It refers to the presence and accumulation of chemical compounds in our body. Their presence is measured in bodily fluids -blood, urine and breast milk- or in tissues -nails, hair, fat and bones-. But do we know where the products we consume come from and what they are made of? In our “advanced society” we are exposed to a never-ending stream of chemical products that we bring into our homes and consume every day without being aware of it. Compounds that, without a doubt, at some point improved productivity, durability, safety and wellbeing, but which today have been shown to have side effects in many cases. Air purifiers, air fresheners, cleaning products, hygiene products, food, cosmetics, textiles, building materials, water and a long list of others contain synthetic chemical substances that enter our body in small doses through the nose, mouth or skin, accumulate in the body, and can be passed on from generation to generation. Over the last 100 years, 150,000 new chemical products have been introduced into the environment, of which only 10% have been evaluated. That does not mean that this 10% is safe, since there is no data on how they interact. Some of the most common compounds found in our indoor spaces, and which concern scientists, are alkylphenols (in detergents), phthalates (in PVC, dyes), flame retardants (in textiles), formaldehyde (in cosmetics, cleaning products, building materials), benzene (in plastics, resins, glues and detergents) and Bisphenol A (in polycarbonate), all of them linked to allergies, infertility, metabolic disorders, neurological alterations and diseases, autoimmune diseases or cancer.
A report by the IMIM, the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, located in the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, has highlighted one of its effects: asthma. The study confirmed that people who work cleaning private homes have a 50% higher risk of suffering from asthma and respiratory problems. “Today, air quality in an average European home is between 3 and 5 times worse than the air on the streets of Madrid” -Michael Braungart, chemist at the Hamburg University of Technology-. This means our indoor air will always be the same as or worse than the outdoor air wherever we are. Establishing a causal link between certain environmental factors and harmful effects on health poses many difficulties. From the moment a substance begins to raise suspicion until it is regulated or banned, years, even decades, can pass. Mobility, the bioaccumulation of many pollutants and the multifactorial nature of the issue often make it impossible to reach a clear diagnosis of the cause. On the other hand, banning the use of a product based on the results of a study showing its danger can be hindered by the emergence of other studies, funded by large chemical, pharmaceutical and plastics companies, that cast doubt on those results. For all these reasons, we advocate for the “Precautionary Principle” and encourage efforts to reduce the presence of chemical pollutants in our indoor environments by choosing natural, local and organic products, and avoiding petroleum-derived products in food, hygiene, clothing, decoration and construction.
