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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Chemicals Linked to Increased Risk of Childhood Obesity

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013   

ST. LOUIS - It's common knowledge that eating healthy food and exercising can help people maintain a healthy weight, but there's another factor at play of which many people are unaware: chemicals in the products we buy and use, which can contribute to fat accumulation.

According to Kathleen Schuler, senior policy analyst at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, an emerging body of science links an increased risk of obesity to chemicals that disrupt hormones, especially during prenatal life and in childhood.

"One of the effects can be changing the cellular pathways to accumulate fat, and so we're finding that many of the chemicals that we are exposed to every day are what we call 'obesogens' or chemicals that contribute to fat accumulation," Schuler said.

Schuler said such chemical obesogens can be found in everything from electronics to nonstick cookware and many other consumer products.

"Bisphenol-A, which people know, it's in food can linings" is among them, she stated. "It's in certain kinds of plastics. Phthalates are also hormone-disrupting chemicals that are known to be obesogens, and phthalates are used in plastics. They're also used in fragrance products, so many personal-care products have phthalates in them."

To reduce the risk of exposure, Schuler said, consumers can stop purchasing and using those products that contain the chemicals.

"But we really need to go upstream and we need to get these chemicals out of some of the products that people use every day," she went on. "And one thing we can do is we can reform the Toxic Substances Control Act, which is a federal act that regulates industrial chemicals."

It's now estimated that one-third of American children and two-thirds of adults in this country are overweight or obese.




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