Toxin build-up is highest in young

http://www.healthsentinel.com/news.p...st_item&id=314

Paul Brown, "Toxin build-up is highest in young", Guardian, October 8,
2004,
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/...322891,00.html

Children as young as nine have more manufactured chemicals in their
blood than their grandparents and these substances are suspected of
disrupting development and hormones, according to tests on seven
volunteer families across the country.

Eighty manufactured chemicals were detected in blood tests for 104
substances on 33 people. Children were found to have 75 in their
blood, as did their parents, but their grandmothers only had 56. The
children also had higher concentrations of some chemicals.

The substances tested for are known to be building up in the
environment and include brominated flame retardants used in furniture
and televisions, and perfluorinated chemicals used in the manufacture
of non-stick pans and stain resistant treatments for carpets and
clothing.

A campaign to restrict the use of chemicals which accumulate in the
blood - backed by the WWF (formerly the World Wide Fund for Nature),
the Women's Institute and the Co-operative bank - is trying to get the
European Union to toughen its stance.

Justin Woolford, WWF's chemicals and health campaign director, said:
"These results are extremely worrying because of the unknown long-term
health effects of the majority of industrial chemicals people are
exposed to. The contamination of three generations of UK families ...
illustrates that industry and government have failed to control these
chemicals. The UK and the European Union must ... ensure that these
chemicals are banned and replaced with safer alternatives."

Eighty-two per cent of the people tested had at least one
perfluorinated chemical in their blood; DEHP, which is a suspected
hormone-disrupting chemical used in plastics, PVC flooring, food
packaging and toiletries was found in more than 75%.

Chemicals such as PCBs and DDE, a breakdown product of DDT, were found
in everyone despite being banned in the UK at least a decade before
the children were born, but on average the older generations had
higher concentrations.

BDE, a brominated flame retardant, was found in seven people in the
survey, most of whom were children.

The families tested were from Edinburgh, Welshpool, Manchester,
Stourport, Gloucester, south Devon and Suffolk.

Kate Daley, campaigns manager for the Co-operative bank, said: "For
most parents their child's health and well being is paramount, but
sadly our latest research reveals that our children are being
contaminated ... there is little we can do to prevent it. We want to
see chemicals like these phased out and replaced with safer
alternatives before it's too late."

More than 60 leading independent scientists have signed a declaration
calling for measures to reduce exposure to persistent and very
bioaccumulative chemicals, and hormone or endocrine disrupting
chemicals.

The Co-operative bank refuses to invest in companies that "manufacture
chemicals which are persistent in the environment and linked to long
term health concerns".

The report, called Contaminated: the next generation, showed
connections between the products used by and the diets of those
surveyed and the chemicals detected in their blood.

For example, it is widely accepted that oily fish contains high levels
of PCBs. The highest numbers of these chemicals were found in family
members whose diets are high in such foods.

Other studies have shown a correlation between the number of
electrical appliances in an office and the levels of flame-retardant
chemicals in the office air.

This may help explain how people become contaminated by these
chemicals, the study said.