Danger lurking within: Canadians shocked by results of blood tests
The more toxins that enter a human body, the more that his or her cells will utilize nutrients necessary for detoxification. If suboptimal nutrition becomes transiently or permanently chronic, toxin-induced adverse effects are likely. Illnesses including but not limited to diarrhea can exacerbate nutrient depletion, thereby increasing likelihood of toxin-induced injury. Since numerous intra-body toxins are now a ubiquitous reality, the deliberate injecting of toxins is all the more risky.
Teresa
September 24, 2006
*Part 1: Danger lurking within*
*Canadians shocked by results of blood tests*
*By ROBIN STUBBS
Sun Media
http://winnipegsun.com/News/ToxicNation/2006/09/22/pf-1879060.html *
*Amy Robertson (bottom) and her children Johanna (left) and Satchel
(right) volunteered to be tested. (SUN MEDIA)*
In the last 50 years, science has invented thousands of chemicals to do everything from withstanding fire and resisting stains to keeping your breakfast eggs from sticking to the pan. But what makes your life easier may end up making your life shorter --- made to be indestructible, these chemicals are showing up in alarming numbers in our bodies, and wreaking havoc on key biological systems. In a special series over the next few Sundays, Sun Media investigates Canada's toxic conundrum./
For some, ignorance is bliss. But not for a small group of Canadians, who swallowed their fears and had their blood tested to find out just how many environmental toxins are flowing through their veins.
The study, conducted on behalf of the national environmental group Environmental Defence, looked for specific chemicals in 11 adults across the country last year, and more recently, tested parents and children in five Canadian families.
Amy Robertson and her kids, Johanna, 15 and Satchel, 13, rolled up their sleeves for the test, hoping their healthy lifestyle had spared them a few of the pollutants --- the kids grew up on an organic farm in B.C.'s Fraser Valley before settling in Vancouver last year.
But they would have no such luck. Thirty-one pollutants out of 68 were detected in Amy's blood. Her 15-year-old daughter Johanna showed 32 in her sample, and her son, Satchel, 13, was polluted with 29 out of the 68 --- the second-highest level detected in a child in the study.
"I was pretty shocked. We sat down and had a weeping session after the results came in, but we need to speak out on this issue because it's only getting worse," Amy told Sun Media.
Of particular concern: although the industrial chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were banned in Canada nearly 15 years before Johanna and Satchel were born, both Robertson kids had PCB levels higher than their mom, and were contaminated with PCBs that weren't present in Amy at all.
"What we found is that most people had most of the pollutants we tested for and in most cases, the kids had higher levels than their parents, which is surprising and incredibly worrisome," says Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence.
"These chemicals are things that are in products in our kitchen, our upholstery, new cars ... The reality is that it's a much more insidious, invisible problem."
Environmental Defence is also testing blood from Liberal environment critic John Godfrey, Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, Health Minster Tony Clement and NDP leader Jack Layton. Results will be posted at http:// www.toxicnation.ca
Teresa
September 24, 2006
*Part 1: Danger lurking within*
*Canadians shocked by results of blood tests*
*By ROBIN STUBBS
Sun Media
http://winnipegsun.com/News/ToxicNation/2006/09/22/pf-1879060.html *
*Amy Robertson (bottom) and her children Johanna (left) and Satchel
(right) volunteered to be tested. (SUN MEDIA)*
In the last 50 years, science has invented thousands of chemicals to do everything from withstanding fire and resisting stains to keeping your breakfast eggs from sticking to the pan. But what makes your life easier may end up making your life shorter --- made to be indestructible, these chemicals are showing up in alarming numbers in our bodies, and wreaking havoc on key biological systems. In a special series over the next few Sundays, Sun Media investigates Canada's toxic conundrum./
For some, ignorance is bliss. But not for a small group of Canadians, who swallowed their fears and had their blood tested to find out just how many environmental toxins are flowing through their veins.
The study, conducted on behalf of the national environmental group Environmental Defence, looked for specific chemicals in 11 adults across the country last year, and more recently, tested parents and children in five Canadian families.
Amy Robertson and her kids, Johanna, 15 and Satchel, 13, rolled up their sleeves for the test, hoping their healthy lifestyle had spared them a few of the pollutants --- the kids grew up on an organic farm in B.C.'s Fraser Valley before settling in Vancouver last year.
But they would have no such luck. Thirty-one pollutants out of 68 were detected in Amy's blood. Her 15-year-old daughter Johanna showed 32 in her sample, and her son, Satchel, 13, was polluted with 29 out of the 68 --- the second-highest level detected in a child in the study.
"I was pretty shocked. We sat down and had a weeping session after the results came in, but we need to speak out on this issue because it's only getting worse," Amy told Sun Media.
Of particular concern: although the industrial chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were banned in Canada nearly 15 years before Johanna and Satchel were born, both Robertson kids had PCB levels higher than their mom, and were contaminated with PCBs that weren't present in Amy at all.
"What we found is that most people had most of the pollutants we tested for and in most cases, the kids had higher levels than their parents, which is surprising and incredibly worrisome," says Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence.
"These chemicals are things that are in products in our kitchen, our upholstery, new cars ... The reality is that it's a much more insidious, invisible problem."
Environmental Defence is also testing blood from Liberal environment critic John Godfrey, Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, Health Minster Tony Clement and NDP leader Jack Layton. Results will be posted at http:// www.toxicnation.ca
rudkla - 24. Sep, 16:31
