Just blame it on cigarette smoke, that’ll fix it

Extracted from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22360355/

The dangers of phthalates

Wilding works for the Ecology Center, a nonprofit environmental watchdog group that in 2006 published Toxic at Any Speed: Chemicals in Cars and the Need for Safe Alternatives. The report examined two categories of chemicals lurking in car materials: phthalates and brominated flame retardants, such as deca. Phthalates make plastics softer and more elastic. They have also been shown to lead to liver and kidney damage in rodents. As for the flame retardants, they act like rat poison, too, causing brain damage and thyroid problems.

And while the research on humans is more limited, it's no less alarming. One 2004 study from Sweden showed that children raised in houses with high concentrations of phthalates in the dust were more likely to develop asthma and allergies.

Another recent study from the University of Rochester found that men with the most phthalates in their bodies had waists 3 inches wider than those with the least. Still more research suggests that we're being attacked in utero, too: A 2005 paper in Environmental Health Perspectives reported that mothers with higher levels of phthalates in their urine had sons with less-developed genitalia.

Given the potential dangers, the researchers at the Ecology Center decided to see if these toxins would turn up inside cars. In their study of 13 different brands, they sampled ………….

Japanese scientists at the Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health performed an even more extensive analysis. They sampled the air inside 101 newer cars and found that each vehicle contained 241 different airborne toxins (also known as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs), including a class of carcinogens called aromatic hydrocarbons.

Finally, in a 2007 study, scientists at Taiwan's Hungkuang University analyzed the air in 20 new vehicles, including coupes, compacts, sedans and SUVs. Once again, the results revealed significantly elevated VOC levels in all of the cabins. Worse, one sedan contained 200 times more xylenes, …….

WOWEEEEEE, .....attacked in utero, ..... sons with less-developed genitalia, ..... brain damage, ....... sure sounds to me like that "new car smell" ....... would, could, should be a likely "candidate"for being the cause of ......... AUTISM.

GEEEZE, there are not very many pregnant females, ...... new mothers ...... and babies ....... that DON'T ride around in vehicles a smelling those carcinogens, ...... now is there?

GEEEZE, ..... maybe I should get some of that thar scientific training thingy ........ and become a "report writing researcher".

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