The experts of the Higher Council for Public Health (CSS) are alarmed at the rapid increase in the number of chemical agents that can impact the endocrine balance or lead to uncontrolled mutations, Le Soir noted in the light of a report obtained from the body.
A mere 1% of chemical molecules were screened in order to assess the hazard they presented cumulatively and in the long term.
"We have enough molecular epidemiological data to confirm that mutagenic agents, hormone disruptors and substances that bond themselves to hormonal or nuclear receptors, act as transcription factors in pollutants and synthetic materials. They also contribute to the risk of cardiovascular illness, cancer, diabetes, the dysfunctionality of the reproductive health of both women and men, but also to neurodevelopmental and cognitive disorders," toxicologist Nicolas Van Larebeke, one of the authors of the report, explained in Le Soir.
The danger applies primarily to young children and pregnant women, because early exposures have significant, undesirable effects on the development of the brain and other organs.
Out of 145,297 chemical products listed in Europe, only a hundred or so were judged as to the level of risk they presented. One in five should eventually be excluded.
The Brussels Times
