Page 30 - Spring2015

What we are 1847 when Scottish chemist James Young was how our actions today affect the lives and health

beginning to able to distill petrochemical byproducts that its of children who will be born twenty to fifty years
use vastly increased. From the 1850s through from now. They are susceptible to any number of
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understand is the early 1900s, production began to ramp up chronic disorders before their existence is even
how our dramatically worldwide. What few knew was imagined.
actions today how toxic these chemicals are. The next most vulnerable groups are those

In the twentieth century society began to who are about to be born, neonates, and infants.
will affect regulate the uncontrolled release of toxins into Studies on one family of toxins called phthalates,
the lives and the environment, but that was for gross amounts. which I will revisit later, indicate they can affect
health of What we face today is a world where we come gonadal development, impair socialization, and
We are still in
into contact with more than eighty thousand cause endocrine disruption.
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children who chemicals, many of which have not been tested the early stages of our understanding about how
will be born for safety. a child’s risks of developing chronic illnesses
twenty to fifty THE MOST VULNERABLE during adulthood are affected by environmental
toxins.
years from All of us are vulnerable to the effects of envi- It is well known that there is an epidemic
now. ronmental toxicity, but those most susceptible are of childhood obesity, unprecedented in human
the unborn and the very young. Before a child is history. According to one study, in 2003–2006,
even conceived, the effect of toxins can influence 31.9 percent of two- to nineteen-year-olds had a
their propensity for developing any number of BMI (body mass index) greater than or equal to
chronic illnesses, especially neurologic ones. The the 85th percentile for age and sex. Children
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concept, known as transgenerational epigenetics, who are already obese are at increased risk for
and which has been proven in numerous studies, developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular dis-
says that an exposure to a toxin can cause an ill- ease, stroke, and potentially cancer. 28-30
ness to future generations even if the individual So what is causing this epidemic in chil-
is never exposed to the toxin again. There are dren? First off, we know that their diets need a
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studies showing this effect on obesity. Women lot of work. They consume far too much sugar
exposed to certain toxins increase the risk of and other unhealthy foods along with not get-
obesity to their offspring as well as to numerous ting enough exercise. 31-33 But there is another
generations in the future. One study suggested it factor that is causing our children to become
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could carry out to twelve generations. Exposure overweight, and that is the environment. The
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to DES (the synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol) number of studies that have linked obesity to
can epigenetically cause a greatly increased risk environmental toxicity is staggering. A paper I
of developing reproductive tumors in future urge everyone to read is entitled, “Environment
generations. and Obesity in the National Children’s Study”
What we are now beginning to understand is by Dr. Leo Trasande, et al. It is from the pres-

A PLETHORA OF TOXIC EXPOSURES

It would be hard to cover all of the major environmental toxins in one paper, or for that matter in one book. This paper
will focus on the major culprits that affect chronic illness. Some of them are released into the atmosphere in enormous
quantities. Here are some prime examples:

• An average of 2.3 billion gallons of benzene, a known carcinogen, are produced each year in the U.S. alone.
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• Fifty-six billion pounds of styrene, another petrochemical, which is used to make Styrofoam and is a known neurotoxin,
are released into the environment each year in the U.S..
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• Over 1.3 billion pounds of one of the most toxic phthalates (a plasticizer) are released into the environment.
• An estimated twelve million pounds of arsenic and arsenic-related compounds (a toxic heavy metal) were released
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into the environment in 1999.
• Dentists use approximately forty metric tons of mercury a year. They are the largest source of mercury in our waste-
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water treatment plants.
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