Posted on 08/26/2005 7:26:09 AM PDT by linkinpunk
Today: August 26, 2005 at 7:18:28 PDT
Analysis: Oregon Breast Milk Contaminated
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The breast milk of Oregon women is contaminated with a high level of toxic flame retardants known as PBDEs, researchers say.
A new analysis by the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Seattle-based research group Northwest Environment Watch compared the PBDE levels in the breast milk of 40 Pacific Northwest mothers with the levels of another toxin and chemical cousin, PCB.
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, are used as a flame retardant while polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are a class of chemicals used in insulating fluids for electrical equipment before they were banned in the late 1970s after studies indicated they cause cancer.
The analysis of breast milk samples showed that 30 percent of the mothers tested in the Northwest study had higher levels of PBDEs than PCBs.
The analysis, released Thursday at the "Dioxin 2005" international conference in Toronto, suggests that PBDE contamination may be surpassing the level of PCB contamination in humans and the environment.
"The comparison with PCBs suggests that toxic flame retardants have emerged as a major environmental health concern," said Clark Williams-Derry, research director for Northwest Environment Watch.
The breast milk samples from Northwest women were analyzed in the California EPA's Hazardous Materials Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif. It is one of several studies under way on breast milk contamination.
Some of the data from the study was originally released by Northwest Environment Watch in 2004, but the comparison of contamination levels was just completed, researchers said.
The 40 mothers in the Northwest study are from Oregon, British Columbia, Montana and Washington state.
Overall, they had levels of PBDEs 20 to 40 times higher than levels found in women from Europe and Japan.
Is this an unintended consequence of the "bra-burning" '60's?
Is this an unintended consequence of the "bra-burning" '60's?
The liberal kooks of Oregon -- incredible.
Paging Mrs. Doubtfire!
You mean inedible?
textbook enviro-scare press-release, uncritically released by the AP as news...
Well, that's a good thing. At least when they nurse after eating spicy food, the kids won't spontaneously combust.
What's interesting, and of course will not be picked up on, is the fact that the envirowackos are probably most to blame for this: their "lawsuit to prevent logging" strategy is directly responsible for the fuel buildup that led to the largest fires, and thus to the contamination noted.
The law of unintended consequences is a powerful and fascinating thing.
The questions the article fails to answer: "SO WHAT?"
Are all these women wearing 40 year old pajamas?
Nope -- merely reaping the benefits of the huge forest fires that have taken place in the NW over the past few years.
IIRC, the remote viewer Dr. Doom (Major Ed Dames) predicted that something like this was going to occur.
Apparently he's not always wrong.
Oh for the love of . . .!! Well, look at it this way. You won't have to worry about spontaneous combustion...
I chuckle about environmentalist wackos and the law of unintended consequences whenever I fill my gas tank for $50.
The enviros aren't the reason you're paying so much for gas. Part of the reason is that you chose a vehicle with a large gas tank. And part of the reason is that we're competing for oil with people in places like China.
Look at the upside -- Oregon babies will have much lower rates of spontaneous combustion.
Memo to Oregon women: STOP DRINKING FLAME RETARDANTS!
........
Thanks. I knew it was my fault. Or Bush's.
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