unctioning of the cell.”
There is a substantial body of published research on endocrine disruption, and
the current methods of toxicology testing used to permit chemical residues in our food and water are based on the assumption that all chemicals lose
their toxicity as they decrease in quantity. This is clearly not correct for many chemicals.
According to the USPCP, numerous published studies link the endocrine disruption caused by common commercially available chemicals to many of the health
problems such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, ADHD, depression, cancers of the sexual tissues and endocrine system, genital-urinary track malformations and
lowered fertility rates and sperm counts.
The vast majority of chemicals have simply not been tested for their long-term affects on humans, pets or the environment. Some 800 chemicals are known or
suspected to be capable of interfering with hormone receptors, hormone synthesis or hormone conversion. However, only a small fraction have been
investigated in tests. Andre Leu says “ Setting low thresholds for chemicals is, therefore, not evidence-based science. It is decision-making based on data-free assumptions.”
Testing chemicals in isolation is not realistic
According to Dr. Leu, “Part of this is due to how most testing is done on single chemicals in isolation in a lab. The reality of most chemicals is that
they are used in combination with other chemicals creating a “chemical cocktail” that makes testing difficult and costly. Regulatory authorities tend to
focus on the active ingredient in a cocktail and if it is below the “acceptable daily intake (ADI)” the cocktail as a whole is considered safe. They do not
test the combinations of chemicals.”
According to a study by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), chemical cocktails can act
when individual chemicals at low levels combine with others at low levels, their mixture can create much higher levels of chemical toxicity than the
two individually. This “additive effect” has been tested extensively and warns that it is scientifically unsound to test just one component of a
mixture and assume that the entire combination in the formulation will respond in the same way.
Or, to put it another way, just because one chemical is considered safe (below the acceptable daily intake levels), it does not mean the rest of the cocktail is safe
. Sometimes, simply the addition of water, which often contains pesticides, can change the dynamics enough to create an entirely new chemical more toxic
than the original chemical!
Most of the insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides used in agriculture as well as adhesives, paints, finishes, and sealers used in building materials are
complex formulations of both active and inert ingredients. The active ingredient is the primary chemical that acts as the
pesticide or adhesive, while the other, so called “inert” ingredients, help to make it work effectively. Inert chemicals according to the USPCP, are often toxic, however, they are not tested for their potential to cause health problems.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pesticides approved for use contain nearly 900 active ingredients, many of which are toxic. Many of
solvents, fillers, and other chemicals listed as inert ingredients on pesticide labels are also toxic, but they are not required to be tested for their
potential to cause chronic diseases such as cancer
. Clearly, single chemical testing of active ingredients is not enough and can be misleading.
LD50 testing for acute toxicity is too short term
Another weakness in the standards of testing of chemicals is for “acute toxicity” or the amount that is fatal to animals or humans. The
most referenced value is LD50. LD stands for Lethal Dose and 50 means the amount required to kill 50% of the test animals. The lower the number, (e.g. 100mg) the more
toxic it is, because it takes less to kill the animal. LD50 testing is widely used as the main reference when judging a substance’s acute toxicity, or the
adverse effects resulting fr