Guest Blogger LouAnn Conner's review of EWG's '10 Americans' Talk

On March 17, Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) spoke at an event in Marin County called “10 Americans” telling the story of 10 people whose blood was tested in 2004, for 413 chemicals.  The results were astonishing.  On average, more than 200 of these chemicals were found in their systems.  Note – these were only the chemicals tested for, more may have been present. The make up of the chemicals found in the blood samples was: 28 waste bi-products, 47 consumer bi-products (Teflon) , and 212 industrial chemicals.  These chemicals did not come from their drinking water, their workplace, or their homes. The blood samples were taken from the umbilical cord.  Their mother’s provided these chemicals – you see, they were all babies still in the womb – they came to the world pre-polluted.  Some of the chemicals had been banned thirty years prior to the testing!  The results were all the more disturbing when you think that at this age these babies do not have a blood brain barrier to keep these toxins from entering their brains, this apparently develops in their first year of development.
The results of these findings led to the Kids Safe Chemical Act that is to be reintroduced through Congress where among other items it proposes that the Federal Government must reduce exposure to these chemicals and the concept that chemicals are to be considered as bad unless proven otherwise, a 180 degree change from the current view.  More information and the actual presentation in video can be found at www.ewg.org/kidsafe.

LouAnn Conner is Managing Director at Sagacious Consulting www.sagaciousconsulting.com  a management consultancy in San Francisco, and also blogs on food and culture at http://oysterculture. wordpress.com

---