Study: Fetuses Exposed to Toxic Chemicals

proudmom

Tue, Jul 26 2005, 1:38 pm

By TERENCE CHEA

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A new study released Thursday questions the long-held belief that fetuses in the womb are largely protected from dangerous chemicals pregnant women are exposed to.

Laboratory tests of the umbilical cord blood of 10 newborns found that the samples contained an average of 200 chemicals that can cause cancer, brain damage, birth defects and other health ailments, according to the study sponsored by the Environmental Working Group.

``This is conclusive evidence that babies are being exposed to hundreds of industrial chemicals throughout pregnancy,'' said Sonya Lunder, an EWG scientist in Oakland who is five months pregnant. ``The placenta isn't a magic shield.''

Lunder and other health advocates spoke Thursday at a news conference in San Francisco, where they called on California lawmakers to pass legislation that would require the state to collect data on chemicals found in people's blood.

The American Chemistry Council, which represents major U.S. chemical companies, argued that chemicals are often found in people's blood or urine in amounts that do not cause or increase risks for disease.

``The measurements by themselves are not an indication of a risk to health and should not be cause for alarm,'' the council said in a statement. ``Scientists long have understood that our bodies can absorb substances present in our environment.''

Health advocates countered that even minute amounts of chemicals such as mercury, pesticides and PCBs can disrupt fetal development, and that scientists still don't know what are safe doses for many of the chemicals detected.

For the study, the Environmental Working Group commissioned independent lab tests on ten random samples, provided by the American Red Cross, of umbilical cord blood from babies born in U.S. hospitals in August and September last year.

The lab tests tested for 413 chemicals and detected 287 in the 10 blood samples, with each containing between 159 and 234 chemicals. Of the contaminants detected, 180 can cause cancer in humans and animals, 217 are known to be dangerous to the nervous system and brain, and 208 can cause birth defects in animals, according the EWG study, which was peer-reviewed by eight physicians and a toxicologist.

Health advocates said the study underscored the need to pass legislation that would create the country's first statewide ``biomonitoring'' program to measure chemical contaminants in people. Backers say the program will generate data to help state officials better protect people from toxic chemicals.

``What this study illustrates is that we know very little about what our bodies are carrying,'' said Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, chairman of the Senate Health Committee and one of the bill's sponsors.