Friday, July 11, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Chemical levels vary widely among Swedish youth

Published 27 January 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Chemicals are found in products such as makeup and skincare.
3 minute read

Levels of chemicals in Swedish youth vary widely, according to a doctoral thesis from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). Factors such as gender, place of birth and place of residence have a major impact on levels.

Chemicals are becoming increasingly common in our environment and accumulate in the human body through constant exposure. Despite their ubiquity, knowledge of their health effects is still limited.

In his doctoral thesis, Sebastian Pineda investigated chemical levels in Swedish adolescents, their exposure to these substances and potential health risks. The samples were collected via the Swedish National Food Agency’s project Riksmaten Ungdom.

Pineda’s research focused on long-lived chemicals that can stay in the body for years, including harmful metals and organic pollutants such as chlorinated, brominated or fluorinated substances, such as PFAS chemicals. He also studied short-lived chemicals that leave the body quickly but are found in everyday products such as makeup, skincare and plastics.

Country of birth can influence

The results show that Swedish adolescents are exposed to a “chemical cocktail” similar to that observed in other highly industrialized countries, such as the United States. However, factors such as gender and place of birth play a crucial role in the levels of different substances.

Young people born in Sweden or other industrialized countries had higher levels of persistent chemicals compared to young people born in developing countries.

– More surprisingly, country of birth also had a clear impact on levels of substances that are excreted from the body quite quickly. However, in our data, there is no information on possible sources of exposure that could help us explain this, said Pineda in a press release.

At the same time, some exceptions were noted, such as a breakdown product of DDT and a component of lindane two insecticides banned in Sweden. Young people born in developing countries had significantly higher levels of these substances compared to Swedish adolescents.

Different for girls and boys

The study revealed clear gender differences. For example, boys had higher levels of chromium, mercury and lead than girls. One possible explanation is that boys generally eat larger amounts of food and thus ingest more metals. Another explanation could be that older girls lose some chemicals through menstrual blood.

Girls generally had higher levels of chemicals found in makeup and skincare products, as well as higher levels of cadmium. In addition, the results showed that exposure to certain substances differs between northern and southern Sweden.

– Levels of these flame retardants and plastic chemicals were higher in young people in the north. We suspect that this is related to living conditions, as we know that the indoor environment is an important pathway for these substances, says Sebastian Pineda.

Chemical mixtures and the immune system

Pineda and his colleagues also investigated the potential impact of chemical mixtures on the immune system of adolescents in the context of vaccination. The study analyzed the link between exposure and antibody levels in the blood after vaccination against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTP), and measles and rubella (MR). However, the associations were considered weak and uncertain.

– The mixture exposures did not seem to be high enough to have a clear impact on the levels of antibodies against DTP and MMR, but my thesis is only a first investigation of possible chemical mixture effects on the complex immune system in adolescents, says Pineda.

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Green Party economist: Good that fewer children are born in Sweden

The exaggerated climate crisis

Published today 11:36
– By Editorial Staff
The Green Party politician Lennart Olsen sees children as an unnecessary burden on the economy and the environment.
2 minute read

That fewer children are born in Sweden is only good for the environment, argues Green Party (Miljöpartiet) politician Lennart Olsen. Children and young people also cost more than older people, who can still work at higher ages if the pension age is raised, he adds.

Olsen writes in a debate article in the Bonnier publication Dagens Nyheter that people should view positively the fact that Swedes are not reproducing themselves.

“What’s needed here is a reversed perspective, where lower birth rates and eventually decreasing population should be welcomed to reduce the exploitation of the earth’s ecosystems“.

The Green Party member believes that the Swedish government’s investigation aimed at proposing measures to raise the very low birth rates in Sweden is “misguided”. He argues that the state can save money from fewer children being born.

“For the state’s and municipal sector’s economy, children and young people are a much greater expense than the elderly. This is because virtually all people between 0 and 20 years old cost a lot of money in the form of preschool, school, higher education, parental insurance, child allowance and more“, Olsen explains his thesis and argues that older people also won’t need as much pension if the retirement age is raised further.

