Our Toxic Environment: How Safe Are We?

How safe are the thousands of chemicals we and our children encounter every day?

  They're in the toys children play with, in the food we eat, and in the air we breathe. Each year, about 27 trillion pounds of chemicals are produced in or imported into the United States, and pediatricians claim that precious little research is done regarding the effects the bulk of these compounds may have on a child's development.

  The primary law that regulates chemicals in the U.S.,the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, is outdated and has been called ineffective by the American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on Environmental Health, who are urging the government for more testing and evaluations of potentially toxic substances that children encounter in their daily life.

 Only five chemicals have been regulated under the act in the last thirty years, and the TSCA does not require any chemical manufacturer to conduct pre-market testing of it's product's effects on human health.

> JB.


*Random Tidbit data:
   Recent testing of band instruments in random U.S. schools revealed over 440 types of bacteria, including staph, molds and yeast.  Sanitizing mouthpieces and regular sterilization could kill most of the bugs.