The US Toxic Substance Control Act was created in 1976, and at this time the 62,000 chemicals already in use were ‘grandfathered’ into the system. Since 1976, 20,000 new chemicals have been introduced into our production cycles – into our ecosystems and into households – and only 200 of these chemicals have gone through intense review, and of these only 5 have been banned. Only 5 out of over 80,000. And regulations don’t even begin to get into the compounding effects of multiple chemical exposure, and in modern society we are bombarded by a chemical cocktail everyday. For instance, even if we want to know what chemical additive substances are in plastics, oftentimes this mix is a highly guarded company secret. Tragically, the accumulation of plastics of all size will be a source of undeterminable global contamination to deal with in the future ~ We need a precautionary principle when dealing with chemicals to limit exposure for all sentient beings, after all humans are not the only ones effected ~
