News Coverage
Study measures prenatal exposure to pollutants
Published July 13, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Babies in the womb are exposed to a huge and disturbing array of industrial chemicals and pollutants that flow through the umbilical cord from the mother's blood, according to a new study to be released today by a national environmental organization.
The Environmental Working Group said laboratory tests of a random selection of 10 cord blood samples detected traces of 287 chemicals, and found an average of 200 contaminants in each sample. The substances included mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and the Teflon chemical PFOA.
"For years scientists have studied pollution in the air, water, land and in our food. Recently they've investigated its health impacts on adults. Now we find this pollution is reaching babies during vital stages of development," said Jane Houlihan, EWG's vice president for research.
Houlihan said her group found 41 previous studies in the peer-reviewed literature that reported on cord blood levels for some of the same pollutants tested in the new study.
But Houlihan said this new study, titled "Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns," represents the first time cord blood was tested for 261 specific chemicals and the first reported detections in cord blood for 209 of the compounds.
Houlihan said the study "did not set out to quantify health risks," noting that the various chemicals were found in trace amounts in the blood. But of the 287 chemicals detected, 76 cause cancer in humans or animals, 94 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 79 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests, the report said.
"The dangers of pre- or post- natal exposure to this complex mixture of carcinogens, developmental toxins and neurotoxins has never been studied," said the report.
Houlihan said the findings raise questions about the "gaps in the federal safety net," and called for strengthening the nation's toxic substance laws.
In a statement, the American Chemistry Council said the existence of "man-made substances in the blood of umbilical cords" is not a new phenomenon and does not mean that the minute levels found cause disease.
"The measurements by themselves are not an indication of a risk to health and should not be cause for alarm," said the group that represents the nation's major chemical companies.
U.S. industries manufacture and import about 75,000 chemicals, 3,000 of them at rates of over a million pounds per year.
A 1976 federal law meant to ensure the safety of commercial chemicals designated 63,000 existing chemicals "safe as used" the day it was passed, and required the Environmental Protection Agency to approve new chemicals within 90 days of a company's application.
The EPA does not require companies to conduct safety studies, instead using computer models to predict toxicity by comparing the new chemicals to chemicals of similar molecular structure that have been tested previously.
Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office reported that chemical companies have provided health data to the EPA for only about 15 percent of the thousands of chemicals that have been introduced into the market in the past three decades. The GAO also said the EPA has sought information about health dangers for fewer than 200 industrial compounds.
"EPA does not routinely assess existing chemicals, has limited information on their health and environmental risks, and has issued few regulations controlling such chemicals," the GAO said.
To address some of these issues, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D- N.J.) yesterday introduced legislation to strengthen the Toxic Substance Control Act, arguing the law currently "fails to provide EPA with adequate authority to obtain the data needed to evaluate the safety of most chemicals or to compel action when such information becomes available."
Lautenberg said the bill would require manufacturers to provide health and safety information prior to distributing a chemical in consumer products, and would establish new safety standards to account for children's "unique sensitivities."
"Study after study has shown we have dozens, if not hundreds, of synthetic chemicals in our bodies, we have very little information about how they impact our health," said the New Jersey senator.
The American Chemistry Council said the Lautenberg bill "appears to be based on inaccurate assumptions about the current regulatory framework, ignores time- honored scientific findings and duplicates existing regulations."
