13 pesticides in body of average American

By MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT
From Friday's Globe and Mail 5/21/04

A comprehensive survey of more than 1,300 Americans has found traces of weed- and bug-killers in the bodies of everyone tested, leading environmentalists in both Canada and the United States to call for far tighter controls on pesticides.
The survey, conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that the body of the average American contained 13 of these chemicals.

A surprising finding was that 99 per cent of Americans, including virtually all children born in recent years, had DDT residues. The use of the insecticide has been subject to controls and outright bans since the late 1960s, and its presence indicates how persistent it is in the general environment.

More than half of those tested also had residues of 2,4-D. The lawn herbicide is controversial in Canada, where its use has been targeted by dozens of municipal bans on the cosmetic use of herbicides.

The finding of widespread pesticide exposure suggests that, despite the trend to the increased consumption of organic food and intense regulation of the pesticide industry, the U.S. public is routinely coming into contact with these substances through the environment and food.

"The fact that Americans are carrying a mixture of toxic pesticides suggests a dramatic failure of government efforts in the U.S. to protect public health and safety," contended Andrea Peart, a spokesperson for the Sierra Club of Canada.

Health authorities in Canada have done no comparable survey on the amount of pesticides in Canadians. A spokeswoman for Health Canada, Catherine Saunders, says the agency relies on the U.S. data to estimate what Canadians may have in their bodies.

She said Health Canada is currently proposing to have some pesticide measurements done as part of a Statistics Canada survey on the health of Canadians, but that research won't be available until 2006-2007.

Without detailed studies, there is no way of knowing if Canadians are as heavily contaminated as Americans, or have lower amounts of pesticides in their bodies. "I think the logical question . . . is are we going to find these same results in Canada?" said Ms. Peart.

The levels of pesticides found in Americans were generally small. The DDT residues were detected in parts per billion, with the highest readings in women. Women generally have more fatty tissue than men and DDT is stored in fat.

But environmentalists have raised concerns that some residues exceed safety standards. Pesticide Action Network North America analyzed the U.S. exposure data and determined that for two insecticides -- chlorpyrifos and methyl parathion -- exposures exceeded acceptable thresholds, in one case, by more than four times the amount recommended for children.

Canadian health authorities believe Canadians may have smaller amounts of the two compounds in their bodies.

Health Canada has been concerned by chlorpyrifos exposure in children, and banned residential uses of the insecticide in 2001 for this reason, according to Chris Krepski, a spokesman for Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency. However, the pesticide is still in widespread use on food crops.

Chlorpyrifos is in a class of pesticides known as organophosphates, over which there is considerable concern about potential health effects. Organophosphates disrupt nerve impulses and some research suggests they may harm brain development.

Although the PMRA has banned the use of the product around homes, Canadians could still have exposures because chlorpyrifos can be used on 30 crops, including wheat, peaches and strawberries. The crop list in Canada is generally the same as in the United States.

Methyl parathion is used heavily in the United States to kill insects on cotton crops, but is not licensed for use in Canada.

Danger within

A recent study of over 1,300 Americans found widespread evidence of pesticides in their systems. Below are some pesticides and the percentage of those tested in whom they were found.

TCP or chlorpyrifos

Licensed for agricultural use in Canada, but was recently banned for use around homes: 93%

2,4-D

Active ingredient in most lawn herbicides; subject to bans in many Canadian municipalities: 55%

DDE

A breakdown product of DDT; persists in people's bodies despite having been banned for decades: 99%

 

Population Control

 

that was too long, although i did manage to get through some of it

kinda scary

i guess its good to know ill be weed free

although, im not sure if thats a good thing

 

They are just ensuring that we get our daily supply of cancer casuing agents.

 

eh shit, first attempt at using a photo

 

Yes, that's the first thing that came to my head, Mike. You have to wonder why almost everyone has these chemicals in their system. Of course the food we eat and the water we drink could be partly to blame, but I think it's mostly from the air we breathe.

