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The European Chemicals Agency has published a report about phthalates in toys and asbestos in second-hand products.
Prof. Daniel Nebert, Professor Emeritus, Department of Environmental Medicine and Center for Environmental Genetics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, said:
“As scientific instrumentation continues to become more precise, scientists can measure amounts of chemical contaminations at increasingly lower levels. Remember (from elementary chemistry class) Avogadro’s number that one mole of any chemical or ion = 6.022 x 1023 molecules/atoms of that substance. Thus, a 1 Molar solution = 6.022 x 1023 grams (divided by its molecular or atomic weight) in one Litre of water or other liquid. So, technically, anything below Avogardo’s number (6.022 x 10–23) would mean less than one molecule of that substance per Litre, i.e. “absolutely zero.” Attomolar means denotes 10–18 moles/L. Scientists are now able to detect attomolar concentrations of recreational drugs in creek or river samples. Given the new methodology of whole-genome analysis of single cells, we are now approaching attomolar concentrations and below. However, as Paracelsus (1493–1541) wrote, “Everything is poison, there is nothing that is not poison; the dose alone is what is important as to whether or not a substance is poison”.
“In summary, just because a chemical or metal is detected in our environment, does not mean it is toxic or carcinogenic. Regulatory agencies often do try to do their best to establish thresholds or limits beyond which a concentration is considered dangerous. And this is where politics can clash with the scientific method and hypothesis-driven accurate scientific data. Therefore, these designated thresholds must be taken with a grain of salt, because they are often much, much lower than what is reasonable, based on improperly performed lab animal or cell culture studies.”
Prof. Alastair Hay, Professor of Environmental Toxicology, University of Leeds, said:
“It is not possible to say how much of a risk to health the poorly compliant products represent as no concentrations are reported. It is only the number of products, or percentages, that are non-compliant and fail to meet the threshold values (0.01 % etc.) set by REACH that are reported.”
* https://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/13577/ref_4_report_en.pdf/
https://echa.europa.eu/-/inspectors-find-phthalates-in-toys-and-asbestos-in-second-hand-products
Declared interests
Prof. Daniel Nebert: “I have no interests or conflicts to declare. As emeritus, I’m consultant to many, all over the country.”
Prof. Alastair Hay: “I used to sit on the Health and Safety Executive’s WATCH committee and ACTS committee, and on the European Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limit Values (SCOEL) committee.”