New Research Shows Two of the Leading Killers in America Might be Linked

“We know there’s a link,” says Heather Snyder, senior associate director of Medical and Scientific Relations for the Alzheimer’s Association. “What we’re trying to find out is the why.”

Snyder is speaking of two of this country’s worst scourges: Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes. Both are major killers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they are, respectively, the sixth and seventh leading causes of death in the U.S.

Now, research has begun to suggest that they share something else besides a capacity for death—namely, a common organic thread. For that reason, research into one may lead to successful means of dealing with the other.

To begin with, 26 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, 7 million of whom don’t even know they are affected, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease. But regardless of awareness, diabetes remains a condition whereby too much sugar builds up in the bloodstream because the body cannot use insulin effectively. That is, the body stops producing sufficient insulin to help cells absorb sugar and turn it into energy.

Certain segments of the population have a disproportionate rate of diabetes, including Hispanic, African, Asian and Native Americans. According to the National Institutes of Health, 8.3 percent of the U.S. population have diabetes, but more than 16.1 percent of the adult population of American Indians and Alaska Natives have been diagnosed with it. The rates of diabetes vary by region, with American Indians in southern Arizona suffering the highest rates in the country at 33.5 percent.

Diabetes and Alzheimer’s have several links. For example, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes increase the risk of both heart disease and stroke. Damaged blood vessels can result from either of these conditions, and researchers believe that damaged vessels in the brain may well contribute to Alzheimer’s.

Further, our brain cells use a high level of energy, which can be affected by diabetes because the disease retards the body’s ability to absorb sugar to generate the necessary energy. Healthy brain function also depends on a symphony of many different chemicals working in concert. Too much insulin can throw off the balance of these chemicals and potentially trigger Alzheimer’s. Finally, high blood sugar causes inflammation, which could damage brain cells and help Alzheimer’s develop.

Tackling the connection between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease may ultimately involve a better understanding of vascular dementia, a disease with the same symptoms as Alzheimer’s. But as Snyder puts it, “Of the top 10 causes of death in the United States, Alzheimer’s is the only one without any way to prevent, cure or slow its progression.” Vascular dementia, by contrast, can be prevented or managed through many of the same healthy habits that can also reduce the risk of diabetes.

“[Vascular dementia] results from hypertension, a high-fat diet, smoking and uncontrolled diabetes,” says Carson Henderson, associate director of Two Hawk Institute, an Indian-owned and -operated corporation focused on health education, training and research in Indian country. “If you exercise, eat right, and don’t smoke, you might be able to prevent vascular dementia as you age.”

Vascular dementia is caused by low blood flow to the brain, often as the result of a stroke or series of strokes. “With vascular dementia, your brain cells are dying, because small, tiny blood vessels in the brain are being blocked, and the cells below are not receiving blood or oxygen,” explains Carson Henderson’s husband, Neil Henderson, Oklahoma Choctaw, who directs the American Indian Diabetes Prevention Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center’s College of Public Health. “Vascular dementia looks a lot like Alzheimer’s disease, but it is not the same causation. You still get memory loss and confused thinking.”

The latest link between diabetes and dementia was established by a recent study undertaken by Kyushu University in Japan. Researchers analyzed “1,017 community-dwelling dementia-free subjects” over the course of 15 years and found that Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia “were significantly higher in subjects with diabetes then in those with normal glucose tolerance.”

Snyder puts the significance of the finding this way: “Diabetes affects your heart, and there are links between cardiovascular health and brain health. The brain uses 25 percent of the oxygen in blood for its functions, if the heart isn’t healthy, the brain won’t be healthy, either.”

So the ties between diabetes and heart disease and stroke continue to be uncovered. Now, with the possibility that diabetes might be among the causes of one of America’s most lethal diseases, organizations like the Alzheimer’s Association are doing everything they can to spread awareness—and prevention.

