Biomonitoring



I would be very concerned to learn that these chemicals were found in my blood and urine.  However, I'm not sure if I would be shocked to learn this. I'm sure I have been exposed to many toxins throughout my life and some of them stay in your body for a very long time, if not forever,

I was most likely exposed to dioxins by eating dairy, meat or and seafood. According to the World Health Organization (WHO 2016), dioxins "last a long time because of their chemical stability and their ability to be absorbed by fat tissue."

DDT would be surprising because it was banned in the 1970's - before I was born. However, DDT is still used in some countries today, including Asia. I have been to two countries in Asia in the past 5 years so this is likely where I would have been exposed.

Organophosphates are in insecticides and are widely used in the United States and I'm sure my parents used it on our home garden and landscaping so this is not shocking to see. You may have seen in the news recently that a school groundskeeper won in his lawsuit against Monsanto (producers of the weed killer Roundup) because it was deemed that his use of Roundup contributed significantly to his terminal cancer. Roundup contains glyphosate which is an organophosphorus compound.

Lead is also not surprising to see in this list of chemicals. I currently live in a house that was built in the 1920's so there is a good chance it contains lead. Additionally, any buildings built before 1978 likely used lead paint and I'm sure I have been in many buildings or homes built prior to 1978. 

Solvent is found in nail polish remover, chemicals used in dry cleaning and paint thinner. I'm certain I have been exposed to all of these things many times in my life.

According to the EPA (2018), PCBs were banned in 1979. They were used in adhesives, plastics, electrical equipment and insulation and are still present in any of these products that were made before 1979.

Phthalates are found nail polish, PVC, vinyl and many other products that I likely use or have used at some point in my life.

Overall it is shocking that these chemicals were found in my body, but from all the examples above it is not surprising. I only hope that we know enough now and are doing enough about it that our kids and grand-kids won't be exposed to the same toxins.



References:
Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] (2018). Learn about Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/pcbs/learn-about-polychlorinated-biphenyls-pcbs

World Health Organization [WHO] (2016). Dioxins and their effects on human health. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dioxins-and-their-effects-on-human-health

Comments

  1. Terrianne GSeptember 7, 2018 at 6:31 PM

    Hey Ayla! did you take the test? I wrote about not wanting to know about what was in my results...because I have come to the terms that I most likely was already exposed (as you mentioned by recounting your choices of food etc.) I agree with your overall take away that the more you educate yourself now, you can avoid recreating the same exposures for the future children

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownSeptember 16, 2018 at 10:44 PM


      Thank you for breaking down the chemicals. It is scary knowing that stuff we were exposed to years ago can still be present in our bodies. In response to Terri, I think the assignment was to pretend we took the test and those were our results.

      Delete

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