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80,000 Chemicals
In a recent conference on human health, Dr. Philip Landrigan was quoted
in an article by Marla Cone, and I quote, "80% of major chemicals in
commerce have never been tested to see if they damage early
development." That would calculate out to about 64,000 chemicals all
around us that are untested, and we are the test.
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Common chemicals pose danger for fetuses, scientists warn
25 May 2007 - By Marla Cone - latimes.com
Exposure to toxic materials in the womb can cause
health problems later in life, an international panel declares.
In a strongly worded declaration, many of the world's leading
environmental scientists warned Thursday that exposure to common
chemicals makes babies more likely to develop an array of health
problems later in life, including diabetes, attention deficit
disorders, prostate cancer, fertility problems, thyroid disorders and
even obesity.
The declaration by about 200 scientists from five continents amounts
to a vote of confidence in a growing body of evidence that humans are
vulnerable to long-term harm from toxic exposures in the womb and
during their first years.
Convening in the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic, toxicologists,
pediatricians, epidemiologists and other experts warned that when
fetuses and newborns encounter various toxic substances, growth of
critical organs and functions can be skewed. In a process called
"fetal programming," the children then are susceptible to diseases
later in life — and perhaps could even pass on those altered traits to
their children and grandchildren.
The scientists' statement also contained a rare international call to
action. The effort was led by Dr. Philippe Grandjean of Harvard
University and the University of Southern Denmark, and Dr. Pal Weihe
of the Faroese Hospital System, who have spent more than 20 years
studying children exposed to mercury.
Many governmental agencies and industry groups, particularly in the
United States, have said there is no or little human evidence to
support concerns about most toxic residue in air, water, food and
consumer products. About 80,000 chemicals are registered in the United
States. |
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Comment: What they are really saying is,
"We would prefer if you go back to sleep, keep thinking cigarettes are
killing you, while we continue to profit from the use of byproducts we
need to get rid of that are actually killing you."
Yet the scientists urged leaders not to wait for more scientific
certainty and recommended that governments revise regulations and
procedures to take into account subtle effects on fetal and infant
development.
Chemicals with evidence of developmental effects include compounds in
plastics, cosmetics and pesticides.
"Given the ubiquitous exposure to many environmental toxicants, there
needs to be renewed efforts to prevent harm. Such prevention should
not await detailed evidence on individual hazards," the scientists
wrote in the four-page statement.
Genetic concerns
The scientists are particularly concerned that the newest animal
research suggests that chemicals can alter gene expression —
turning on or off genes that predispose people to disease. Although
the DNA itself would not be altered, such genetic misfires in the womb
may be permanent, and all subsequent generations could
be at greater risk of diseases too.
"Toxic exposures to chemical pollutants during these windows of
increased susceptibility can cause disease and disability in childhood
and across the entire span of human life," the scientists concluded.
The "Barker hypothesis," conceived by a British scientist in 1992,
says human fetuses are "programmed" for diseases by their early
environment. The scientists concluded that this is now well-documented
for toxic exposures by a large collection of animal experiments and
some human data.
"A sad aspect with many of these prenatal exposures is that they leave
the mother unscathed while causing injury to her fetus," said Dr.
Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician who chairs the Mount Sinai School of
Medicine's Department of Community and Preventive Medicine. He was one
of the statement's authors.
In a more optimistic vein, the researchers said that if contaminants
do play a big role in human health problems, some diseases could be
prevented.
"Reducing exposure would lead to tremendous benefits," said Dr. Bruce
Lanphear, director of the Environmental Health Center at Cincinnati
Children's Hospital Medical Center. "We shouldn't wait for an epidemic
to fully mature before we develop policies to protect children."
For centuries, the basic rule of toxicology has been "the dose makes
the poison." Now, the scientists say "the timing makes the poison" —
in other words, when a toxic exposure occurs is as important as the
amount people are exposed to.
The fetus "is extraordinarily susceptible to perturbation of the
intrauterine environment," they wrote.
The growing brain is the most sensitive. Mothers' exposure to
mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in fish and other
seafood can cause slight declines in a child's IQ and motor skills.
In addition, early exposure to pesticides might trigger Parkinson's
and Alzheimer's diseases.
Also, children exposed to lead, organophosphate pesticides or
cigarette smoke? have greater risk of
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. One of every three cases —
or an estimated 560,000 children in the United States — can be
attributed to lead exposure or prenatal tobacco smoke exposure,
Lanphear reported in a study published in December. |
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Comment: The programming can affect any
age and any profession. Of the three exposures mentioned, one cannot
be substantiated separately from the others, so it is pooled into a
group of others that are.
The immune, reproductive and cardiovascular systems also are
vulnerable to early damage. Children exposed prenatally to PCBs have a
high rate of infections and weak response to vaccinations. Many
chemicals also can mimic hormones, and in animal tests, they feminize
newborns, lowering sperm counts and promoting prostate, testicular,
uterine and breast cancers.
In the newest area of research, metabolic systems, which control how
nutrients are converted into energy, have been altered by chemicals
administered in animal experiments — changes that may contribute
to obesity and diabetes. |
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Comment: Big Pharma's Knife of Profits -
We must be like Gods and alter the way nature has made it for our
personal benefits. There love for control is overwhelmingly out of
control.
Chemical danger
"These adverse effects have been linked to chemical pollutants at
realistic human exposure levels similar to those occurring from
environmental sources," the scientists wrote.
Among the risky chemicals they named are bisphenol A, found in
polycarbonate plastic food and water containers; the pesticides
atrazine, vinclozolin and DDT; lead; mercury; phthalates used in
some cosmetics and soft plastics; brominated flame retardants;
arsenic, which contaminates some water supplies; and PCBs,
banned but ubiquitous, particularly in fish.
Some of the chemicals have been regulated in the United States, but
many have not. Moreover, the scientists said, tests for
developmental effects are not routinely required,
so "the potential for such effects is therefore not necessarily
considered in decisions on safety levels of environmental exposures."
There is "an incredible gap," Landrigan said, because 80% of major
chemicals in commerce have never been tested to see if they damage
early development.
The conference was funded by the World Health Organization, National
Institutes of Health, European Environment Agency and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
Denmark's Faroe Islands, just south of the Arctic Circle, were the
venue because the region is home to the longest-running human
experiment analyzing prenatal toxic exposure. Since 1986, Grandjean
and Weihe have tracked Faroese children from the womb to adolescence
to monitor neurological effects of mercury in seafood. Their findings
prompted U.S. advisories that children and women of childbearing age
avoid swordfish and other highly contaminated fish.
In addition to Landrigan, three Californians and six other U.S.
scientists served on the 28-member committee that wrote the consensus:
Brenda Eskenazi of UC Berkeley, Irva Hertz-Picciotto of UC Davis,
Beate Ritz of UCLA, Jerry Heindel and Kimberly Gray of the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Larry Needham of the CDC,
Terry Huang of the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, David Bellinger of Harvard University and Howard Hu of
the University of Michigan.
*marla.cone@latimes.com |
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The
The
Labors in the Spirits of
Science
Living on the Lost Planet 