Source: A Deadly Duo: New Research Shows Two of the Leading Killers in America Might be Linked
By ICTMN Staff December 14, 2011

“We know there’s a link,” says Heather Snyder, senior associate director of Medical and Scientific Relations for the Alzheimer’s Association. “What we’re trying to find out is the why.”

Snyder is speaking of two of this country’s worst scourges: Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes. Both are major killers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they are, respectively, the sixth and seventh leading causes of death in the U.S.

Now, research has begun to suggest that they share something else besides a capacity for death—namely, a common organic thread. For that reason, research into one may lead to successful means of dealing with the other.

To begin with, 26 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, 7 million of whom don’t even know they are affected, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease. But regardless of awareness, diabetes remains a condition whereby too much sugar builds up in the bloodstream because the body cannot use insulin effectively. That is, the body stops producing sufficient insulin to help cells absorb sugar and turn it into energy.

Certain segments of the population have a disproportionate rate of diabetes, including Hispanic, African, Asian and Native Americans. According to the National Institutes of Health, 8.3 percent of the U.S. population have diabetes, but more than 16.1 percent of the adult population of American Indians and Alaska Natives have been diagnosed with it. The rates of diabetes vary by region, with American Indians in southern Arizona suffering the highest rates in the country at 33.5 percent.

Diabetes and Alzheimer’s have several links. For example, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes increase the risk of both heart disease and stroke. Damaged blood vessels can result from either of these conditions, and researchers believe that damaged vessels in the brain may well contribute to Alzheimer’s.

Further, our brain cells use a high level of energy, which can be affected by diabetes because the disease retards the body’s ability to absorb sugar to generate the necessary energy. Healthy brain function also depends on a symphony of many different chemicals working in concert. Too much insulin can throw off the balance of these chemicals and potentially trigger Alzheimer’s. Finally, high blood sugar causes inflammation, which could damage brain cells and help Alzheimer’s develop.

Tackling the connection between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease may ultimately involve a better understanding of vascular dementia, a disease with the same symptoms as Alzheimer’s. But as Snyder puts it, “Of the top 10 causes of death in the United States, Alzheimer’s is the only one without any way to prevent, cure or slow its progression.” Vascular dementia, by contrast, can be prevented or managed through many of the same healthy habits that can also reduce the risk of diabetes.

“[Vascular dementia] results from hypertension, a high-fat diet, smoking and uncontrolled diabetes,” says Carson Henderson, associate director of Two Hawk Institute, an Indian-owned and -operated corporation focused on health education, training and research in Indian country. “If you exercise, eat right, and don’t smoke, you might be able to prevent vascular dementia as you age.”

Vascular dementia is caused by low blood flow to the brain, often as the result of a stroke or series of strokes. “With vascular dementia, your brain cells are dying, because small, tiny blood vessels in the brain are being blocked, and the cells below are not receiving blood or oxygen,” explains Carson Henderson’s husband, Neil Henderson, Oklahoma Choctaw, who directs the American Indian Diabetes Prevention Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center’s College of Public Health. “Vascular dementia looks a lot like Alzheimer’s disease, but it is not the same causation. You still get memory loss and confused thinking.”

The latest link between diabetes and dementia was established by a recent study undertaken by Kyushu University in Japan. Researchers analyzed “1,017 community-dwelling dementia-free subjects” over the course of 15 years and found that Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia “were significantly higher in subjects with diabetes then in those with normal glucose tolerance.”

Snyder puts the significance of the finding this way: “Diabetes affects your heart, and there are links between cardiovascular health and brain health. The brain uses 25 percent of the oxygen in blood for its functions, if the heart isn’t healthy, the brain won’t be healthy, either.”

So the ties between diabetes and heart disease and stroke continue to be uncovered. Now, with the possibility that diabetes might be among the causes of one of America’s most lethal diseases, organizations like the Alzheimer’s Association are doing everything they can to spread awareness—and prevention.

