By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
We hear every day about dangerous chemicals in household products that are linked to cancer, infertility, autism and other diseases – yet many Americans may not realize just how many of these harmful substances they’ve actually ingested in the course of everyday living.
The answer? About 48. That’s according a study by the Environmental Working Group and Rachel’s Network, in which five leading minority women environmentalists from different parts of the country volunteered to have their blood tested for toxic substances. The results, say EWG experts, show that regulation of chemicals in the U.S. is weak and “antiquated” and needs a major overhaul.
The tests, performed by four independent labs in the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands, looked for traces of 75 common chemical contaminants that might turn up in people because they are used in household goods, plastics, beauty products and food and water.
It found, in the aggregate, traces of 48 chemicals in the women, notably flame retardants (used to treat some furniture and clothing), synthetic fragrances (from body care products and perfumes), the plastics ingredient Bisphenol A (found in bottles, canned food liners and other products) and the rocket fuel perchlorate (which has been found in some drinking water).
“We are fighting the things we know that are there, the things (pollutants) outside,” said Suzie Canales, 
founder of Citizens for Environmental Justice in Corpus Christi, which has pushed for a cleaner environment in a city with a concentration of oil refineries. “But it’s a double injustice to find out that the products put on the market are also killing us.”
Canales report showed that her blood contained traces of chemicals from BPA, musks, rocket fuel, lead and mercury. The profiles of the other women tested also turned up several chemicals, at levels above average, that have been linked to harmful health effects; though the toxic mix varied by individual.
The findings made concrete the suspicion that all Americans are being exposed to a daily brew of chemicals that advocates now call our chemical “body burden”.
“I was frustrated to learn about the industrial chemical contamination through this study. I am a mother and I have a 7 year old daughter. I try to live a sustainable life style,” said Jennifer Hill-Kelley, a member of the Oneida Nation who’s worked to clean up environmental pollution outside of Green Bay, Wisc. “… I don’t have the information about the personal care products or the plastics I use…and I feel that as a consumer I deserve that information to be shared with me.”
Beverly Wright, a New Orleans sociology professor working to fight pollution in the heavily industrialized Lower Mississippi River Valley area, said she was “disturbed” to discover that her tests showed a high level of musks, which are potentially hazardous compounds in synthetic fragrances.
“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
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