When you put something like this alongside the chemtrail theory, it really makes you wonder. These are all known carcinogens, and anyone with a weakend immune system is particularly vulnerable.

 

Ha!

This is disturbing but really not very surprising...

 

"The fact that Americans are carrying a mixture of toxic pesticides suggests a dramatic failure of government efforts in the U.S. to protect public health and safety,"

yep.
you know, just today i was driving through the city,
and i saw a guy on the sidewalk with a surgical mask on...

and i thought, what a great idea! i should really have one on too!
never mind the pesticides, which i'm sure will give me cancer by age 30,
but the fact that i could smell the pollution in the air made me ill.

think i will go out and get that gasmask now...

 

wow, that's some scary stuff. i worry about my children, as they usually spray the lawn outside the strong museum with a "weed and feed" and my kids are always all over that. according to some of the organic farmers i've spoke with through the co-op, there are some poisons that are so persistant, and have spread out in the air and water so much over time, that even in the remotest rainforest, traces can be found in plants, animals, people and the air and water.

 

I imagined that would have a huge effect on it all, even when these poisens are not used on a certain crop it is not like it doesn't all share the same air...

yes it is a dirty, dirty, world we live in...

 

There's always conflicting views with just about everything that it's no wonder why people sludge around with clouded thoughts. They say eat foods that are rich in fiber, but then there's two or three ingredients that come along with it that are no good for you. Like being stabbed in the back by the same person who's shaking your hand.

 

We should put more pressure on our government.

 

lets overthrow them while were at it

 

Nah, the government is to busy training terrorist to horrify us into submission AnyWay. What about the fact that the source of fluoride almost every US county puts into their water is legally a classified toxic waste substance; and this makes it illegal I am reading to then even call that water 'drinking water', or to dump it in the ocean, etc. We already ingest greater than the FDA recomended fluoride dose through our food and environmental exposure, and countries around the world hae made this process of water fluoridation illegal. They have shown quite clearly that fluoride retards behavioral development in lab animals, and stains the teeth permanently of thousands of children. Canadian dental association have recently stood up and stated quite clearly that it has, more or less, absolutely zero benefit to teeth. And yet only a few years ago the county I live in(which was one of very few who did not fluoridate water) had a council meeting and unanimously voted to begin adding this toxic chemical to our water supply. San Diego county orignally did not do this because it was, for a very long time, believed to be a communist plot to poison and stupify americans(I am deciding the government prefers who I am this way) and there is a large military rpesence here. So they started fluroidating when they found funds to do so, and protesters riled up all around the county and internet, because the board illegally exlcuded the citizens of the county from being able to vote on this issue. I am noticing that it is still going on, and people care even less. In fact as I read an article to my step-dad about the horrible effects of toxic fluoridate water, he very specifically went and poored himself a glass of tap water and drank it in front of me as I read the article. Fucking fools(I am one of them).

 

Definitely. It is very frustrating that no matter how healthy one tries to be, there are things like this that are unavoidable, short of living in a lab or something. When I look at pics of people in "the old days" they really do look healthier to me. I know they didn't live as long and got diseases that are no longer a factor to us, but they just look better. Pollution and ozone depletion has taken its toll on us.

 

Herbuhlovuh-yeah, I use a Brita water filter, but it doesn't remove flouride. I wonder if other filters do?

 

that's pretty eerie

 

God, I hate pesticides so much. I try to only eat organic, but I doubt it's even doing any good.

 

non organic coffee ....systemic pesticide ...disiston.....we used to keep a syringe with atropine in the house in p. rico cuz when you seen someone shaking ya had ta jab em and get em to hospital asap...civilization is an abomanation , soon to disolve in the cesspool of time!

 

Have you guys stopped and thought of the alternative. Imagine all the pests that would infest us if we didn't consume all these pesticides. I for one do NOT want rats running around inside me.