Chemical substances usually present in the tires of our cars, potentially harmful to health, have been detected in a good number of fruits and vegetables in Switzerland, said a study by the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausana (EPFL), which warns that the food chain of other countries could also be affected.
Florian Breider, head of the EPFL Environmental Laboratory Research Department, led this study in charge of the Swiss Food and Veterinary Safety Office because these additives were detected in similar analysis in Austria.
For the study, a hundred fruits and vegetables in Switzerland supermarkets, markets and stores were analyzed in the laboratory, and was found in almost a third of them traces of eleven chemicals such as 6PPD and 6ppd-quinone, used as antioxidants or to improve the strength and elasticity of the wheels.
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Alert the presence of additives from tires in the food chain
Previous Rodent Studies showed that these chemicals can contribute to lower fertility, or have neurotoxic or neuroinflammary effects, although the consequence that its intake can have in the human organism can still be fully known.
“We do not know how people metabolize it, but we must explore it because we are all exposed to these compounds,” said Breider, who added that consumers from other countries near Switzerland and Austria are very likely to also run at risk of ingesting these chemicals when consuming food.
The wear of the tires on the roads releases in the atmosphere and later also to rivers, lakes and other aquatic bodies this type of substance, which also reach animals due to inhalation or water consumption.
Studies published in 2017 indicated that up to six million tons of these additives could be released in the environment every year, and other investigations claim that aggressive driving when it comes to stop and accelerate increases the release of these chemicals in the air, soil and water.
With EFE information.
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