Toxic Chemical Study Sounds Warning for Children

[Guest guest]

http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2003/2003-02-04-11.asp

 

Toxic Chemical Study Sounds Warning for Children

 

 

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, February 4, 2003 (ENS) - The most extensive study of the toxic

chemicals to which Americans are exposed has found encouraging evidence that

levels of lead, pesticides and tobacco related chemicals have declined over the

past decade. But the report, released last week by the U.S. Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, offered worrying evidence that children are more exposed

than adults to a range of toxic chemicals.

The report is the largest and most detailed study of the U.S. population's

exposure to environmental chemicals. It analyzes exposure information for 116

environmental chemicals, more than four times as many as the previous study by

the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), published in 2001,

which looked at exposures to just 27 substances.

Many of the toxic substances reviewed in the study are already restricted or

banned, but remain environmental and health problems, such as PCBs - now banned

from most U.S. uses. (Photo courtesy U.S. Geological Survey)The CDC is an

advisory agency, not a regulatory one, and its officials stressed that the

primary benefit of the report is as a baseline for future studies.

" In order to make sound public health decisions that help us correctly identify

and prevent health problems, we must have reliable information about exposure to

environmental chemicals, " said Dr. David Fleming, deputy director for science

for the CDC. " That's the purpose of the National Exposure Report ... and this

second report is a quantum leap forward in providing objective, scientific

information about what's getting into people's bodies and how much is getting

in. "

" We do not have new health effects information coming out from this report, "

added Dr. Richard Jackson, director of CDC's National Center for Environmental

Health. " It would not be possible to say that we have a new understanding of

health effects from exposure to chemicals. [but] this kind of information is

what moves the science forward to answer those health effect questions, and by

finding out what are in people and what levels are typical in the population,

we're moving a lot of studies forward that will give us that information much

faster. "

But CDC officials are clearly concerned about the report's findings with regards

to children's exposure to nicotine related chemicals such as cotinine.

Cotinine is a major metabolite of nicotine and regarded as the best biomarker in

active smokers and in nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke, also known as

environmental tobacco smoke.

Children showed far higher blood levels of a biomarker for cigarette smoke

exposure - twice as high as non-smoking adults. (Photo by Adam Hart-Davis/DHD

Photo Gallery)Cotinine levels for nonsmoking adults fell 75 percent, but

decreased just 58 percent for children and 55 percent for adolescents. Children

had cotinine levels that were more than twice as high as levels in adults, and

non-Hispanic blacks had more than twice the levels of either Mexican Americans

or non-Hispanic whites.

CDC officials said the overall declines in exposure level support the

effectiveness of public health efforts, but added that these efforts have

focused on adults at work or in restaurants. Further efforts to reduce exposure

to children, adolescents and non-Hispanic blacks are warranted, Jackson said.

" One third of all of our cancers are from tobacco, " Jackson explained. " It's one

of the big killers in America and more than half of our kids still have

environmental tobacco smoke exposure when environmental tobacco smoke is known

to be associated with sudden infant death syndrome, with ear infections,

respiratory infections and the rest. "

" If we had to pick something to really go after, that would be one that I would

really argue is an extraordinarily high priority and something people can

actually do something about, " he said.

The Second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals cost the

federal government some $6.5 million over two years. It analyzes blood and urine

samples that were collected from some 2,500 participants who are part of the

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The participants represent a

cross section of the U.S. population for the years 1999 and 2000.

Children, with their developing bodies and brains, are far more vulnerable to

ingested toxins than adults. (Photo courtesy National Center for Lead-Safe

Housing) " It is an immense data set, " said Jackson, adding that CDC plans to

continue issuing the report every two years and to further expand the chemicals

covered.

A total of 89 of the 116 tested chemicals were found to be present in at least

some study participants, but CDC officials cautioned that just the presence of a

chemical does not indicate a threat to human health. Risk assessments for many

of these chemicals are not know for humans, but this study provides a vital tool

for scientists to determine how dangerous some of the chemicals are to human

health.

The report found that levels of chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate that has been

used widely in the United States, are about twice as high in children as those

found in adults. Retail sales of chlorpyrifos for residential use were stopped

in December 2001 and with this report, scientists now have a baseline for

measuring the effectiveness of this restriction.

