A range of highly toxic man made chemical compounds are contaminating people in many parts of the world. The recent problem in the Netherlands with milk for infants contaminated with the highly toxic dioxin, shows that deleterious contamination is a constant and continuously increasing diachronic threat for all ages

Nobody today can avoid exposure to the ever increasing number of toxic chemicals that are now being used or have been used in the past for a multitude of purposes.

A survey conducted in the United Kingdom by the World Wild Fund (WWF-UK) showed that volunteers from different regions all had in their blood significant numbers of various chemicals including among others polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), organophosphates, the known pesticide DDT and flame retardants that are used on TV sets and cars. The biggest number of toxic chemicals found in volunteers was 49 and the smallest was 9 while the average number was 30.

A proactive action is urgently needed to phase out the most harmful chemicals in favor of safer alternatives. The long term accumulation of these substances in the human body may have consequences that today are not known.

Children are influenced from this situation because they do not only absorb such substances during their everyday life but as well they carry a nocuous burden they took from their mother during their embryonic life or breast feeding.

The European Union, recognizing the serious dangers that do exist and continue to be generated, has taken initiatives for a regulation with the proposal of the legislative frame REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of CHemicals) which has been voted from the European Parliament on 29 October 2003.

You will find more interesting information about the highly toxic and widely used compounds, the survey conducted by the WWF-UK and the new European Legislation REACH in the article included in our 22nd monthly Progressive Newsletter Human contamination from highly toxic chemicals

We believe that more studies are needed to assess the real extend of the problem as well as to continuously monitor the ongoing effects of current and past contamination.