Consumer Products

A six-month EWG Action Fund investigation into asbestos in America uncovered an epidemic of asbestos disease and mortality that affects every state and virtually every community in the country. Asbestos kills 10,000 Americans each year, 2,500 more than skin cancer, and that number appears to be increasing. While most of these individuals are workers exposed decades ago, asbestos is not yet banned and more than 1 million people are currently exposed to asbestos on the job. As long as asbestos continues to be used in consumer products and remains available in millions of buildings and homes, it will continue to kill and injure thousands of innocent people for decades to come.

In the first nationwide tests for chemical fire retardants in the breast milk of American mothers, EWG found unexpectedly high levels of these little-known thyroid toxins in every woman tested. Milk from several of the mothers in EWG's study had among the highest levels of these chemicals yet detected worldwide.

Levels of a little-known class of neurotoxic chemicals found in computers, TV sets, cars and furniture are building up rapidly in key indicator species of San Francisco Bay fish, according to tests by EWG.

a series of studies published beginning in the 1950s shows that DuPont has known for at least 50 years that Teflon fumes at relatively low temperatures can cause an acute illness known as polymer fume fever. In several studies DuPont recruited human volunteers and intentionally exposed them to Teflon fumes to the point of illness. The results of these studies suggest that people cooking on Teflon and other non-stick pans may be at risk.

EWG tests of coated pans found that in two to five minutes on a typical household stove, heated pans reach temperatures that produce toxins that even DuPont acknowledges kill hundreds of pet birds each year and cause flu-like polymer fever- in humans. EWG Petition to the CPSC (PDF).

However, these perfluorochemicals"" (aka PFCs) have emerged as a regulatory priority for scientists and officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Until recently they were thought to be biologically inert. No one thinks so now."

These professionals coach them on how best to mask their efforts with inoffensive language to advantageously slant public perception. However, it’s rare to actually get an under-the-hood glimpse of the formulation behind such propaganda.

Secret tests conducted in 1984 by the DuPont chemical company found a Teflon-related contaminant (C8) in the tap water of the Little Hocking Water Association in Ohio, just across the river from the company.

Most people are surprised to learn that the government neither conducts nor requires safety testing of chemicals that go into health and beauty products. Today a panel funded and advised by the cosmetic industry determined that cosmetic companies can continue to add reproductive toxins known as phthalates to cosmetics marketed to women of childbearing age.

A review of federal and industry science on the toxic industrial chemical commonly called C8 (perflouroctanoic acid, used to make Teflon) reveals that water pollution policy by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is far less protective than previous industry standards. The findings, authored by the Washington-based research organization Environmental Working Group (EWG), undercut public assertions by state officials that their drinking water standards are based on sound science.