Body Burden — The Pollution in Newborns

Summary. In the month leading up to a baby's birth, theumbilical cord pulses with the equivalent of at least 300 quarts ofblood each day, pumped back and forth from the nutrient- andoxygen-rich placenta to the rapidly growing child cradled in a sac ofamniotic fluid. This cord is a lifeline between mother and baby,bearing nutrients that sustain life and propel growth.

Not long ago scientists thought that the placenta shielded cordblood — and the developing baby — from most chemicals and pollutants inthe environment. But now we know that at this critical time whenorgans, vessels, membranes and systems are knit together from singlecells to finished form in a span of weeks, the umbilical cord carriesnot only the building blocks of life, but also a steady stream ofindustrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides that cross the placentaas readily as residues from cigarettes and alcohol. This is the human"body burden" — the pollution in people that permeates everyone in theworld, including babies in the womb.

In a study spearheaded by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) incollaboration with Commonweal, researchers at two major laboratoriesfound an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants inumbilical cord blood from 10 babies born in August and September of2004 in U.S. hospitals. Tests revealed a total of 287 chemicals in thegroup. The umbilical cord blood of these 10 children, collected by RedCross after the cord was cut, harbored pesticides, consumer productingredients, and wastes from burning coal, gasoline, and garbage.

This study represents the first reported cord blood tests for 261 ofthe targeted chemicals and the first reported detections in cord bloodfor 209 compounds. Among them are eight perfluorochemicals used asstain and oil repellants in fast food packaging, clothes and textiles —including the Teflon chemical PFOA, recently characterized as a likelyhuman carcinogen by the EPA's Science Advisory Board — dozens of widelyused brominated flame retardants and their toxic by-products; andnumerous pesticides.

Of the 287 chemicals we detected in umbilical cord blood, we knowthat 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brainand nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal developmentin animal tests. The dangers of pre- or post-natal exposure to thiscomplex mixture of carcinogens, developmental toxins and neurotoxinshave never been studied.