Women and Chemicals

Where are women
exposed to chemicals?
Women as consumers
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According to UNEP, “consumption patterns in developed and
developing countries differ significantly, but there is an overlap
in terms of the elite minority in developing countries and the
growing numbers of the poor in industrialized countries. Globalization
is also fuelling an explosion of consumption throughout
the world. Yet 20 per cent of the highest-income countries
account for 86 per cent of the total private consumption, while
the poorest 20 per cent account only for 1.3 per cent. On the
one hand, overconsumption places increasing pressures on the
environment; on the other hand, 1 billion people living in poverty
have no survival options. Women and men usually consume
differently. In general, women first address the needs of
their families, particularly their children, whereas men are more
likely to spend resources for personal consumption. Women are
the largest group of consumers or shoppers worldwide, making
day-by-day purchasing choices. But since women are poorer
than men in most societies, they often suffer heavily from a lack
of basic necessities.“ 1
The International Finance Corporation of the World Bank
claims that „the financial power of women as consumers controls
about $20 trillion globally by 2009 and is projected to reach beyond
$28 trillion in the next five years. 2 Much of this is concentrated
in the developing world, including poor women consumers
whose collective household spending adds to hundreds of
billions of dollars. In many countries, women can have as much,
or more, influence over household and family spending than
men.” 3 Thus, women would have a tremendous market power, if
they received substantial information on the safety of the purchased
products and if there was an actual choice between different
products.
Women do not only shop for their own needs. They are also
the main care takers of their families. They plant food for their
families, cook meals, buy everyday products, wash clothes and
clean the house. During all these activities they or their family are
exposed to the chemicals in the products they bought.
At the moment consumers only have very limited information
about chemicals in purchased products. In many countries
there is no labelling or declaration in place at all. In others legislation
enforces or advises some level of information. In the EU
ingredients have to be disclosed and labelled for cosmetics and
food. India has a voluntary standard and labelling for lead. Yet
even regulation beyond labelling often does not suffice to protect
consumers, as many companies are able to bypass them.
Despite the clearly deficient regulatory norms in the European
toys directive, customs authorities report that 30 per cent of all
products inspected and rejected at the border are toys. Most
probably there is a much higher rate of non-compliance products
that pass customs and are sold in European toys stores.
Since regulation and laws differ from country to country, unsafe
products can easily be sold in countries with less strict or no
regulation. Many of the toys rejected by EU customs are sold in
other countries.
Often women do not have a choice to use safer alternatives
and better products, as they are either not available or not affordable.
Often they do not have any influence on their exposure to
chemicals as consumers e.g. in public transportation, hotels or shops
that are often perfumed with air fresheners or even special designed
odours. Those fragrances can cause non-curable allergies.
Chemical regulation and research often takes the average
male as a reference norm for thresholds or daily allowance tolerances.
They do not take into account the different susceptibility
of women and their different needs. Current limits and regulations
might not be enough to protect women’s health, as latest
research in the fields of endocrine disruptors, nanomaterials,
multiple exposures, chronic exposure to very small doses, earliest
exposure and multi-generational effects indicates.
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