{"id":2493,"date":"2012-12-19T09:53:44","date_gmt":"2012-12-19T14:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/nanotechnology\/?p=2493"},"modified":"2026-04-02T11:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:00:10","slug":"chemicals-r-us-new-acc-sponsored-website-says-chemicals-are-safe-and-fun-for-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2012\/12\/19\/chemicals-r-us-new-acc-sponsored-website-says-chemicals-are-safe-and-fun-for-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemicals R Us: New ACC-sponsored website says chemicals are safe and fun for kids!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Denison, Ph.D.<\/em>, is a Senior Scientist.<\/em><\/p>\n

[See also my more recent post on this topic here<\/a>.]<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I was alerted yesterday to a new website \u2013 <\/span>kidschemicalsafety.org<\/span><\/a> \u2013 funded by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and run by its right-hand \u201cnon-profit,\u201d TERA (Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment).\u00a0 The website and an accompanying <\/span>Facebook page<\/span><\/a> are a wonder to behold, replete with photos of happy kids.\u00a0 For the most part, I\u2019ll leave it to you to explore.\u00a0 But here are a few highlights.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The website\u2019s stated mission:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Kids + Chemicals is your best source of balanced, scientifically accurate chemical health information. We will alert you to the latest chemical-related health concerns, but also let you know when you can relax.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the topics are innocent enough and objective.\u00a0 There\u2019s one on choking hazards and other physical dangers posed by some toys, written by someone from the Cincinnati Drug and Poison Information Center.\u00a0 But that page then links to another one on <\/span>chemical risks of toys<\/span><\/a>, this one written by scientists at <\/span>Exponent, Inc.<\/span><\/a>, a toxicology-for-hire firm used heavily by the chemical industry.\u00a0 Their message to parents:\u00a0 \u201c[I]t is important to consider not just the chemical levels in the toy, but also whether they can cause an exposure above a safe level.\u201d\u00a0 The page goes on to assure them:\u00a0 \u201cThe good news is that a variety of regulations exist that are designed to improve toy safety. \u2026 State, national and international agencies take great care to define chemicals of concern and minimize exposure to children from toys through regulations.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In case parents are still wondering just what is a \u201csafe level,\u201d there\u2019s a handy link to <\/span>another page<\/span><\/a> that sings the praises of risk assessment and helpfully explains:\u00a0 \u201cAll chemicals are toxic at some level. \u2026 For example, ingesting dihydrogen monoxide can cause harm to people at high exposure levels, but few people would want to ban di-hydrogen (H2) mono-oxide (O) \u2013 also known as \u201cwater.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another <\/span>page on asthma<\/span><\/a> lists many contributing risk factors:\u00a0 \u201cpet fur and dander, dust, cigarette smoke, mold, and pollen\u201d and notes that \u201cother common pollutants found in the air can also cause asthma, such as ozone and car exhaust.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As to chemicals in your home?\u00a0 The page goes as far as to cite some studies claiming a link \u2013 but quickly dismisses them, stating \u201cmost studies cannot link one individual chemical or product to the increase in wheezing or asthma-like symptoms,\u201d and that many such studies are based on tests in animals \u201cexposed to extremely high concentrations, which do not represent our everyday exposures.\u201d\u00a0 It goes on to note that \u201cregular cleaning reduces the presence of known allergens and irritants mentioned above, and has been shown to reduce allergy and asthma symptoms.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The website has dozens of references and links to TERA and its work, most of them noting TERA is a \u201cnon-profit\u201d but omitting any mention of how much of its <\/span>funding comes from the chemical and related industries<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Very odd in this regard are the prominent bright green \u201cDONATE\u201d buttons that appear throughout the site; they link to a page where you\u2019re invited to support TERA and this website, which is \u201cmade possible through the generous support of people like you.\u201d\u00a0 Maybe ACC is being a bit tight with its funding this time around, after having its earlier effort to create an \u201castroturf\u201d front group, the <\/span>Coalition for Chemical Safety<\/span><\/a>, go up in smoke.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike that time, at least this time around, ACC\u2019s sponsorship is <\/span>duly noted<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 There are some strange sponsors in addition to ACC and TERA, however, whom I can only hope have been duped:\u00a0 The Cincinnati Children’s Drug & Poison Control Center, NSF International, and most bizarrely, the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) of the US Federal Government.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I have to say the site is clever in that it has just enough of an air of balance that I am concerned it may fool unwitting readers (clearly the intent).\u00a0 It even has a <\/span>links page<\/span><\/a> that directs readers to organizations such the National Children\u2019s Study and the Children\u2019s Environmental Health Network.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Clever it may be, but \u201cyour best source of balanced, scientifically accurate chemical health information\u201d it ain\u2019t.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist. [See also my more recent post on this topic here.] I was alerted yesterday to a new website \u2013 kidschemicalsafety.org \u2013 funded by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and run by its right-hand \u201cnon-profit,\u201d TERA (Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment).\u00a0 The website and an accompanying Facebook page are …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,5009,56093],"tags":[39150,5013,5019,91812,731,5021,5017],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policy","category-health-science","category-industry-influence","tag-american-chemistry-council","tag-children-safety","tag-consumer-products","tag-dourson","tag-front-group","tag-chemical-industry-tactics","tag-risk-assessment"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2493"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13671,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2493\/revisions\/13671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2493"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}