CDC finds Heavy Pesticide Levels in General Population-Chldren Especially

[Guest guest]

This report from the Pesticide Action Network shows that at least the Center

for Disease Control is capable of doing something other than promoting

dangerous vaccines and fluoridated water.

arnold

Subj: Fwd: PANUPS: New Reports Find Pesticides in People 

Date: 2/15/2003 12:25:33 PM Eastern Standard Time

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Forwarded Message:

Subj: PANUPS: New Reports Find Pesticides in People 

Date: 2/14/2003 2:31:07 PM Eastern Standard Time

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===========================================

P A N U P S

Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

===========================================

New Reports Find Pesticides in People

February 14, 2003

Dozens of pesticides and other chemicals are in the blood and urine of people

in the United States, according to two reports released in late January.

Together, the two studies offer startling new evidence of the chemical body

burden carried by the U.S. population.

The first study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(CDC), tested thousands of people for 116 chemicals, 34 of them pesticides.

The CDC's Second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals

is a significant expansion from the first study released in 2001, which

focused on nine pesticides and 27 chemicals in total. This year's report

includes evidence of the U.S. population's chemical body burden of three

types of pesticides: organochlorines, organophosphorus compounds and

carbamates. CDC scientists also tested for a few widely used weed killers and

other pesticides that don't fall into any of these categories. Nineteen of 34

pesticides were detected in the blood or urine of test subjects.

CDC highlights two specific pesticide-related findings in their report.

First, metabolites of the pesticide chlorpyrifos are nearly twice as high in

children (age 6-11) than adults. Most home uses of chlorpyrifos (widely known

by the Dow product name Dursban) were recently banned by the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but an estimated 10 million pounds of

the pesticide continue to be used each year in agricultural production.

The second CDC highlight relates to the organochlorine pesticide DDT, which

was banned in the U.S. in 1972. DDT breakdown products (DDE) were found in

Mexican Americans at levels more than three times that of non-Hispanic

whites. DDT use for malaria control continued in Mexico until its phase out

in 2000. In addition, DDE was present in the bodies of youth aged 12-19 born

after the U.S. ban, indicating continued exposure from residues in the

environment. This is consistent with PANNA's findings of ongoing

contamination of the U.S. food supply with DDT residues (see PANUPS, December

4, 2000, http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20001204.dv.html.)

The second study, Body Burden: The Pollution in People, was led by Mount

Sinai School of Medicine in New York and conducted in collaboration with

Environmental Working Group and Commonweal. Researchers found 167 industrial

chemicals, pesticides and pollutants in the blood and urine of nine adult

subjects. Each subject carried an average of 91 compounds. Seventeen of the

chemicals found were breakdown products from organochlorine and

organophosphate pesticides.

Though the sample size for the Body Burden study was too small to be

scientifically significant, the study was unique in that the nine subjects

were not anonymous. Individual profiles and personal reactions to the study

are included in the report, giving a human face to the chemical body burden

data.

Other chemicals found in the two studies include polychlorinated biphenyls

(PCBs), dioxins and furans (industrial by-products) and phthalates (softening

agents widely used in cosmetics, toys and other consumer products).

Individuals vary widely in their sensitivity to individual chemicals, and it

is difficult to predict the specific health effects of long term, low-level

exposures like those found in the two studies. The pesticides found in the

U.S. population have a wide range of known health effects, including cancer,

birth defects, neurological damage, infertility and weakened immune systems.

There are insufficient studies on the possible health effects of exposure to

multiple chemicals.

Recent research shows that surprisingly low levels of exposure to young

children or fetuses in the uterus can cause irreversible damage if the

exposure occurs when a certain organ or system is in a critical stage of

development. The effects of this damage may not become apparent until later

in life--a specific example is infertility or other damage to the

reproductive system. (See PANUPS, August 2, 2002,

http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20020802.dv.html.)

The pesticide body burdens found in the new studies result from a variety of

exposures. Pesticide residues in food are a major source of exposure, as are

pesticides in drinking water. Farmworkers and people in communities and

schools located near farms where pesticides are sprayed may inhale fumes from

the applications or come in contact with residues of spray drift that have

settled in their yards or homes. And pesticides used in the home can be

absorbed through skin contact, inhalation or accidental ingestion.