Authors: ICTMN Staff December 14, 2011

Republished by courtesy of Indian Country Today Media Network
Original Source: A Deadly Duo: New Research Shows Two of the Leading Killers in America Might be Linked
Twitter: Indian Country

Related Articles:

• Diabetes – Bitter Sweet or Toxic?
• Computers analyze environmental factors in diabetes
• Cashew Seed an effective anti-diabetic
• New associations between diabetes, environmental factors found by novel Stanford analytic technique

UCLA reported about a patient with severe bromine intoxication from drinking orange soda

Patented as a flame retardant for plastics, and banned in food throughout Europe and Japan, a brominated chemical called BVO has been added to sodas for decades in North America. Now some scientists have a renewed interest in this little-known ingredient, found in 10 percent of sodas in the United States. Research on its toxicity dates back to the 1970s, and some experts now urge a reassessment. After a few extreme soda binges – not too far from what many video gamers regularly consume – a few patients have needed medical attention for skin lesions, memory loss and nerve disorders, all symptoms of overexposure to bromine. Other studies suggest that BVO could be building up in human tissues. In mouse studies, big doses caused reproductive and behavioral problems.

By Brett Israel, Environmental Health News, Dec. 12, 2011

MARIETTA, Ga. – It’s Monday night at the Battle & Brew, a gamer hangout in this Atlanta suburb. The crowd is slumping in chairs, ears entombed in headphones, eyes locked on flat-screen monitors and minds lost in tonight’s video game of choice: “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.”

To help stay alert all night, each man has an open can of “gamer fuel” inches from his keyboard. “I’ve seen some of these dudes plow through six sodas in six hours,” said Brian Smawley, a regular at the gamer bar.

Gamers say they chug their fuel for the sugar and caffeine, but drinkers of Mountain Dew and some other citrus-flavored drinks are also getting a dose of a synthetic chemical called brominated vegetable oil, or BVO.

Patented by chemical companies as a flame retardant, and banned in food throughout Europe and Japan, BVO has been added to sodas for decades in North America. Now some scientists have a renewed interest in this little-known ingredient, found in 10 percent of sodas in the United States.

After a few extreme soda binges — not too far from what many gamers regularly consume – a few patients have needed medical attention for skin lesions, memory loss and nerve disorders, all symptoms of overexposure to bromine. Other studies suggest that BVO could be building up in human tissues, just like other brominated compounds such as flame retardants. In mouse studies, big doses caused reproductive and behavioral problems.

Reports from an industry group helped the U.S. Food and Drug Administration establish in 1977 what it considers a safe limit for BVO in sodas. But some scientists say that limit is based on thin, outdated data, so they insist that the chemical deserves a fresh look.

“Aside from these reports, the scientific data is scarce,” said Walter Vetter, a food chemist at Germany’s University of Hohenheim and author of a recent, but unpublished, study on BVO in European soda imports.

Flame retardant soda?

The next time you grab a Mountain Dew, Squirt, Fanta Orange, Sunkist Pineapple, Gatorade Thirst Quencher Orange, Powerade Strawberry Lemonade or Fresca Original Citrus, take a look at the drink’s ingredients. In Mountain Dew, brominated vegetable oil is listed next-to-last, between disodium EDTA and Yellow 5. These are just a sampling of drinks with BVO listed in their ingredients, which is required by the FDA. The most popular sodas – Coca-Cola and Pepsi – do not contain BVO.

You don’t have to be a gamer to drink these fruit-flavored sodas. In the United States, 85 percent of kids drink a beverage containing sugar or artificial sweetener at least once per week, according to a study published last month. Sodas are the largest source of calories for teenagers between the ages of 14 to 18, according to a National Cancer Institute study. For adults, soda, energy and sports drinks are the fourth largest (PDF) source of calories, a federal study found.

