Is plastic slowly killing off our kids’ futures?
ANYONE rummaging around Melbourne mum Lucy Lines’ cleaning cupboard will find it empty, except for a few microfibre cloths.
It’s almost as bare as the cupboard for plastic containers. You won’t find sandwich wrap in the kitchen either. All these choices have been made because one day she hopes to become a grandmother.
As well as being a mum of two, Lines is an embryologist and head of fertility consultancy Future Fertility Safe. She says the latest research confirms what scientists have long suspected – that the chemicals in products you’re probably using every day can be slowly destroying your child’s chances of ever becoming a parent. They’re called endocrine-disrupting chemicals and they’re found in almost everything we use on a daily basis, including food wrapping, shampoo and toothpaste.
According to research gathered by the World Health Organization, EDCS block connections between hormones that are essential for reproduction or they mimic hormonal activity, tricking a hormone receptor into action.
Basically, EDCS interfere with the normal function of our hormones. The US research institute the Endocrine Disruption Exchange lists more than 1400 potential EDCS in everyday products, while the WHO has identified more than 800.
Lines is alarmed at the number of EDCS she sees Australian parents exposing their children to daily.
“EDCS can be found in every room of your house,” she says.
“We often think that someone somewhere is making sure that things are safe, that we are protected from exposure to dangerous things by boards and committees. We mistakenly believe that if it’s on the shelf at the supermarket it’s safe and this just isn’t true.”
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