Reducing or eliminating pesticide use in the home and supporting organic

agriculture are two concrete ways consumers can respond to the body burden

news. Not surprisingly, new evidence shows that children who eat more organic

food have fewer chemicals in their bodies. (See PANUPS, January 31, 2003,

http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20030131.dv.html.) Supporting

organic production will send a powerful message to farmers and will lead to

falling demand for agricultural pesticides.

CDC will be checking levels of these and additional chemicals every two

years, and will make the full data set for both the first and second National

Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals available in mid-March.

PANNA plans to do further analysis on the pesticide body burden findings at

that time.

For more information:

CDC's Second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals:

http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/

PANNA's Pesticide Backgrounder and additional body burden resources:

http://www.panna.org/campaigns/docsPops/docsPops_030130.dv.html

Body Burden: The Pollution in People: http://www.ewg.org

Contact: PANNA

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and reporting

on pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the mainstream media.

It's produced by Pesticide Action Network North America, a non-profit and

non-governmental organization working to advance sustainable alternatives to

pesticides worldwide.

You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and all

contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit

http://www.panna.org/donate.

===========================================

Back issues of PANUPS are available online at:

http://www.panna.org/resources/panups.html

Please note: responses to this message will not be read.

To comment, send an email to:

panna@...

To subscribe, send a blank email to:

PANUPS-subscribe@...

Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)

49 St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA

Phone: (415) 981-1771

Fax: (415) 981-1991

Email: panna@...

Web: http://www.panna.org

===========================================

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[Guest guest]

This report from the Pesticide Action Network shows that at least the Center

for Disease Control is capable of doing something other than promoting

dangerous vaccines and fluoridated water.

arnold

Subj: Fwd: PANUPS: New Reports Find Pesticides in People 

Date: 2/15/2003 12:25:33 PM Eastern Standard Time

From: <A HREF= " mailto:Waynetusa " >Waynetusa</A>

<A HREF= " mailto:ABuffaloe " >ABuffaloe</A>, <A

HREF= " mailto:Arnoldgore " >Arnoldgore</A>, <A

HREF= " mailto:AlisonjMCS " >AlisonjMCS</A>, <A

HREF= " mailto:gkoz@... " >gkoz@...</A>, <A

HREF= " mailto:potent.jeffrey@... " >

potent.jeffrey@...</A>, <A

HREF= " mailto:jparisella@... " >jparisella@...</A>, <A

HREF= " mailto:marylamielle@... " >marylamielle@...</A>

-----------------

Forwarded Message:

Subj: PANUPS: New Reports Find Pesticides in People 

Date: 2/14/2003 2:31:07 PM Eastern Standard Time

From: <A

HREF= " mailto:panups@... " >panups@...\

m</A>

<A HREF= " mailto:waynetusa@... " >waynetusa@...</A>

Sent from the Internet (Details)

===========================================

P A N U P S

Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

===========================================

New Reports Find Pesticides in People

February 14, 2003

Dozens of pesticides and other chemicals are in the blood and urine of people

in the United States, according to two reports released in late January.

Together, the two studies offer startling new evidence of the chemical body

burden carried by the U.S. population.

The first study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(CDC), tested thousands of people for 116 chemicals, 34 of them pesticides.

The CDC's Second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals

is a significant expansion from the first study released in 2001, which

focused on nine pesticides and 27 chemicals in total. This year's report

includes evidence of the U.S. population's chemical body burden of three

types of pesticides: organochlorines, organophosphorus compounds and

carbamates. CDC scientists also tested for a few widely used weed killers and

other pesticides that don't fall into any of these categories. Nineteen of 34

pesticides were detected in the blood or urine of test subjects.

CDC highlights two specific pesticide-related findings in their report.

First, metabolites of the pesticide chlorpyrifos are nearly twice as high in

children (age 6-11) than adults. Most home uses of chlorpyrifos (widely known

by the Dow product name Dursban) were recently banned by the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but an estimated 10 million pounds of

the pesticide continue to be used each year in agricultural production.

