Our Toxic Nation :: Environmental and Health Concerns

Our Toxic Nation
by author Michelle Hancock

What do you get with a pot, a stove, kernels, a little oil, and a lot of shaking? A bowl of fresh popcorn. And what don’t you get? A possible dose of suspected cancer-causing perfluorinated chemicals that coat the inside of microwaveable popcorn bags.

Stove-popping is just one way to avoid contact with the countless chemicals that we’re exposed to daily. More than 23,000 chemicals are registered for use in Canada and each year this number grows. Obviously, some exposures we can’t prevent. But every attempt is worthwhile, says Environmental Defence (ED), a Toronto-based organization that has recently released eye-opening data on the chemical burden we face.

Polluted Children, Toxic Nation

Two years ago, Toxic Nation: A Report on Pollution in Canadians found that 11 participants had an average of 44 of 88 tested chemicals in their bodies. The group’s second study, Polluted Children, Toxic Nation, published last June, is even more groundbreaking because it’s the first to assess pollution levels in Canadian youths, an especially vulnerable population.

“Studies in other countries showed kids were more toxic in certain chemicals than adults. Likewise in our study, stain repellent and flame retardant chemicals were higher in children,” says Sarah Winterton, program director of ED.

A Chemical Burden

Blood and urine samples from 13 people in five cross-country families were tested for 68 chemicals. Forty-six chemicals were detected, including five PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers, as flame retardants), 13 PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls, in electrical transformers and now banned), five PFCs (perfluorinated chemicals, in stain repellents, nonstick cookware, and food packaging), nine organochlorine pesticides, four organophosphate insecticide metabolites, five PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, in everything from tobacco smoke to vehicle exhaust), and five heavy metals.

This is not just a huge syllable headache. These acronyms represent 38 carcinogens, 23 hormone disruptors, 38 reproductive and developmental toxins, 19 neurotoxins, and 12 chemicals associated with respiratory illness. Toss in another three PFCs for which there is no known health data and we’ve got a suspiciously ominous brew–not to mention a good argument for stronger national chemical and consumer protection laws.

Health Canada has publicized their intention to do a larger-scale study this year, but requests for official feedback on the ED studies were declined.

“A big criticism was that it wasn’t a huge sample size,” says Winterton. “But we chose volunteers from different areas of the country, different ages and occupations. It was very easy to put that [criticism] to rest. Find me a person who isn’t contaminated.”

A Motivated Mother

When Patty Donovan of Quispamsis, New Brunswick, was invited to participate in the study last year, she doublechecked with her twin daughters, Hanna and Mary, then 15. “They thought it was cool because it was going to help other people know what’s in us, and that way, we can stop putting it in us,” she recalls.

The program facilitator at a women’s centre and a self-described pesticide activist, Patty is no stranger to chemical toxicity. Eleven years ago, her son Zack got sick from chemical cleansers used at his elementary school. What followed were years of on and off homeschooling, helping him to reclaim his health, reteaching him how to read and write, and campaigning to make New Brunswick’s schools healthier spaces.

Her family has eaten organically since they were tots in diapers. Their house is chemical-free, with baking soda and vinegar the nontoxic cleansers of choice. So when study results showed her daughters had the lowest levels of contaminants of any participants across the country, she didn’t feel shocked so much as vindicated.

“I’ve been able to stand a little straighter,” she says. “When I used to say to my [extended] family, ‘Get that crap out of your house, those are carcinogens,’ they looked at me and said, ‘Oh, crazy Patty.’ But the proof is in the pudding. Here are the blood tests to prove it.”

Among study participants, an average of 32 chemicals were found in parents and 23 chemicals were found in children. The Donovan twins, however, had fewer than average. Patty’s body had only 24 of the tested chemicals.

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Vancouver writer Michelle Hancock loves popcorn made the old-fashioned way and is thrilled stove-popping doesnâ€™t expose her to perfluorinated chemicals.

Source: alive #291, January 2007

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