LATEST NEWS: Public Still Exposed to Chemicals, CDC Says

By Marie Gabrielle Laguna MD

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has issued its fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals. The February 2011 report presents exposure information for 116 environmental chemicals measured in blood and urine specimens. This is a continuation of an extensive monitoring of people who represent the U.S. population for the years 1999 to 2010. The results? SHOCKING. Read on.

All of us are concerned about our health. This is because medical illness leads to unnecessary expenses, unpaid days off work, low quality of life and death.

A lot of information has already been disseminated about disease risk factors such as poor diet, lack of exercise, excess weight, bad genes, smoking, alcohol intake and bad lifestyle habits. But, a lot of people often neglect one very important risk factor which is present everywhere we go. This seemingly harmless risk factor is in the air that we breathe, in our houses and workplace, in our children’s schools. This risk factor is very dangerous because it can cause people to die in hours, days and even in minutes upon exposure. This risk factor is toxic exposure.

Over time, health authorities have been monitoring human exposure to chemicals. In 2001, investigators from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York shocked the world when they found an average of 91 industrial compounds, pollutants, and other chemicals in the blood and urine of nine volunteers, with a total of 167 chemicals found in the group.

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control in the US issued its National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals Fourth Edition (2011). The National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals is a series of ongoing assessments of the U.S. population’s exposure to environmental chemicals by measuring chemicals in a person’s blood or urine—a process called biomonitoring.
The very recent report had a lot of key findings about human exposure to chemicals.

First, the group found out that there is still widespread exposure to some commonly used industrial chemicals. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are chemicals used to make it difficult for materials to catch fire. They accumulate in the environment and in human fatty tissue. Levels of one type of polybrominated diphenyl ether, BDE-47, was found in nearly all of the participants.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is used to manufacture polycarbonate-type plastics, found in some types of beverage containers, plastic dinnerware, automobile parts, and toys. Other BPA products are used in such items as the protective linings of food cans and in dental sealants. General population exposure to BPA may occur through eating foods in contact with BPA-containing materials or having hand-to-mouth contact with BPA-containing materials. CDC scientists found BPA in the urine of nearly all the people tested, a finding that indicates widespread exposure in the U.S. population.

Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) are a large group of chemicals used to make products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease, and water. Many chemicals in this group do not break down in the environment, and they build up in wildlife. CDC scientists found measurable levels of these chemicals in most study participants.

Secondly, this report also highlighted the ongoing progress in reducing blood lead levels in children. Lead is a soft, dense, blue-gray metal. Lead occurs naturally in the earth’s crust and combines with other elements, such as oxygen and sulfur. It is used to make batteries and other metal mixtures. For adults, the diet is the source of most general environmental exposure to lead. Children are commonly exposed to lead from hand-to-mouth activities involving contaminated dust and soils in older homes that contain lead-based paint or from eating paint chips that contain lead. Data in the Fourth Report show that public health efforts to reduce the number of children with elevated blood lead levels in the general population continue to be successful. Nonetheless, special populations of children at high risk for lead exposure (for example, children living in homes containing lead-based paint or lead-contaminated dust) have higher rates of elevated blood lead levels, and lead remains a major public health concern.

Thirdly, the report mentioned about mercury exposure. Mercury is a metal that is found in air, water, and soil. Most people are exposed to one type of mercury, organic mercury, after eating seafood containing this metal. This is the first time that exposure to mercury has been measured for the U.S. population aged 1 year and older. CDC scientists found mercury in most of the study participants. Both blood and urine mercury levels tend to increase with age.

Acrylamide is a chemical formed when carbohydrate (starchy) foods are cooked. It is also present in tobacco smoke. Most people are exposed to acrylamide through the diet and from smoking. The data in the Fourth Report show that acrylamide exposure is extremely common in the U.S. population.

Like most of us, the people tested do not work with chemicals on the job and do not live near an industrial facility.

This is so unfair! We attempt with every means to protect ourselves. But why do we still end up having these toxic substances in our bodies?

What can we do to save ourselves?

How the Body Utilizes These Chemicals

The metabolism of a drug or toxic substance in a body is an example of a biotransformation. Typically the body deals with a foreign compound by making it more soluble, to increase the rate of its excretion through the urine. There are a number of different process that can occur.

The Concept of Phytoremediation

Amidst all these problems, some scientists have found a way on how to reduce the levels of toxic substances in the environment: through a process called phytoremediation.

Phytoremediation uses plants to clean up pollution in the environment. Plants can help clean up many kinds of pollution including metals, pesticides, explosives, and oil. The plants also help prevent wind, rain, and groundwater from carrying pollution away from sites to other areas.

Phytotransformation is an interesting process. In the case of organic pollutants, such as pesticides, explosives, solvents, industrial chemicals, and other xenobiotic substances, certain plants render these substances non-toxic by their metabolism. Plants behave like the human liver when dealing with these substances.

How About Raw Vegetables?

There have been reports about raw and cooked vegetables with detoxification activities. Cruciferious vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, kale and others contain detoxifying enzymes, either when eaten raw or cooked. Tomatoes and garlic also have the same effects. These also hold for those fruits and vegetables containing carotene, chlorophyl, cucurmin, fiber, flavonoids and anthocyanins (like reservatrol).

By Gabrielle Laguna MD