Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
3
In their statement, “In view of the magnitude of the potential risks
associated with endocrine disrupters, we strongly believe that scientific
uncertainty should not delay precautionary action on reducing exposures
to and the risks from endocrine disrupters.”
4
Sixteenth-century observation by Paracelsus that toxicologists paraphrase
as “the dose makes the poison.”
5
The Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) first gave the USEPA the
authority to regulate chemicals from beginning to end of life.
6
The FDA moved to ban BPA from baby bottle applications at the request
of the American Chemistry Council and
after
its use in baby bottles has
been phased out voluntarily by the industry.
7
A website by the American Chemical Council, (
factsaboutbpa.org
) for
instance argues the contrary position.
8
Companies such as Eden Organic, Native Forest, and Trader Joe's
advertise canned food in BPA-free cans.
9
Bioaccumulationoccurswhentherateofremoval(excretion)ofachemical
from an organism is slower than the rate of intake due to exposure to the
chemical.
10
In a soft flexible product, around 50% of the compound can be phthalate.
The highest level of phthalate reported in a PVC toy is 73% of DINP,
reported by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control in a
2008 study.
11
Infants undergoing treatment in ICUs are estimated to receive phthalate
doses that are 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than that for the general
population (Calafat and Needham, 2004).
12
PBDEs constitute only about 18-21% of the total flame retardants used
globally. Inorganic flame retardants such as Al(OH)
3
, Mg(OH)
2
, Sb
2
O
3
,
and other metal compounds are the most used class of flame retardants.
13
CMC is the Criterion Maximum Concentration and CCC is the Criterion
Continuous Concentration. These indicate concentrations at which
aquatic organisms show no adverse effects under chronic and continuous
exposure, respectively.
