The wristbands look like those you might find at a souvenir shop: bendy loops of silicone, in the color of your choice. But scientists are increasingly using the bands to measure exposure to toxic chemicals present in the air around us and in everyday items we use, including personal care products.
Silicone mimics the way the human body absorbs harmfulchemicals and has little pores similar in size to pores in human cells. Having people wear the wristbands, and then studying the chemicals the bands absorb, can give scientists a good understanding of the chemicals the wearers were exposed to.
As negotiations continued this week in South Korea on a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution — including restricting the harmful chemicals present in plastic — 12 high-ranking United Nations officials had worn the wristbands to measure their exposure to toxic chemicals.
The unusual experiment that included the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, took place for five days earlier this year. It was organized by the International Pollutants Elimination Network, or IPEN, a global network of nonprofit groups advocating for stronger chemicals regulation.
The project focused on globally unregulated chemicals found in plastic and plastic manufacturing that are thought to be harmful to health.
The results, which showed the U.N. officials had each been exposed to more than 30 different chemicals, were released on Thursday. It was meant to be illustrative, the group said, to drive home the fact that the treaty negotiators themselves are vulnerable to chemicals that could have health effects.
“It’s so easy for delegates sitting in these conference rooms to become removed from reality,” said Sara Brosché, an environmental scientist at IPEN and the study’s lead author. “But everyone, even the participants, is exposed.”
How the world should address chemicals present in plastics has become a big point of contention at the plastic treaty talks, which have become bogged down in disputes over procedure, as well as disagreement over whether to restrict the production of plastic.
A proposal from Turkey would establish a scientific body to start determining a list of “chemicals of concern.” Brazil has proposed specific criteria to assess such chemicals. But Canada, Georgia, Ghana and others have pushed for binding obligations to start phasing some chemicals out of plastics entirely.
The chemical industry, however, has argued for a more targeted treaty that would focus on measures like recycling, rather than restricting plastic production or harmful chemicals.
Many chemicals found in plastic products are known or suspected to disrupt the human endocrine system, and play a role in reproductive disorders, cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease and other serious health conditions. The vast majority are unregulated at a global level.
Kim A. Anderson, a professor of environmental and molecular toxicology at Oregon State University who led the development of the use of the silicone wristbands, said it was important to remember that not all of the detected chemicals would come exclusively from plastic.
Dr. Anderson, who was not involved in the IPEN study, said a group of chemicals called phthalates, for example, which are used to make plastics more flexible and durable, are also present in many cleaning or personal care products. Phthalates are thought to negatively affect pregnancy, child growth and development.
But her own research over the past decade has shown that phthalates were almost always found among participants in wristband studies, which she said “pointed to the pervasiveness of phthalates both as an additive in personal care products and as an additive in plastics.”
As part of the new study, IPEN partnered with a Thailand-based nonprofit group, Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand, or EARTH, to use wristbands to study exposure among local plastic workers and recyclers — and found that plastic waste and recycling workers were the most exposed.
Research has also increasingly shown that people can be exposed to chemicals found in plastic not just from contact with plastics but from the air, food, water and dust.
That’s what Marcos A. Orellana, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, rediscovered after wearing one of the wristbands for five days as he went about his daily life in Maryland.
Thirty-four different chemicals were detected in his wristband, including phthalates and an UV stabilizer, a chemical added to materials to protect them from ultraviolet radiation.
“It made me think: ‘If I’m exposed to these levels, what about my kids?’” Mr. Orellana said.
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