Toxic tsunami of everyday chemicals overwhelms experts

It is impossible for scientists to say which toxic chemicals pose the biggest risk to health, wildlife and the environment, experts have told politicians, because of the sheer number.Non-stick frying pans, flame-retardant sofas and shirts that hide sweat typify everyday products that pour chemicals into a toxic cocktail, quietly building up in humans and wildlife.And with new ones coming into use faster than dangerous ones are banned, and few facts about the harm they cause, scientists are in the dark over what does most damage.That’s the alarming message world-leading ecotoxicologist Professor John Sumpter gave the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee as it started its inquiry into toxic chemicals in daily life.“There’s a huge number of chemicals in use,” said Prof Sumpter, based at Brunel University London. “Most of them are in the environment and most of them are in you and me. “And we are still putting into the environment large numbers of pretty much unidentified, highly persistent chemicals, which makes it impossible to say which we should be most concerned about. I wish I could.”