EVERY year, American industry releases 11 million tonnes of chemicals that
could harm children鈥檚 physical and mental development, according to a new
report.
The National Environmental Trust, Physicians for Social Responsibility and
the Learning Disabilities Association of America are urging the US government to
demand more monitoring of pollutants.
It鈥檚 not certain what harm, if any, most of the pollutants are causing. But a
separate report published in June by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
estimated that 3 per cent of all developmental problems such as low birthweight
and autism could be caused by toxic substances.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 clear we鈥檙e awash in these chemicals for which nobody has any
information,鈥� says Jeff Wise, policy director of the National Environmental
Trust and an author of the new pollution study.
The figure of 11 billion tonnes is estimated from emissions reported to the
Environmental Protection Agency. Industries reported annual emissions of 550 000
tonnes of chemicals known or thought to cause developmental problems, but the
study estimated that this accounted for only 5 per cent of all emissions.
The study made no attempt to rank the potential toxicity of the chemicals,
however. Take the three most abundant chemicals on the list: methanol, ammonia
and toluene. It鈥檚 not clear that small amounts of any of these have effects on
development, says George Daston, a toxicologist with Procter & Gamble in
Cincinnati, Ohio, and an author of the NAS study.