MA Residents Get Tested for Toxic Chemicals
Last week, five residents from Massachusetts communities, including a Framingham resident, donated blood and urine samples to a national "Body Burden" project that will measure levels of toxic contamination. The project is testing for three different chemicals that are ingredients in common household products including clothing, plastics and cosmetics.
Massachusetts is one of seven states participating in the "Pollution in People" project with the goals of raising awareness that toxic chemicals are building up in our bodies and calling for safer alternatives to prevent harm to our health.
The results of the testing are expected to be released this summer.The five participants represent a diversity of age groups, races, professions and geographic areas. Rev. Jim Antal of Framingham is the President and Minister of the United Church of Christ, Massachusetts Conference. The other participants are Jerry Fishbein, a Dartmouth resident and a Vice President of SEIU 1199; Keeana Saxon, an attorney from the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston; State Representative Ellen Story from Amherst; and Iris Chen of Malden, the Assistant Director of the Episcopal Chinese Center in Quincy.
After the samples were collected, they were shipped to independent labs that will test for three toxic chemicals including phthalates, commonly used in cosmetics and plastics; polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), used as flame retardants on furniture and electronics; and bisphenol-A, used in some plastic baby and water bottles and as a liner in tin cans. The project will not draw specific conclusions about potential health damage from the levels of chemical identified, but rather will provide a snapshot in time of exposure to chemicals in everyday products.
"This project is designed to illustrate that humans are exposed to dangerous chemicals through the household products we use everyday," said Margaret Byrne, Science Coordinator for the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow. "Common household products, especially those meant for children, should not contain chemicals linked with cancer, reproductive or neurological damage. We need safe products that are made safely in order to best protect our health and environment," she said.
Several national studies have measured toxic chemicals in human tissues. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its 2005 Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals which found levels of 148 chemicals in Americans' blood and urine, including metals, pesticides, dioxins and furans, PCBs, and phthalates.
The Massachusetts project is being coordinated by the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, a statewide coalition of over 160 organizations working to prevent harm to our health posed by dangerous chemicals. The coalition supports statewide legislation that would require manufacturers to use safer alternatives to toxic chemicals whenever they are available. The bill will have a hearing before the Joint Committee on Natural Resources, Environment and Agriculture in June.
