BELGIUM: HEALTH - Your blood could be contaminated with at least 18 potentially dangerous chemicals according to WWF report

Record ID: 588937

  • Title: BELGIUM: HEALTH - Your blood could be contaminated with at least 18 potentially dangerous chemicals according to WWF report
  • Date: 15th October 2005
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (OCTOBER 6, 2005) (REUTERS) WWF NEWS CONFERENCE REPORTER READING VIEW OF THE PRESS DOCUMENT: "GENERATIONS X" (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARL WAGNER, DIRECTOR OF THE WWF DETOX CAMPAIGN, SAYING: "We see a varying rise of certain diseases like breast cancer for example, child leukaemia, asthma. On the other side in the laboratory experiments we see that those chemicals that talk about exactly can cause those diseases and the only thing we are doing, is we are putting these things together and what we get a real worrying message." PARTICIPANTS AT THE TRIBUNE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARIE CHRISTINE DE WOLF, PRESIDENT OF THE EPHA (EUROPEAN PUBLIC HEALTH ALLIANCE) ENVIRONMENT NETWORK (EEN) SAYING: "All families have their reasons and the reasons that Karl (Karl Wagner) explained earlier, the children can potentially be more contaminated, particularly with chemicals than have been recently put on the market than their mothers, and as a mother I find that quite concerning." MARIE-CHRISTINE EVERAERTS AND HIS DAUGHTER LISTENING TO THE CONFERENCE CLOSE UP ON THE DAUGHTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARIE CHRISTINE DE WOLF, PRESIDENT OF THE EPHA ENVIRONMENT NETWORK (EEN) SAYING: "That's why we need a strong chemical policy, because we don't know which chemicals we are exposed to, we don't have the minimum health and safety information for many of the chemicals we are in contact with, we don't know how long this chemical will be staying in our bodies and we don't know how these different chemicals will interact between each other and will interact with our body. "
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA4HIQ0TPC251VPHKNICXOGF1ON
  • Story Text: They call us "Generation X", because nobody knows exactly how many man-made chemicals are in our blood, and how it impacts on our health. According to the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), we all belong to Generation X. WWF announced its latest findings, called the "Generation X Survey" on Thursday (October 6) in Brussels. of 73 man-made hazardous chemicals in the blood of 13 families, including a Belgian Family whose grandmother, children and grandchildren were tested. The most worrying outcome is that the younger generation like Celine, had more chemicals in their blood (59) than their mothers (49), and some of the chemicals are found at highest levels in children. "The children can potentially be more contaminated, particularly with chemicals than have been recently put on the market than their mothers, and as a mother I find that quite concerning," Environment activist Marie Christine Wolf told journalists at a news conference revealing the survey results. According to many scientists, these chemicals do not remain harmless. "We see a varying rise of certain diseases like breast cancer for example, child leukaemia or asthma", Karl Wagner, Director of the WWF campaign said. "On the other side in the laboratory experiments we see that those chemicals that we talk about can cause those diseases and the only thing we are doing, is we are putting these things together and what we get a real worrying message," he added. All those who took part in Europe's largest-ever blood testing survey, with participants ranging from 12 to 92 year-old, were contaminated with a cocktail of at least 18 different man-made persistent disrupting chemicals, many found in everyday consumers goods, but which normally have nothing to do in a human body. Aside from simple air pollution, these chemicals are found in products people touch, taste and wear everyday including computers, textiles, cosmetics, electric appliances, food containers, furniture, and deodorants. For more than two years, the WWF's blood testing surveys have revealed the presence of hazardous man-made chemicals in humans, with increasing concern about their combined presence in humans and wildlife and still unknown effects. Last year, the WWF held a similar experiment involving 156 people, including the EU's Environment Commissioner. Those samples also found high amounts of DDT and other toxins. The Environmental friendly agency later followed up with tests on 14 European Union government ministers which in turn revealed a cocktail of chemicals in their blood last year, WWF decided to push the surveys further. The World Wildlife Fund's survey, titled "Bad Blood?" found last year an average of 37 hazardous chemicals - including DDT pesticide residues - in the blood of government officials in a range of countries from Finland to Cyprus. The WWF is campaigning to get the the European Union to adopt tougher regulations, arguing that many of about 100,000 chemicals in use today pose a dangerous health risk to humans and to wildlife. EU governments are discussing proposals that would update the existing 20-year-old legislation, shifting responsibility for testing chemicals from governments to manufacturers. Under the proposals, registration and safety data would be required for thousands of high-use chemicals. The most toxic and all carcinogenic chemicals would have to carry the label of "substances of very high concern" and would need a special license for use under the legislation. But the chemical industry is demanding changes to the proposal, arguing that the testing and registration would be too costly. The WWF says it cannot accept "continuing exposure of the whole population - and especially of unborn children and developing infants - or the wider environment to a cocktail of hazardous chemicals can be considered either 'safe' or 'acceptable'".
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