Well, things are getting interesting!

I read recently in the Wall Street Journal that this last fall, the EU
member states decided to enact some of the strongest consumer product
protection laws seen yet. The U.S. chemical industry had lobbyists crawling
all over the Europeans last summer in an effort to stop them. Of course they
failed given the nature of what is at stake and who pays the price for any
problems arising from it. One of the inevitable side effects of their
socialized medical systems is that as the governments are responsible for
healthcare, they have, in an effort to save themselves money, started to
restrict the chemicals they will allow into consumer products - substances
which in many cases are listed as hazardous when they are in construction
materials used in this country, by the way..

Carbon black, which is a known carcinogen is often to be found as a colorant
in mascaras and eyeliners. Same for crystalline silicates which are
carcinogenic, as the gypsum in paints and sheetrock and joint compund. Let
it be known that Talcum powder, that men and women use is also a crystalline
silicate of magnesium. DANGER!! Will Robinson!! Use corn starch instead.

Add to that the glycols, which in and of themselves pose a limited risk (as
they are on the Government's GRAS - '*generally* regarded as safe' list -
but NOT totally harmless, mind you - otherwise it wouldn't be 'generally'
regarded as safe), but in the fact that they are oil based and hydrophilic
(water attractive), which is why they are used as humectants in skin creams
and lotions and can in effect turn your skin into a petrochemical residue
sponge. This is why glycols are used in paint colorants - they can be put
into BOTH oil and latex based paint. To wit: L'Oreal and Revlon and one
other comany I forgot are now changing their products to meet the HIGHER
European health standards and reformulating out alot of these chemicals -
one of the unintended side effects of NAFTA, that rather than risk
investigation into the nature of their products and potentially open
themselves up to liability if they sell two grades of product (and the
inferior one of course will be sold in America, where we ONLY get the BEST
of everything, right?). They are looking at the potential PR nightmare of
having it BOTH ways, and are capitulating instead to the EU marketplace,
rather than risk being shut out of it or coming under scrutiny.

Gentlemen, I have been aware of the dangers of chemical exposure for over a
decade, as it is one of the results of my chosen path in the building
trades. I am pickeld from exposure, it was part and parcel of why I was made
so ill from Benzene poisoning two years ago from a trip to the local
hospital.

You all have NO idea how good it feels to see this minor vindication of my
beliefs in the hidden dangers of these substances - it's not been something
not thought out or studied up on. I've had people look at me like I was
three headed for saying "watch out, be careful, use natural fibers, buy used
clothes that have the dyes washed out, avoid make-up and sunscreens, avoid
chlorine..etc, etc."

It's not a sweeping awareness mind you, and most news sources will overlook
it entirely in the face of more flamboyant headlines of train wrecks and
tsunamis, but the beginning has arrived. The pennies are finally starting to
drop as the chemistry of cancers and the agents that can cause the genetic
damage that start it in the human body are uncovered. As it stands now, many
manufacturers of products are finally admitting to the dangerous nature of
exposures that arise out of usage - the outgassing of esters from broadloom
wall to wall carpets, which has been a known to installers and manufacturers
for DECADES, is now the culprit in many lung ailments, partiucularly in
small children who tend to spend hours a day playing and crawling on them.

I've never been a big proponent of NAFTA, but for this, I am genuinely
suprised and immensely pleased that someone else is seeing the same hazards
I have, and is acting to curb those dangers. Given the state of the medical
system in this country where people are basically thrown to the lions - God
save the person who gets a totally preventable illness from exposure and
even the insured are getting fiscally raped - curbing these chemicals is the
only thing that will keep many people from losing everything they own, or
their very lives.

Next on the list should be the hormones that cause *glandular* cells in
men's and women's bodies to become cancerous - or is no one out here
noticing that as the HRT and estorgens have been entered into the
environment, things like prostate cancers, nevermind the obvious breast
cancers, are on the rise?

Deb.


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