ilena rose

http://ilenarose.blogspot.com
Health Lover

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2008/2008-01-21-01.asp

Chemical Exposures Cost California $2.6 Billion in 2004
LOS ANGELES, California, January 21, 2008 (ENS) - High mercury levels
and more than 100 synthetic chemicals and pollutants have been found
in breast milk, umbilical-cord blood, and other bodily tissues of
California residents, yet state laws regulating hazardous chemicals
have serious gaps and fail to protect public health and the
environment, finds a new report by researchers at the University of
California.

As a result, diseases among Californians who are exposed to chemicals
and pollution cost the state's insurers, businesses and families an
estimated $2.6 billion in direct and indirect costs during 2004, says
the report, released Thursday together with a set of recommended
policy reforms for the state.

The California Environmental Protection Agency commissioned the
Centers for Occupational and Environmental Health, COEH, at UC
Berkeley and UCLA to prepare the report.
Dr. John Balmes (Photo courtesy UC Berkeley)

"This report, for the first time, puts cost estimates on the
consequences for Californians of current chemical and product
management policies," said COEH director Dr. John Balmes, a professor
of environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley and a professor of
medicine at UC San Francisco.

"California has shown that creating new jobs and investment
opportunities can go hand in hand with protecting human health and the
environment," said Dr. Balmes. "We have been doing this with vehicle
emissions and energy use, and this new report makes it obvious that we
will need to do the same with chemicals and products."

In 2004, more than 200,000 California workers were diagnosed with
deadly, chronic diseases, such as cancer and emphysema, attributable
to chemical exposures in the workplace, according to the report.
Another 4,400 died as a result of those diseases.
Equipment for chrome plating to produce bright, shiny surfaces on
consumer products (Photo courtesy California Air Resources Board)

The new findings, based on well-established methodology for ****yzing
economic impact, indicate that those diseases resulted in $1.4 billion
in both direct medical costs and indirect costs that include lost
wages and benefits.

An additional $1.2 billion in direct and indirect costs is attributed
to 240,000 cases of preventable childhood diseases related to
environmental exposure to chemical substances, the report says.

The existing problems and recommended policy changes are detailed in
the report, "Green Chemistry: Cornerstone to a Sustainable
California," which has been endorsed by 127 faculty members from seven
UC campuses, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory.

The report presents data from the California's Department of Toxic
Substances Control showing that 61 of the state's 85 largest hazardous
waste sites are leaking toxics directly into groundwater.

An estimated one million California women of reproductive age have
blood mercury levels that exceed what the federal government considers
safe for fetal development.

California leads the nation in the number of pounds of pesticide
applied, and each year pesticides poison hundreds of workers.

Although chemical exposures are relevant to the general population,
two groups - children and workers - are particularly vulnerable, the
report states. Immigrants, minorities, and lower-income groups in
California are more likely to experience the highest levels of
exposure, both as residents and as workers.
Lettuce pickers in a California field (Photo courtesy California
Department of Public Health)

The standard regulatory mechanism for protecting workers from chemical
exposures is the Permissible Exposure Limit, PEL, which establishes an
exposure level considered safe for most workers, based on a 40 hour
workweek. While California has established 688 PELs - compared to 453
federal PELs - this represents only a small fraction of the hazardous
chemicals and mixtures to which workers are potentially exposed.

PELs have not been established in California for 44 workplace
carcinogens, the report states.

With global chemical production predicted to increase 330 percent by
2050, health problems related to environmental contamination are
likely to grow unless comprehensive steps are taken now, the report's
authors say.

"Green chemistry," the use of renewable and safer raw materials,
manufacturing processes and products, offers a sustainable solution,
according to the report.

"Research conducted in the past decade has provided ample evidence of
significant health impacts from exposure to toxic chemicals," said
John Froines, COEH director at UCLA and a professor of environmental
health sciences.

"It is timely for California to reduce the use of toxic agents through
innovative technological approaches available through green chemistry.
New policies that prevent hazards rather than cleaning up problems
after the fact will foster innovation and help green chemistry emerge
as a central part of our economy," said Froines.

The report calls on California to lead the nation in implementing a
comprehensive approach to the management of chemicals and products by:

* Passing new laws to remedy the insufficient data available on
the toxicity of chemicals so that California businesses, regulators
and consumers can make informed choices about the products they use.

* Providing California agencies with a new legal framework to
enable them to act when there are reasonable concerns about a
product's safety, even when complete hazard or tracking data are
unavailable.