Hold a bottle of Mountain Dew to a light. It’s cloudy. Brominated vegetable oil creates the cloudy look by keeping the fruity flavor mixed into the drink. Without an emulsifier such as BVO, the flavoring would float to the surface. The FDA limits the use of BVO to 15 parts per million in fruit-flavored beverages.

Brominated vegetable oil, which is derived from soybean or corn, contains bromine atoms, which weigh down the citrus flavoring (PDF) so it mixes with sugar water, or in the case of flame retardants, slows down chemical reactions that cause a fire.

Brominated flame retardants lately are under intense scrutiny because research has shown that they are building up in people’s bodies, including breast milk, around the world. Designed to slow the spread of flames, they are added to polystyrene foam cushions used in upholstered furniture and children’s products, as well as plastics used in electronics. Research in animals as well as some human studies have found links to impaired neurological development, reduced fertility, early onset of puberty and altered thyroid hormones.

BVO may not be in use today as a flame retardant in furniture foam, but patents in Europe — granted earlier this year to Dow Global Technologies — and in the United States — granted in 1967 to Koppers Inc. — keep that possibility alive.

“There are some concerns [about BVO] because people are worried that maybe it has the behavior, [and] potential health effects similar to brominated flame retardants,” said Heather Stapleton, an environmental chemist at Duke University who specializes in studying brominated compounds.

Soda makers and industry groups say they are not concerned about the safety of brominated vegetable oil, saying their products meet all government standards.

“This is a safe ingredient approved by the FDA, which is used in some citrus-based beverages,” said Christopher Gindlesperger of the American Beverage Association, which represents PepsiCo, maker of Mountain Dew. “Importantly, consumers can rest assured that our products are safe and our industry adheres to all government regulations.”

Chris Barnes of the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, makers of Squirt and other drinks that contain BVO, echoed that response.

“All ingredients in Dr. Pepper Snapple Group products meet FDA and other regulator requirements,” Barnes said.

Dated data

Some experts are unconvinced, saying that the FDA standards are based on decades-old data.

“Compounds like these that are in widespread use probably should be reexamined periodically with newer technologies to ensure that there aren’t effects that would have been missed by prior methods,” said Charles Vorhees, a toxicologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, who studied BVO’s neurological effects in the early 1980s. “I think BVO is the kind of compound that probably warrants some reexamination.”

Toxicity testing has changed dramatically in the past few decades. Multiple generations of animals now can be tested for neurodevelopmental, hormonal and reproductive changes that weren’t imagined in the 1970s and early 1980s.

“I am no toxicologist, but I think that the toxic evaluation of chemicals has been improved since then,” Vetter added.food chemist.

In 1970, scientists in England found that rats on a six-week diet containing 0.8 percent brominated maize oil had stockpiles of bromine in their fat tissue. The bromine stayed there even after the rats returned to a control diet for two weeks.

Around the same time, a study confirmed that bromine was building up in humans. Researchers measured the serum levels of people in the United Kingdom – where BVO was in use – and in their counterparts in the Netherlands and Germany, where BVO was not used.

“During this time UK citizens had higher bromine serum levels compared to the inhabitants of Germany and the Netherlands,” Vetter said. The largest amounts of lipid-bound bromine were found in tissues from children in the UK, according to the study.

The study authors wrote that “it seems highly probable that the intake of brominated vegetable oil is the cause of the tissue bromine residues in children.”

Data in rats show that BVO could be toxic. A 1971 study by Canadian researchers found that rats fed a diet containing 0.5 percent brominated oils grew heavy hearts and developed lesions in their heart muscle. In a later study, in 1983, rats fed the same oils had behavioral problems, and those fed 1 percent BVO had trouble conceiving. At 2 percent, they were unable to reproduce.

The diets in that study had “whopping doses” of BVO, about 100-times higher than today’s allowable limit, said Vorhees, lead author of the 1983 study.

But two case studies in the past 15 years show that whopping doses also can occur in people – with unhealthy consequences.

