Thursday, September 02, 2004

Toxic Chemicals R Us

Even for those of you without kids, this information on how toxic chemicals are showing up in our food supply should ring your inner alarm bells.
A wide variety of food in American supermarkets is contaminated with tiny doses of toxic manmade chemical flame retardants, according to a new study of everyday groceries released Wednesday.

Samples of grocery stores' fish, pork, duck, turkey, cheese, butter, milk, chicken, ice cream and eggs were tainted with polybrominated diphenyl ethers, known as PBDEs, according to a peer-reviewed article in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Because this is a relatively new health concern, no one has studied yet if PBDEs are harmful to humans and at what levels, the Environmental Protection Agency's top toxicologist said. However, in animal tests they've harmed the nervous system, altered hormonal function and changed the development of reproductive organs. The federal government has ruled that one PBDE in large doses is a possible human carcinogen.
Any guess how BushCo will deal with this?

What I don't get is that I know BushCo people breed, and their kids will undoubtedly have kids as well. Don't they worry about those kids and the status of the environment for them? Or could it be that they making sure their kids will live in a separate world from the masses so their kids wouldn't have to worry about such trivial things as toxic chemicals in their food.

Update: My goodness. Just came across Dave Pollard's piece on the same topic but he takes it to the next level.