* Investing in the design of chemicals, materials and
manufacturing processes that are inherently safer for humans.

Some of these recommendations echo a 2006 UC report to the California
Legislature on green chemistry policy, which contributed to the
introduction of new state legislation in 2007 to require improved
reporting on the sale of high-quantity chemicals and reductions in
some uses of the most toxic chemicals.

That legislation did not pass and is expected to be reintroduced in
2008.

The report is online at the UCLA Center for Occupational and
Environmental Health at http://www.coeh.ucla.edu/greenchemistry.pdf

d. c. sessions

Yeah, it means that sushi should be banned:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2004142034_tuna24.html

California should also ban coal-fired power plants, since they're
by far the #1 source of environmental mercury.

--
| Bogus as it might seem, people, this really is a deliverable |
| e-mail address. Of course, there isn't REALLY a lumber cartel. |
| There isn't really a Santa Claus, but try http://www.santaclaus.com. |
+--------------- D. C. Sessions <dcs@lumbercartel.com> --------------+

blattus_slafaly_£_¥_0/00_:)

Metals are good for you. They put some in vitamin pills.


--
Blattus Slafaly ? 3 7/8

peter bowditch

What are you drinking this weekend, Jan? It seems to be making you
more incoherent than usual. The next time someone advises you to stay
away from the brown acid you should listen.

--
Peter Bowditch aa #2243
The Millenium Project http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles
Australian Council Against Health Fraud http://www.acahf.org.au
Australian Skeptics http://www.skeptics.com.au
To email me use my first name only at ratbags.com

jan drew

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/html/20070324T230000-0500_120798_OBS_HEAVY_METAL_POISONING__PART_II____HEALTH_EFFECTS_OF_MERCURY_.asp

Heavy metal poisoning (Part II) - Health effects of mercury


Sunday, March 25, 2007

MERCURY is the most toxic non-radioactive element on earth. The term "mad as
a hatter" is linked to the madcap milliner in Lewis Carroll's book, Alice in
Wonderland. The origin of the saying relates to a disease peculiar to the
hat-making industry in the 1800s.

A mercury solution commonly used during the process of turning fur into felt
caused the hatters to breathe in the fumes of this highly toxic heavy metal.
This situation was exacerbated by the poor ventilation in most of the
workshops.

This, in turn, led to an ac***ulation of mercury in the workers' bodies,
resulting in symptoms such as trembling ("hatters' shakes"), slurred speech,
loosening of teeth, loss of coordination, memory loss, depression,
irritability and anxiety. Hence the term "The Mad Hatter Syndrome".

Mercury is receiving considerable attention today because of its ubiquity as
an environmental pollutant.
The metal is generated naturally in the environment from the degassing of
the earth's crust, from volcanic emissions, forest fires and the evaporation
of seawater. Mining operations, paper industries and chloralkali plants are
significant producers of mercury.

Up until 1990, mercury compounds were added to paint as a fungicide; these
compounds are now banned. However, surfaces painted with these old supplies
still exist. The substance continues to be used in thermometers,
thermostats, and dental amalgam. It is also found in many commonly available
products including pesticides, fertilisers, auto exhaust, bleached flour,
processed foods, drinking water, adhesives, food preservatives and
batteries. Medicines, such as mercurochrome and merthiolate contain mercury.

Mercury contained in medical, household, and industrial products is able to
enter the atmosphere when the products, are discarded, especially when they
are incinerated. Mercury is constantly cycling through the environment,
evaporating into the atmosphere and returning to the ground as the result of
gravity or precipitation and being deposited into lakes and rivers. An
estimated two-thirds of mercury in the environment is the result of human
activities.

Effects of mercury
Pure elemental mercury is a ***ulative heavy-metal poison that is moderately
absorbed through the skin, poorly absorbed through the gastrointestinal
tract, and readily absorbed as vapour through the lungs. The element is
strongly toxic when absorbed as vapour from the respiratory tract, but it is
considerably less so when exposure occurs via other routes.

Elemental mercury often passes through the GI tract without being absorbed;
in the past mercury was used for mechanical relief of intestinal
obstructions. Compounds of mercury tend to be much more toxic than the
element itself, and organic compounds of mercury are often extremely toxic.

Mercury damages the central nervous system, endocrine system, kidneys, and
other organs, and adversely affects the mouth, gums, and teeth. Exposure
over long periods of time or heavy exposure to mercury vapour can result in
brain damage and ultimately death. Mercury and its compounds are
particularly toxic to foetuses and infants. Women who have been exposed to
mercury in pregnancy have given birth to children with serious birth
defects.

