Chemical pollutants getting into babies in the womb

[Larry_OHF]

"Of the 287 chemicals we detected in umbilical-cord blood, we know that 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests," the report said.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/07/14...eut/index.html

[Timber Loftis]

Among the chemicals found in the cord blood were methylmercury, produced by coal-fired power plants and certain industrial processes. People can breathe it in or eat it in seafood and it causes brain and nerve damage. Also found were polyaromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are produced by burning gasoline and garbage and which may cause cancer; flame-retardant chemicals called polybrominated dibenzodioxins and furans; and pesticides including DDT and chlordane. The same group analyzed the breast milk of mothers across the United States in 2003 and found varying levels of chemicals, including flame retardants known as PBDEs. This latest analysis also found PBDEs in cord blood.

Yep. We're polluted. Preservatives and synthetics in the food, pesticides and fertilizers and gasoline and PCBs in the water, hazardous metals in the air -- it's no wonder more and more kids are born with minor or major defects. I'm not just talking the bad defects, asthma has steadily risen, as has allergies and child diabetes. If medical advances weren't happening fast enough to keep up with all the damage we're doing to ourselves, our kids would be really gimped-out these days.

[Link]

Is this all new, i.e. due to our living conditions, or do we simply know now and should panic?

Research is good guys, but one shouldn't push it.

[Larry_OHF]

I don't know if its new findings or not...I just posted a link to some news.

[Lucern]

Or Link, one should push it and continue to research. That's the only way to answer your question [img]smile.gif[/img]

Of course science in mass media tends towards alarmism and out-of-context reporting.