Chemical Exposure Linked to Billions in Health Care Costs

Chemical Exposure Linked to Billions in Health Care Costs

Postby Oscar » Fri Mar 06, 2015 10:10 am

Chemical Exposure Linked to Billions in Health Care Costs

From: Elaine Hughes
Sent: Friday, March 6, 2015 9:56 AM
To: BREITKREUZ, G. MP-Ottawa ; SK Premier Wall ; CCGS - Clean Green Saskatchewan ; CFFG ; SK NDP WOMEN ; Safe Drinking Water Foundation ; CDN. DRS. for MEDICARE ; Physicians for Global Survival
Cc: SK Green Leader - Lau, Victor ; SK Envir. Society ; SK Party Caucus ; SK Watershed Auth. ; SNAP ; SIERRA CANADA ; Sask EcoNetwork ; CAPE
Subject: Chemical Exposure Linked to Billions in Health Care Costs

As if we need yet another study to confirm what we ‘lab rats’ all know to be true . . . . !

Where and when will we find governments with the guts to say “NO” to chemical corporations and their poisons, and ACT to protect themselves and their families?


Elaine Hughes
ARCHERWILL, SK


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Chemical Exposure Linked to Billions in Health Care Costs


[ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... nt-ngfood/ ]

Researchers conclude they are 99 percent certain that hormone-altering chemicals are linked to attention problems, diabetes, other health problems.

By Elizabeth Grossman for National Geographic Published March 5, 2015

Exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals is likely leading to an increased risk of serious health problems costing at least $175 billion (U.S.) per year in Europe alone, according to a study published Thursday.

Chemicals that can mimic or block estrogen or other hormones are commonly found in thousands of products around the world, including plastics, pesticides, furniture, and cosmetics.

The new research [ http://press.endocrine.org/edc ] estimated health care costs in Europe, where policymakers are debating whether to enact the world's first regulations targeting endocrine disruptors [ http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemica ... dex_en.htm ]. The European Union's controversial strategy, if approved, would have a profound effect on industries and consumer products worldwide.

Linda Birnbaum, [ http://www.niehs.nih.gov/about/od/director/ ] the leading environmental health official in the U.S. government, called the new findings, which include four published papers, "a wake-up call" for policymakers and health experts.

"If you applied these [health care] numbers to the U.S., they would be applicable, and in some cases higher," says Birnbaum, director of the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

The researchers detailed the costs related to three types of conditions: neurological effects, such as attention deficit disorders; obesity and diabetes; and male reproductive disorders, including infertility.

The biggest estimated costs, by far, were associated with chemicals' reported effects on children's developing brains. Numerous studies have linked widely used pesticides and flame retardants to neurological disorders and altered thyroid hormones, which are essential for proper prenatal brain development.

The researchers concluded that there is a greater than 99 percent chance that endocrine-disrupting chemicals are contributing to the diseases, according to the studies published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. [ http://press.endocrine.org/journal/jcem ]

MORE:

[ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... nt-ngfood/ ]
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Re: Chemical Exposure Linked to Billions in Health Care Cost

Postby Oscar » Fri Mar 06, 2015 10:31 am

Pesticide Drift and the Politics of Scale in California's Central Valley

[ http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technol ... ral-valley ]

Toxic chemicals are sweeping across our nation's most important agricultural region and officials are using time-tested tactics not to find solutions, but to make the problem seem small and localized.

Lisa Wade Lisa Wade · March 6, 2015

California’s Central Valley is the breadbasket of America. It is the source of much of the country’s grapes, tree fruit, nuts, and vegetables. Many of the farms are massive, requiring large amounts of capital, land, and labor.

In the nearby small towns are the homes of the state’s farm laborers. They are primarily Latino. About half are undocumented. Most are poor and few have health care. Politically and economically weak, they are the primary human victims of pesticide drift.

Pesticide drift occurs when chemicals leave the fields for which they’re intended and travel to where humans can be exposed. According to data summarized by geographer Jill Harrison for her paper on the subject, [ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 9806000242 ]. California is a pesticide-intensive state. It accounts for two to three percent of all cropland in the U.S., but uses 25 percent of the pesticides. One in 10 registered pesticides are prone to drift and a third include chemicals that are “highly acutely toxic” or cause cancer, reproductive or developmental disorders, or brain damage. Officially, there are an average of 370 cases of pesticide poisoning due to drift every year, but farmworker advocates say that this captures 10 percent of the victims at best.

State officials and representatives of agriculture business minimize pesticide drift; Harrison calls this “down-scaling.” They claim it’s accidental, rare, and not an integral part of the system when it operates well. “Unfortunately from time to time we have tragic accidents,” says one Health Department official. “I think the number of incidents that have occurred are really not that significant,” says another. “The system works,” says an agricultural commissioner, “unfortunately, we have people who don’t follow the law.” All of these tactics serve to make the problem seem small and localized.

It’s not easy to get politicians to pay attention to some of the weakest of their constituents, but activists have made some headway by what Harrison calls “pushing it up the scale.” Contesting its framing as a small problem by virtue of its frequency or impact, they argue that pesticide drift is routine, regular, and systemic. “These things happen every day,” says one resident. “You can smell [the pesticide use],” says another. “You can see it. When you drive, it gets on your windshield.” An activist argues: “The art of pesticide application is not precision delivery. It’s sloppy, and it often spills.” They further contest the down-scaling by arguing that pesticide drift is harming the overall air quality. By describing it as air pollution, they make it a state of California problem, one that affects everyone. This makes it more difficult for big agriculture to say it’s no big deal.

Upscaling and down-scaling are both part of the politics of scale, a tactic that involves making a problem seem big or little. Harrison notes that many environmentalists advocate a local approach. “The local,’” she writes, “is commonly touted as the space in which people can most directly voice their concerns and effect political change, due to local officials’ proximity to constituents and familiarity with local issues.” This case, though, suggests that justice isn’t one size fits all.

- - - -

If you’d like to know more about the struggle for environmental justice in the San Joaquin Valley, sociologist Tracy Perkins has started a website called Voices From the Valley [ http://www.voicesfromthevalley.org/ ] . You can also check out Remembering Teresa for more on pesticide drift. [ http://rememberingteresa.org/ ]

This post originally appeared on Sociological Images, a Pacific Standard partner site, asPesticide Drift and the Politics of Scale."
[ http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/ta ... riculture/ ]
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