August 20, 2007

pollution in people


I found this cool website while researching. It has very helpful, simple, easy to understand information about certain toxins (kind of like toxin cliff notes!)

Pollution in People
is a result of a study of toxic chemicals found in 10 people living in Washington state. A group called Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition "wanted to know which chemicals were getting into our bodies, and at what levels, to better understand the potential harm posed by poor regulation of chemicals, and to develop better solutions."

They tested for six groups of chemicals:
• the plasticizing chemicals known as phthalates (PVC is just one of these)
• the flame retardants PBDEs (this is what I wrote about in yesterday's post)
• the heavy metals: lead, arsenic, and mercury
• perfluorinated chemicals like those used to make Teflon
• pesticides
• banned, but persistent, PCBs and DDT.

The website has valuable information about each of the chemicals, where you may be exposed to them, why you should be concerned, what government and industry could do, and what you can do to reduce your exposure.

Nothing like a nice, simple summary at the end of a busy day. Why can't all research be this easy?

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