Environmental speaker sheds light on toxins

Steve Metsch, Staff Writer, "Environmental speaker sheds light on
toxins", Southtown Star, March 4, 2008,
Link: http://www.southtownstar.com/news/82...onment.article

When the Environmental Working Group commissioned a study of 10 people
to find if any of 413 toxic chemicals were in their bodies, the group
was surprised that 287 chemicals were detected.

Make that "very surprised," president and founder Kenneth Cook said,
because the tests were conducted on umbilical cord blood from 10
newborns.

"For many years, scientists and medical doctors thought the placenta
filtered it out. No one thought industrial pollution begins in the
womb," Cook said Monday at Prairie State College.

He visited the Chicago Heights campus at the request of state Reps. Al
Riley (D-Olympia Fields) and Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook), both
boosters of environmental issues. About 30 people attended.

Among the 287 chemicals found in the study, 134 can cause cancer, 151
can cause birth defects, 154 can cause hormone disruption, 186 are
associated with infertility and 130 affect the immune system, Cook
said. The numbers total higher than 287 because some cause more than
one problem.

Cook tossed his support behind the Kids Safe Chemicals Act, which he
said soon might be introduced in Congress. The measure would be
tougher on chemical producers than the Toxic Substance Control Act of
1976, under which, "only five chemicals have been banned or
restricted," Cook said.

The Kids Safe Chemicals Act would require that chemicals be deemed
safe before they are put into products on the market, he said. A
similar bill in Illinois would limit the amount of some chemicals in
items used by children.

"That is nothing more than a witch hunt," Mark Biel, executive
director of the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois, said in a
prepared statement.

"Understanding the risks posed by products means more than knowing
what their 'toxicity' is ... it means also understanding levels of
exposure.This basic principle helps explain why one aspirin may be
good for you b ut an entire bottle of aspirin is not," Biel said.

Cook said the study is "not about shutting down the economy."

He said concerns about air and water pollution and leaded gasoline
lead to health improvements without harming industry.

Steger resident Cornell Hudson, 61, was impressed by the presentation.

"I thought the 10 would be 10 adults. Everybody thinks babies start
out clean. Not so," Hudson said.

Steve Metsch can be reached at or (708)
633-5996.