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Study: Toxins Found in Newborns

Posted on: Friday, 15 July 2005, 18:00 CDT

Even at birth, American babies' bloodstreams contain chemicals that have been associated with cancer, autism, infertility and even childhood obesity, indicates research out today from the Environmental Working Group.

Samples of 10 newborns' umbilical cord blood included 287 of the 413 industrial and consumer-product chemicals for which EWG tested. Their mothers had ingested and passed on chemicals found in clothing, food packaging, flame retardants, pesticides, food additives, and the emissions of power plants and plastic production, according to the nonprofit environmental investigative group.

The blood samples, chosen randomly without identifiers by the American Red Cross, contained an average of 200 contaminants. Of the 287 chemicals detected, 101 appeared in every newborn and 217 "are registered as neurotoxins," harmful to the brain, said Dr. Alan Greene, a Stanford University pediatrician.

"The fact that we have chemicals like that in babies the moment they're born -- at their most vulnerable development -- shows there's really a problem with our chemical safety laws," said Tim Kropp, a senior EWG scientist with a Ph.D. in toxicology.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., addressed that Wednesday by introducing a bill that would give the Environmental Protection Agency authority to require health and safety studies from chemical manufacturers and create incentives to substitute dangerous chemicals with safer alternatives.

Industries and industry-funded advocacy organizations have consistently opposed safety regulations by citing lack of proof that their chemicals cause disease.

"That's exactly the problem," Greene said, referring to laws that don't require such testing. "We've got to look into these and figure out what safe levels are. For a few of them, we know there are real solid health links at very tiny levels. But this is the first time 209 of these chemicals were even detected in cord blood, and nobody knows what the mixture of all these chemicals is doing."

In a recent study of suburban Seattle children, Greene said, kids on normal diets had "nine times the level of pesticides in their urine as those who ate organic foods for just a couple weeks."

The pesticide DDT and its derivatives were among the chemicals found in all 10 samples. Although DDT is banned in this country, Greene said Americans still consume it in imported produce and it persists throughout the food chain.

Also in all 10 samples:

- PFOA is a component in Teflon, food packaging and especially stain-resistant clothes and carpets. The EPA considers it a likely carcinogen.

- Methylmercury is a pollutant from coal-burning power plants that is most pervasive in albacore tuna. "Exposure in the womb causes measurable declines in brain function," the EWG report says.

Neurotoxins such as mercury are suspected in dramatic increases in autism, attention-deficit disorder and childhood brain cancers, the report said.

"We don't have to sacrifice our children's safety for jobs," Kropp said. "The two can coexist, and they need to coexist."

Contact Kevin Lamb at 225-2129.

Source: Dayton Daily News

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