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Tests reveal high chemical levels in kids' bodies
CNN ^ | 10-22-07 | Jordana Miller

Posted on 10/23/2007 8:20:13 AM PDT by yankeesdoodle

"[Rowan's] been on this planet for 18 months, and he's loaded with a chemical I've never heard of," Holland, 37, said. "He had two to three times the level of flame retardants in his body that's been known to cause thyroid dysfunction in lab rats."

The technology to test for these flame retardants -- known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) -- and other industrial chemicals is less than 10 years old. Environmentalists call it "body burden" testing, an allusion to the chemical "burden," or legacy of toxins, running through our bloodstream. Scientists refer to this testing as "biomonitoring."

Most Americans haven't heard of body burden testing, but it's a hot topic among environmentalists and public health experts who warn that the industrial chemicals we come into contact with every day are accumulating in our bodies and endangering our health in ways we have yet to understand

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Technical
KEYWORDS: biomonitoring; bodyburdentesting; chemicals; children; testing
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Apparently, this little guy is mostly plastic and flame retardant-- who knew?


1 posted on 10/23/2007 8:20:16 AM PDT by yankeesdoodle
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To: yankeesdoodle
Most Americans haven't heard of body burden testing, but it's a hot topic among environmentalists and public health experts who warn that the industrial chemicals we come into contact with every day are accumulating in our bodies and endangering our health in ways we have yet to understand

Um, but if one believes in evolution, shouldn't one assume that human beings will evolve to be able to handle these chemicals?

2 posted on 10/23/2007 8:22:43 AM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: MEGoody

“Um, but if one believes in evolution, shouldn’t one assume that human beings will evolve to be able to handle these chemicals?”

Sure in a few hundred generations.


3 posted on 10/23/2007 8:24:01 AM PDT by DemEater
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To: MEGoody
"Um, but if one believes in evolution, shouldn't one assume that human beings will evolve to be able to handle these chemicals?"

We already are.

Sperm and eggs that can't 'handle' the pollution never become fertilied...those that do and are subject to high levels of pollution are spontaneously aborted, usually before the female even knows she was/is pregnant.

The kids being born today are not the same kids being born 100 years ago.

4 posted on 10/23/2007 8:28:27 AM PDT by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: yankeesdoodle
He had two to three times the level of flame retardants in his body

Wait till he's a teenager...


5 posted on 10/23/2007 8:28:42 AM PDT by frithguild (The Freepers moved as a group, like a school of sharks sweeping toward an unaware and unarmed victim)
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To: yankeesdoodle

My grandfather used to have snowball fights in the asbestos pile at the refinery. If you didn’t smoke, you could snort the stuff through a straw and you’d be fine. If you smoked, well, it would turn your lungs into an empanada.

I was at my dentist yesterday and spotted a copy of the Material Safety Data Sheets (the entire frickin two volumes of them) on the shelf.

I asked, “What’s the deal with that?” Turns out the EPA and Washington State EPA require it. Of dentists.

Nothing like a little onerous over regulation of small businesses to get your economy going.

Anyway, good to know the little guy can walk through fire like that cheerleader on Heroes. That can come in handy.


6 posted on 10/23/2007 8:29:36 AM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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To: yankeesdoodle
I wonder what his DHMO levels are?
7 posted on 10/23/2007 8:29:43 AM PDT by magslinger (I will not submit.)
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To: yankeesdoodle

I wonder how I have survived to be as old as I am. I lived in houses with lead paint, ran behind DDT trucks spaying for mosquitos, and broke thermometers to play with the mercury in them.


8 posted on 10/23/2007 8:30:43 AM PDT by Spunky ("Everyone has a freedom of choice, but not of consequences.")
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To: yankeesdoodle
Oh geeze...people are so worried about whats going to kill them. How about trying to live morally and then you don't have to worry about dying?
9 posted on 10/23/2007 8:31:22 AM PDT by Havok (Portal ROCKS! - geeks know what I'm talkin' about!)
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To: magslinger
Pretty darn high ... I know mine are ... I'm just sure to die sometime in the next century ...
10 posted on 10/23/2007 8:31:58 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: MEGoody

Now I understand where the MoveOn nuts come from.....


11 posted on 10/23/2007 8:34:09 AM PDT by expatpat
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To: yankeesdoodle
Translation of environmentalist FUD to English:

We see this stuff in our systems, and we have no clue what it does or doesn't do. Therefore, let's assume it's horribly evil, nasty stuff and that the government must regulate the living daylights out of every last milligram of it!

Even after scientific studies conclusively prove that it's harmless to us, let's continue to regulate it even more tightly and punish everyone who isn't as fanatically against it as we are, because that's the Right Thing to Do!

12 posted on 10/23/2007 8:34:27 AM PDT by TChris (Cartels (oil, diamonds, labor) are bad. Free-market competition is good.)
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To: expatpat
Now I understand where the MoveOn nuts come from.....

fire RETARDants.......

13 posted on 10/23/2007 8:37:35 AM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we have consensus.......)
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To: TChris

More children will die as a result of removing the fire retardants from their PJ’s than if you left them in......


14 posted on 10/23/2007 8:38:50 AM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we have consensus.......)
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To: Red Badger
More children will die as a result of removing the fire retardants from their PJ’s than if you left them in......

Yeah, well that kind of rational thinking sure wasn't around when DDT was on the chopping block. Enviros are apparently happy to sacrifice millions of children to their false god of nature.

15 posted on 10/23/2007 8:40:33 AM PDT by TChris (Cartels (oil, diamonds, labor) are bad. Free-market competition is good.)
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To: TChris

Rachel Carson has probably killed more people than Hitler, Stalin and Mao put together.............


16 posted on 10/23/2007 8:45:33 AM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we have consensus.......)
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To: TChris

But if this stuff is found to turn normal people into stupid, emotional left wing nuts, we will need to do something.


17 posted on 10/23/2007 8:46:55 AM PDT by expatpat
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To: expatpat
Now I understand where the MoveOn nuts come from.....

LOL All those plastics molecules getting wedged into their brains.

18 posted on 10/23/2007 8:50:10 AM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: RinaseaofDs
Any business that uses “any” chemical must have MSD’s for those chemicals on site and available to all employees. Even that little bottle of “Whiteout”! Got a can of WD-40? Better have a MSD for it before OSHA arrives. No telling what kind of chems are in a Dentists office.
19 posted on 10/23/2007 8:51:14 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: ArrogantBustard

“I’m just sure to die sometime in the next century ...”

The next one or this one? If it’s the former, can I have some of whatever you’re drinking? ;)


20 posted on 10/23/2007 8:51:49 AM PDT by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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