Majority of Americans say government is not protecting them from toxic chemicals

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN

(CNN) — More than 70% of American adults are very or somewhat concerned about exposure to toxic chemicals in their food and drinking water, according to a new survey by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Public concern is so intense that 5 out of 6 adults in the United States said they wanted the federal government and industry to do more to protect them.

Pew is an independent nongovernmental organization and public charity that gathers data on environmental conservation, public health, state and federal policy, and economic security. The survey was conducted in October as part of its new safer chemicals project.

Up to 84% of the more than 5,000 adults in the survey said the federal government “needs to do more to identify and regulate harmful chemicals found in everyday products.”

These strong beliefs crossed age and party lines. Between 81% and 86% of all ages and nearly 80% of Republicans, 88% of Democrats, and 90% of people who declined to identify a political affiliation thought government wasn’t doing enough about chemical safety.

The survey results stand in “stark contrast” to recent actions by the Trump administration, said David Andrews, acting chief science officer at the Environmental Working Group, or EWG, a health advocacy organization that publishes an annual list of contaminated produce dubbed the “Dirty Dozen.”

“While Americans across the political spectrum are calling for stronger oversight and greater accountability on toxic chemicals, the administration is taking steps that go in the opposite direction,” Andrews said in an email. “Just last week, President Trump, with support from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., issued an executive order aimed at ramping up production of glyphosate, a probable carcinogen.”

Glyphosate is the world’s most widely used herbicide. The World Health Organization has classified it as a probable carcinogen.

“On one hand, they talk about making food safer; on the other, they are advancing policies that benefit pesticide manufacturers and could increase exposure to harmful chemicals,” Andrews said, referring to Trump and Kennedy.

Responding in an email, US Health and Human Services Press Secretary Emily Hilliard told CNN that the “Trump Administration and HHS, under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, have done more to protect the American people and remove toxins from our food and environment than any other administration in history.”

As for glyphosate, Hilliard said the administration was changing course toward “regenerative agriculture systems,” and until then a sudden loss of pesticides “would cut crop yields, drive up food prices, and accelerate farm closures.”

Industry cannot be trusted, survey found

In addition to worry over exposure to toxins in food and drinking water, more than 60% of American adults are also very or somewhat concerned about chemicals that industry uses in children’s toys and baby products, food packaging, and personal care products such as makeup, the Pew survey found.

“There are more than 350,000 chemicals in commerce, and at least 15,159 chemicals in food contact materials — most of which lack any risk assessments — so it’s clear the current regulatory approach has failed,” said Jane Muncke, managing director and chief scientific officer at the Food Packaging Forum, a nonprofit foundation based in Zurich, Switzerland, that focuses on science communication and research, in an email. She was not involved in the Pew report.

The survey also found 83% of American adults strongly or somewhat strongly believe “companies that make chemicals found in everyday products cannot be trusted to ensure product safety without government oversight.”

“That response was incredible because it was consistent across all the demographics that we evaluated as part of the survey,” said Jennifer McPartland, director of Pew’s safer chemicals project.

A similar percentage of survey respondents also wanted more transparency from manufacturers about the chemicals in the products they make. And if cleanup of chemical pollution was needed, 77% of respondents wanted industry to pay for it.

Chemical safety assessment is not “fit-for-purpose and urgently needs to be revised — so I’m with the majority of Americans on this issue,” Muncke said.

A spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical manufacturers, told CNN, “Americans should know that chemicals in commerce are subject to government oversight.

“Our members undertake extensive scientific analyses to evaluate potential risk of their chemicals, from development through use and safe disposal. We work with regulators, retailers and manufacturers to provide them with information about our chemicals,” ACC’s senior director of product communications, Tom Flanagin, wrote in an email.

Alarm over health harms accelerates

Concern over the risks of flame retardants, heavy metals, pesticides and endocrine-disrupting chemicals that mimic hormones in the body has been growing as more studies point to serious health impacts.

Bisphenol A, or BPA, is an endocrine disruptor that has been linked to fetal abnormalities, low birth weight, and brain and behavior disorders in infants and children. In adults, the chemical has been linked to the development of diabetes, heart disease, erectile dysfunction, cancer and a 49% higher risk of early death within 10 years.

Phthalates, which are found in consumer products such as food storage containers, shampoo, makeup, perfume and children’s toys, have been linked to reproductive problems, such as genital malformations and undescended testes in baby boys, and lower sperm counts and testosterone levels in adult males. Studies have also linked phthalates to asthma, childhood obesity and cancer.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are present in the blood of an estimated 98% of Americans, according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Used since the 1950s to make consumer products nonstick, oil- and water-repellent, and resistant to temperature change, PFAS chemicals have been linked to serious health problems, including cancer, fertility issues, high cholesterol, hormone disruption, liver damage, obesity and thyroid disease.

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