Epic binges

On MMO nights at the Battle & Brew, some gamers play 12 straight hours. In these Massively Multiplayer Online games, thousands of players from around the world compete. During these epic battles, a soda every hour is not uncommon. A gamer chugging a 20-ounce bottle of soda every hour will finish 3.5 liters in six hours.

“They’re just sitting for 12 hours, just pounding sodas,” Smawley said.

Virtually every teen in America plays video games, according to the Pew Research Center. The $110-billion-a-year soft drink industry and the $74-billion-a-year video game industry have noticed. Activision, the makers of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” the latest edition in this popular video game series, paired with Mountain Dew in a promotion that rewards gamers with bonus points for drinking more Mountain Dew.

In 1997, emergency room doctors at University of California, Davis reported a patient with severe bromine intoxication from drinking two to four liters of orange soda every day. He developed headaches, fatigue, ataxia (loss of muscle coordination) and memory loss.

In a 2003 case reported in Ohio, a 63-year-old man developed ulcers on his swollen hands after drinking eight liters of Red Rudy Squirt every day for several months. The man was diagnosed with bromoderma, a rare skin hypersensitivity to bromine exposure. The patient quit drinking the brominated soft drink and months later recovered.

Reactions this severe may not be a concern in the general population, the study’s doctors said.

“Any normal level of consumption of BVO would not cause any health problems — except the risk of diabetes and obesity from drinking that much sugar water,” said Zane Horowitz, medical director of the Oregon Poison Center and author of the 1997 case study.

But in the gamer scene, a normal level of consumption is not normal. Everyone, it seems, knows someone habitually needing a fuel fix, and consuming enough to up his or her risk.

“I’ve seen hard core guys, after every game they’ll just grab another one,” said Sean Hyatt, the assistant manager at the Battle & Brew.

And it’s not just the “stinkies” – Smawley’s derogatory term for the stereotypical gamer slobs – who pound gamer fuel. Vorhees, of the Cincinnati children’s hospital, said his son stays up all night when playing a new game with his friends.

“They use Mountain Dew specifically as a beverage to keep them awake – and they hardly eat anything,” Vorhees said.

When a person doesn’t eat during one of these binges, his or her body is absorbing the entire beverage. It’s even worse in kids, Vorhees said, because they have less body mass.

“In kids, the total dosage effect tends to be greater,” Vorhees said. “I actually think there are people that get these high exposures.”

Banned bromine returns

Based on data from the early studies, the FDA yanked brominated vegetable oil from its Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) list for flavor additives in 1970, said Douglas Karas, a spokesman for the FDA. BVO bounced back after studies from an industry group from 1971 to 1974 demonstrated a level of safety.

The Flavor Extract Manufacturers’ Association petitioned the FDA to get BVO back in fruit-flavored beverages, this time as a stabilizer, which is its role today. After evaluating the petition and other data, the FDA in 1977 approved the interim use of BVO at 15 ppm in fruit-flavored beverages, pending the outcome of additional studies.

“This decision was based on the highest No Observed Effect Levels from the existing safety studies and the estimated daily intake,” Karas said in an email. “Although there were doses that showed adverse effects in the animal studies, there also were lower doses in which there were no adverse effects observed.”

As a condition of interim approval, the industry group submitted additional safety studies to the FDA.

The FDA determined that a 2-year feeding study in pigs established a no-effect level of 1,200 ppm. A 2-year feeding study in beagle dogs also was conducted. Although there were concerns about quality control with that particular study, Karas said, no cardiovascular effects were observed in the dogs fed BVO at levels as high as 3,600 ppm for two years. After an independent audit of the data to address the quality concerns, the FDA decided to allow BVO in fruit-flavored beverages.

“The findings from these studies supported the safety of BVO in beverages at a level of 15 ppm in fruit-flavored beverages,” Karas said. “Its use as a flame retardant does not preclude its use as a food ingredient so long as the food use is safe.”

