Unchecked Chemicals Likely to Cause Grievous Harm: Cancer Panel
Americans are facing ‘grievous harm’ from chemicals in the air, food, and water that are largely unregulated feels an expert panel that advises the President on cancer.
The panel recommended a new national strategy to counter these threats which affect the workplace and the environment.
In a report released on Thursday, the panel wrote, "With the growing body of evidence linking environmental exposures to cancer, the public is becoming increasingly aware of the unacceptable burden of cancer resulting from environmental and occupational exposures that could have been prevented through appropriate national action,"
The panel has also noted that in its current state the federal laws in chemicals are weak and the regulatory responsibilities are split between too many agencies with lack of monetary power. This has led to the highest vulnerability to the children.
The panel also referred to the rising rates of cancer amongst children and it also referred to studies that have found industrial chemicals in umbilical chord blood. It also said that health officials lack critical knowledge on the impact of chemicals on children and fetuses.
It noted that 15 million people were diagnosed with cancer in 2009. It also advocates a complete change in the country’s laws related to chemicals. Currently it is the government’s responsibility to prove a chemical harmful before it can be removed from the market. While 80000 chemicals are in commercial use but federal regulators have assessed only about 200 for safety.
Last month a bill was filed by Sen. Frank Lautenberg which would shift the responsibility to the manufacturers to prove the safety of new chemicals before they use it.
In spite of the proposed new evaluation system and process the panel says that the government has to look beyond individual chemicals to estimate the effect of the chemicals on humans.
