Progress against toxins in toys takes small steps ... Chicago Tribune August 17, 2008

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I saw a scrolling banner on CNN last night that said BPA and phthalates have been declared safe! . . . These are found in breast implants too!SCREAM!Rogene

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chicagotribune.com Progress

against toxins in toys takes small steps

By

Hawthorne Chicago Tribune reporter 2:16 AM CDT, August 17, 2008 When a nationwide ban on

hormone-disrupting chemicals in soft plastic toys and cosmetics takes effect

early next year, it will mark an important turning point in efforts to remove

toxic compounds from consumer products.

The ban on a group of chemicals known as phthalates is part of a major overhaul

of the nation's consumer safety system brokered last month by Congress. It

reflects growing concerns among parents and public health advocates that

children are absorbing a vast array of harmful substances, sometimes merely by

sucking on a rubber duck, drinking from a plastic bottle or playing on treated

carpet.

Indeed, new health concerns seem to be raised every month or so about some

oddly named chemical that has been used for decades in toys, cosmetics and

consumer products.

Phthalates are suspected of causing reproductive and developmental problems,

especially in boys. Then there are perfluorinated compounds in food packaging,

stain-resistant carpets and non-stick pans that have been linked to cancer and

birth defects. A chemical found in hard plastic baby bottles and water

containers, bisphenol A, causes breast cancer and lowers sperm counts in animal

tests.

The potential risks from thousands of other widely used chemicals remain

undetermined, and the federal government admits it has no idea whether many

chemicals are safe, despite promises to conduct more thorough reviews.

Even when a risk is identified, there's virtually no way for consumers to

figure out which products are made with these chemicals. Manufacturers aren't

required to disclose their ingredients, and government officials say

confidentiality rules often prevent them from sharing more information with the

public.

"We're engaged in a giant, uncontrolled experiment on

America 's children," said Leo Trasande, a

pediatrician and environmental health specialist at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York .

"Based on the evidence we have to date, a stronger approach is

needed."

Citing years of industry-funded studies, chemical-makers insist their products

are safe and argue that studies detecting the chemicals in humans don't mean

they are harmful.

But a growing amount of independent research, along with steady pressure from

parents and public health advocates, is slowly changing the rules.

The latest shift is the federal ban on phthalates, which are used to make plastics

softer and more durable and are ingredients found in many lotions, shampoos and

perfumes.

Motivated in part by action already taken by the European Union and a handful

of states, Congress voted to force six phthalates off the

U.S. market. Three will be banned

permanently, and the others will be kept out of products unless manufacturers

can prove they are safe.

The phthalates ban was tucked into a larger consumer safety bill signed into

law last week by President W. Bush. The overhaul was prompted by a

Pulitzer Prize-winning Tribune investigation that documented how the government

failed to promptly notify American families about deadly hazards lurking in

toys, cribs and other children's products.

Enough questions have been raised by scientists that big retailers such as

Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us have told suppliers they won't carry

products containing phthalates starting next year.

Chemical-makers, led by Exxon Mobil, spent millions trying to thwart the

federal ban. What they got from Congress was another scientific review of three

compounds, including di-isononyl phthalate, or DINP, a chemical frequently

found in children's toys. Its leading manufacturer is Exxon Mobil.

During a telephone news conference last week, industry representatives

suggested Congress acted on emotion rather than facts. They said there is

plenty of science showing phthalates aren't harmful, noting the Consumer

Product Safety Commission concluded in 2001 that the health risks from

ingesting DINP were "minimal to non-existent."

"It's sad because we are going to be losing safe and effective chemicals

in children's products," said Dean Finney, an industry consultant.

"These chemicals have been on the market for 60 to 70 years. They were

chosen because they work."

The new law marks a subtle but important shift in the way these industrial

chemicals are regulated.

Manufacturers will be required to prove the chemicals are safe, rather than

forcing scientists to prove they aren't. A federal scientific review panel will

be required to consider all potential health effects from phthalates, both in

isolation and in combination with other phthalates. It also must review the

cumulative health effects of exposure to a wide variety of products.

Groups that helped draft the ban say the lack of knowledge about many chemicals

exposes a system where regulators largely rely on manufacturers to sound alarms

about safety.

Pharmaceutical drugs and many substances added to food must undergo rigorous

testing before their use. By contrast, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

reported in 1998 that it had no toxicity data or "safe level" for 43

percent of the 2,800 chemicals produced in volumes of 1 million pounds a year

or more.

Little has changed since then. Though Congress ordered the EPA more than a

decade ago to review whether thousands of chemicals are endocrine disrupters

that wreak havoc with human hormones, the agency has yet to screen a single

compound.

An EPA spokeswoman said officials in the agency's chemical regulation office weren't

available for comment. Instead, the agency sent an e-mail saying it expects to

begin testing several chemicals early next year.

"If we treated these chemicals the way we treat pharmaceuticals, many of

them wouldn't be on the market," said Janet Nudelman, policy director for

the Breast Cancer Fund, a group that successfully pushed for a phthalates ban

in California , Washington and Vermont before focusing on the federal effort.

Health groups have advanced their campaigns with new research, including

studies documenting the scores of toxic chemicals found in the human body.

In one 1999 study, for instance, the Food and Drug Administration found

phthalates in each of the 1,000 people tested.

Regulators became alarmed about another chemical used to make Teflon and

related coatings after industry scientists reported they had found it in people

young and old worldwide. Though perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, has been used

with virtually no government oversight for more than five decades, it took

years before independent scientists evaluated the potential health risks.

PFOA builds up in human blood and takes years to leave the body. DuPont, its

chief manufacturer, insists the chemical doesn't pose any threats to human

health, but an EPA scientific panel concluded in 2005 that it likely causes

cancer. Industry has since agreed to stop using it by 2015.

Several independent studies have shown that another chemical used to harden

plastics, bisphenol A, or BPA, causes breast cancer, testicular cancer and

diabetes in laboratory animals at low doses. A recent review of data collected

by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that nearly all the

people tested had BPA in their urine.

"These are the consequences of a tattered safety net," said Ken Cook,

president of the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, which has drawn

attention to BPA and many other chemicals.

Retailers already are pressing for alternatives. Wal-Mart, Toys "R"

Us and REI, a major camping supply store, have vowed to stop buying water

bottles and baby bottles made with BPA.

Tribune reporter kson

contributed to this report. mhawthorne@...