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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Pardon any cross-posting. Thanks to Stacy
Malkan of Health Care Without Harm (check out their updated web site at <a
href="http://www.noharm.org/">http://www.noharm.org/</a> )</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>This is a little off track for our list
serve - </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Laurie </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
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<h2><b><font size=4 color="#666666" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Body
of Evidence: Contaminated Californians: New Tests Reveal that our Bloodstreams
May Be as Polluted as our Rivers</span></font></b></h2>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://www.commongroundmag.com/2005/cg3212/contaminated3212.html">http://www.commongroundmag.com/2005/cg3212/contaminated3212.html</a>
</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>New
Tests Reveal that our Bloodstreams May Be as Polluted as our Rivers</span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color="#666666" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#666666;font-weight:bold'>by
Peter Warshall</span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Georgia><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black'>The human body has
evolved a great wisdom, refining, over five million years, its ability to fight
viruses, bacteria and parasites. Only recently, in the last 50 years, has the
human body been forced to deal with a tsunami of new enemies — a deluge
of modern synthetic chemical molecules. The dosages, cocktails, and shapes of
these new molecules can confuse the development and workings of the
body’s immune, reproductive, nerve, brain and other tissue systems.
Specific chemical compounds, used in such common goods as soap and shampoo and
as softeners in plastic products, have been associated with cancers in rats and
abnormalities in the reproductive systems of babies. Mothers who eat organic
foods, buy non-toxic furniture from Ikea, think diligently about the safest
stain- and flame-resistant fabrics, and purchase certified herbal cosmetics
still carry a burden of synthetic molecules and toxic traces of industrial metals.
Even though a pregnant woman may take great care to avoid chemical exposure,
her fetus can absorb part of its mother’s pre-existing body-burden of
toxics through the placenta. <br>
<br>
California state officials, doctors, and a national collaboration of citizen
groups have begun to alert the public about how these synthetic molecules tax
the body’s wisdom. Some scientists and a small but growing number of
corporations envision a future of “green chemistry,” where
synthetic molecules will be manufactured and consumed without causing harm to
humans, plants or animals. They see a future in which diseases that are caused
or exacerbated by specific synthetic molecules will disappear. As Dr. Michael
McCally of Mt. Sinai Hospital put it, “The [industrial] chemicals found
in you were not present in your grandfather or mine.” Health problems
like Down’s syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, obesity, asthma, certain
kinds of cancer and infertility, certain learning disabilities and specific
birth defects have all been traced not only to such factors as genetics, sex
and age, but, tentatively, to exposure to specific synthetic molecules. <br>
<br>
In the spring of 2005, the Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center, a program of the nonprofit Commonweal health and environmental research institute in
Bolinas, took 18 vials of blood, a shank of hair and urine samples from eleven
prominent Californians. The samples were then tested for some relatively common
industrial chemicals and one heavy metal. Commonweal tested for synthetic
molecules of mercury, bromine, chlorine (DDT), fluorine (including compounds
that accumulate in the liver and cause fetal damage); and phthalates and
bisphenol A (molecules that can mimic sex hormones and have been implicated in
birth defects, cancers, and pregnancy problems). <br>
<br>
“Having spent 30 years on the West Coast, breathing relatively clean air
and eating virtually only organic food, I was curious to see what my internal
toxicology looked like,” said actor Peter Coyote, who was one of those
tested. After reviewing his test results, and discovering high levels of
mercury in his bdy, Coyote said he was alarmed to learn that: “My body
was loaded with numerous [synthetic] chemicals and toxins.” Coyote was
struck by the irony that, as taxpayers, we “spend tens of millions of
dollars a year to clean up Superfund sites, [but] we spend just a fraction to
see if we, ourselves, have become toxic storage sites[and] have upset our
biochemical equilibrium.” <br>
<br>
After receiving his body-burden report card, <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Los
Angeles Times</span></i> columnist Steve Lopez wrote: “The results are
in, and it turns out I’m a walking cocktail of toxic chemicals.
I’ve got a jigger of lead in me, a splash of flame retardant and a dash
of DDT. But none of this came as a surprise, and before you take pity, let me
remind you that your organs are probably marinating nicely too.…
What’s different in my case is that I’ve got the evidence right
here in front of me…. To be honest, there’s little evidence of
links between chemicals and specific diseases, and we don’t know much
about safe levels of exposure. Still, it was a little unnerving to read
that… my mono-ethyl phthalate count was more than 40 times the
median.” <br>
<br>
Most synthetic molecules are like “second-hand smoke” — they
spread with invisible stealth, they are eaten, inhaled, imbibed, and absorbed
through the skin. They can be found in adhesives, plastics (like Nalgene water
bottles), food containers, Teflon-coated stick-resistant pans, the fumes from
new-car interiors, under-arm deodorants, cosmetics and shaving creams, hair
sprays, colognes and perfumes, contact lens cleaners, dental sealants, VCR head
cleaners, stain-resistant rugs and fabrics. <br>
<br>
No one knows the safe levels for most of the more than 80,000 synthetic
molecules now circulating around the globe. In 1962, when Rachel Carson first
alerted the world to the environmental and health dangers of the pesticide DDT,
there were only a few thousand synthetic molecules. By 1974, there were 25,000
new man-made molecules. By 2000, there were more than 85,000 and new synthetic
molecules were being manufactured at a rate of 1,500 per year. Today, the U.S. produces or imports more than one million pounds each of 2,800 industrial chemicals. <br>
<br>
</span></font><b><font size=2 color="#666666" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#666666;font-weight:bold'>Testing
for Toxics</span></font></b><font size=2 color=black face=Georgia><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'><br>
</span></b>Body-burden tests can cost from $150 for a short-list of pesticides
to more than $10,000 to test for 400 synthetic molecules and metals.
