Pollution At Home Often Lurks Unrecognized
Date: 29-Dec-08
Country: US
Author: Amy Norton
Pollution At Home Often Lurks Unrecognized Photo: Lucy
Nicholson
Maria Jacinto, 49, works as a maid cleaning a home in Los Angeles December
1, 2006.
Photo: Lucy Nicholson
NEW YORK - Many people may be surprised by the number of chemicals they are
exposed to through everyday household products, a small study finds,
suggesting, researchers say, that consumers need to learn more about sources
of indoor pollution.
In interviews with 25 women who'd had their homes and bodies tested for
various environmental pollutants, researchers found that most were surprised
and perplexed by the number of chemicals to which they'd been exposed.
The women had been part of a larger study conducted by the Silent Spring
Institute in which their homes and urine samples were tested for 89
environmental contaminants -- including pesticides and chemicals found in
plastics, cleaning products and cosmetics.
An average of 20 chemicals was detected for each study participant.
Much is unknown about the possible health effects of the array of chemicals
in everyday household products. But certain chemicals -- like phthalates and
bisphenol-A, found in plastics -- have been linked to potential risks,
including hormonal effects and higher risks of certain cancers, though the
evidence mainly comes from research in lab animals.
Other household chemicals are known to irritate the skin, eyes and airways,
and may exacerbate asthma, for example. Many more chemicals found in
cleaning products, cosmetics and other household staples remain untested.
Chemicals that accumulate in household dust or urine likely come from a
range of sources, so it is not always clear how to reduce people's exposure,
according to Dr. Rebecca Gasior Altman, the lead researcher on the new
study.
However, there are still measures that people can take, Altman, a lecturer
in community health at Tufts University in Boston, told Reuters Health.
In the original study, she noted, women were given advice based on their
particular chemical exposures -- such as reducing pesticide use or using
fragrance-free detergent and personal-care products.
The term "fragrance" on household-product labels can signal the presence of
potentially harmful chemicals. One of the uses of phthalates, for example,
is to stabilize fragrances.
For the current study, published in the Journal of Health and Social
Behavior, Altman and her colleagues interviewed two dozen women who'd taken
part in the Silent Spring study to see how people tend to react to
information on their household chemical exposure.
They found that the women were generally surprised at the range of chemicals
detectable in their homes and bodies. They were also surprised that even
some banned substances, such as the pesticide DDT, were detected (as these
chemicals persist in the environment).
With many unanswered questions about the health effects of household
chemicals, some experts worry that giving people information about their
everyday exposures will provoke unnecessary fear, Altman's team notes.
However, the researchers found that women in their study were typically not
alarmed, and instead wanted "more rather than less" information on the
issue.
SOURCE: Journal of Health and Social Behavior, December 2008.
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