Brace yourself for another round of the Chicken Little phenomenon in response to a report released today by the Environmental Working Group. In Madison the headline reads Study: Fetuses exposed to toxic chemicals. Across the country the headlines are all about danger, damage and death. The take away message is that industrial America is poisoning unborn babies and must be stopped.
“Unborn babies soaked in chemicals, survey finds Reuters, Pollutants put fetuses at risk Front page, Kansas City Star, Study measures prenatal exposure to pollutants Newark Star-Ledger, Study cites chemical dangers Associated Press, Study Shows Babies Born With Polluted Systems Oakland Tribune, Toxic Elements Found in Infants' Cord Blood Palm Beach Post, Slew of Pollutants Found in Babies North Jersey Record, Numerous man-made chemicals are in blood of newborns, research finds Minneapolis Star Tribune, Toxic Chemicals By the Hundred Found in Blood of Newborns Environmental News Service, Toxins Found in Newborns Dayton Daily News.”Changing industrial America is the expressed aim of the Environmental Working Group who point out that they are organized as an activist team with the goal of changing public policy. They accept money which should be mailed to them in Washington, DC. They also accept stock if you feel the need to divest ExxonMobile shares.
“Environmental investigations have been our specialty at the Environmental Working Group since 1993. Our team of scientists, engineers, policy experts, lawyers and computer programmers pores over government data, legal documents, scientific studies and our own laboratory tests to expose threats to your health and the environment, and to find solutions.Their latest attempt to create fear in the public and pressure the politicians into making radical changes to our industrial economy is entitled Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns: Study Finds Industrial Pollution Begins in the Womb.
Our research brings to light unsettling facts that you have a right to know. It shames and shakes up polluters and their lobbyists. It rattles politicians and shapes policy. It persuades bureaucracies to rethink science and strengthen regulation. It provides practical information you can use to protect your family and community.”
“Not long ago, scientists believed that babies in the womb were largely protected from most toxic chemicals. A new study helps confirm an opposite view: that chemical exposure begins in the womb, as hundreds of industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides are pumped back and forth from mother to baby through umbilical cord blood.”In a nutshell this study tested blood from the umbilical cord of 10 healthy newborn infants and were able to find trace levels of chemicals in the parts per billion (ppb) or parts per trillion (ppt) ranges. Because certain chemicals can produce harm at high doses the authors are attempting scare the public into believing that any level of exposure is dangerous. Did I mention the blood was from healthy living newborn infants?
There are several basic principles of to keep in mind. Most importantly, all living creatures have repair mechanisms which means damaging chemicals have a threshold level they must exceed before the exposure overwhelms the repair process. Therefore, it is not appropriate to extrapolate the effects of high dose to low dose exposure. Secondly, it is extremely costly to establish and police standards of chemical exposure at levels well below any demonstrable hazardous concentration. Thirdly, science is not about speculation, it is about skeptical analysis of measured observations. Jumping to broad conclusions worded in emotional terms is a definitive characteristic of manipulation and not research. Did I mention the babies were healthy?
