Frank Lautenberg and What We All Need to Know About Obesogens

I am all about new phraseology, I mean heck, in a world where my kids say fantabulous, obesogen is a valuable term.  The Children's Environmental Health Center under the leadership of Dr. Philip Landrigan is the world's leader in having chemicals to which children are exposed researched and understood.  Amazingly, few chemicals are tested at all, and, in the United States, chemicals are added to products before they are proven safe.  Then, opponents are burdened with proving them unsafe, and pushing for legislation to ban them.  Dr. Landrigan has led the push to keep dangerous chemicals out and to test them before they are used in products including everything from food to sunscreen, toys and mattresses.

The late Senator Frank Lautenberg was a big proponent of the Safe Chemicals Act (an act encouraged by all of the rock star environmental scientists that I follow) which he reintroduced in April and he was involved in various other pushes to make us and our children safer.  Hopefully, in his absence some congress people will further his commitment to testing environmental toxins before the whole nation is so riddled with ADHD, autism and obesity that everyone loses focus.

So, what is an obesogen?  Well, what I would previously have termed an endocrine disruptor, that is any chemical or product that changes endocrine behavior, alters hormones, and effects metabolism among other bodily processes.  In a new and somewhat shocking study (well, shocking to people who use these chemicals), three generations of rats were made obese by exposures of the pregnant mother to tributyltin (anti fungal, biocide harmful to marine life), plastics (they tested BPA, DEHP, DBP), and jet fuel.  So, when fragrances are in your lotions, pesticides on your food, fire retardants in your mattresses, you spray your house for insects, you add air freshener to your car and you drink water out of plastic water bottles on hot summer days, your kids suck on plastic toys while you spray chemical based phthalate ridden sunscreen on them, well, at least you can know there are researchers and politicians trying to have these chemicals banned so their generational course of harm can not continue.  Long-lasting harm is done, but we don't need to keep doing more.