That’s more than twice the annual estimated cost of $163 billion in
the European Union, where regulations may limit exposure to some of
these chemicals, researchers note in The Lancet Diabetes and
Endocrinology.
The chemicals in question are known as endocrine disruptors because
they can interfere with the body’s endocrine, or hormone, system and
produce negative developmental, reproductive, neurological and
immune effects.
“These findings speak to the large health and economic benefits to
regulating endocrine-disrupting chemicals,” said senior study author
Dr. Leonardo Trasande, a researcher at New York University Langone
Medical Center in New York City.
For the current study, researchers reviewed blood sample and urine
analyses that documented the presence of endocrine disruptors among
U.S. participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey (NHANES).
They estimated total costs linked to these chemicals based on both
the direct cost of treatment and the indirect cost of lost
productivity or earnings. Then, they compared the U.S. results to
findings from a previous study done in Europe.
Costs are higher in the U.S. in large part due to widespread use of
a chemical mixture applied to furniture to make it less flammable
that has been restricted in Europe since 2008.
This chemical blend, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), is
responsible for about 43,000 cases of intellectual disability in the
U.S. each year, compared with 3,290 cases in Europe, the researchers
estimate.
PBDEs are also tied to the loss of 11 million IQ points each year in
the U.S., compared with 873,000 lost IQ points in Europe.
Combined, the costs associated with intellectual disabilities and
lost IQ points linked to PBDEs come to $266 billion a year in the
U.S., compared with $12.6 billion in Europe.
Organophosphates - chemicals in pesticides that have been restricted
in the U.S. since 1996 - are associated with 1.8 million lost IQ
points and 7,500 cases of intellectual disability in the U.S. each
year, at an estimated cost of $44.7 billion.
In Europe, where these pesticides are not strictly regulated,
organophosphates are linked to 13 million lost IQ points and 59,300
cases of intellectual disability each year, costing a projected $194
billion.
Autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, obesity, diabetes,
heart and vascular disorders, and endometriosis are among the other
diseases linked to exposure to endocrine disruptors and included in
the cost analysis.
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One limitation of the study is that researchers limited their cost
analysis to a subset of about 5 percent of endocrine disruptors with
solid evidence suggesting they cause health problems, the authors
note. This may underestimate costs, they argue.
Even so, the results offer some of the most compelling evidence to
date of the economic impact of U.S. environmental policy, said
Joseph Allen, a public health researcher at Harvard University in
Boston who wasn’t involved in the study.
“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,” Allen said by email.
“In the U.S. our chemical policy largely follows the approach of our
legal system – ‘innocent until proven guilty,’” Allen added. “This
is appropriate for criminal justice policy but has disastrous
consequences for health when used for chemical policy.”
Absent changes in regulations, there’s still plenty people can do to
limit their exposure to the chemicals, Trasande noted.
“These include eating organic foods, avoiding microwaving food in
plastic containers, limiting canned food consumption, and washing
plastic food containers by hand instead of putting them in the
dishwasher,” Trasande said.
“People can also avoid using plastic containers labeled on the
bottom with the numbers 3, 6 or 7 inside the recycle symbol, in
which chemicals such as phthalates are used,” he said. “Switching to
“all natural” or “fragrance-free” cosmetics can also reduce
exposure.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1KTihJx The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology,
online October 17, 2016.
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