Study finds lingering toxins abound
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By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: February 11, 2010
MONTPELIER – Tests of blood, urine and hair samples from a half-dozen Vermonters revealed trace amounts of chemicals – some known health risks – in their bodies, according to a group of advocacy organizations pushing for tougher state limits on chemical usage.
Among the chemicals found in the bodies of the six Vermonters in the tests were mercury, pesticides – including the long-banned DDT – and others.
"I try to be pretty conscious about what I bring into my home," said Katy Farber, a teacher at Middlesex's Rumney School and the author of a blog on parenting and environmental health. But the tests revealed that she has a variety of chemicals in her body, including pesticides and flame retarding substances. She has changed what she buys – including what computers she purchases – to reduce her exposure. "We should all be able to trust that our products are safe."
The organizers of the study, including the River Network and an umbrella organization, The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Vermont which includes the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, are pushing for a bill in the Statehouse that would take a broader approach to regulating and limiting chemicals used in Vermont. In the past those worried about chemical and toxin exposure have successfully worked to get some specific chemicals banned or limited in Vermont.
But crafting state-specific bans on those chemicals one-by-one will simply take too long, said Charity Carbine of VPIRG.
"It could take more than a lifetime to go toxin by toxin," Carbine said.
State Rep. Rachel Weston, D-Burlington, agreed. Regulating some of those chemicals by category makes more sense. It is particularly important when some of the compounds remain in the body and can even be transferred from mother to child, said Weston who has supported previous bills in the Statehouse that were designed to restrict use of chemicals through the sale of products that contain them.
State Rep. David Zuckerman, P-Burlington, was one of the six subjects tested as part of the study. Zuckerman said high levels of Bispheniol A – a compound which is believed to mimic estrogen and which is used in plastic products – found in his body may come from drinking out of a plastic water bottle that has been in the sun in the fields of his organic farm.
"I am more toxic than most Vermonters," Zuckerman joked about the results of his test.
But Stephen Rosario, the Northeast Region Senior Director for the American Chemistry Council trade group, said by telephone that he is not sure the state knows what it is in for if it begins duplicating the federal chemical regulations process.
The cost of the studies and research needed to do that is huge and it may make more sense for Vermont to participate in the federal approach than to go its own way, Rosario said.
"We currently have a regulatory framework in place," he said. "If Vermont really wants to get into this business it is going to cost them a lot of money."
People who work in the chemical and plastics industries – including in Vermont – are as worried about potential health effects as anyone else is, he added.
"We employ a lot of moms and dads in our industry. We are just as concerned about our children and grandchildren," Rosario said.
Andy Hackman, spokesman for the Toy Industry Association, has a similar worry about the proposed legislation. Because it would require manufactures to report and study their products if they might contain certain chemicals it would place a significant burden on toy makers, he said.
"It would be pretty burdensome just to prove a negative," he said.
But those who wrote the study released Wednesday said that with sperm counts and fertility rates falling, and chemicals lingering in people's bodies, something needs to be done.
"A number of different chemicals we surveyed for showed up in the bodies of all of our participants," said Steve Dickens of the River Network. "That is of great concern."
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