Few Here Get Tested for Toxins

Staten Island Advance - Sunday, November 25, 2007

Despite recent studies that point to potentially harmful exposures to contaminants that may contribute to illness and disease, people infrequently get tested for environmental toxins, medical and environmental experts say.

Staten Islanders "very rarely" seek testing for potential toxins in their bloodstream, said Dr. Mark Jarrett, chief medical officer at Staten Island University Hospital.

"It's not something that is on people's radar unless there is a known toxin in the area," said Dr. Jarrett. "I think people think more immediately about what they are breathing, eating, drinking."

Chemical contaminants often do not show up during routine testing of blood or urine, and "people don't routinely have testing done for specific toxins," said Jennifer Sass, a toxicologist with the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), a nationwide organization.

That may, in part, be because the effects of toxins "often are not well understood or appreciated by health care providers," according to authors of a study, "Chemical Contaminants and Human Disease."

The authors, Dr. Sarah Janssen of the Science and Environmental Health Network; Dr. Gina Solomon of the NRDC, and Dr. Ted Schettler of Boston Medical Center, estimated that "more than 80,000 chemicals have been developed, used, distributed and discarded into the environment over the past 50 years."

Nor have most of them, the authors noted, been tested for "potential toxic effects in humans or wildlife" -- even though "some of these chemicals are commonly in air, water, food, homes, work places and communities."

One, phthalates, found in plastic products like deodorant, shampoo and cosmetic bottles, have become a recent target of environmental advocates, despite their presence for decades, their clearance for use in toys in both America and Europe, and the view of the American Chemistry Council, which maintains that any risks are exaggerated.

Work on the effect of phthalates on the environment and on humans is currently being done by a biology department faculty member at the College of Staten Island, according to a school spokesman, although the professor declined to discuss her findings thus far.

But Dr. Robin Whyatt, an environmental health sciences professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, who is also doing research in phthalates, noted that because of its prevelance, "everybody is exposed."

She said studies on test animals has shown exposure triggered reproductive problems, such as sterility.

Meanwhile, another CSI biology professor, Dr. William Wallace, noted that even though some now-known toxins that can be absorbed through the skin, like the pesticide DDT, have been banned in the U.S., they can still be used in developing nations and, with the migration of birds, "they are moving around the globe."

"The biggest concern for people around Staten Island," said Wallace, "is the consumption of seafood, because of industrial pollution through the food chain" in waterways.

Wagner College chemistry professor Dr. Mohammad Alauddin has been studying pollution of well and ground water in his native Bangladesh, specifically the presence of arsenic found some 15 years ago, before filtration systems were in place.

However, Alauddin said, "Symptoms may not show up for five to 10 years from ingestion. Sometimes, it is too late."

"Chemicals can get into our bodies and have adverse health affects without us being aware of it," said Patrick Kinney, also a professor at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. "It can happen in subtle ways, like chemicals binding with our DNA, which can lead to a cancer."

In the end, as the Janssen-Solomon-Schettler study pointed out, "an individual's exposure [to toxins] may change over time, and exposures often occur to multiple chemicals both in the home and work environments."

"The effects of chemical exposures may vary," the study added, "depending on the age of exposure [in utero, childhood, adult]; the route of exposure [ingestion, inhalation, dermal]; the amount and duration of exposure; exposures to multiple chemicals simultaneously, and other personal susceptibility factors, including genetic variability."

And, added Kinney, "People do vary a lot in their ability to detox and excrete."

Genetic variability aside, environmentalists like Laura Haight, of the New York Public Interest Research Group, said links between chemical toxins and diseases like Parkinson's, breast cancer and childhood cancers should lead to increased advocacy and a push for tighter government regulations.

Society, she said, should operate under the "precautionary principle ... and not wait until the body of evidence is so damning" that there's no turning back.

By Judy L. Randall
Reprinted here with permission from the