[Dr.Clark] Scientists Begin Measuring Pollution in Human Bodies

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Misty L. Trepke

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Scientists begin measuring pollution in human bodies

 

By PAUL ELIAS, AP Biotechnology Writer - (Published December 26,

2003) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Davis Baltz shops for organic food and

otherwise tries to live as healthy as he can.

 

So he was shocked to learn that the pollutants collecting inside his

body sounded much like a Superfund cleanup site: pesticides, flame

retardants and other nasty, man-made chemicals turned up in a recent

test.

 

" What that told me is that no matter what I tried to do, the plumes

of chemicals that we are passing in and out of everyday give us

exposure, " said Baltz, who works for Commonweal, an environmental

group in Bolinas.

 

For decades, researchers have sampled the air, land and sea to

measure pollution from power plants, factories and automobiles.

 

Now, in a process called biomonitoring, scientists are sampling

urine, blood and mother's milk to catalogue the pollutants

accumulating in humans. They call the results " body burden. "

Commonweal and the Washington-based Environmental Working Group

funded tests for Baltz and eight others at $5,000 apiece.

 

Though the tests are yielding scary lists of contaminants found in

the body, their links to disease are less clear. Nonetheless,

proponents say such testing will help researchers learn what role

the environment plays in causing disease and how to treat it.

 

Many chemicals such as PCB and DDT, both banned decades ago, remain

in the environment for years and build up in the body over a

lifetime.

 

It's not a new phenomenon. Rachel Carson wrote about the poisons in

her 1962 book " Silent Spring, " which is widely credited for jump-

starting the environmental movement.

 

But until now, researchers were left mostly to guess exactly how

much and how many of the toxins lingered in our bodies.

 

Few of the estimated 75,000 chemicals found in the United States

have been tested for their health effects, Baltz and other

biomonitoring proponents say.

 

But several studies have been completed:

 

- In March, California researchers reported that San Francisco-area

women have three to 10 times as much chemical flame retardant in

their breast tissue as European or Japanese women.

 

- Indiana University researchers reported at the same time that

levels in Indiana and California women and infants were 20 times

higher than those in Sweden and Norway, which recently banned flame

retardant.

 

- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this year

released data from 2,500 volunteers tested for 116 pollutants and

found such chemicals as mercury, uranium and cotinine, a chemical

broken down from nicotine.

 

The CDC also reported that Mexican-American children were found to

have three times the amount of a chemical derived from DDT compared

with other children. Scientists suspect that Mexico and Latin

American countries may still be using the banned chemical.

 

There's still a debate among advocates over which of the 75,000

chemicals to look for when biomonitoring. And even when chemicals

are found, there's little an individual can do.

 

Next month, state Sen. Deborah Ortiz plans to renew calls for

California's polluters to finance testing of contaminants in

mother's milk.

 

" This will allow women to better make informed decision about their

health, " said Ortiz, a Democrat. " And the information will help

researchers and public health officials. "

 

But some fear that biomonitoring results could be misinterpreted and

frighten new mothers from breast-feeding their babies.

 

" Everyone's exposed to substances and there's no evidence that the

low levels people are exposed to are harming anybody, " said Steven

Milloy, author of " Junk Science Judo: Self Defense Against Health

Scares and Scams. " " It's a waste of time and money that only serves

to scare people. "

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On the Net:

Baltz's test results: http://www.bodyburden.org

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov

California Sen. Ortiz: http://democrats.sen.ca.gov/senator/ortiz/