| In
May 2006, U.S. Sens. Bill Finkbeiner and Lisa Brown, along
with eight others from Washington state, released test
results of their blood, hair and urine that determined
whether toxic chemicals were in their bodies. Among the
chemicals tested for were pesticides, toxic flame retardants
(PBDEs), heavy metals like lead and mercury, chemicals
used in Teflon and Gortex, DDT and PCBs. Each participant
had at least 26, and as many as 39, of the screened-for
chemicals in their bodies. In some cases, individuals
had levels linked to serious health threats like learning
deficits and infertility.
"Serving
as test subjects for toxic chemicals has been a shocking
experience," the senators wrote to their fellow
Washingtonians in the Seattle Times. "Reading about
chemicals in the newspaper is one thing — receiving
test results about the levels of these chemicals in
your own body is quite another."
~
~ ~ ~ ~
Every
day, the U.S. produces or imports 42 billion pounds
of chemicals.
Global
chemical production is expected to double every 25 years.
Four
billion pounds of toxic chemicals are released by industry
into the nation's environment every year, including
72 million pounds of recognized carcinogens.
~
~ ~ ~ ~
Chemical trespass, or the accumulated chemicals in our
bodies from contaminated sources, is at the core of
a growing movement in America pursuing chemical policy
reform. In July 2006, the American Nurses Association
in Silver Spring MD co-hosted a chemical policy reform
workshop for more than 60 environmental, health and
chemical reform representatives to address ways to minimize
or eliminate chemical exposures and the impact they
have on human health. Michigan's Children's Environmental
Health movement was well represented.
We know all too well from the devastating birth defects
caused by the drug thalidomide in the 1960s that a pregnant
mother's womb doesn't offer complete protection from
harmful chemicals. And sadly, we also learned two decades
later that harmful chemicals passing the placental barrier
may not show their effects for a generation. Such was
the case with diethylstilbestrol (DES). Mothers who
took DES to prevent miscarriages were faced with the
agonizing results of uterine and other cancers in their
young adult children.
Today, chemicals are found throughout our everyday lives.
They include pesticides, flame retardants and plastics,
which are linked to the growing incidence of diseases
like cancers, asthma, autism and infertility. On average,
each one of us has over 200 synthetic chemicals in our
bodies.
The FDA responded to thalidomide and DES with stringent
chemical policy reform. Today, it takes over 15 years
to get a drug from lab to marketplace. However, aside
from pharmaceuticals, there are no mandatory health
studies required to put a chemical into commerce.
"We
need change at the federal level to address this threat
faced by all Americans," both Sens. Brown and Finkbeiner
agreed. "But lacking that, we should do what we
can at the state level."
In Michigan, our growing children's environmental health
movement is pursuing just that.
|
