Tuesday, February 26, 2008

More Chemicals in Your Baby

A new EWG report just came out this month and calls for the cumulative effects of phthalates on human health. According to EWG, 85% of U.S. population is contaminated with at least six different phthalates at any given time and the exposure to them is unavoidable. They are found everywhere in the environment. The biggest concern is their association with the health risk. The most fragile population is infants who come in contact with such chemicals everyday. More studies are showing that our babies are not as “pure” as we think. In fact, they are born polluted as a study from the EWG showed couple of years back, when they tested the cord blood from ten infants and found various chemicals in it. Personal care products like shampoo, lotion, and powder expose children to an average of 60 chemicals every day. This is only for the personal care products without taking in consideration the toys and the polluted environment. In the U.S. there is no law of safety standards of cosmetics so the industry can use whatever wants for making their products. Most of the phthalates are banned in Europe; I think it is time for the U.S. Congress to take action in establishing safer standards for use of ingredients in personal care products and remove the harmful chemicals from our environment.

Until then check out the Parent’s Buying Guide when shopping personal care products for your kids.

No comments: