Study shows Canadian children are
being contaminated by toxic chemicals
Canadian Press
Published: Thursday, June 01, 2006
OTTAWA -- A national research project has found
children contaminated by a cocktail of toxic chemicals ranging from PCBs to
flame retardants. In some cases they have higher levels of toxins than
their parents, says a report by Toronto-based Environmental Defence, on what
is thought to be the first study of pollution levels in Canadian youth.
The study found an average of 23 known or suspected
toxins -- including carcinogens, hormone disrupters and neurotoxins -- in
the blood and urine of seven children from five families living across the
country. The researchers tested 13 individuals from five families, six
adults and seven children. The families live in Vancouver, Toronto, Sarnia,
Montreal and Quispamsis, N.B.
"Our children are being poisoned every day by toxic
chemicals that surround them at home, school and play," said Rick Smith,
executive director of Environmental Defence. The adults were contaminated by
32 chemicals, and had higher concentrations of some products no longer in
use, such as DDT and PCBs.
But the children had higher levels of newer
chemicals such as brominated flame retardants (PBDEs) and perfluorooctanoic
acid (PFOA), used in stain repellants and non-stick coatings. "It is common
to expect adults to be more contaminated by harmful chemicals than children
because they have had a longer time to accumulate chemicals in their
bodies," says the report.
"The results of this study, however, show that this
is not always the case."
A decreased presence of banned chemicals in children is evidence that bans
do work, says the report. But effects linger long after a chemical is
removed from use - DDT was banned years ago but can still be detected in
children as young as 10.
Health Canada responded to the findings by
promising a national study, beginning next year, to monitor body levels of
toxic chemicals. "The government of Canada takes very seriously the exposure
of Canadians to environmental chemicals," said Health Canada spokeswoman
Carolyn Sexauer.
She said children are at greater risk of
contamination than adults because of their physical size, immature organs,
physiology, behaviour, curiosity and lack of knowledge. Vivian Maraghi, a
study volunteer from Montreal, said she was astounded to learn she had 36
industrial chemicals in her body. "But when I saw the toxic chemicals in my
son's body, I was angry. Our children deserve better protection."
Environmental Defence says Canada's regulation of
toxic chemicals is weak and ineffective. However, similar levels of
contamination have been found in the United States. Many chemicals now on
the market were never screened for health effects because they were
introduced before awareness of the hazards of industrial pollution.
Canadian Press 2006
Sweet
Misery - A Poisoned World - Aspartame Cancer, Parts 1,2 and 3
The FDA would not
approve a poison to put on grocery store shelves and in hundreds of products
just because a few political favors were pulled in, would they?
After 7000 miles,
and 25 hours of footage, "Sweet Misery" reveals one of the most pervasive,
insidious forms of corporate negligence in the history of the industrial
revolution.
"Aspartame is inherently,
markedly and uniquely unstable in aqueous media" is a quote from the
congressional record in 1985, yet it was approved for use in soft drinks and
other beverages.
So what happened?
Is there credible evidence if
you look beyond the smokescreen of corporate medicine? The primary research
and interviews have been quite disturbing.
Dr. Woodrow C. Monte wrote:
"Methanol [one of the breakdown products of aspartame] has no therapeutic
properties and is considered only as a toxicant. The ingestion of two
teaspoons is considered lethal in humans" (Monte, Woodrow, "Aspartame:
Methanol and the Public Health", Journal of Applied Nutrition, Vol. 36,
Number 1, 1984, p. 44).
Long-term use can create a
ticking time-bomb for a large array of neurological illnesses, including
(but not limited to) Brain Cancer, Lou Gehrig's Disease, Graves Disease,
Chronic Fatigue, MS and Epilepsy.
NEW YORK - More than one out of every three
individuals in the United States have diabetes and another 26 percent have
impaired fasting glucose, which increases the risk of developing diabetes,
new study findings suggest.
The prevalence of diagnosed diabetes has increased
in recent years, while undiagnosed diabetes and impaired fasting glucose has
remained constant over the past decade. "Despite public health messages,
we're not finding a counterbalance of fewer people with undiagnosed
diabetes," study co-author Dr. Catherine C. Cowie, of the National Institute
of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, in Bethesda, told Reuters
Health.
The findings are based on an analysis of four years
of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
The study included information on 4,761 adults, age 20 years or older, who
were classified according to their glycemic status. Cowie and her team
compared data from the 1999-2002 with data from 1988-1994.
Over 35 percent of study participants, representing
73.3 million individuals had diabetes or impaired fasting glucose in 2002,
the researchers report in the journal Diabetes Care. A total 9.3 percent had
diabetes in 1988-2002 and the prevalence of undiagnosed remained stable at
2.8 percent during this period.
However, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes rose
from 5.1 percent in 1988-1994 to 6.5 percent in 1999-2002. They also
estimate that about one third of diabetics are undiagnosed.
"We were surprised by the fact that diagnosed diabetes is increasing," Cowie
said. "We need to do a better job of diagnosing those one in three who don't
know they have it (diabetes) and finding those with impaired fasting
glucose."
Researchers find traces of mercury in high-fructose corn syrup - Feb/09 By Michael Hawthorne
A swig of soda or bite of a candy bar might be sweet, but a new study suggests that food made with corn syrup also could be delivering tiny doses of toxic mercury.
For the first time, researchers say they have detected traces of the silvery metal in samples of high-fructose corn syrup, a widely used sweetener that has replaced sugar in many processed foods. The study was published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health. [read full report]
Bottled water has contaminants too: study - Oct. 15 2008, The Associated Press
Tests on leading brands of bottled water turned up a variety of contaminants, including cancer-linked chemicals three times higher than California's health standard, according to a study released Wednesday by an environmental advocacy group.
The findings challenge the popular impression -- and marketing pitch -- that bottled water is purer than tap water, the researchers say.
However, all the brands met federal health standards for drinking water. And most of the detected contaminants are common in tap water, too.
Lab tests detected 38 chemicals in 10 brands, with an average of eight contaminants found in each kind of bottled water. Tests showed coliform bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium. [Read full article]
This clip from Scarborough Country highlights how Bayer knowingly dumped medicine that was known to be contaminated with AIDS virus on the European market after it killed people (mostly children) in America.
