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People Absorb Toxic Chemicals Everyday
The American Journal of Public Health reported that in testing
medication delivery methods, skin absorption contributed from 29-91 percent of the total dose, averaging 64 percent.1
Center for Disease Control (CDC) found through biomonitoring (measurement of presence of environmental toxicants in human bodies) that people absorb toxic chemicals in their bodies as a part of everyday life.2
Recent analysis by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine found 167 chemical contaminants in nine volunteers (an average of 91 in each), including:
53 chemicals linked to cancer in humans and lab animals;
62 that are toxic to the brain and nervous system;
55 associated with birth defects or abnormal development;
55 chemicals toxic to the reproductive system;
53 that are toxic to the immune system; and
55 chemicals for which no health information is available.3
Children Are More Vulnerable
CDC tests show that children are disproportionately exposed to many substances. Recent science indicates that early exposures to certain substances may damage the immune system or increase risk of asthma, high blood pressure, or cancer in alter life.
Preschoolers who had been exposed through normal skin contact to a cream their father had been using containing testosterone caused early signs of puberty to develop in both his son and daughter.
Phthalates that leach from plastics in children's toys have been known to cause developmental problems.4
Girls start using beauty products, containing potentially toxic chemicals, at a very young age so the length of exposure over a lifetime is high.
The Dangers of Phthalates
Di-n-butyl Phthalate (DBP) is found in numerous products and is used as a penetration enhancer in skin care products to drive ingredients deeper into the skin.5
University of Rochester researchers found that lab rodents receiving high doses of phthalates developed "phthalate syndrome" including incompletely descended testes, and less complete masculinization, as well as later in life lower sperm count, decreased fertility and in some cases testicular tumors.
In 2005, scientists, for the first time, showed that pregnant women who had higher concentrations of some phthalates in their urine were more likely to later give birth to sons with changes similar to "phthalate syndrome."6
Parabens Found in Breast Tumors
Parabens are a group of preservatives, found in cosmetics that chemically mimic small doses of estrogen.
United Kingdom (UK) scientists found that parabens found in breast tumors probably came from personal care products, like deodorant, used on the underarm.
The scientists concluded, that if parabens accumulated from another source, they would have been distributed evenly throughout the breast tissue. Parabens in underarm products may be the reason 60% of breast tumors are located in only one fifth of the breast, the upper-outer quadrant, nearest the underarm.7
Philip Harvey, an editor of the Journal of Applied Toxicology said, "Given that breast cancer is the largest killer of women and a very high percentage of young women use underarm deodorants, I think we should be carrying out properly funded, further investigations into parabens and where they are found in the body."8
Failed Government Oversight
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) admits that its own guidelines - called reference doses - for safe human exposure to chemicals are decades old and don't take into account new research. The EPA is actively reassessing the health risks of three types of phthalates, according to agency spokeswoman Suzanne Ackerman.9
In 1983, the Consumer Product Safety Commission determined that substantial exposure to Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) could put children at risk of cancer but the agency didn't issue a regulation, and instead reached a voluntary agreement with the Toy Industry Association to keep DEHP out of pacifiers, rattles and teethers.10
Organic Produce Has More
Organic fruits and vegetables show significantly higher levels of antioxidants than their conventionally grown counterparts.
Organically grown marionberries had approximately 50 percent more antioxidants than conventionally grown berries.11
Organically grown apples, wheat, sweet corn, potatoes and pears were examined over a 2 year period and were 63% higher in calcium, 73% higher in iron, 118% higher in magnesium, 178% higher in molybdenum, 91% higher in phosphorus, 125% higher in potassium and 60% higher in zinc than conventionally grown produce.12
The organic produce was also 29% lower in mercury.
1H S Brown, D R Bishop, and C A Rowan. Am J Public Health. 1984 May; 74(5): 479-484, www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1651599.
2Center for Disease Control, 2003
3Environmental Working Group. "Body Burden: The Pollution in People." http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden1/es.php, accessed 12/10/06.
4 Science Times, New York Times, Oct.17, "Preschool Puberty, and a Search for the Causes," Dr. Darshak M. Sanghavi.
5Environmental Working Group. "Beauty Secrets: Phthalates in cosmetics and beauty products." http://www.ewg.org/reports/beautysecrets/chap3.html, accessed 12/10/06.
6Kay, Jane. "San Francisco prepares to ban certain chemicals in products for tots, but enforcement will be touch - and toymakers questions necessity." San Francisco Chronicle. November 19, 2006 San Francisco Chronicle
7Harvey, Phillip. Journal of Applied Toxicology. Vol. 24, p. 5.
8Vince, Gaia. "Cosmetic chemicals found in breast tumors." NewScientist.com news service, 1/12/04.
9ibid
10ibid.
11The American Chemical Society. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Feb. 26, 2003.
12Journal of Applied Nutrition, 1993 (45:35-39).
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