Commonweal’s tests averaged $3,000. You can’t just walk in and ask
a doctor for the tests. Only a few labs are currently equipped to perform these
tests and they need to have a big order since each series requires costly
calibrations of equipment. <br>
<br>
Nevertheless, “bio-monitoring” is fast becoming a top-of-the-line
grassroots environmental issue thanks, in part, to growing media attention.
Bill Moyers had his body tested and dedicated an edition of his PBS show to
discussing the alarming results. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s latest book, <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Crimes Against Nature</span></i>, implicated mercury
in vaccines as a contributing factor in the rise of childhood autism. Betty Ann
Boswer, correspondent for the <i><span style='font-style:italic'>PBS NewsHour</span></i>
’s science unit, ran a disturbing report on bio-monitoring. <br>
<br>
</span></font><b><font size=2 color="#666666" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#666666;font-weight:bold'>Who
Regulates the Industry?</span></font></b><font size=2 color=black face=Georgia><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'><br>
</span></b>All this belated hoopla over humanity’s toxin-tainted tissues
can be traced back to the chemical industry’s inability to police itself
and the EPA’s failure to regulate the manufacturers. Thirty years ago,
the Toxic Substances Control Act gave industry its chance to address the safety
issue through voluntary measures. The law required businesses to reveal basic
data on high-volume synthetic molecules but the chemical industry lobby managed
to win two loopholes: First, all chemicals would be considered “innocent
until proven guilty” and second, it would be the manufacturers, not the
EPA, that would pay for and oversee safety-testing of new chemicals. As a
result, by 1999, the EPA estimated that fewer than 200 of the chemical
industry’s 2,800 high-volume synthetic molecules had been tested for
health impacts. <br>
<br>
Under mounting criticism, chemical industry representatives have taken to
repeating the same excuses used by the tobacco companies and the manufacturers
of leaded gasoline: “Comprehensive testing is too expensive.”
“We’re all made of complex molecules.” “The risks are
miniscule.” “Government regulation will punish the market.”
The truth is, no one knows whether the risks are miniscule or not. Moreover,
synthetic molecules created-for-profit in a corporate laboratory are not the
same as the diverse chemical compounds that exist naturally on Earth. <br>
<br>
The science of chemical toxicology today stands about where the study of
malaria was a century ago. At that time, doctors believed that malaria was
caused by <i><span style='font-style:italic'>mal aire</span></i> — the
“bad air” found in swamps — rather than mosquito bites and
parasites. Doctors assumed that malaria came from swamps, but the mechanism was
a mystery. Today, we assume that many of our diseases arise from the
witches-brew of synthetic chemicals that fill our modern “industrial
swamp” but connecting the dots from one chemical or cocktail of molecules
to a specific disease still requires more research. <br>
<br>
As evidence of chemical poisoning mounts, only a few industries have adopted
the Precautionary Principle — assuming that a synthetic molecule is
“guilty until proven innocent.” Most chemical manufacturers appear
more willing to risk being hounded by insurance claims, hauled into court, or
dragged through the media and shamed for ignoring good science. But, beware of
stereotypes. There are some good corporate citizens. Gerber’s decided it
was safer to “go organic” with the ingredients in its baby foods.
Ikea decided to avoid stain- and spot-resistant chemicals in their fabrics and
to remove harmful wood preservatives in their furniture. Some toy companies
have dropped phthalates (a plastic softener) from infant teething rings based
on increased evidence that this hormone mimic can cause developmental harms.
Doctors and nurses in Health Care Without Harm have convinced many hospital
supply manufacturers to remove phthalates from IV-tubes and PCBs from
disposable gloves and sheets. <br>
<br>
After decades of waiting for the chemical industry to clean up its act (and
having seen no willingness to act by Congress or the EPA), grassroots groups
found two allies in California Senators Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) and Don
Perata (D-Oakland). They joined forces to write and co-sponsor SB 600, the
“Healthy Californians Biomonitoring Program.” <br>
<br>
SB 600 would have made California the first state to pursue body-burden
bio-monitoring to track exposure and bio-accumulation and to use this new information
to identify public health “hot spots.” SB 600 would have authorized
the Department of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control to investigate
select synthetic molecules and metals now in use throughout California. An
Advisory Panel was to decide on testing locations and report the results to the
legislature by 2010. Both houses passed SB 600. Faced with mounting public
support for the measure, the Chamber of Commerce backed off trying to kill the
bill. The US Center for Disease Control even offered $1.7 million for training,
laboratory analyses and technical assistance. Unfortunately, despite this
overwhelming support, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill at the last minute. <br>
<br>
Rest assured, the bio-monitoring bill will be back. Rachel Carson called for
the tide to change in 1962. Maybe her dream will go mainstream in 2006 and
Californians can get to work ridding our industrial swamps — and our
bodies — of these harmful synthetics. </span></font></p>
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