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    Posted October 24, 2009 by
    TomPalmieri |
    Location
    Pembroke Pines, Florida
    Assignment
    Assignment
    This iReport is part of an assignment:
    Passions over health care reform

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    Should Manufacturers of Cleaning Products Pay a Portion of Americas Healthcare Costs?

    By TomPalmieri  |  Posted October 24, 2009  |  Pembroke Pines, Florida
     
    Recent studies conducted by USC scientists at the Berkeley Institute of Medicine, resulted in a report showing American manufacturers of cleaning products are knowingly using toxic chemical compounds in their cleaning solutions.
    Chemicals shown to cause breast cancer, diabetes, asthma, bronchitis and liver disease.
    Known as Neurotoxins and Carcinogens, manufacturers of cleaning products use these chemicals in low doses with cleaners such as bleach, toilet bowl cleaners, glass cleaners, oven cleaners, rug cleaners, and antibacterial soaps.
    A dose refers to the amount of toxic chemical that is allowed per ppm (part per million) by the federal governments toxic chemical regulatory laws.
    Knowing these toxins become airborne when in use, researchers in Spain wanted to know what the chemical ppm build up would be in the human blood stream, as a result of chemical exposure though normal breathing or through aerosol skin absorption.
    Tests were conducted by Dr. Jan-Paul Zock of Barcelona Spain in joint studies conducted at the Municipal Institute of Medical Research (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain, the Respiratory Epidemiology and Public Health Group, the Imperial College, London, in the United Kingdom, the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), and the National Heart and Lung Institute .

    Results showed an alarming 40% increase of new Adult Asthma cases within one control group of workers in the cleaning industry.
    This raises a series of critical questions for American Congressional Leaders to consider, while trying to figure out ways to finance health care in America:

    • Could humans absorb other, more toxic chemicals, through repeated exposure?

    • If that chemical build up is present, and found to be above the manufacturers recommended ppm, resulting in over exposure to the consumer, does the excessive chemical intake result in a  disease known to be associated with the chemical?

    • If the answer is found to be "yes", would the manufacturers of cleaning products be held liable due to their negligence, for not conducting long term chemical exposure studies?

    • If these chemicals are tested and proven to be directly related to illness's suffered by unwary consumers, can the manufacturers of cleaning products be held accountable to the American public for long term health care related costs, as was the tobacco industry?

    • Finally, should Congress be petitioned to launch an immediate and

    extensive investigation, through independent research studies, to see if there is a link between chemicals used in cleaning products, and the build up of the chemicals in the human blood stream?

     

    Congressional Leaders are urged to seize this opportunity, in a time when American health care is in dire need of repair, to potentially protect it's citizens from the real possibility of illness's related to chemical poisoning, and the associated costs of health care to taxpayers.

    If companies are found liable, American tax payers should be able to be compensated now, and in the future, for health care related costs that are a direct result of chemical poisoning by the manufacturers of cleaning products.
    Thomas Palmieri is an informed environmentalist and ezine author.
    Please visit his web site for news footage and article information on the topic of household poisons and what you can do to avoid them.

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