Unborn Babies Soaked in Chemicals, Survey Finds

[Guest guest]

In a day and age when environmentalists are equated with

terrorists...maybe this study will open some eyes as to what most

environmentalists are so passionate about. Anna

 

Unborn Babies Soaked in Chemicals, Survey Finds

    By Maggie Fox

    Reuters

 

    Thursday 14 July 2005

 

    Washington - Unborn U.S. babies are soaking in a stew of chemicals,

including mercury, gasoline byproducts and pesticides, according to a

report to be released Thursday.

 

    Although the effects on the babies are not clear, the survey

prompted several members of Congress to press for legislation that

would strengthen controls on chemicals in the environment.

 

    The report by the Environmental Working Group is based on tests of

10 samples of umbilical cord blood taken by the American Red Cross.

They found an average of 287 contaminants in the blood, including

mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and the Teflon chemical PFOA.

 

     " These 10 newborn babies ... were born polluted, " said New York

Rep. Louise Slaughter, who planned to publicize the findings at a news

conference Thursday.

 

     " If ever we had proof that our nation's pollution laws aren't

working, it's reading the list of industrial chemicals in the bodies of

babies who have not yet lived outside the womb, " Slaughter, a Democrat,

said.

 

    Cord blood reflects what the mother passes to the baby through the

placenta.

 

     " Of the 287 chemicals we detected in umbilical cord blood, we know

that 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain

and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development

in animal tests, " the report said.

 

    Blood tests did not show how the chemicals got into the mothers'

bodies.

 

    Mercury and Pesticides

 

    Among the chemicals found in the cord blood were methylmercury,

produced by coal-fired power plants and certain industrial processes.

People can breathe it in or eat it in seafood and it causes brain and

nerve damage.

 

    Also found were polyaromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are

produced by burning gasoline and garbage and which may cause cancer;

flame-retardant chemicals called polybrominated dibenzodioxins and

furans; and pesticides including DDT and chlordane.

 

    The same group analyzed the breast milk of mothers across the

United States in 2003 and found varying levels of chemicals, including

flame retardants known as PBDEs. This latest analysis also found PBDEs

in cord blood.

 

    The Environmental Working Group report coincided with a Government

Accountability Office report issued Wednesday that said the

Environmental Protection Agency does not have the powers it needs to

fully regulate toxic chemicals.

 

    The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, found that the EPA's

Toxic Substances Control Act gives only " limited assurance " that new

chemicals entering the market are safe and that the EPA only rarely

assesses chemicals already on the market.

 

     " Today, chemicals are being used to make baby bottles, food

packaging and other products that have never been fully evaluated for

their health effects on children - and some of these chemicals are

turning up in our blood, " said New Jersey Democrat Sen. Frank

Lautenberg, who plans to co-sponsor a bill to require more testing of

toxic chemicals.

 

    Pollutants and other chemicals are believed to cause a range of

illnesses. But scientists agree the only way to really sort out the

effects is to measure how much gets into people and then see what

happens to their health.

 

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/071405HA.shtml