Almost all children and adolescents, according to an unpublished study of the Federal Environmental Agency and the Robert Koch Institute plastic ingredients in the body. For some of the 15 substances investigated there are no health-critical limit values. For those for whom there are, these were exceeded in two connections.
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In response to a small request from the Greens, the Federal Government quotes the burden on the population with chemical residues from the "German Environmental Study on the Health of Children and Adolescents 2014-2017". It is before the SPIEGEL.
The focus of the study was the "human biomonitoring" of 3- to 17-year-olds. In urine samples, residues of 11 of the 15 tested substances were detected in 97 to 100 percent of the 2500 participants, primarily plasticizers contained in plastic.
"Our study clearly shows that plastic ingredients also increasingly occur in the body with increasing production," said Marike Kolossa-Gehring, one of the authors of the study and toxicologist at the Federal Environment Agency, on request the SPIEGEL. "It is really worrying that the youngest children are most affected as the most sensitive group."
Fabric from outdoor clothing or pan coating
The Greens are also alarmed. "It is too little researched how the many substances in their total affect our bodies," criticized Bettina Hoffmann, environmental health expert of the parliamentary group. Of particular concern are the high levels of PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid). In 20 percent of those examined, they were above the limit, in the younger children, the proportion was even higher.
"It can not be that every fourth child between the ages of three and five is so heavily burdened with chemicals that long-term damage can not be reliably ruled out," says Hoffmann. PFOA, which is contained in outdoor clothing or in pan coatings, was carcinogenic and fertile in animal experiments. From 2020, there will be a ban on the substance across the EU.
The representatives of the ecology party complain that PFOA has long been in circulation and has been criticized, but only now should be banned. "The Federal Government must do everything to protect people from harmful chemicals," says Hoffmann, "Provision is an obligation."
Bad replacement
The results of the study also show an increase in exposure to substitutes for previously banned chemicals. Hoffmann sees this as a critical signal: Substances that are classified as dangerous should not be replaced by similar chemicals with likewise questionable properties, she says.
In addition, it must be better researched, which entry routes chemicals enter the human body, the Green politician. The results of the study include, for example, the exposure to substances contained in cosmetics, children's toys or medical devices.
Some of the substances studied have been banned since 2015 due to health concerns in certain products. That such prohibitions have a long-term effect is shown by the decrease of lead in the samples compared to the predecessor study of 2006. The burden has decreased significantly due to prohibitions and restrictions, says Holger Koch from the Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum of the study. Koch: "Against this background, the current results are a success."
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