The scope of the report will also allow scientists and researchers to watch for

trends in different age groups, minorities and genders. So far, the researchers

have learned, for example, that Mexican Americans have three times the exposure

levels to DDE, a major metabolite of the insecticide DDT, which was banned in

the United States in 1973.

Flaking paint from older buildings may contain lead. Exposure to lead can cause

permanent brain damage, particularly in children. (Photo courtesy Medical

University of South Carolina)For lead, a toxic substance that researchers

already know a great deal about what exposure levels are harmful, the report's

findings are encouraging. Blood lead levels in children continued to decline,

the study shows.

For 1999-2000, the researchers found that 2.2 percent of children aged 1-5 years

had blood lead levels greater than or equal to 10 micrograms per deciliter,

which is the CDC's definition of an elevated lead level. This figure is down

from 4.4 percent for the period 1991-1994.

CDC officials said the continued decline of lead exposure among children in the

general population is a public health success story, but warned that lead

exposure is still a serious public health threat.

" Exposure of children to lead from homes containing lead based paint and lead

contaminated dust remains a serious public health problem, " said Dr. Jim Pirkle,

deputy director for science at CDC's environmental health laboratory. " CDC and

other federal partners will continue important lead poisoning prevention

programs targeting interventions to eliminate this entirely preventable disease

among exposed children throughout the nation. "

Coal burning power plants produce large amounts of mercury and PCBs, known

developmental toxins. (Photo by Carole Swinehart, courtesy Michigan Sea

Extension)Industry groups, including pesticide manufacturers and

environmentalists, welcomed the CDC's report, although with differing

conclusions.

" The pesticide data contained in the report indicates that the American public

can be assured that the regulatory safeguards for pesticides that are in place

are very tough are working as they are intended, " said Jay Vroom, president of

CropLife America, a pesticide manufacturers lobbying organization. " Americans

can be confident about the safety of our food supply and the public health

protections made possible by pesticides. "

Dr. John Balbus, director of the environmental health program at Environment

Defense, said the report is further proof " that children are more exposed to a

wide variety of chemicals, from pesticides and passive tobacco smoke to

pthalates. "

Balbus praised the study for providing the depth of information needed to

determine who is most at risk and what action is needed to prevent exposures.

Exhaust from diesel buses and other vehicles contains polycyclic aromatic

hydrocarbons (PAHs), which some studies have linked to increased risk of certain

cancers. Photo courtesy EPA " This country spends $1.4 trillion every year on

health costs, " he said. " We don't know exactly what proportion of those costs

are due to environmental exposures, but we do know that health costs related to

these exposures are unnecessary and can be prevented. This report is an

important part of the small investment made to prevent illness. "

" To the extent that the CDC report ... brings us good news, " added Jane

Houlihan, vice president of research for the Environmental Working Group (EWG),

" it is because the government took action and regulated harmful substances such

as PCBs, DDT and lead in paint and gasoline. "

Houlihan's organization, in partnership with Mt. Sinai School of Community

Medicine and Commonweal, released a report last week that also tracks chemical

absorption in humans. But rather than measuring individual chemicals in multiple

individuals, as the CDC did, EWG studied a small group of individuals for a

multitude of chemicals.

The EWG report found that its nine subjects showed evidence of exposure to an

average of 91 compounds, many of which did not exist 75 years ago. The nine

individuals were tested for 210 chemicals, which EWG says is the largest suite

of industrial chemicals ever surveyed.

Plastic trash bags and many other common plastic products can contain toxic

organochlorines - known to cause developmental and neurological problems. (Photo

courtesy Universal Plastic)In total, the nine subjects carried 76 chemicals

linked to cancer. Participants carried a total of 48 PCBs, which were banned in

the U.S. in 1976 but are used in other countries, and persist in the environment

for decades.

" The CDC's work helps us assess exposure levels for each contaminant across the

population, " Houlihan said. " Our study begins to document the complex reality of

the human body burden - what we call the 'pollution in people'. "

The CDC's report is available online at: http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport

The EWG's report can be found at: http://www.ewg.org

 

 

 

advertisment

 

-->

 

 

 

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2003. .

 

Gettingwell- / Vitamins, Herbs, Aminos, etc.

 

To , e-mail to: Gettingwell-

Or, go to our group site: Gettingwell

 

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now