Diseases
Man-made chemicals are an integral and vital part of our modern lifestyles. They are found in a vast range of consumer products - from furniture, clothing and toiletries to electrical appliances, car interiors and cleaning products. While many have undoubtedly improved the quality of our lives, some possess undesirable properties.
They can be harmful to health and many can persist in the environment and bioaccumulate in the bodies of wildlife and people. These properties have resulted in ecosystems all over the world being contaminated with a cocktail of man-made chemicals. Examples include the chemicals DDT (an insecticide) and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls - used in electrical components), which despite having been banned for decades, are still found throughout the global environment, including in our own bodies.
In more recent years, modern chemical compounds such as brominated flame retardants (used to prevent fire in plastics e.g. TVs, computers and textiles e.g. furniture, carpets) and perfluorinated "non-stick" chemicals, (used for waterproof and stainproof coatings) have followed PCBs and DDT to all corners of the globe.
Some chemicals can also interfere with hormone processes in the body - these are known as hormone disruptors or "endocrine disrupting chemicals" (EDCs). Examples include phthalates, primarily used to soften plastics and found in numerous consumer products, from vinyl flooring to cosmetics.
Many chemicals with hormone disrupting properties have been detected in young children as well as adults, and in some cases at higher levels in children than in adults.
More and more research scientists are becoming concerned that harmful chemicals are beginning to effect our health. Such diseases that we now think may be linked to exposure to certain chemicals include some cancers, reproductive problems, birth defects, asthma, allergies, behavioural problems, disruption of infant brain development, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.
CHEM Trust will highlight the relevant wildlife and human research. We will summarise the data making it widely available, clearly explaining how environmental factors may be at work.
The following are key priorities for CHEM Trust:
Breast Cancer
Testicular Dysgenesis Syndrome (TDS)
Neurological impairment in children
Another disease that CHEM Trust will look at in the future is Diabetes.
