A rapid growth in consumerism is symbolic of a healthy economy but a robust purchasing power is also fuelling an increased consumption of toxic substances such as paints and compact fluorescent lamp tubes, which have become an accepted part of everyday life.
Materials such as these are active sources for toxic chemicals that can wreak havoc on human health besides damaging the environment. The toxic chemicals market has a global turnover of $2.4 billion, which is expected to double by 2030.
Given this grim situation, many countries across the world have stepped up awareness against these toxic substances, thereby limiting their usage.
As the world goes into an overdrive to reduce consumption of toxic substances and adopts measures to mitigate the impact of chemicals emanating from these materials, India is yet to cut down on the consumption of toxic items, as a result of which paints, chemicals, bulbs, spray cans, fertilisers and pesticide containers and batteries are used and disposed without a laid down procedure.
This is severely deteriorating the environment and is also critically affecting human health. Toxic chemicals are known to cause impaired development, they adversely affect reproduction and disrupt the body chemistry, besides causing cancer. The sluggish response in India in recognising the seriousness of the threat posed by toxic chemicals is mainly due to the lack of awareness and inadequate regulations concerning the usage and disposal of toxic waste.
The situation is made worse, thanks to the inept implementation of the existing laws governing toxic materials. For instance, in recent years, the use of energy-saving CFl bulbs has gone up enormously. According to a recent report, the production of CFl bulbs has increased from 19 million in 2002 to 600 million in 2014.
Each bulb contains three mg to 12 mg of mercury. With no system or regulation to recover these bulbs and ensure their safe disposal, the bulbs are proving to be a major health and environmental hazard. Similarly, the presence of lead in paints is yet another toxic chemical that is dangerous over a particular level.
The Bureau of Indian Standards imposed a voluntary restriction of 90 parts per million of lead in paints. Bigger companies are adhering to this, but small and medium enterprises are not, and the regulations are unable to bring these companies to book.
A continuous use of toxic products is resulting in a steady release of chemicals, contained in items such as brakes of cars, flame-retardants in furniture, softeners in plastics, and metals in roofing materials.
Given this situation, it is critical for India to rapidly move towards a reduced dependence on chemicals and to achieve this, the Government must focus on building awareness regarding the havoc played by toxic chemicals.
In addition, efforts must also be made to identify priority toxic chemicals and develop plans to reduce or eliminate their use, or to mitigate their impact on people and the environment.
As a first step in this direction, the Government must concentrate on controlling the prevalence of highly fluorinated substances, which are persistent in the environment as they are bio-accumulative and toxic.
Fluorinated substances present in the soil tend to leach into lakes and ground water for many decades to come. Carrying out forceful measures in this area will require broad cooperation with other authorities, researchers, industry and NGOs.
In the effort to rein in toxic chemicals in everyday life, the Government can bank on the network of municipal corporations. The municipal corporation network percolates deep into the cities and can help implement measures such as safe disposal of toxic substances, popularise options to toxic materials used in daily life besides spreading awareness on the ill effects of toxic chemicals.
As the world becomes a homogenous market place, the flow of goods across borders is taking place with minimum restrictions and this gives rise to inflow of products that might be high on toxic chemical content.
Given this situation, the Government must develop a sound screening mechanism for products in order to restrict and filter the products. Similarly, it is equally crucial for the Government to apply stringent regulations to domestic industry on the use of toxic chemicals by laying due stress on the sound management of chemicals throughout their life cycle, including persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals.
Between 1930 and now, the global production of man-made chemicals has increased from one million tonnes to 400 million tonnes a year, and the presence has increased mostly in the guise of consumer products. It is time to reduce the use of these products and urgently find options.