The Story of Stuff - Annie Leonard [65]
My body also carries organochlorine pesticides, some with names you may recognize (DDT, Chlordane, Mirex) alongside others that are less familiar (including Hexachlorobenzene, beta-hexachlorocyclohexane, Oxychlordane, t-Nonachlor, Heptachlor epoxide). They are neurotoxins and carcinogens and are associated with a range of chronic diseases. Many of the organochlorines were banned decades ago, yet they break down so slowly that they persist in the environment, our foodchain, and our bodies. My levels of these toxins were actually relatively low. When I asked Dr Schettler why, he guessed that I don’t eat much meat—which is a primary route of exposure for fat-soluble pesticides. He was right. Starting at age fourteen, I didn’t eat meat for twenty-four years. Today I occasionally eat chicken or fish but never red meat.
Mercury is devastating to the brain and nervous system (see pages 74–75). So it’s bad news that the levels in my body are far higher than average; in fact I’m in the top 10 percent of people studied by the Center for Disease Control. After his many questions about potential exposure routes, Dr Schettler surmised that the mercury entered by body via my periodic tuna sushi splurges. Since receiving my test results I’ve renewed my commitment to avoiding eating large fish. Because our bodies eliminate mercury faster than more persistent pollutants, I should be able to lower these levels.
The highest-ranking chemical in my body is Deca-BDE, a flame retardant at the center of a major environmental health battle right now.d Lucky me. Super toxic, Deca-BDE is another probable carcinogen that damages the liver, kidney, and thyroid. My levels are as high as those of workers at those nasty electronics recycling facilities in developing countries, where toxic-laden electronics are destroyed by hand with little or no protective gear.
There’s no way to know why my Deca levels are so high. One possible reason is that I live in California. California law—influenced by the powerful interests of flame-retardant producers—currently requires flame retardant use far beyond what is necessary for fire safety. This in turn motivates producers in other places to use excessive flame retardants so their products can be sold in California. Every state considering legislation that would ban Deca-BDE needs our support: even with mounting evidence of serious health impacts and the strength of alternative fire prevention approaches (like self extinguishing cigarettes), the industries producing Deca-BDE and other flame retardants are fighting hard to keep using them.e
My own body burden tests underscore one of the morals of the Story of Stuff: It’s time for comprehensive, prevention-focused reform of how we use chemicals. As vigilant as we can be on the individual level, we’ll never rid our bodies or the environment of toxins as long as we’re still using them in our factories and our Stuff.
a To learn more about body burden testing, or biomonitoring, see www.commonweal.org/programs/brc/index.html
b To learn more about perflorinated compounds, see www.pollutioninpeople.org/toxics/pfcs
c U.S. EPA. 1994. Estimating exposure to dioxin-like compounds, Vol. II: Properties, sources, occurrence and background exposures. Office of Research and Development. Review draft. Washington DC, June. pp. 3–54.
d To learn more about Deca-BDE, see cleanproduction.org/Flame.Scientific.php and envi ronmentalhealthfund.org/documents/Deca%20Claims-Facts.pdf
e Environmental Health Fund, “Claims and Facts about Deca-PBE Flame Retardant,” http://environmentalhealthfund.org/documents/Deca%20Claims-Facts.pdf
Often it’s cheaper for industries to use synthetics, but that’s only because they rarely have to bear all the costs of making, using, cleaning up after, or disposing of these materials—in other words,