Fwd: Study reveals chemical cocktail in every person

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Health and Healing ,

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Misty

Wed, 26 Nov 2003 23:43:26 +1300

Study reveals chemical cocktail in every person

 

I was just reading that some bottled water in Europe was teeming with bugs

too. If you want good clean fresh water come to New Zealand. London tap

water stings your eyes and is full of synthetic indestructible estrogen from

all the women on the Pill who flush it into the toilet, then it goes in the

Thames River, where it gets taken out again to drink. Nicky

 

Study reveals chemical cocktail in every person

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994414

 

11:17 25 November 03

 

NewScientist.com news service

 

A cocktail of potentially harmful man-made chemicals has been found in the

blood of every person tested in a new UK study.

 

The 155 volunteers, including EU environment commissioner Margot Wallström,

were tested for gender-bending PCBs, flame retardants and organophosphates.

 

The study, commissioned by the environmental group WWF, focussed on 77

chemicals known to be " very persistent " in the environment and to accumulate

in people's bodies. It is one of the most comprehensive studies to date.

 

The findings are " disturbing " , says Matthew Wilkinson, lead author of the

report and WWF UK toxics policy officer. " Every single person we monitored

had a range of these chemicals. "

 

 

Point of principle

 

 

Animal tests have shown that the chemicals can be harmful at high levels,

but the long-term effects of the lower levels found in people are not known.

 

" It's the principle here as much as anything, " says Stephen Holgate, chair

of the expert panel on air quality control for the UK Department of

Environment, Food and Agriculture and a member of the Royal Commission on

Environmental Pollution. " There are chemicals out there which stick around

for a long time - that's a worrying issue. "

 

WWF wants persistent chemicals to be treated in the same way as chemicals

known to be harmful under proposed European legislation, known as REACH.

This framework would require the registering, safety evaluation and

authorisation of thousands of everyday chemicals for the first time and will

become law if approved by the European Parliament and the Council of

Ministers.

 

" This legislation is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get rid of these

[persistent] chemicals, " Wilkinson told New Scientist. Justin Woolford,

leader of WWF's chemicals and health campaign adds: " We are unwittingly

playing Russian roulette with our health because of regulatory inaction. "

 

 

Breakdown products

 

 

Researchers at the University of Lancaster tested the volunteers from 13

areas of the UK for the 77 chemicals. The highest number of chemicals found

in any one person was 49, and the lowest was nine. The average number was

about 30.

 

 

 

 

Subscribe to New Scientist for more news and features

 

Related Stories

 

 

Europe launches chemical safety crackdown

29 October 2003

 

Chemical safety screening plan " unacceptable "

12 March 2002

 

Negotiations start to ban 'dirty dozen' chemicals

4 December 2000

 

 

For more related stories

search the print edition Archive

 

 

 

Weblinks

 

 

WWF-UK

 

REACH

 

Stephen Holgate, University of Southampton

 

The persistence of some chemicals was demonstrated by the fact that 99 per

cent of the people tested had breakdown products of the pesticide DDT -

banned decades ago in the UK - in their blood.

 

Seven per cent of people tested positive for a flame retardant chemical used

in every day products like televisions and cars. The blood level of the

chemicals was comparable level to that found in people exposed through their

work.

 

Wilkinson notes that women were found to have lower levels of certain PCBs

than men. These levels were lower in women who had carried and breastfed

more children, prompting Wilkinson to speculate that this might demonstrate

" the dumping of the chemical load on to the offspring " .

 

Although the effects of the chemicals are unknown, he says such " endocrine

disrupting chemicals " might have subtle effects on a foetus which may not be

detected for decades.

 

 

Shaoni Bhattacharya

 

 

 

 

 

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