speaking of toxic.......we're doing just fine POISONING OURSELVES AND CHILDREN with current products
Even the Dust Is Toxic in Homes, Scientists Say
Many hormone-altering compounds contained in household products are found in indoor air. The findings
suggest that exposure is common.
By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer
In the first comprehensive look at contaminants inside households, scientists
have found dozens of toxic chemicals in indoor air and dust, suggesting that
exposure to hormone-altering compounds is common in American homes.
The study of 120 homes in Cape Cod, Mass., discovered 67 compounds in
dust and air, dominated by chemicals found in plastics, detergents and
cosmetics such as nail polish, perfumes and hairsprays. Insecticides and flame
retardants used in foam furnishings were also commonplace.
The household sampling
is part of a decade-long
study of 2,100 women
that aims to determine
why Cape Cod has a
high prevalence of breast
cancer unexplained by
genetic factors.
Nine chemicals were
found in every house
tested — six phthalates,
found mostly in
cosmetics and hard
plastics, and three
alkylphenols, including
one used in detergents and cleaners.
The sampling, conducted by the Silent Spring Institute of Newton, Mass., and
Harvard University's School of Public Health, provides new information that
should help the government prioritize which compounds may pose a high risk.
However, because the compounds are ubiquitous in household products and
are rarely listed as ingredients, there is little that people can do to limit their exposure except to avoid
indoor pesticides.
The findings suggest that consumer products are a substantial route of exposure to chemicals that have
been shown to alter hormones in laboratory tests. But for most of them, including phthalates and
alkylphenols, little is known about what effects they have on human health or at what levels they pose a
risk.
Tests on animals and on human cells have demonstrated that some of the compounds, called endocrine
disruptors, mimic estrogen or block testosterone, which guide development of reproductive organs and
sexual characteristics, while others alter thyroid hormones, which control how the brain of a fetus
develops.
"This is a wake-up call," said Linda Birnbaum, chief of experimental toxicology at the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. "These chemicals are all over, and are these things that we really
want all over? That's the question we have to address."
Tom McDonald, a scientist with California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, said
that "this ambitious study demonstrates that we are exposed daily to a wide array of chemicals that
affect our hormone systems" and that it "provides new insights into the sources of exposure."
The results, published over the weekend in the online version of the journal Environmental Science &
Technology, are considered valuable because the sampling was done in residential neighborhoods, not
in areas with smokestack industries or farms where pollutants might be coming from outdoors.
"People spend most of their time indoors, and chemical concentrations build up indoors — so much so
that they typically exceed outdoor concentrations," said Ruthann Rudel, the study's lead investigator
and a senior toxicologist at the Silent Spring Institute. "A lot of [the chemicals found] seem to be
inescapable."
The researchers said there was no reason to believe that contaminants in Cape Cod homes would be
more prevalent than elsewhere in the country.
"It's very clear that these must be very common exposures," said Julia Brody, executive director of the
Silent Spring Institute, which specializes in women's environmental health issues.
The research shows that many chemicals break down slowly inside houses. For example, DDT, which
was banned 30 years ago, was found in dust in 65% of the homes, and the DDT levels were higher
than the levels of many of the pesticides still in use today.
The most prevalent pesticide found was permethrin, an active ingredient in many household insecticide
sprays.
The study did not determine whether people within the households were actually ingesting or inhaling
the chemicals from the dust and indoor air, but a previous study by the national Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention found many of the same chemicals inside the bodies of Americans.
"We're living in a soup," said Susan Teitelbaum, assistant professor of community and preventive
medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. "We're being exposed to all of these
chemicals through food, through contact with products, as well as things that settle in our home
environment. This study gives one piece of that whole exposure puzzle."
For 15 of the compounds detected, levels violating government health risk guidelines were found in
some homes. Among them was chlorpyrifos, a pesticide banned by the EPA three years ago for
residential use. But for 28 of the hormone-altering chemicals found, there are no government guidelines
for risk.
Women of child-bearing age and children are considered most at risk because exposure might obstruct
the sexual and neurological development of fetuses and young children. Some scientists suspect
endocrine disruptors may also raise the risk of hormonal diseases including testicular and breast cancer.
Many chemicals bind to dust that penetrates deep into rugs and cannot be removed by ordinary
vacuuming. The dust is particularly worrisome for small children, "who crawl around on the floor and
put everything in their mouths," said Birnbaum.
Tests show that male reproductive development is sensitive to the phthalates, which are found in
building materials, toys and plastic food containers. |
