quickly on these common dangerous products and how protective agencies such as the FDA and the EPA failed their responsibilities and subordinated their roles to the companies that manufactured and profited from these harmful materials should consult the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel On Line Series, Chemical Fallout, which has been published over the past year and a half.

In a recent entry published May 16, 2009 the JSOnline reports direct evidence of the degree to which the FDA worked hand in hand with the chemical industry lobbyists and failed to protect the public:

"As federal regulators hold fast to their claim that a chemical in baby bottles is safe, e-mails obtained by the Journal Sentinel show that they relied on chemical industry lobbyists to examine bisphenol A's risks, track legislation to ban it and even monitor press coverage.

In one instance, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's deputy director sought information from the BPA industry's chief lobbyist to discredit a Japanese study that found it caused miscarriages in workers who were exposed to it. This was before government scientists even had a chance to review the study.

"I'd like to get information together that our chemists could look at to determine if there are problems with that data in advance of possibly reviewing the study," Mitchell Cheeseman, deputy director of the FDA's center for food safety and applied nutrition, said in an e-mail seeking advice from Steven Hentges, executive director of the trade association's BPA group.

The FDA relied on two studies - both paid for by chemical makers - to form the framework of its draft review declaring BPA to be safe.

The Journal Sentinel reported last year that the trade group wrote entire sections of that draft. But the revelations contained in these e-mails show a pattern of preferential treatment over the past nine years that was not afforded to independent scientists."

If anyone thinks there is no such thing as conspiracies they should read the JSOnline series and think again. Dangerous chemicals inhabit our bodies and the bodies of our children. And regulatory agencies in the US have worked with the chemical industry lobbyists to prevent the public from knowing of these dangers.

Following are links to articles in the JSOnline Series Chemical Fallout:

Bill would ban BPA in baby products

FDA relied heavily on BPA lobby

BPA leaches from 'microwave safe' products

EPA veils hazardous substances

Plastics industry behind FDA research, study finds

Donation raises questions for head of FDA’s bisphenol A panel

EPA fails to collect chemical safety data

Hazardous flame retardant found in household objects

EPA drops ball on danger of chemicals to children

Are your products safe? You can't tell.

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