M3.1 Biomonitoring

Watching this clip from CNN's Planet In Peril further confirmed what I've been fearing more and more as we go further into this course. Out of the list of chemicals for which there are no safe levels, the children that were tested in the video had phthalates and PCBs. Anderson Cooper himself had DDT present in his body. At this point it seems inevitable to escape these chemicals. What I thought was interesting is the fact that the children in the video had levels multiple times higher than those of their parents, which leads me to think that the chemicals are mainly in products made for children, not just in refrigerators or microwave ovens. Also, the fact that PBDEs are present in such high quantities in the little boy probably points to a possible special exposure that he has and not his family. Maybe spending too much time on couches since PBDE is used as a fire retardant in various furniture.

Comments

  1. USF MPH ClassSeptember 11, 2018 at 4:41 PM

    Hi, Im with you. Scary thoughts that children are in fact exposed to heavier doses of chemicals as new chemistry and products are developed and done so without improving law to govern them. I have a feeling it will only get worse as more and more AI and technology integrate in to our lives.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sandy TanSeptember 16, 2018 at 1:23 PM

    Hi Hugo,
    You made some great observations about CNN's video that I never thought about. Your comment about the little boy having higher levels of PBDEs may be from sitting on the couch for a long time made me think about how our different levels exposures is due to our lifestyle. I'm very interested in testing my body for chemical exposures and see how learning about the results might influence me to change my lifestyle.

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