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.

autism

Possible Environmental Causes of Autism and Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Autism rates have changed significantly since my son was diagnosed 10 years ago. At that time it was common to read estimates ranging from 1 in 500 to 1 in 1000. But the estimates started changing to 1 in 250, then 1 in 166 and now 1 in 150. In the UK the figure currently used is 1 in 100. There are many today who believe that changes in the definition of autism introduced in the DSM-IV combined with diagnostic substitution explain the dramatic increases in autism disorder diagnoses. But the advocates of this theory really have no solid studies providing precise measurements to substantiate the belief that the autism increases are all largely changes in how we view autism rather than actual increases in incidents of autism.

The definition change believers seem to be on solid ground to the extent that they argue that such change is a substantial contributing factor to the increases in autism diagnoses. They seem to stretch their belief beyond reason though when they assert dogmatically that the increases are due entirely to these social factors and rule out any environmental increases. The well known identical twins studies show that, in some cases, one identical twin will receive an autism diagnosis but the other will not, suggesting a role for environmental factors in autism causation.

In Neurodevelopmental Disorders in ChildrenAutism and ADHD Mona Sethi Gupta, Ph.D. examines environmental factors that may disrupt neurological development including lead, mercury, PCBs, dioxins, arsenic and toluene. Dr. Gupta discusses some studies suggesting environmental contributors to increasing neurodevelopment problems among children who are more sensitive to environmental toxins than adults and reminds us of the thalidomide tragedy. Dr. Gupta notes emphasizes the importance of taking action to protect children from environmental toxins:

"The impact of environmental toxins on children’s health has become a major focus in the federal government resulting in establishment of eight new research centers in children’s environmental health with joint funding from EPA and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). "The brains of our children are our most precious economic resource, and we haven't recognized how vulnerable they are," says Philippe Grandjean, adjunct professor at Harvard School of Public Health and the lead author of the study published in The Lancet . "We must make protection of the young brain a paramount goal of public health protection. You have only one chance to develop a brain.""

There are those who argue dogmatically that environmental factors are not involved in causing autism and that the startling autism increases are due entirely to definition change and diagnostic substitution. They may honestly believe their assertions or they may be tied to promotion of book royalties or blog site advertising but modern history, thalidomide, tobacco and cancer, suggest greater caution in ruling out all environmental contributors to autism and other developmental disorders. Our children deserve better than for society to rely on the faith and belief of dogmatists on such important issues.

Note:

TheFreeDictionary

dog·ma·tist

1. An arrogantly assertive person.

2. One who expresses or sets forth dogma.

Noun

1.

dogmatist - a stubborn person of arbitrary or arrogant opinions

doctrinaire

drumbeater, partisan, zealot - a fervent and even militant proponent of something

autism