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Spermicide increases risk of aids
Health effects of aerosols and air fresheners
Flame retardents in VDUs blamed for illness
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Tea bags soak up formaldehyde
Toxic additives- information on commonly used synthetic
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500 synthetic chemicals
in one human cell
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Japanese reject whalemeat because of pollution
MAFF says more than one portion of fish a week hazardous
Bisphenol-A leaching out of plastic
Low doses of bisphenol-A more
dangerous
Sunscreens possibly causing DNA damage
Spermicides on condoms increase risk of urinary
tract infection
Synthetic chemicals in fragrances
Sick building syndrome - ozone from
photocopiers and printers
Fluoride on the brain
Chinese joss sticks release hydrocarbons
Also see pesticides page for Deadly mix of chemicals
Spermicide bad news
Nonoxynol-9 has been used as a spermicide on diaphragms and condoms for
many years. When test-tube studies suggested it could kill the AIDS virus,
research involving 999 prostitutes in South Africa, Benin, Thailand and
the Ivory Coast was undertaken. The researchers were shocked by the results.
The more the women used nonoxynol-9, the greater their risk of contracting
AIDS seemed to become. The researchers suggest that it may damage the
skin inside the vagina, making it easier for the AIDS virus to enter.
The researchers had also hoped that nonoxynol-9 might protect against
gonorrhoea and chlamydia. It did not. The study’s director, Dr. Lut
van Damme of Antwerp’s Institute of Tropical Medicine, commented
that “this may be the end of nonoxynol-9 as a potential microbe killer”
and called for its use as part of safe sex programmes to be reconsidered.
Ed.- In 1996 S.D. Fihn and colleagues discovered that nonoxynol-9 increased
women’s chances of contracting a urinary tract infection by three
and a half times by inhibiting the growth of beneficial vaginal bacteria.
Nonoxynol-9 is part of the ethoxylated alkylphenol family, which includes
some of the most powerful oestrogenic gender-bending chemicals invented.
(7321-23) Nigel Hawkes and Michael Dynes.
Times 13.7.00