Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
caused by “bad” genes. Synthetic chemicals are a likely cause. The sharp
increase in cases of autism since 1990 is increasingly thought to have
environmental rather than genetic causes. 42 Between 1979 and 1997
cases of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias more than tripled in
men and rose by nearly 90 percent in women in England and Wales,
with similar results in other countries. 43
Some of the enormous increase in cancer and Alzheimer's occurrence
can probably be attributed to increased longevity. In 1940 the average
American lived sixty-four years; in 2006 it was seventy-eight years, and
the immune system of humans is known to deteriorate with age. But it
seems unlikely that a fourteen-year increased life span could by itself be
responsible for the enormous increases in catastrophic bodily diseases
that have occurred. It is much more likely that increased body burdens
of industrial chemicals are largely responsible for the sharp increases in
some cancers and brain diseases. People are exposed to carcinogenic
chemicals in pesticides, deodorants, shampoos, hair dyes, makeup, foods,
cleaning products, sunscreens, electronics, furniture, walls, paints, car-
peting, and a host of other common commercial products. A study in
the United Kingdom found that the average woman applies 515 chemi-
cals to her face each day in makeup, perfumes, lotions, mascara, and
other beauty products. Pollution is built into the modern world.
Television personality Bill Moyers discovered that his blood contains
eighty-four synthetic chemicals. Tests commissioned by the Environmen-
tal Working Group found that the blood or urine of all of the subjects
they studied was contaminated with an average of thirty-fi ve consumer
product ingredients, including fl ame retardants, plasticizers, and stain-
proof coatings. These mixtures of compounds, found in furniture, cos-
metics, fabrics, and other consumer goods, have never been tested for
safety. 44 In another study, the group tested umbilical cord blood collected
by the American Red Cross. This blood of unborn babies contained an
average of 287 different industrial chemicals and pollutants per sample.
Most of these compounds detected are believed to cause cancer or birth
defects, or are neurotoxins. 45
In 2005 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published
the results of a study of blood and urine in Americans. 46 In testing
volunteers for 148 industrial chemicals and harmful pollutant elements,
they found mercury, pesticides, hydrocarbons, dioxins, PCBs, phthalates
(plasticizers), DDT (banned since 1973 in the United States but still used
in countries from where we import food), insect repellent, and other
harmful chemicals. There can be no question that our bodies are heavily
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