Consumers Who Avoid Products With Harmful Chemicals on the Label Have Lower Body Burden: Study

Consumers who avoided products containing specific endocrine disruptors were found to have significantly lower levels of the chemicals in their bodies, revealed a study led by Silent Spring Institute.

The findings of the study are published in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health.

Do Endocrine Disruptors Make You Fat?
The metabolic effects of endocrine disruptors are studied through EDCMET project in coordination with the University of Finland.

‘People who avoided products with parabens, triclosan, BPA, and fragrances were twice as likely to be in the group with the lowest body burden for all chemicals combined.’

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"That's why expert scientific panels and medical societies recommend that people take steps to limit their exposures to these chemicals," says lead author, Dr. Robin Dodson, an environmental exposure scientist at Silent Spring. "And, with the current pandemic, we see how diseases associated with environmental chemicals also make people more vulnerable to COVID-19--yet another reason to reduce exposures in the population."

The team collected urine samples from 726 participants across the United States who signed up to join the Institute's crowdsourced biomonitoring project. Researchers analyzed the samples for ten common endocrine disruptors.

87% of participants were taking steps to avoid certain chemicals in products, and that overall, participants had reduced levels of parabens, BPA, triclosan, and benzophone-3 compared with the U.S. population.

Guidelines for the Health Assessment of Endocrine Disruptors
The EU Commission jointly commissioned the two European authorities to prepare common guidelines as to how the hazard-based criteria can be implemented practically.

Avoiding certain products and reading ingredient labels effectively reduced exposures to parabens, triclosan, and benzophenone-3.

"This study not only helped us gain a better understanding of how product choices influence people's exposures to endocrine disruptors, but it also provided us with an opportunity to educate consumers and empower them to make healthier choices," says Dodson.

High Levels of Endocrine Disruptors Found in Homes of the Poor and the Affluent
It has emerged that homes in low-income and affluent communities in California both had similarly high levels of endocrine disruptors, and the levels were higher in indoor air than outdoor air.

Companies need to be more transparent about their products' chemicals through better labeling policies, which could help people further reduce their exposures to harmful chemicals.

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that are widely used in personal care and household products. Examples of endocrine disruptors include bisphenol A (BPA) from plastics, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) from pesticides, vinclozolin from fungizides, and diethylstilbestrol (DES) from pharmaceutical agents to name a few. Chemicals in the endocrine disruptors can interfere with the body's hormones and lead to diseases such as reproductive disorders, thyroid disease, asthma, and cancers.

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Source-Medindia