Wait wait. They’re not going to ban toxic chemicals in consumer goods?
Didn’t you hear? We’re living in the worst timeline. The world is one big South Park episode.
I guess we make too much money with poisoning our people.
Is this something like “Na is toxic. Cl is toxic. NaCl is tasty.”?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The EU has abandoned a promise to ban all but the most vital of toxic chemicals used in everyday consumer products, leaked documents show.
PFAS – also known as forever chemicals – accumulate in nature and in our bodies where they can damage the endocrine, immune and reproductive systems.
The planned ban would have taken thousands of the most hazardous products off the market but it is now unclear whether the proposals will be mothballed or buried.
An EU official declined to comment on the leaked documents but said: “It’s no surprise that the Reach revision doesn’t feature in the work programme.
An earlier leak of the EU’s chemicals plans reported by the Guardian in July showed the scope of the bloc’s ambition had been weakened in the face of intense industry pressure, which was backed by EU political leaders including the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
The Green MEP Bas Eickhout said: “It’s very clear that there’s not enough appetite with this commission to have a proper revision of the Reach regulation, so let’s make it a campaign issue in the June 2024 elections.
The original article contains 569 words, the summary contains 184 words. Saved 68%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
So what are these hazardous products that are currently on the market?
Well, we’re mostly talking about PFAs here. Those are used in many industrial processes. So they’re often in products where no one actually want them. But some machine during manufacturing used them hence they’re there. Not much, but because they’re extremely stable and “not much” can accumulate over a human’s lifetime.
As far as I understand it, they’re mostly used because they’re hydrophobic. I.e. prevent water from sticking. Hence if you want to buy a product that’s meant to contain some PFAs, you’ll find them in stuff like ski wax and anti-fogging sprays for glasses.
The link in the article mentions six groups of substances (anilines, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, mycotoxins and PAHs) as known or presumed carcinogenic. Another list gives suspected carcinogenic chemicals. These include acrylamide and some aprotic solvents, benzophenones, flame retardants, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and pesticides. Benzene, formaldehyde and silica dust, which are used widely, are not on this list but are associated with leukaemia and lung cancer.
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/environmental-burden-of-cancer/chemicals
No idea about concrete products though. PFAS is in frying pans (teflon) and Gore-Tex at least.
“A little poison builds character”.
