Top doctors have issued a global call to arms to regulate toxic chemicals that are linked to a spike in childhood cancers and autism.
Source: Daily Mail, By Emily Joshu Sterne
A group of scientists and doctors from 17 institutions in the US and Europe called for a crackdown on more than 350,000 synthetic chemicals and microplastics which are found in everything from clothing to cosmetics and food packaging.
The researchers said these chemicals have increased 50-fold globally since 1950 and are expected to triple by 2050.
Yet less than one in five of the substances are tested for toxicity, the team from the Consortium for Children’s Environmental Health wrote in a medical journal.
At the same time, an alarming trend has seen childhood cancers increase by 35 percent in the last half-century, despite cancers in older people decreasing.
And autism rates have tripled in the last decade.
The team also suggests synthetic chemicals and microplastics could be responsible for sharp rises in childhood other illnesses like asthma and obesity.
The researchers also called for increased regulations on these chemicals and said manufacturers should be required to monitor their products similar to prescription drugs to look for long-term health issues.
The toxic chemicals have contaminated the air we breathe, food we eat and water we drink and have been found in virtually every major human organ, including the brain, where they cause widespread inflammation.
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