| Bonnie Sousa | Jun 05, 2007 12:17 PM (UTC) |
Toxics and Health
“Most Americans believe that their government is making sure that chemicals used in the market place are safe. Unfortunately that simply isn’t true.”
- Frank Lautenberg, U.S. Senator from New Jersey.
“When we talk about environmental justice, we mean calling a halt to the poisoning of our poorest communities, from our rural areas to our inner cities. We don’t have a person to waste and pollution clearly wastes human lives and natural resources. When our children’s lives are no longer damaged by lead poisoning, we will stop wasting the energy and intelligence that could build a stronger and more prosperous America.”
- President Bill Clinton
Chemicals affect everyone. Each year, the $1.5 trillion global chemicals industry produces tens of thousands of substances that permeate the environment and affect the health and well being of humans across the planet. On any given day, people are exposed to a wide array of chemicals, from industrial pollutants in the air, to pesticide residues in foods, to heavy metals in drinking water. The sheer number of chemicals present in the environment is staggering. In the last fifty years more than 70,000 chemicals have been developed and introduced into the environment.
Thousands of chemicals are absorbed through air, food, and drinking water. These substances include persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals such as lead and mercury. They persist in the environment and bio-accumulate and magnify in the food web. Because of the tendency of these chemicals to accumulate in fatty tissue, many (such as DDT, dioxin and arsenic) are found in significant quantities in human breast milk. Pregnant women and their unborn fetuses, children, and rural communities are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of chemicals.
Infants and children are particularly vulnerable to the adverse health effects of chemicals. Children are not miniature adults; they are vulnerable to chemicals that adults can tolerate. Their bodies simply are unable to process and remove certain toxins. Children also receive proportionately larger doses of environmental toxins than adults because pound for pound children eat more food, drink more water, and breathe more air than adults.
From the time of conception to puberty and beyond, children are exposed to thousands of chemicals through their use in household cleaning products, pesticides, plastics, personal care products, and industrial products. Very little is known about the effect of these chemicals on a child’s development, but emerging science indicates that some chemicals cause damage to a child’s developing brain, while others may cause cancer or mimic or block hormones.
Despite the U.S. having one of the most technologically advanced maternity and prenatal health care systems on the planet, adverse birth outcomes are on the rise. Premature delivery, fetal growth retardation, low birth weight, and a variety of congenital abnormalities have increased in the last forty years. The causes are not clearly understood though it is becoming increasingly obvious that chemicals in the environment play a crucial role in the health and well-being of pregnant women and their unborn fetuses.
Until recently, scientists thought the placenta shielded cord blood and the developing fetus from most chemicals and pollutants in the environment. However, recent research is showing that even before birth a child is exposed to hundreds of chemicals. Many chemicals are mobilized during pregnancy when fat reserves are depleted, and subsequently find their way across the placenta to the newly developing fetus. There may be special windows of vulnerability in the development of fetuses when these chemicals can have long-term, irreversible effects on reproductive and neurological systems.
America has a large rural population of 56.4 million people, of which nine million work in agriculture. Despite federal laws designed to protect farm workers from the effects of pesticide exposures, farm workers and their children continue to be exposed to dangerous toxins at levels higher than the general population.
If you want to learn more on how you can start doing something about the toxins in your home contact me TODAY! bsousa@primus.ca.