Coming Clean: Reducing our Chemical Body Burden
By Laurine Brown PhD MPH RD
Visiting Associate Professor of Health and Environmental Studies
Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL
April 2008

I had two great reasons to celebrate recently. One was a birthday. Along with cake, candles and wishes I reflected on how living has changed since my birth in the 1950s. I am among the first generation to grow up in the Age of Chemistry which has transformed our lives over the past half century with the luxury of gadgets (like computers) and gismos (like silly putty) made possible by wonder chemicals born out of World War II. We makeup our faces, stainproof our carpets, weed our gardens, flame retard our children's PJ's, bleach our clothes and clean our homes with the aid of some 85,000 chemicals that never even existed at the time my parents were born.

My second reason to celebrate was reaching a ten year milestone from a breast cancer diagnosis. I'm grateful to modern chemicals that may have contributed to my survival - like chemotherapy and more. But I'm also thoughtful of the ways in which my “modern environment” may have brought on an all-too-young cancer diagnosis. Alongside our chemical revolution scientists are measuring an unsettling rise in a cluster of chronic diseases among my generation and our kids - like childhood and other cancers, asthma, autism and learning disabilities, Parkinson's disease, birth defects and reproductive problems. This rise is not entirely explained by better detection and early diagnosis, or the fact more of us are getting older, sedentary, eating fast foods, or smoking. What role are modern industrial chemicals playing in these trends? And if they are contributing, shouldn't we protect ourselves from them?

Body Burden
One thing we know for certain is that every American's body - even a newborn child - contains some 200-500 remnants of industrial chemicals. Through “biomonitoring” scientists are measuring Americans' blood and urine for natural and synthetic chemicals to see what gets into our bodies through air, water, food, and absorption through our skin. Body burden is the term scientists use to describe the body's accumulation of these chemical contaminants (see www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring or www.bodyburden.org). The latest government report tested 148 chemicals like mercury, pesticides, plasticizers and tobacco smoke with some unsettling results. And other studies are continuing to roll in: like 99% of babies born at John Hopkins University having Teflon-like molecules in their umbilical cord blood; or 93% of people having a hormone-disrupting plasticizer called BPA; or 75% with an antimicrobial synthetic chemical used to disinfect (Triclosan) in their bodies. Yes, it's enough to make anyone squirm.

Just because these chemicals are in our bodies doesn't mean they pose health risks. But, disturbingly, of some 3,000 chemicals used in everyday consumer products, only 7% have had full toxicity testing, and 43% have never been screened for even one potential health effect, such as cancer, reproductive or developmental toxicity, or impacts on the immune system. In short, we're ignorant of the health effects because we haven't studied them. But strong animal and some human evidence suggest we should be very concerned. (Importantly, absence of “proof of harm” doesn't mean “proof of safety.” And because we are all now exposed to this chemical soup, trying to backtrack and sort out the effects of each chemical on each body system is an impossible task. So what do we do?

The Precautionary Principle
“Precaution should prevail” is the consensus from a group of scientists who gathered in 1988 to find a pathway out of this disturbing dilemma. They wrote the Precautionary Principle which urges us not to demand the impossible “proof of harm” before acting to protect our health from suspect toxins. We would never require 95% proof that our child would get hit by a car before warning him not to play in the street. Why do we demand absolute proof of harm of suspect chemicals, like neurotoxic pesticides, before removing them from the market? Some people refer to it as the common sense “Duh Principle.” Regardless, this has not been the guiding principle over my lifetime. I hope it will prevail for some of my daughter's lifetime as it soon will for European children. Like most parents, I would do anything to protect my child - who has inherited my genes for better or for worse - from developing cancer, or any other disease. While I'm grateful modern medicine has many tools to aid her if she falls ill, I don't want to wait until she develops a disease and then catch it early. With regard to health, we're told that our genetics “loads the gun” but our environment “pulls the trigger.” Consistent with this, for example, a study on nearly 45,000 twins found that environmental factors played a much greater role than inherited genetics in susceptibility to most types of cancers. I find hope in this message. We know from body burden studies that our immediate environment “becomes us” as we breathe it in, swallow it, and absorb it through our skin. Healthy environments - clean air, water, fresh and safe food - promote wellness. Toxic environments lead to sickness. While we can't change our parents, we can change our environment and our exposures. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It's a start. And a good one.

Coming Clean: Reducing our Body Burden
So how do we come clean, both for our own health and the environment? There are lots of simple things we can do everyday to protect ourselves. Why not start with one or more of these six ideas?

