Andre Evans – A new study is attempting to measure the effects of toxic endocrine disrupting chemicals and understand their long term impact in the realms of finance, the environment, and personal health. What the researchers found was startling to say the least.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, looked at the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals in European countries and how the following health risks would translate into economic costs for those who become sick or disabled as a result.

“Global experts in this field concluded that infertility and male reproductive dysfunctions, birth defects, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and neurobehavioral and learning disorders were among the conditions than can be attributed in part to exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The €157 billion estimate is conservative, and represents 1.23 percent of Europe’s gross domestic product (GDP). These costs may actually be as high as €270 billion ($359 billion), or 2% of GDP,” the study states.

Endocrine disruptors exist in a broad variety of products in today’s society. Most receipts, food packaging, plastic bottles, some money, lining inside of cans, and even toilet paper contain one or more of these types of chemicals that have adverse effects on the body and its ability to produce and regulate hormones. When a frozen package is thrown into a microwave or hot water, this also greatly increases the potency of these chemicals. The most dangerous of these, however, probably comes in the form of pesticides that are sprayed onto crops and eventually end up in the food and water supply. Continue reading →