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STOPPING THE POPs: Part 2

© Linda Little

Just to recap, in last week's article we discussed the fact that Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)did not readily break down in natural condions, accumulated in the fatty cells of living creatures and were toxic. We also mentioned that there is not one place on earth that was too remote for such chemicals to be found nor one living creature that did not have some exposure to these chemicals. I gave examples of how these POPs can be transferred up the food chain so higher predators get more of a dose of these toxins and how breast-feeding mothers can transfer their own burden of POPs in bulk to their nursing babies. I also showed examples of the problems these chemicals have had on wildlife around the world. Now read on:

In this week's article, I will be looking at the human health problems, apart from those involved in breast-feeding, and also giving guidelines as to what should be done to make our planet safer from this pernicious poison.

Human Health Problems

Humans share their habitat with other animals, they also share many of the same characteristics, so it is not surprising that humans seem to be suffering increasingly from the same sort of problems documented in animals exposed to POPs. These problems include immune deficiency, neurological and behavoural disorders and reproductive disfunctions. While this would suggest that humans are also being effected by POPs this is far more difficult to prove. One reason for this is the fact that since all people carry POPs within their systems, there is no possiblity of setting up a control group which are not effected by such contamination.

Here are some of the examples of research carried out on the effects of POPs on humans:

1. Human studies in Sweden and Canada have linked dietary intake of PCBs to immune deficiencies in subjects.
2. The Swedish study also noticed a correlation between the amount of PCBs, dioxins and furans in the diet and the reduction of "natural killer cells" which help prevent cancer.
3. Canadian researchers reported that children who were exposed to higher levels of POPs, experienced 10-15 times higher rates of infection.
4. Researchers at Wayne State University, Michigan have noted that children exposed to PCBs in the womb - their mothers ate contaminated fish from Lake Michigan in the six years prior to pregnancy - had significantly higher learning and attention problems, despite the fact that

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