1. Rethink Clean. Be Green. Our arsenal of bleach, ammonia, and other strong household or even body cleaners may be successful at disinfecting and wiping grime. But residues of these harsh synthetic chemicals enter our own bodies leaving them far from clean, and may contaminate our home's air, triggering asthma, allergies, or even disrupting our hormones. Once the chemicals swirl down the drain they get into our drinking water (yuck) and have ill effects on aquatic life too. Fortunately, green is the new clean. Look for products that don't emit noxious fumes, don't require protective gear or have labels covered with poison-control information. Unfortunately trade secret laws prevent companies from disclosing all ingredients. But check for things like “no petrochemicals, chlorine, or ammonia” to find out what's been left out. Avoid “antibacterials” like synthetic Triclosan. De-bug safely. And seek out green products with labels like EPA's “Cradle to Cradle, or “Green Seal” in cleaners which minimize harmful ingredients. Rediscover less-toxic ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice and borax. Finally, throw in a little elbow grease which tones muscles. See www.thegreenguide.com or www.healthychild.org. To green your bodycare, also see www.safecosmetics.org.

2. Un-stuff. In addition to stressing us out, acquiring our clutter of stuff creates a sizeable “pollution wake” from cradle to grave - from producing it, transporting it, using it, and disposing of it. We didn't mean for this to happen, but it does. When you choose to Unstuff (or stop buying all that stuff you don't really need like cheap plastic gadgets, reducing carcinogenic dioxin-producing bleached paper or PVC and more), you're really giving a gift of cleaner air and water to the earth. Good deal. By simplifying your life you make room for more meaningful things, like gifts of time with others, walks, talks, laughs, learning new skills and more - all healthy things. Don't miss the entertaining brief film www.storyofstuff.com and check out www.newdream.org for inspiration.

3. Stay Away from Stinky Things. Your nose can steer you away from some toxic exposures. If you're smelling it, the molecules are entering your body through your lungs and your inner cells have to figure out how to mop up the effects and get it out. Take bus diesel or gasoline fumes or which may set off asthma or heart problems. Dry cleaned clothes or lawn chemicals which may contain carcinogens. Strong household cleaners with respiratory irritants. (Hint: Don't be fooled by the pleasant fragrances added to some chemicals, like pesticides, to mask their strong smells.) Find alternatives. See www.thegreenguide.com or www.healthychild.org. And you can help truly sweeten the air we all breathe by parking the gasoline-belching motors at least once this week and walking, biking or even skipping. Your body will love that boost of exercise and detoxifying sweat.

4. Be Yard Smart. Our attempts to “beautify” our yards may cause unintended harm - including childhood, breast and other cancers, nervous system and reproductive problems - especially when synthetic lawn chemicals (like weedkillers, insecticides, ammonia fertilizers) are used. Choices you make for yard care have a big impact on your health and your community's water and air as these chemicals run-off, evaporate, get absorbed by us, or get tracked inside. Detox “green velvet” lawns and rethink “healthy” if it means addiction to dubious chemicals for beauty. Perhaps even rediscover the joy of chasing a dandelion fairy which is much less harmful than the weedkiller. Some communities are even banning “cosmetic” use of pesticides to protect their community's health. Join the Yard Smart program locally and learn more about ecologically smart yards at www.ecologyactioncenter.org. Other good resources: www.beyondpesticides.org, www.pesticidefreeyards.org, www.healthycommunitiesproject.org, www.grassrootsinfo.org

5. Eat Nourishing Foods - Sounds simple. But today it's not. The last 50 years has ushered in an unprecedented change in foods in stocking our cupboards. These highly refined, artificially flavored and colored “foods” may be convenient and tasty. But they rinse out valuable nutrients along the processing path needed to boost immunity, protect from pollution's oxidative damage and fuel detoxification pathways. Our industrialized food system also pollutes our environment to grow (e.g., pesticides), process, package and deliver them across the country from the farm to our fork. So what's good to eat? Fortunately we have a bounty of nourishing food choices. 1) Fresh, real food. I mean foods that look like how they came from the earth that pack-in ancient and essential nutrients. Seen any cola trees lately? Try fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains etc. You get the point. 2) Mostly plants. Along with being a medicine cabinet for anti-cancer, digestion-regulating, cleansing and immune boosting nutrients, plants are “lower on the food chain” than animal foods (like meat), thus generally lower in pollutants like mercury or dioxins. 3) Organic and locally grown. You help keep harmful pesticides out of our foods and environment, minimize pollution from transporting them the average 1500 miles farm to fork, and you support local farmers who help promote environmental wellness. See www.localharvest.org and www.illinoisfarmdirect.org.