More than 30 years later, brominated vegetable oil’s approval status is still listed as interim. Changing the status would be costly and “is not a public health priority for the agency at this time,” Karas said.

Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, was involved with the petition to remove BVO from the “safe” list in 1970. He said it’s time for the FDA to make a decision, one way or the other.

“Is it harmful at the amounts consumed? Probably not,” Jacobson said. “But it would be nice if the FDA did a thorough review of the literature and finalized an approval or a ban.”

A safer switch?

BVO has seeped into Europe, mostly forbidden territory for this additive, according to an analysis (PDF) of imported sodas presented at an international symposium on halogenated persistent organic pollutants in 2010.

“We found products with no label although BVO was present in the soda,” said Vetter, lead author of the study.

He said soda makers in North America could easily replace BVO with alternatives such as hydrocolloids – chemicals that are used in many sodas in Europe. Natural hydrocolloids form small droplets on water into which non-water soluble compounds can be stored and stabilized for as long as necessary. They are almost exclusively natural products, Vetter said.

Barnes, of the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, said that BVO and hydrocolloids “do not provide the same functionality and cannot be substituted for one another.”

Vetter disagreed, saying that countries in Europe and elsewhere have used natural hydrocolloids for decades in the soda brands that rely on BVO in North America.

“There are many options to substitute BVO with safe chemicals,” Vetter said. “I am not aware of significant disadvantages of BVO over hydrocolloids or vice versa.”

With natural alternatives already in use in other countries, why not switch in North America too?

Wim Thielemans, a chemical engineer at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, said since the alternatives are already used in Europe “their performance must be acceptable, if not comparable, to the U.S.-used brominated systems.” That means “the main driver for not replacing them may be cost,” he said.

“It is a North American problem,” Vetter added. “In the E.U., BVO will never be permitted.”

Source: EHN, Brominated Battle in Sodas, Dec. 12, 2011

CC: by-nc-nd

Related Articles:

• Flame retardant linked to altered thyroid hormone levels during pregnancy
• Scented laundry products emit hazardous chemicals through dryer vents
• Secret Chemicals Revaled in Celebrity Perfumes, Teen Body Sprays
• Since when do Fish use Perfume?

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Reflections by Dr. L. Christine Oliver and Alison Johnson

Dr. Oliver and Alison Johnson present an excellent overview of the multi-symptom disease known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, or MCS. During Dr. Oliver’s twenty years of experience, she can attest to MCS being a physiological disease with clear visual manifestations, such as flushing of skin, increased heart rate, and blood pressure problems in patients exposed to chemicals.

As MCS is ever increasing, Dr. Oliver (Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Co-Director of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Massacsetts General Hospital) advocates for more research dollars dedicated to finding modalities to treat MCS. Medical students and physicians are still not trained about MCS even though it affects the respiratory, neurological, gastrointestinal systems, and even the skin. Pulmonologists, gastroenterologists, and allergists, just to name a few, are the physicians who must receive appropriate training.

Currently, most physicians cannot give a correct diagnosis which leaves patients feeling more isolated and thus many chemically injured seek alternative treatments, some which may do more harm than good. According to Dr. Oliver there are no miracle cures for MCS and currently the most reliable treatment is avoidance of exposures.

The disabling symptoms do much to interfere with a MCS person’s life. It interferes with using public transportation, living in multi-housing units, and gaining/keeping employment. Dr. Oliver advocates for every workplace to maintain perfume free environments. Public health policies are needed to accommodate people with MCS so they are not forced to turn to social security disability for a reduced income.

Housing is a big issue for the chemically injured. Multi-family housing is a problem due to the neighbors using scented chemical products. Many people with MCS can no longer work and thus don’t have the finances to rent or buy single family housing.

