Artificial chemical substances — a product of modern times — are all around us and inevitably find their way into our bodies. Our babies receive their first dose when they are still in their mothers’ wombs. More chemicals reach them through their mothers’ milk and through sources of pollution in their environment and food. Children are more exposed than adults because of their size and diet and are also more severely affected since their internal organs, neural and hormonal systems and brains are still developing.
There is simply no getting away from chemicals. The last time the number of chemical substances was recorded in the European Union, more than 20 years ago, there were over 100,000 of them. In the United States, 80,000 substances are registered for use. In both cases, only a fraction of all these chemicals have been properly examined for their effects on human health and the environment. There is very little information on the safest ways of using them. Even women living in remote parts of the world, such as Inuit women, have high levels of persistent and bioaccumulative substances in their breast milk. This is not because they have used the products containing these substances, but because the substances can travel long distances, harming health and destroying the environment as they go.
Now that PCBs and DDT have been banned in many countries, the levels recorded in breast milk and the environment have decreased. This shows that joint action against the risks of chemicals is effective, even though the improvement is slow.
It is difficult to establish clear cause-and-effect correlations as so little is known about chemicals, and even less about the complex interactions that may be taking place between different substances. But there are worrying trends that are believed to be partially linked to chemicals. Allergies, cancers and threats to reproductive health are on the rise in the EU. Recent statistics show that cancers have increased by 63 per cent in France over the last 20 years. Studies indicate that the sperm counts of young men in Europe have dropped over the last few decades, and that incidents of testicular cancer are increasing. It is estimated that one couple in seven has infertility problems. In animals, too, worrying signs of endocrine disruption, such as sex changes in molluscs that have been in contact with anti-fouling agents, have been noted.
This list of health and environmental problems suspected of being linked to chemicals could be made much longer. As many of these effects are the insidious results of long-term exposure to a mix of chemicals, it is difficult to trace them back to the ones that have caused them, and to prove the links conclusively.
This is why the European Union is moving towards a new system for chemicals management — REACH, standing for Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals. REACH will require industry to test, assess and provide safety information on all substances produced in significant quantities. This essential information will have to be communicated to users further down the supply chain — like manufacturers who use chemicals in their own production processes — and be made publicly available. The use of hazardous chemicals — such as those that can cause cancers, mutations, or problems with reproduction, or those that accumulate in our bodies and in the environment — will require a specific permit or may be prohibited.
This can help make sure that the risks of chemical substances are identified early enough to prevent many of the ill-effects that could arise from careless use. We need chemicals. They are an integral part of modern society, providing much of the comfort and convenience of everyday life. But they need to be handled and used in a safe way, and we have to get rid of those that pose unmanageable risks.
More than anyone else, newborn babies — and the children they later become — have a right to grow up in a healthy environment. But women and men too have a right to a safe environment, safe working conditions and safe products. — Samina Iqbal
Chocolate cures
Flavanols have significant vascular protection effects because of their antioxidant properties and increased nitric oxide bioavailability, which improves the action of insulin, states a recent issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Edible plants rich in flavanols include cacao, tea, grapes and grapefruit. A study was conducted on 15 healthy young adults, assigned to have 100g of dark chocolate or 90g white-chocolate for two weeks. They were then crossed over to the other group after a break of seven days. The polyphenol content of dark and white chocolate were 500mg and 0mg respectively. Blood pressure was measured daily and Oral Glucose Tolerance Test and Insulin sensitivity check index were estimated at the end of each period.
The study concluded that dark-chocolate showed a significant decrease in blood pressure and improvement in insulin resistance and sensitivity in healthy persons, whereas white-chocolate had no such effect. Cocoa is rich in flavanols present in plants as unconjugated molecules, containing epicatechin, catechin and procyanidins. The Nitric Oxide regulation by flavanols in dark-chocolate acts through different pathways and improves insulin sensitivity and blood pressure.
Other flavanol containing foods, as tea and wine have shown similar effects on vascular and blood pressure regulation. The identification of healthy foods and the understanding how food components influence normal physiology will help to improve the health of a nation, particularly with regard to untreated or undiagnosed pathologic states as hypertension and diabetes mellitus. — Dr Fatema Jawad
