May 1st, 2009

“I’ll have to stop using perfume, which is something I really enjoy, but finding out these really high levels in my body is really disturbing,” she said. “… you think you’re doing something that’s hygienic and clean.”

Additionally, Dr. Wright said her report showed that her blood was contaminated with Teflon compounds, used in cooking ware and also in stain resistant fabrics. “I’m also confused about some of the chemicals in my body like the Teflon, because I mostly use old fashioned pots,” she said “I’m trying to figure out where this stuff is coming from.”

Jean Salone, another Corpus Christi activist with CEJ who lives near an oil refinery, already knew she’d been exposed to benzene, which is known to contaminate the air near refineries. Now, she said, she faces concerns about Bisphenol A, which turned up at high levels in her blood as well as PBDEs (flame retardants) and PFCs (the Teflon-related chemical). The BPA is tricky to avoid, she said, because of its presence in canned food liners.

A cancer survivor, Salone tries to eat healthy and drinks bottled water, but feels like the report showed how difficult it is to escape risky ingredients, such as those in plastics, tap water and canned foods. She lamented that she can’t afford all fresh vegetables, cannot grow them in the contaminated soil in her neighborhood, but now doesn’t feel safe with canned goods either.

“We need products that are safe. This is why we have our government, to keep us safe and regulate these things,” she said.

All the women agreed that uncovering the dangerous aspects of common chemicals is unfairly left to consumers. The burden of proving something safe should rest with the manufacturer, with an additional role played by the government to regulate the ingredients.

“It’s very confusing to the consumer to make the choices,” said Hill-Kelley. “It’s a relationship, a consumer/supplier relationship, and I don’t think they’re (manufacturers and government) holding up their end of the bargain.”

The EWG underscored that point in a news conference with four of the five women on Friday, saying that Americans’ increasingly heavy “body burden” of chemicals appears linked to the rise in many systemic diseases, like cancer, among others, possibly including autism, asthma and diabetes.

The rise in chronic diseases in the U.S. has many factors, said Sandra Schubert, director of government affairs for EWG, but chemicals are clearly playing a role.

“We have found almost 200 industrial chemicals in umbilical cord blood (in other studies)…We are being exposed to these chemicals and there’s increasing data on their toxicity.”

Of some 80,000 chemicals on the market, only five have been regulated, because under the Toxic Substances Control Act you can regulate only if there’s a proven link to disease; and we put 700 more chemicals on the market every year.

“This is just backwards.”

(Photo credit: The Environmental Working Group.)
(The fifth woman tested, Vivian Chang of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network in Oakland, could not attend the news conference on Friday.)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Pages: 1 2