The lack of safe housing, lack of safe workplaces, and medical issues can be overwhelming for those with chemical injury. The despair associated with lack of the above, plus the disbelief that the illness is real, leads many to contemplate and actually commit suicide.

Alison Johnson has witnessed the real devastation of this disease which has destroyed far too many lives. So many MCS people have seen their former lives slip away. This is hardly a “rare” condition with an estimated seven million Americans suffering from MCS. More accurate educating of the public is needed.

The tobacco industry succeeded for years in their funding attempts to keep the public in the dark regarding the negative health risks of tobacco. The chemical industry is also doing a good job preventing the public from realizing the harm from the chemically laden products on the market. In the meantime people on every continent are suffering great devastation, isolation, and compromised lives due to the chemical injuries they have suffered and must endure.

Have a look at this excellent film overview…

For further information vistit: The Chemical Sensitivity Foundation

Related Articles:

• An Icon of Environmental Medicine visits Germany
• Environmental diseases are not unexplained mysteries
• Canada: Envirionmental Sensitivities in Quebec
• MCS – Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, a disease caused by toxic chemical exposure
• Martin Pall about genetic evidence and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Children in rural communities get a “double-dose” of the pesticide chlorpyrifos from food and drift from neighboring fields

Washington, DC — As children settle into the new school year, health professionals are demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ban the neurotoxic chemical chlorpyrifos, a pesticide used on farms throughout the country and the same chemical that the agency banned some ten years ago for use in homes.

In a letter to be submitted to EPA tomorrow, over two dozen health professionals cite new science showing the health impacts of chlorpyrifos, including lowering IQs and increasing the risk of ADHD and learning disabilities among children.

“EPA should follow the science and take this brain toxin completely off the market” said Dr. David Carpenter, MD, Director Institute for Health & The Environment, University at Albany. “Chlorpyrifos poses serious threats to children’s health and doesn’t belong in our homes, on our farms, or on our cafeteria trays.”

The recent studies show that exposure to chlorpyrifos in the womb and in early childhood, during critical development “windows,” can lead to lasting effects on the brain. Researchers now say that as many as 25% of all U.S. children may have IQs several points lower due to eating foods treated with chlorpyrifos and similar pesticides.

“Fruits and vegetables are essential for healthy children but shouldn’t be grown with chlorpyrifos,”said Ted Schettler, MD, MPH, Science Director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, and one of the letter’s signatories. “Children in rural communities face a double dose of this brain poison. They are exposed to chlorpyrifos drifting from neighboring fields, and again when the pesticide is on their food.”

Chlorpyrifos was banned for use in homes over ten years ago because of it’s potential harm to children. But ten million pounds of chlorpyrifos are still used on agricultural fields each year. Air monitoring, biomonitoringand poisoning data confirm that extensive human exposure to chlorpyrifos is linked to its continued use in agriculture. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control,the vast majority of us — including children — carry breakdown products of the chemical in our bodies.

Children living in farm communities are at especially high risk. In addition to exposure from food they may also be breathing in particles that drift into their classrooms and homes from nearby farms. Farmworker children are exposed even more, as parents sometimes carry residues of the pesticide home at the end of the day on clothing and shoes.

“Chlorpyrifos drift poses serious threats to communities like mine,” said Luis Medellin, of the community organization El Quinto Sol de America. Luis grew up in homes next to farms using chlorpyrifos in California’s San Joaquin Valley. “The realities on the ground show that this brain toxin can’t be used safely and should not be used in the fields.”

At age 17, Luis began using Pesticide Action Network’s Drift Catcher to document chemical drift from neighboring citrus fields, finding that a majority of samples contained chlorpyrifos. Residents also sampled chlorpyrifos in their urine, and all but one had levels above what EPA considers “acceptable.”