Some of the toxic effects of mercury are reversible. However, heavy or
prolonged exposure can do irreversible damage, particularly in foetuses,
infants, and young children. Mercury exposure in very young children can
have severe neurological consequences, preventing nerve sheaths from forming
properly. Mercury poisoning in the young is suspected as a possible cause of
autistic behaviour.

Methylmercury & fish
One of the other forms of mercury is an extremely toxic substance -
methylmercury. It dissolves easily in water and bioac***ulates in the food
chain. ( Bioac***ulation is the increase in concentration of a substance
along the food-chain ). Methylmercury is ingested by fish when it gets in
the water then it bioac***ulates in fish. This fish is in turn eaten and can
cause many health problems when people eat the mercury contaminated fish.
One of the main sources of mercury poisoning is eating
methylmercury-contaminated fish. For these reasons, pregnant women and small
children should be especially aware of fish advisories in their area.

Thimerosal
Thimerosal, a preservative that contains mercury, had been added in very
minute amounts to vaccines to prevent their deterioration. It has been
hypothesised that there could be a potential relationship between thimerosal
use in vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders of autism, attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and speech or language delay.

This hypothesis was based on a comprehensive review of the scientific
literature on mercury toxicity. At present, all routinely recommended
vaccines for Jamaican and American infants are available only as
thimerosal-free formulations, with the exception of inactivated influenza
vaccine.

Dental amalgam
Mercury fillings, also known as "amalgam" or "silver fillings," are the most
common fillings in the world. They are called silver because of their colour
and contain 45 to 52 per cent mercury. The remaining volume is made up with
copper, tin, silver and zinc.Exposure to mercury fillings results in a
chronic toxicity, not acute poisoning.

It has been theorized that amalgam fillings could be part of the explanation
for the explosion of learning problems and autism in children since World
War II, a time period corresponding with the introduction and widespread use
of mercury amalgam. Charles Williamson, MD, co-director of the Toxic Studies
Institute in Boca Raton, Florida, states:

"Once mothers realise the fillings in their teeth damage the development of
their babies' brains while they're in the womb, and once these women
understand this damage can result in low IQ, learning and behavioural
problems after birth, then we'll see a public outcry against the use of
mercury amalgam." Studies in both animals and humans have confirmed the
presence of mercury from amalgam fillings in tissue specimens, blood,
amniotic fluid, or urine.

The American Dental Association ( ADA ) acknowledges that amalgam contains
mercury and reacts with other substances. However, to date the ADA maintains
that amalgam continues to be a safe material. Of interest, the metallic
mercury used by dentists to manufacture dental amalgam is shipped as a
hazardous material to dental offices.

Treatment
To treat patients for mercury overload, doctors recommend a variety of
nutrients and drugs to chelate the mercury out of the body. In the process
the cells are protected from the effects of the large amounts of free
mercury being released into the bloodstream for urinary excretion.

Chelation was first used in the 1940s by the United States Navy to treat
lead poisoning and was subsequently approved by the Food and Drug
Administration as a safe method of treating heavy metal toxicity. Chelation
therapy is a medical treatment that improves metabolic and circulatory
function by removing toxic metals and abnormally located nutritional
metallic ions from the body. It is accomplished by the administration of
chelating agents.

Dr Jacqueline E Campbell is a family physician in private practice. E mail
drjcampbell14@yahoo.com

peter bowditch

No need to read any further, as ignorance of the subject has been
demonstrated. Either that or mendacity.
<snip rant based on ignorance and/or lying>

--
Peter Bowditch aa #2243
The Millenium Project http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles
Australian Council Against Health Fraud http://www.acahf.org.au
Australian Skeptics http://www.skeptics.com.au
To email me use my first name only at ratbags.com

jan drew

http://www.mercuryexposure.org/

http://www.hair****ysisprogram.com/mercury-poisoning.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MthUo8k0l0

http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=28087

http://www.vaccinationnews.com/DailyNews/July2001/AutismUniqueMercPoison.htm

ilena rose

http://ilenarose.blogspot.com
Health Lover

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2008/2008-01-21-01.asp

Chemical Exposures Cost California $2.6 Billion in 2004
LOS ANGELES, California, January 21, 2008 (ENS) - High mercury levels
and more than 100 synthetic chemicals and pollutants have been found
in breast milk, umbilical-cord blood, and other bodily tissues of
California residents, yet state laws regulating hazardous chemicals
have serious gaps and fail to protect public health and the
environment, finds a new report by researchers at the University of
California.

