Less plastic and pesticides; more ecological and proximity product
A conference by Nicolás Olea, professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Granada and scientific director of the Biosanitary Research Institute of the Nasrid city, yesterday opened the path of cultural activities that the renovated School of Commerce is called to host. Under the title “Compromised human health. Hormonal components”, the doctor exposed the danger of the so-called endocrine disruptors, chemical substances capable of altering the hormonal system. Before the mayor and the councilors present at the talk, Olea urged action from the municipal level avoiding the use of pesticides in public places, reducing traffic or promoting the reduction of the use of plastics. The components of this material are precisely those that have a greater impact on human health due to their extension. "The most common plastic in the blood comes from perfluorinated alkyls (PFOS) in frying pans" and "100% of Spanish children urinate PET and phthalates, we have the highest level in the entire European Union," warned the doctor.
Clothes, food wraps or even incubators for newborns are made of compounds that, according to the expert, are behind the proliferation of diseases such as cancer. In a study conducted by Olea among patients with breast cancer in Granada, the third factor detected in the appearance of tumors was "environmental chemical exposure". Another of the groups mentioned in the study was that of farmers, in contact with pesticides and plastics from greenhouses.
The presence of endocrine disruptors is especially harmful to Olea in food products. "In Spain it takes to produce in single-dose containers, which the only one that benefits is the intermediary," he lamented. As an example, he presented the case of a soft drink brand that replaced its glass bottle with a PET one to "sell more by taking weight off the container." Based on data from a German study, Olea indicated that "86% of water bottled in plastic is estrogen and another 40% androgens." The professor also raised the alarm on recycled materials. "If we recycle shit, what we have is recycled shit," he said. One example, he continued, is found in the cardboard of pizza boxes, of which 60% contain phthalates. "Recycled paper in food is a real problem for public health."
For this reason, he recommended promoting from the City Council the consumption of organic food and local products in schools, residences and hospitals. Another of the actions that fall within the scope of municipal competence, he recalled, is to banish endocrine disruptors, present in construction materials, through contracts and public purchases.