Environmental Toxins

KEY TO CONTAMINANTS

PCBs — Industrial insulators and lubricants. Banned in the U.S. in 1976. Persist for decades in the environment. Accumulate up the food chain, to man. Cause cancer and nervous system problems.

Dioxins — Pollutants, by-products of PVC production, industrial bleaching, and incineration. Cause cancer in man. Persist for decades in the environment. Very toxic to developing endocrine (hormone) system.

Furans — Pollutants, by-products of plastics production, industrial bleaching and incineration. Expected to cause cancer in man. Persist for decades in the environment. Very toxic to developing endocrine (hormone) system.

Metals — Lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium — Cause lowered IQ, developmental delays, behavioral disorders and cancer at doses found in the environment. For lead, most exposures are from lead paint. For mercury, most exposures are from canned tuna. For arsenic, most exposures are from arsenic (CCA) treated lumber and contaminated drinking water. For cadmium, sources of exposure include pigments and bakeware.

Organochlorine insecticides. DDT, chlordane and other pesticides. Largely banned in the U.S. Persist for decades in the environment. Accumulate up the food chain, to man. Cause cancer and numerous reproductive effects.

Organophosphate insecticide metabolites — Breakdown products of chlorpyrifos, malathion and others. Potent nervous system toxicants. Most common source of exposure is residues in food. Recently banned for indoor uses.

Phthalates — Plasticizers. Cause birth defects of male reproductive organs. Found in a wide range of cosmetic and personal care products. Some phthalates recently banned in Europe.

Volatile and Semi-volatile organic chemicals. — Industrial solvents and gasoline ingredients like xylene and ethyl benzene. Toxic to nervous system, some heavily used SVOCs (benzene) cause cancer.

In a study led by Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, in collaboration with the Environmental Working Group and Commonweal, researchers at two major laboratories found an average of 91 industrial compounds, pollutants, and other chemicals in the blood and urine of nine volunteers, with a total of 167 chemicals found in the group. Like most of us, the people tested do not work with chemicals on the job and do not live near an industrial facility.

Scientists refer to this contamination as a person’s body burden. Of the 167 chemicals found, 76 cause cancer in humans or animals, 94 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 79 cause birth defects or abnormal development. The dangers of exposure to these chemicals in combination has never been studied.

TABLE 1: The chemicals we found are linked to serious health problems

* Some chemicals are associated with multiple health impacts, and appear in multiple categories in this table.

These results represent the most comprehensive assessment of chemical contamination in individuals ever performed. Even so, many chemicals were not included in the analysis that are known to contaminate virtually the entire U.S. population. Two examples are Scotchgard and the related family of perfluorinated chemicals, and a group of compounds known collectively as brominated flame retardants.

A more precise picture of human contamination with industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides is not possible because chemical companies are not required to tell EPA how their compounds are used or monitor where their products end up in the environment. Neither does U.S. law require chemical companies to conduct basic health and safety testing of their products either before or after they are commercialized. Eighty percent of all applications to produce a new chemical are approved by the U.S. EPA with no health and safety data. Eighty percent of these are approved in three weeks.

Only the chemical companies know whether their products are dangerous and whether they are likely to contaminate people. As a first step toward a public understanding of the extent of the problem, the chemical industry must submit to the EPA and make public on the web, all information on human exposure to commercial chemicals, any and all studies relating to potential health risks, and comprehensive information on products that contain their chemicals.
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FOOTNOTES

For more on this, please visit: http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden/dynam-contams.php