In the 1980s, the US Research Council found that more than 70% of chemicals in widespread commercial use had no minimal evidence of toxicity, and to date there have been no significant improvements that put humans humans at high risk. Toxic ignorance emphasizes the lack of knowledge about the effect of toxin pollution around us, on our systems, and how this can lead to health problems in our bodies.
Large amounts of synthetic chemicals are used in the production of many food products, cosmetics, food packaging, and generally most commercial products, and only 2% of thousands of chemicals have been tested for carcinogenicity. . This means we are at risk from more toxins than ever before, most chemicals have not been lab tested despite the general belief that government agencies are protecting our environment and health from the effects of toxins. toxic chemicals, which is false. There is also a lack of understanding of complex chemical mixtures because most environmental health researchers use animals in laboratory tests and are exposed to one chemical variable at a time, while humans are exposed to multiple mixtures of chemicals that can have an additional effect in humans and that long-term exposure to these multiple chemicals can have culminating effects. Laboratory tests that would be capable of testing multiple variables would incur high costs in time and money, and therefore impractical, some taking as much as hundreds of years to test only a small number of chemicals. There are a few reasons why environmental health and safety research is limited and these are:
A. Research is limited to one or two variables, while multiple variables are not taken into account, which is common in humans.
B. Most of the research relates only to the cancer paradigm, while there may be other diseases caused by a combination of different chemicals.
vs The sheer number of chemicals available for commercial purposes and the introduction of new chemicals each year makes it difficult to keep up.
There are some solutions/precautions that can be taken to limit/stop excess toxins in our environment and system, and some of them are:
-Simple screening tests by manufacturers, especially those chemicals that are used in high volume, and the results must be available to the public.
-Replacement of certain chemicals with safer organic alternatives.
-Reducing the number of chemical products on the market and used in the production of goods.
-Detox.
