Chemical concerns: how toxic are we?
29 Jan 2004
A WWF Report published today reveals growing scientific evidence of contamination of people and wildlife by a wide range of chemicals used in common consumer goods.
The WWF report Causes for Concern: Chemicals in Wildlife has found chemicals such as perflourinated compounds, phthalates, phenolic compounds, and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) have become widespread environmental contaminants. These chemicals are used in the production of textiles, food packaging, non-stick coatings, plastics, food and drink containers, computer shells, fabrics and TVs.
"The WWF report has implications for all countries where industrial chemicals are used and manufactured," Dr David Butcher, WWF-Australia chief executive officer, said.
"In Australia, there are 38,000 chemicals on the Australian Inventory of Chemical Substances. For many of these chemicals, little is known about the extent to which people and wildlife have been exposed to these chemicals and the affect to human health and the environment," Dr Butcher said.
In Europe, WWF is calling for the introduction and strengthening of proposed European Union law known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals), to better safeguard people and wildlife from toxic chemicals. REACH will require manufacturers and importers to provide safety information on the 30,000 industrial chemicals sold annually in Europe.
"In Australia, there is an appalling deficiency of information about these chemicals, their quantities and distribution in the environment, their toxicity and potential impacts on wildlife and people.
"The Australian Government is making positive steps to better manage toxic chemicals with a commitment to ratify two important international conventions, the Stockholm Persistent Organic Pollutants Convention (POPs) and the Rotterdam Prior Informed Consent Convention," Dr Butcher said. "But much more needs to be known about the extent of chemical contamination in Australia."
There is a wide range of toxic chemicals accumulating in humans and wildlife not covered by these conventions. For example, phthalates, a group of chemicals used as softening agents for plastic products, are strongly implicated as hormone mimicking chemicals, or endrocrine disrupters.
Phthalates appear to exert endocrine disrupting effects and may be linked to birth defects in males, including undescended testes, to low sperm count and testicular cancer.
"In 1999, Australia imported or manufactured over 16,000 tonnes of phthalates which ended up in a wide range of plastic consumer products," Dr Butcher said. "WWF believes the precautionary principle must be rigorously applied so as to ensure that toxic, bio-accumulative and persistent chemicals do not enter the environment," he said.
The Australian Government must work towards this goal by:
* Researching the extent to which the chemicals listed in the WWF report - perflourinated compounds, phthalates, phenolic compounds, and brominated flame retardants - have contaminated people and wildlife in Australia
* Implement greater transparency in the chemical registration process by making information submitted by companies in support of registration, such as toxicity data and material safety data sheets available to the public
* Direct additional resources to the process of assessing the back-log of chemicals on the Australian Inventory of Chemical Substances (AICS). Only a small proportion of chemicals on AICS have been assessed.
Press Office:
* Andy Ridley, WWF Senior Manager Communications. Ph: +61 2 8202 1237,
0415 865 992 or aridley@wwf.org.au
* Jacqueline McArthur, WWF Communications Officer. Ph: +61 2 8202 1242,
0408 626 780 or jmcarthur@wwf.org.au
