From Wn.com

Endocrine disruptors are found in plastic bottles, metal food cans, detergents, cosmetics, flame retardants, and pesticides but they’re also costing consumers $340 billion a year in lost earnings and health costs says to a new study published Monday, according to Reuters.

That figure is twice the cost that the European Union has which has more regulations on the chemicals in question which can interfere with the body’s hormones and negatively impact developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects.

“Adults and children in the U.S. carry more industrial chemicals in their bodies than their European counterparts simply due to differences in chemical policies,” said Joseph Allen. “In the U.S. our chemical policy largely follows the approach of our legal system – ‘innocent until proven guilty. This is appropriate for criminal justice policy but has disastrous consequences for health when used for chemical policy.”

Researchers were able to analyze blood and urine samples to document the presence of endocrine disruptors and then linked those to costs of treatment and indirect losses of earnings and productivity.
Costs are notably higher in the U.S. due to a chemical mixture known as PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl) that’s often applied to furniture but restricted in Europe since 2008 which is responsible for 43,000 cases of intellectual disability in the U.S. annually.

Researchers suggested for consumers to avoid microwaving food in plastic containers, limiting canned food, eating organic food, and washing plastic food containers by hand rather than using the dishwasher.

-WN.com, Maureen Foody

For more on this story go to:  https://article.wn.com/view/2016/10/18/Toxic_Chemicals_Found_in_Everyday_Items_Cost_Billions_in_Los/