As a result, diseases among Californians who are exposed to chemicals
and pollution cost the state's insurers, businesses and families an
estimated $2.6 billion in direct and indirect costs during 2004, says
the report, released Thursday together with a set of recommended
policy reforms for the state.

The California Environmental Protection Agency commissioned the
Centers for Occupational and Environmental Health, COEH, at UC
Berkeley and UCLA to prepare the report.
Dr. John Balmes (Photo courtesy UC Berkeley)

"This report, for the first time, puts cost estimates on the
consequences for Californians of current chemical and product
management policies," said COEH director Dr. John Balmes, a professor
of environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley and a professor of
medicine at UC San Francisco.

"California has shown that creating new jobs and investment
opportunities can go hand in hand with protecting human health and the
environment," said Dr. Balmes. "We have been doing this with vehicle
emissions and energy use, and this new report makes it obvious that we
will need to do the same with chemicals and products."

In 2004, more than 200,000 California workers were diagnosed with
deadly, chronic diseases, such as cancer and emphysema, attributable
to chemical exposures in the workplace, according to the report.
Another 4,400 died as a result of those diseases.
Equipment for chrome plating to produce bright, shiny surfaces on
consumer products (Photo courtesy California Air Resources Board)

The new findings, based on well-established methodology for ****yzing
economic impact, indicate that those diseases resulted in $1.4 billion
in both direct medical costs and indirect costs that include lost
wages and benefits.

An additional $1.2 billion in direct and indirect costs is attributed
to 240,000 cases of preventable childhood diseases related to
environmental exposure to chemical substances, the report says.

The existing problems and recommended policy changes are detailed in
the report, "Green Chemistry: Cornerstone to a Sustainable
California," which has been endorsed by 127 faculty members from seven
UC campuses, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory.

The report presents data from the California's Department of Toxic
Substances Control showing that 61 of the state's 85 largest hazardous
waste sites are leaking toxics directly into groundwater.

An estimated one million California women of reproductive age have
blood mercury levels that exceed what the federal government considers
safe for fetal development.

California leads the nation in the number of pounds of pesticide
applied, and each year pesticides poison hundreds of workers.

Although chemical exposures are relevant to the general population,
two groups - children and workers - are particularly vulnerable, the
report states. Immigrants, minorities, and lower-income groups in
California are more likely to experience the highest levels of
exposure, both as residents and as workers.
Lettuce pickers in a California field (Photo courtesy California
Department of Public Health)

The standard regulatory mechanism for protecting workers from chemical
exposures is the Permissible Exposure Limit, PEL, which establishes an
exposure level considered safe for most workers, based on a 40 hour
workweek. While California has established 688 PELs - compared to 453
federal PELs - this represents only a small fraction of the hazardous
chemicals and mixtures to which workers are potentially exposed.

PELs have not been established in California for 44 workplace
carcinogens, the report states.

With global chemical production predicted to increase 330 percent by
2050, health problems related to environmental contamination are
likely to grow unless comprehensive steps are taken now, the report's
authors say.

"Green chemistry," the use of renewable and safer raw materials,
manufacturing processes and products, offers a sustainable solution,
according to the report.

"Research conducted in the past decade has provided ample evidence of
significant health impacts from exposure to toxic chemicals," said
John Froines, COEH director at UCLA and a professor of environmental
health sciences.

"It is timely for California to reduce the use of toxic agents through
innovative technological approaches available through green chemistry.
New policies that prevent hazards rather than cleaning up problems
after the fact will foster innovation and help green chemistry emerge
as a central part of our economy," said Froines.

The report calls on California to lead the nation in implementing a
comprehensive approach to the management of chemicals and products by:

* Passing new laws to remedy the insufficient data available on
the toxicity of chemicals so that California businesses, regulators
and consumers can make informed choices about the products they use.

* Providing California agencies with a new legal framework to
enable them to act when there are reasonable concerns about a
product's safety, even when complete hazard or tracking data are
unavailable.

* Investing in the design of chemicals, materials and
manufacturing processes that are inherently safer for humans.

Some of these recommendations echo a 2006 UC report to the California
Legislature on green chemistry policy, which contributed to the
introduction of new state legislation in 2007 to require improved
reporting on the sale of high-quantity chemicals and reductions in
some uses of the most toxic chemicals.

That legislation did not pass and is expected to be reintroduced in
2008.

The report is online at the UCLA Center for Occupational and
Environmental Health at http://www.coeh.ucla.edu/greenchemistry.pdf