6. Don't Sit On This One - Go “Out.” 1) “Out to share” with others the importance of investigating environmental exposures with their health. 2) “Out of the chair” to move your body which strengthens your resistance to disease. 3) And go “outdoors” too. Did you glimpse a moonrise lately? Listen to the birds awakening spring? Or make a ripple in a nearby creek or water puddle? Why? We need to connect with nature, ecopsychologists tell us. When we spend time with nature, even if it's just a moment, we'll re-discover her beauty and her natural treasures on which we are utterly dependent and increasingly ignorant of as we wall ourselves off indoors. She helps us calm as she awakens our senses. And we'll be aware of when she's ailing and when she's well, polluted and pure. And all that matters for our own health.

We all need to do our part to keep our ourselves and our community truly clean, green and healthy. For more great ideas focused on environmental wellness, join one or more of the workshops in the upcoming educational campaign “Prevention Does the Body Good” week May 12-18, 2008 in Bloomington/Normal. See www.iwu.edu/~wellness.


Helpful Resources on Environmental Wellness

Websites
o Healthy Child-Healthy World - http://healthychild.org/
o The Green Guide - http://thegreenguide.com/
o Collaborative on Health and the Environment - http://www.healthandenvironment.org/
o Physicians for Social Responsibility - http://www.psr.org
o Center for Environmental Oncology/Univ of Pittsburg Cancer Institute http://www.myenvironmentalhealth.org/
o Centers for Disease Control Biomonitoring Reports - http://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/
o Body Burden/Human Toxome Project - http://bodyburden.org/
o Environmental Protection Agency - http://www.epa.gov/
o Scorecard. Pollution Information Site (Green Media Toolshed) - www.Scorecard.org

Books
o Sandra Steingraber. “Living Downstream: A Scientists Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment.” Vintage Books, 1998.
o Sandra Steingraber “Having Faith: An Ecologists Journey to Motherhood.” Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2001.
o Devra Davis. “The Secret History of the War on Cancer.” Basic Books, Oct 1, 2007.
o Devra Davis. “When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution”, 2002.
o Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peter Meyer. “Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival?--A Scientific Detective Story.” 1997.
o Liz Armstrong, Guy Dauncey, Anne Wordsworth. “Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic.” (The Solutions Series), 2007
o Kenny Ausubel “Ecological Medicine: Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves.” editor. 2004.
o Christopher Gavigan. “Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home.”2008.


Additional References/Resources

o Chemical Body Burden, Come Clean - http://chemicalbodyburden.org/
o Health Care Without Harm - www.noharrm.org.
o Thornton, Joe, Michael McCally, and Jeff Howard, "Body burdens of industrial chemicals in the general population." In Life Support: The Environment and Human Health, ed. Michael McCally MIT Press, 2002, 163-200
o McDonough, William and Micheal Braungart. “Cradle to Cradle/Remaking the Way We Make Things.” North Point Press, 2002.
o Montague P. “The Precautionary Principle in the Real World.” Jan 21, 2008. Environmental Research Foundation @ http://www.precaution.org/lib/pp_def.htm
o Pesticides and Lawn Care
o Beyond Pesticides - www.beyondpesticides.org
o Ecology Action Center. Yard Smart Program. www.ecologyactioncenter.org.
o Grassroots Environmental Education - www.grassrootsinfo.org
o Healthy Communities Project - www.healthycommunitiesproject.org
o Pesticide Action Network North America - http://www.panna.org/docsTrespass/chemicalTrespass2004.dv.html
o Pesticide Free Yards - www.pesticidefreeyards.org
o Report on Health Testing for Industrial Chemicals - Environmental Health Perspectives 103(7-8):680-683, July-Aug 1995.
o Science and Environmental Health Network, The Precautionary Principle. http://www.sehn.org/.
o Schettler, Ted and others. “In Harm's Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development.” Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, 2000. http://www.igc.org/psr/.
o Solomon, Gina and Ted Schettler. “Generations at Risk: Reproductive Health and the Environment,” MIT Press, July 1999. http://www.igc.org/psr/
o Trade Secrets - http://www.pbs.org/tradesecrets/problem/bodyburden.html