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NEWSLETTER By-Monthly by Internal Health, October 2004 Issue |
Humanities
Toxicity for Corporate Profits
We
run for cancer, walk for AID’S, shave our heads for funding and pursue charity
drives, society is always on the move trying to heal the wounds of the infirmed,
and this is a noble pursuit that we should all be very proud of. But with the
advancement of disease and our lack of knowledge, it is like trying to drain the
ocean by using a bucket; it is just too over whelming! Maybe the time has come
to examine the full picture, instead of hoping for health restoration we need to
focus and take steps on prevention. How many of our modern day dieses have we
created by ignorance or greed, and if we knew the full facts would we allow them
to be continued? Our health care is not in the hands of politicians, even though
they may want you to feel that it is. Collectively we are the government and
change must come soon than later. It is high time for accountability, large
corporation’s cover-ups and government’s slothfulness must come into the
light, and change must come now.
How
much longer will we permit our families to be overcome by illness because
corporate profits need be achieved? The time is at hand we must say enough is
enough, greed must stand to the sidelines and health care must take preeminence,
what else is worth fighting for? Once you read the following you will become
more enlightened and when this happens change becomes possible, we become
accountable when wisdom is acquired.
September
/ 2004
High Levels of PBDES Found In Breast Milk in Canada and the United States:
A study conducted by Health
Canada has revealed that the breast milk of Canadian women contains the second
highest levels in the world of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), the
chemicals used as flame retardants in electronic products and furniture. Levels
measured were about 5-10 times higher than in women from Japan, Sweden and
Germany. Levels in US women, the highest in the world, were twice as high as
those measured in Canada, 100% of test subject were positive. The findings state
that they do not know whether these chemicals can cause cancer in humans, but
they do confirm that they can cause liver cancer in rats and mice.
The
blood-brain barrier is not fully developed until the middle of the first year of
life, and the fetus has been found to get significant exposure to toxic
substances through maternal blood and across the placenta. Fetal levels of toxic
metals are often higher than that of maternal blood. Likewise, infants have been
found to get significant exposure to toxics, such as mercury and organochlorine
compounds that their mother is exposed to, through breast-feeding. Breast milk
of women who have amalgam fillings is the second largest source of mercury in
infants and young children. Amalgam fillings have been banded in most Industrial
countries, but Canada and the US still continue to fill teeth this way.
What
is being done about this? And who is accountable? We must be asking these
questions!
From
the Globe and Mail, 7 June 2004,
New Report Highlights Effects of Chemicals on Children’s Intelligence and
Behavior;
A
new report from World Wildlife Federation (WWF) argues that chemicals in the
environment have severe impacts on children’s intelligence and behavior, and
could be linked to autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
European children also suffered from poorer memory, reduced visual recognition,
less-developed movement skills, and lower IQ scores as a result of chemical
contamination.
MAY
2004
DOCTORS AND SCIENTISTS WARN OF CHEMICAL POLLUTION DANGERS:
JANUARY
2004
WORLD WILDLIFE FEDERATION EXPOSES NEW CHEMICAL CONCERNS
Many chemicals in everyday
consumer goods pose a toxic hazard to humans and animals, suggests a new WWF
report entitled “Causes for concern: Chemicals and Wildlife.”
New
toxic hazards found in everyday consumer goods are found to have contaminated a
wide range of animals, from dolphins and whales to pet birds and alligators.
Most prominent on the list of new toxic hazards are: perfluorinated compounds,
which are used in textile production, food packaging and non-stick coatings such
as Teflon; phthalates found in plastics; phenolic compounds in food cans,
plastic bottles and computer shells; and brominated flame retardants (BFRs)
found in TVs and fabrics. These chemicals have been found to cause numerous
health problems, including cancer, damage to the immune system, behavioral
problems, and hormone disruption. Chemicals that have already been banned or
regulated such as PCBs and DDT, are still used globally.
The
global productions of chemicals are increasing, 30,000
or so new industrial chemicals are annually marketed in Europe. Wildlife
and human health are becoming seriously in danger. “It is reckless to suggest
there is no link between the two, and give chemicals the benefit of the
doubt.” Clifton Curtis, Director of WWF Toxics Program states.
Why
Women Should avoid Foreign Estrogens
Nobody knows exactly why
hundreds of thousands of North American women develop breast cancer every year.
The disease does have some established risk factors: early commencement of
menstruation, never breastfeeding a child, late onset of menopause and
inheritance of the long-researched "breast cancer gene". These risks
apply to approximately 30% of breast cancer cases, leaving the vast majority
unexplained. Or are they?
Scientists
are beginning to look at xenoestrogens (foreign estrogens) as a probable
culprit. Xenoestrogens contaminants are introduced into the body from the
environment, and mimic the action of estrogen produced in cells and alter
hormonal activity.
Xenoestrogens
are found in certain pesticides, plastics, fuels and drugs, and have
proliferated since World War Two. In 1993 alone, the US plastics industry
admitted releasing 283 million kilograms of toxic chemicals into the nation's
air, water and land. The evidence is clear that xenoestrogens and other hormone
mimicking substances are implicated in a wide range of human and wildlife health
problems, including breast cancer, vaginal and cervical cancers. And at the same
time there has been a 3 to 4-fold increase in testicular cancer, making it the
most common malignancy among younger men in the Western world.
