Sicker Fatter Poorer

"The urgent threat of hormone-disrupting chemicals on our health and future..."

This seems especially relevant in light of Lilly's report Tuesday, and the vague fear many have about chemicals.

Here’s a terrifying fact: conservative estimates say that household hormone-disrupting chemicals are costing the US $340 billion annually in healthcare costs. This statistic received the attention of Leonardo Trasande, which led to his latest book, Sicker, Fatter, Poorer (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019). Here, the internationally renowned leader in environmental health investigates the pervasiveness of dangerous hormone-disrupting chemicals in our everyday lives.
Leonardo Trasande MD, MPP is the Jim G. Hendrick MD Associate Professor, Director of the Division of Environmental Pediatrics and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics at NYU School of Medicine. He also serves on the faculty of the NYU Wagner School of Public Service and the NYU College of Global Public Health. Dr. Trasande is an internationally renowned leader in environmental health. His research focuses on the impacts of chemicals on hormones in our bodies.
Orion’s Reviews Editor Kerri Arsenault recently asked Trasande nine questions about the book’s central concerns, environmental health, and what to do about it all.
KA: The “Precautionary Principle” is the European Union’s approach to regulating chemicals, meaning companies have to prove a product safe before it’s distributed. In the US the burden falls on the consumer to prove a chemical unsafe. What can the average citizen do to combat this kind of regulation?LT: Don’t underestimate the power of the pocketbook or wallet. BPA was banned in baby bottles and sippy cups a decade ago based on much less science than we have now. Consumer concern and media attention fueled industry change – and ultimately industry went to the FDA to insist on a ban. These types of consumer campaigns aren’t perfect – we know BPS and other bisphenols replacing BPA are as estrogenic, toxic to embryos, and persistent in the environment. But it does speak to the opportunity for progress when regulation is waning.
Think about the power of employers, schools, and companies as force multipliers. Two major supermarket chains insisted recently on their providers of food packaging to swap out all buffet containers because they were found to have the thyroid-disrupting perfluoroalkyl acids, the non-stick Teflon-like compounds. That was driven by a study finding these chemicals in five – yes, five – containers. A little data goes a long way... (continues)