The report opened with a study being conducted by Mt. Sinai Medical School in New York. Led by Dr. Michael McCally, physicians there are seeking to understand the impact of industrial chemicals on humans, and begin by drawing blood and urine samples of patients to assess their chemical load. Moyers volunteered, and appeared unpleasantly startled to find out that he had 84 of the 150 chemicals tested. These included 31 different polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's), 13 dioxins, and organophosphate- and organochloride-based pesticide residues. Many of the substances for which Moyers tested positive have been banned (DDT for some 30 years, but it still shows up in air, water, soil, and living organisms). All of them have toxic effects, ranging from reproductive problems to cancer and death. The industrial and household chemicals to which we are exposed on a daily basis can be isolated not only in blood and urine, but also in breast milk.
Our children, then, develop a chemical burden while in uteri, and it continues once they're born. The most frightening aspect of this is the fact that while in some cases we know that chemicals are toxic, for the majority of them we simply have no idea. Worse still, absolutely no research has been done on the cumulative and combined effect of the thousands of chemicals currently in use. We know, for instance, that PCBs cause cancer, birth defects, and fetal or infant death (to name just a few effects). And we know that although they have been banned in the US for almost 30 years, PCBs do not break down and they accumulate in the food chain. So today we are still effectively vulnerable to the 3.4 billion pounds which were sold while it was still on the market, and can now be found in marine life, plants, drinking water, sewage (which, let us not forget, is often used as fertilizer on conventionally grown produce), and of course our own bodies. We know that phthalates - a class of chemicals used in medical IV bags, food packaging, children's teethers and toys, and beauty products like nail polish and lotions - are endocrine disrupters and probable carcinogens. We know that European nations have banned their use in children's toys. We also know that in March 2000, 2 years after a "voluntary" ban on the use of phthalates in children's toys made in the US, some toys still contained phthalates. Imported teethers were found to contain as much as 55% phthalate by weight.
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