In their letter to EPA (pdf), health professionals are demanding that EPA ban all uses of chlorpyrifos. In their letter they state:

We urge EPA to act now on the weight of scientific evidence of health harms of chlorpyrifos for children and fetuses. It is time that EPA take action to protect the public health and provide a healthy legacy for our children and for future generations. We call on EPA to cancel all uses of pesticide chlorpyrifos.

Other letters with a similar demand were delivered to EPA from environmental health groups nationwide, including a petition signed by more than 6,000 concerned citizens across the country.

Author:

PAN, Toxic Brain Chemical Must Be Banned: Health Professionals Demand EPA Take Action, October 5, 2011

Related articles:

• Chemical Threat: Groups call for Pesticide Ban
• Prenatal exposure to Pesticides linked to ADHD
• Anxiety in adult female mice following perinatal exposure to Chlorpyrifos
• Children susceptible to pesticides longer than expected, Berkeley study finds

The founder of the West Virginia-based Jan Dils, Attorneys at Law, L.C., says a study linking soldiers’ exposure to different toxins and Gulf War illness merits further research.

The results of a study published this week by environmental health researchers evaluates the types of toxic exposure faced by Veterans with Gulf War illness, and it will hopefully encourage other medical experts to do similar research, West Virginia Veterans’ benefits attorney Jan Dils said today.

The article appears in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives and reports that troops were exposed to different toxins depending on if they served in the front lines or in support roles during the 1991 Gulf War.

Forward-deployed troops were exposed to anti-nerve agent pills and Scud missiles, whereas those behind the scenes were commonly in contact with pesticides, according to the study.

Around 25 percent of the 700,000 Veterans with Gulf War illness are plagued by symptoms including chronic headaches, widespread pain, memory and concentration problems, persistent fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, skin abnormalities and mood disturbances, Dils said.

“Gulf War illness can be a truly disabling disease,” said Dils, whose law firm helps Veterans with disability claims in West Virginia and across the country. “Veterans manage these symptoms as best as they can, but more research into the nature of the disease and its causes could create better treatment opportunities for sufferers.

“It could also provide insight into the most dangerous toxins used in chemical warfare so that other avenues could be explored to protect soldiers who continue to serve in the Gulf War,” the Parkersburg attorney added.

Over 110,000 Gulf War Veterans – which the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs classifies as those who participated in Operations Desert Storm, Desert Shield, and a subsequent stabilization period during the early 1990s – are currently receiving VA health care, according to a February report from the VA. That includes treatment for the symptoms of Gulf War illness and other related conditions.

“Unfortunately, those numbers continue to grow, and the VA program is overloaded with Veterans’ claims,” said Dils. “That can make it very difficult for Veterans to receive disability benefits they deserve, so they don’t get the treatment and services they are entitled to.”

But the administrative backlog is only one of the problems Veterans face. It’s not easy to apply for disability benefits in the first place, and many times Veterans must go through a lengthy appeals process, Dils said.

“That’s not to mention that these men and women, who have chosen to serve the country at great personal peril, are often very sick,” she said. “Many times their families cannot take up the cause on their own. That’s where a Veterans’ benefits attorney and claims representatives can step up and help, particularly because egregious cases may end up in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Environmental health results like the ones published this week have the potential to provide vital information about how toxins affect soldiers’ bodies. Previous research has focused on exposure to anthrax shots, depleted uranium and psychological issues, but less so on exposure to anti-nerve-agent pills and insecticides.

“The important thing is to build a body of knowledge that examines the medical consequences of military service,” Dils said. “That can educate all of the interested parties – the disabled Veterans and their families, doctors, scientists, the federal government and even lawyers – to provide services that will benefit the country and honor Veterans for their contributions.”

Author: Jan Dils, Attorneys at Law, L.C., Parkersburg, WV (PRWEB), September 26, 2011

Related Articles:

• Environmental Diseases are not unexplained Illnesses
• Research on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)
• International Conference: Environmental and chemical Pollution cause health injuries and disabilities
• Sick Building Syndrome: research shows Illness is real and treatable