FARMED
SALMON CONTAIN MORE POPs THAN WILD SALMON
Farmed salmon has been shown to
contain more persistent organic pollutants (POPs) than wild salmon, a recent
study finds. Published in Science,
this study analyzed contaminant levels in over two tons of farmed and wild
salmon from around the world, and showed that concentrations of polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs) and other POPs, such as dioxins, toxaphene, and dieldrin, are
significantly higher in farmed salmon than in wild salmon. Based on the combined
concentrations of PCBs, toxaphene, and dieldrin, the authors applied U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency guidelines and calculated that consumers should
eat no more than one meal a month of farmed salmon to avoid an increased risk of
cancer.
Even
Alaskan lakes are now being contaminated from POPs, Sockeye
salmon carry significant quantities of PCBs from the Pacific Ocean back to their
spawning grounds in Alaskan lakes, according to a new study published in a
recent issue Of Nature. The
research analyzed PCB concentrations in sediment cores from eight different
lakes as well as in salmon and found that the accumulation of PCBs in lake
sediment correlated strongly with the density of salmon returning there. One
million salmon could potentially carry more than 0.16 kg of PCBs – similar to
the amount released annually from hazardous waste incinerators. In the lakes
measured, the amount of PCBs transported by salmon is greater than the amount
transported by the atmosphere.
TOXINS
ARE IN OUR FOOD, IN OUR HOMES, IN OUR BLOOD STREAM, AND IN THE VERY AIR THAT WE
BREATH.
WE
MUST DEMAND A CHANGE!
BUT
LOOK AT PRESIDENT’S PLAN.
JUNE
2004
THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION CAMPAIGNS AGAINST CHEMICAL TESTING
The Bush Administration has
expressed strong opposition to the proposed EU chemical testing program, and has
joined chemical companies and trade groups including Dow Chemical Co., Rohm
& Haas Co., Lyondell Chemical Co., and the American Chemistry Council in
campaigning aggressively against the legislation. The Bush Administration views
the proposed EU testing program as too costly, burdensome, and complex for US
exporters. Administration has directed diplomats in EU member states to lobby
against the proposal, along with the State and Commerce Departments, the
Environmental Protection Agency, and the office of the US Trade Representative
This
implementation it maintains would disrupt global trade in key sectors such as
textiles, pharmaceuticals, and electronics; impose substantial costs and
uncertain benefits, and create market uncertainty. The US producers currently
export more than $20 billion in chemicals to Europe annually. Health
Sacrificed for Corporate Profits!
AMOUNTS
OF CHEMICALS USED TODAY
Between 1929 and today, Monsanto has made, or licensed someone to make, a total
of 1.2 million tons of PCBs. Of this total, 31% (370,000 tons) has so far
escaped into the global environment -- 20% in the oceans and 11% in soil and
sediments. An estimated 4% of original production has been fed into
incinerators. This leaves 65% (780,000 tons) of PCBs still in use in
transformers and capacitors, or sitting in landfills waiting to escape.
Developed countries hold 85% of the world's PCBs, developing countries 15%.
More
than one billion pounds of pesticides are applied in Canada and the US each year
at a cost of over $4.5 billion. North American agricultural pesticide use nearly
tripled between 1965 and 1985.
Chemical
pesticides were generally not used as widely or intensively in developing
countries, but usage has grown dramatically as more and more land is devoted to
producing cash crops for export.
In
India, pesticide use increased from about 2000 tons annually in the 1950s to
more than 80,000 tons in the mid- 1980s.
All
data on testing and registration of pesticides are considered proprietary
information, and by law cannot be released to the public. Nor does the public
have any right to know about non-agricultural applications of pesticides, such
as in schools or restaurants.
US
decisions on regulation of pesticides are not based on whether or not they are
safe, but on cost-benefit analyses which weigh the financial benefits to
industry over the cost in terms of human and environmental health. These costs
are paid for by consumers and taxpayers. The annual environmental and social
costs of pesticide use in Canada and the US has been estimated at over $8
billion, including nearly $1 billion in public health impacts, $2.1 billion in
bird losses, and $1.8 billion in groundwater contamination.
PESTICIDE
CLEANUP NECESSARY
The Food and Agriculture
Organization’s (FAO) state that obsolete stock piles of pesticides are
widespread in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.,
and continue to be a threat to human health and the environment. Clean-up of one
ton of obsolete pesticides cost $3,500. US, and it is estimated that 50,000 tons
of obsolete stock currently exist in Africa alone.
BEWARE
of # 3 Recycling Code
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC),
commonly known as vinyl, may be the most toxic plastic on the market today. PVC
is identified by the #3 recycling code.
Most
fire-related injuries and fatalities are caused by smoke inhalation. This is
largely the result of the preponderance of PVC plastic in pipes, cable and wire
insulation, flooring, wallpaper, shower curtains, siding, molded furniture and
Venetian blinds, to name but a few common uses. PVC is also used for toys, food
wrappings and containers.
RESISTANCE
As well as harming human and
environmental health, pesticides are becoming less effective as pests mutate
quickly and become resistant. Between the 1940s and 1970s, insecticide use
increased ten-fold, while crop losses to insects doubled.
Many
chemicals banned in industrial countries because of known health and
environmental effects are still being used in developing countries.
DDT
and benzene hexachloride (BHC), banned in the US and most of Europe and
unregistered in Canada, are still used widely in the rest of the world and
account for about 75% of total pesticide use in India. Present use of DDT in
developing countries (mainly for control of malaria) probably exceeds the level
of its historical use. The US exports one billion kilograms of pesticides
each year to other countries.
NOw
that you know the choice is yours. Either live with what you know, or make a
change!