Fri 25 May 2007

The Calgary Herald

Babies at high risk from pollutants

by Alister Doyle

Fetuses and babies are more vulnerable than previously thought to
chemical pollutants that can cause disease or disability, even in tiny
doses that do not harm adults, about 200 scientists said Thursday.

The researchers urged tighter controls on toxic chemicals, some of
them used in making plastics or pesticides, saying that there was a
risk of disruptions at key stages of growth that could lead to brain
damage, malformation or cancers.

"Fetal life and early infancy are periods of remarkable susceptibility
to environmental hazards," toxicologists, biologists, pediatricians
and other experts from around the world said after talks in the North
Atlantic Faroe Islands.

"Toxic exposures to chemical pollutants during these windows of
increased susceptibility can cause disease and disability in infants,
children and across the entire span of adult life," they said in a
final statement following meetings that were held May 20 to 24.

In some cases, damage to genes "may also be passed on to subsequent
generations," the scientists said at the talks, partly sponsored by
the UN's World Health Organization.

"We are beginning to understand that there are some very sensitive
processes that have to happen at a particular time and in a particular
sequence," said Philippe Grandjean, scientific chair of the meeting
who works at the University of Southern Denmark and the Harvard School
of Public Health.

"If they don't, you don't get a second chance," he said. "The child
will be stuck with a brain, lungs or an immune system that are not
optimal."

He said that scientists have long known that smoking while pregnant or
exposure to lead, for instance, can damage a fetus and that recent
research is broadening the list of hazards.
"Some of the these effects may appear subtle -- a few IQ point losses.
But if you add several exposures and several such effects then it can
be very serious for the individual and so for society," he said.

The statement said, for instance, that "low-level developmental
exposure to a plastics ingredient, Bisphenol A, can result in
increased susceptibility to breast cancer or prostate cancer.

"Prenatal exposure to vinclozoline, a common fungicide, also promotes
later development of cancer," it said. Among other hazards, it listed
the banned pesticide DDT, which is still in use in some African
nations to kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Governments in rich nations, including the United States and the
European Union, say Bisphenol A is safe in low levels used in
plastics. And EU farm ministers last year, for instance, approved use
of vinclozoline under tight conditions.

The scientists noted that 16th century Swiss medical expert Paracelsus
said that any substance -- ranging from water to fruit -- can be toxic
in large doses and came up with the medical saying that "the dose
makes the poison."

"For exposures sustained during early development, the most important
issue is that 'the timing makes the poison, ' " the scientists said.

They urged tighter restrictions to protect the very young, even when
the evidence was not conclusive.

"Prevention should not await detailed evidence on individual hazards
to be produced, because the delays in decision-making would then lead
to propagation of toxic exposures and their long-term consequences,"
it said.

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Friday May 25, 2007

Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

VIEWPOINTS

Would you trade health just to have a nice lawn?

This is in response to Mr. "Shut Up and Jog!" In less than the time it
took you to write your letter, I managed to bring up 125,000 Internet
links between lawn care pesticides and childhood cancer. Were you
aware of the scientific studies done linking so many childhood
illnesses to the chemicals you use to make your lawn "nice"?

Ironically, on the same day as your letter, there are others about a
child with autism. Were you aware that autism has been linked to
exposure to lawn pesticides? Probably not. But your lawn looks "nice."

I preach because I, too, used lawn pesticides, but paid a high price
for my error in judgment.

I used lawn care treatments one summer while pregnant and my
neighbors, at the time, used it routinely. It was only after that
child I'd been carrying that summer turned five and was diagnosed with
leukemia that I searched for a reason why and how.

I hope you will do your own research and change your ways before
someone you love gets seriously ill. I wish some had told me sooner.

Annette P. Williamson
Endicott

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