Above all, the Green Party economist sees the possibility that fewer Swedish children will lead to a better climate in the long term.

“The positive effects of such a development can then also take effect and lead to reduced pressure on the earth’s ecosystems“, writes Olsen.

Olsen represents a so-called neo-Malthusian line, an ideological movement that strives for reduced population and strongly influences the climate alarmist movement.

Sweden’s Christian Democrats call for tax relief for families with children

Published yesterday 7:08
– By Editorial Staff
1 minute read

Swedish families with children should receive tax relief, according to the same model as Hungary. This is proposed by Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch.

The catastrophically low birth rate has recently become a topic of discussion even among Swedish politicians. Childbirth in Sweden is at historically low levels. During 2023, an average of 1.43 children were born per woman – the lowest figure ever recorded. The standing solution advocated among Swedish politicians has been to bring foreigners to Sweden to replace the population.

The leader of the Christian Democrats Ebba Busch proposes on this theme to follow the Hungarian model, where families with children receive significant tax relief that increases for each child. The principle is to make it easier for one or later both parents to support themselves through work instead of benefits.

If current birth rate trends continue in Sweden, each new generation will be approximately 30 percent smaller than the previous one, which means major consequences including for the labor market and welfare system when fewer people of working age must support a growing elderly population.

 

Almost total halt for imported berry pickers in Sweden

Published 8 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
2 minute read

The Swedish Migration Agency has rejected almost all applications for berry pickers for 2025. As recently as 2023, 5,000 permits were granted.

Citing years of indications that employment conditions in the berry industry are not being upheld, the Migration Agency has granted only 89 permits for berry picking this year. A total of 2,397 applications for berry pickers have been received for 2025.

Last year, the Migration Agency rejected all applications for berry pickers, but 1,272 applications were subsequently approved after court review.

The Migration Agency has also this year assessed that workers in the berry industry risk not having their employment conditions met. Therefore, the agency has decided to reject most of the applications for Thai berry pickers, says Hanna Geurtsen, Deputy Project Manager for Work Permits at the Migration Agency, in a press release.

This year, the Migration Agency explains, all employers active in berry picking have chosen to apply for permits via the EU’s Seasonal Workers Directive. The difference when applying for a work permit as a seasonal worker, compared with the national main track for work permits, is among other things that the berry pickers this year are directly employed by a company in Sweden and not via a foreign staffing agency.

It’s partly about having an employment contract signed by both parties and that the employment conditions must be in line with Swedish collective agreements. For the majority of the applications received this year, these requirements have not been met, says Hanna Geurtsen.

The berry companies that have been rejected have the possibility to appeal these decisions in court, the agency adds in its press release.

Number of berry picking permits granted by the Migration Agency in recent years:

2025: 89
2024: 0 (1,272 were approved after court review)
2023: 5,372
2022: 6,594
2021: 5,175

Swedish government to map immigrants’ opinions

Published 7 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The Liberals' new integration minister Simona Mohamsson on the left, on the right migrants who have landed in Europe (archive image).
1 minute read

The Swedish government is now launching a project to examine immigrants’ opinions compared to native Swedes.

The results will serve as guidance for future integration efforts, says the Liberal Party’s new integration minister Simona Mohamsson about the project.

World Values Survey, WVS, is an international research program that examines people’s values in everything from social, political, economic, religious and cultural aspects.

The Swedish government is now paying WVS €450,000 to examine how values differ between non-Western immigrants and those with entirely Swedish backgrounds. During the autumn, around 3,000 people will be interviewed.

“We are an extreme country”

According to surveys that World Values Survey has previously conducted, the differences between immigrants and native Swedes are very large regarding views on things like divorce, premarital sex, abortion and homosexuality, where Sweden overall stands out as an exceptionally liberal-oriented country.

We are an extreme country in a good way. For people who become part of our society, it becomes somewhat difficult to navigate that map, says Mohamsson about the project to the Bonnier-owned newspaper DN, which among other things highlights that immigrants are more skeptical toward homosexual relationships.

There’s a whole generation of girls who don’t get to choose who they want to love or boys who can’t come out of the closet, she says.

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