The second CDC highlight relates to the organochlorine pesticide DDT, which

was banned in the U.S. in 1972. DDT breakdown products (DDE) were found in

Mexican Americans at levels more than three times that of non-Hispanic

whites. DDT use for malaria control continued in Mexico until its phase out

in 2000. In addition, DDE was present in the bodies of youth aged 12-19 born

after the U.S. ban, indicating continued exposure from residues in the

environment. This is consistent with PANNA's findings of ongoing

contamination of the U.S. food supply with DDT residues (see PANUPS, December

4, 2000, http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20001204.dv.html.)

The second study, Body Burden: The Pollution in People, was led by Mount

Sinai School of Medicine in New York and conducted in collaboration with

Environmental Working Group and Commonweal. Researchers found 167 industrial

chemicals, pesticides and pollutants in the blood and urine of nine adult

subjects. Each subject carried an average of 91 compounds. Seventeen of the

chemicals found were breakdown products from organochlorine and

organophosphate pesticides.

Though the sample size for the Body Burden study was too small to be

scientifically significant, the study was unique in that the nine subjects

were not anonymous. Individual profiles and personal reactions to the study

are included in the report, giving a human face to the chemical body burden

data.

Other chemicals found in the two studies include polychlorinated biphenyls

(PCBs), dioxins and furans (industrial by-products) and phthalates (softening

agents widely used in cosmetics, toys and other consumer products).

Individuals vary widely in their sensitivity to individual chemicals, and it

is difficult to predict the specific health effects of long term, low-level

exposures like those found in the two studies. The pesticides found in the

U.S. population have a wide range of known health effects, including cancer,

birth defects, neurological damage, infertility and weakened immune systems.

There are insufficient studies on the possible health effects of exposure to

multiple chemicals.

Recent research shows that surprisingly low levels of exposure to young

children or fetuses in the uterus can cause irreversible damage if the

exposure occurs when a certain organ or system is in a critical stage of

development. The effects of this damage may not become apparent until later

in life--a specific example is infertility or other damage to the

reproductive system. (See PANUPS, August 2, 2002,

http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20020802.dv.html.)

The pesticide body burdens found in the new studies result from a variety of

exposures. Pesticide residues in food are a major source of exposure, as are

pesticides in drinking water. Farmworkers and people in communities and

schools located near farms where pesticides are sprayed may inhale fumes from

the applications or come in contact with residues of spray drift that have

settled in their yards or homes. And pesticides used in the home can be

absorbed through skin contact, inhalation or accidental ingestion.

Reducing or eliminating pesticide use in the home and supporting organic

agriculture are two concrete ways consumers can respond to the body burden

news. Not surprisingly, new evidence shows that children who eat more organic

food have fewer chemicals in their bodies. (See PANUPS, January 31, 2003,

http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20030131.dv.html.) Supporting

organic production will send a powerful message to farmers and will lead to

falling demand for agricultural pesticides.

CDC will be checking levels of these and additional chemicals every two

years, and will make the full data set for both the first and second National

Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals available in mid-March.

PANNA plans to do further analysis on the pesticide body burden findings at

that time.

For more information:

CDC's Second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals:

http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/

PANNA's Pesticide Backgrounder and additional body burden resources:

http://www.panna.org/campaigns/docsPops/docsPops_030130.dv.html

Body Burden: The Pollution in People: http://www.ewg.org

Contact: PANNA

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and reporting

on pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the mainstream media.

It's produced by Pesticide Action Network North America, a non-profit and

non-governmental organization working to advance sustainable alternatives to

pesticides worldwide.

You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and all

contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit

http://www.panna.org/donate.

===========================================

Back issues of PANUPS are available online at:

http://www.panna.org/resources/panups.html

Please note: responses to this message will not be read.

To comment, send an email to:

panna@...

To subscribe, send a blank email to:

PANUPS-subscribe@...

Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)

49 St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA

Phone: (415) 981-1771

Fax: (415) 981-1991

Email: panna@...

Web: http://www.panna.org

===========================================

====================================================================

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