Sludge Watch ==> Canadian politicians test high in chemical contaminants

[Maureen Reilly]

Jan 4, 2007

The Globe and Mail

Why are politicians such a TOXIC lot?
Tests on four noted MPs show they carry more chemical contaminants than
average Canadians

by MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT
ENVIRONMENT REPORTER

TORONTO -- Tests conducted on four prominent federal politicians,
including Health Minister Tony Clement, have found that all of them
carry trace levels of dozens of potentially dangerous pollutants in
their bodies.

The testing, which was also done on NDP Leader Jack Layton, Environment
Minister Rona Ambrose and Liberal environment critic John Godfrey, found
a bewildering cocktail of contaminants. They all had residues from stain
repellants, flame retardants and insecticides, among other deleterious
substances.

The results came from an unusual chemical checkup organized by
Environmental Defence, an activist group that had previously tested
ordinary Canadians and found extensive contaminant burdens in everyone
evaluated. Based on this finding, it challenged the elected leaders to
see how they stacked up, and the four volunteered to do so.

For reasons that are unclear, the politicians had a significantly higher
burden of chemical contaminants in their bodies than other Canadians the
group has tested.


Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence, said
politicians may live in ways that expose them to more pollution.

"Maybe it's attributable to the unique lifestyles these guys lead," Mr.
Smith said. "Politicians have a very strange, very stressful lifestyle
that results in them grabbing a bite to eat when they can and eating a
lot of junk food."

The results of the tests were released yesterday by Environmental
Defence.

Blood and urine samples from the politicians were evaluated for the
presence of 103 pollutants. These included the polybrominated diphenyl
ethers used to make computers and mattresses more flame-resistant, the
perfluorinated chemicals used to make Teflon-coated frying pans and
fast-food wrappers, and DDT, the feared insecticide that was banned
decades ago but is so persistent it is still circulating in the
environment.

Of the quartet, Mr. Godfrey had the highest number of pollutants, at 55,
but contaminants weren't a partisan political issue because the group
was remarkably similar. Mr. Clement and Mr. Layton both had 54 each, and
Ms. Ambrose had 49. All the politicians had mercury at more elevated
levels than ordinary Canadians.

None of the individual contaminants found in the politicians were at
levels viewed as dangerous, although some, such as flame retardants and
non-stick chemicals, have only recently come under intense scientific
scrutiny. Some types have recently been withdrawn from use because of
health concerns.

Mr. Layton participated in the study because he wondered about his own
burden of substances. "Frankly, I was curious. I suspected that I was
probably well populated with the chemicals that you find in an urban
area," he said.

Mr. Layton had the highest levels of flame retardants of the four
politicians.

Mr. Godfrey said the results show "no one is immune from picking up
dangerous chemicals, no matter how healthy a lifestyle you lead."

The substances the politicians were tested for have been found to cause
cancer, disrupt normal hormone function and lead to birth defects, among
other problems. Each politician had a chemical profile as unique as a
fingerprint.

Mr. Godfrey, for instance, carried the highest level of organophosphate
pesticides, and his readings were 45 times higher than Ms. Ambrose, who
had the lowest levels. She, by contrast, had the highest arsenic levels,
which were nearly four times higher than Mr. Godfrey's.

Both Ms. Ambrose and Mr. Clement issued statements on their contaminant
levels lauding actions the minority Conservative government has taken to
reduce this type of pollution, such as a decision late last year to
fast-track safety evaluations for 200 chemicals in widespread use that
had never been given detailed study.

Mr. Smith said regulators in Canada and elsewhere currently do not
perform health assessments on whether the dozens of chemicals people
have in their bodies interact with each other, something he contends is
a major oversight.

However, some people play down the risks, contending that the chemical
burdens in the politicians would have to be far higher to have adverse
health effects.

"Just because you find something doesn't mean it's doing anything. It's
a question of amounts," said Dr. Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill
University's Office for Science and Society in Montreal.

Mr. Smith said the politicians were privately taken aback when they saw
the results and found they had detectible levels of so many chemical
pollutants. "They were surprised as heck by the results," he said.

He said this is a typical reaction because most people view themselves
as health-conscious about food and exercise, but the pollutants have
become so ubiquitous in the environment they're almost impossible to
avoid.

"There is still this tendency to say, 'Well, I go to the gym every day,
I watch what I eat,' " he said. "What these results reinforce is how
completely pervasive these pollutants are and that no one in this
country is so powerful that they can escape the effects of this
pollution."

http://tinyurl.com/whzqn

==========================

Jan 4, 2007

The Toronto Star

Politicians test positive for toxic pollutants

by Allan Woods

It may be toxic chemicals - not hot air - that federal politicians are
emitting.

A report released yesterday by a Toronto-based environmental group
showed the presence of about 50 chemicals in four politicians, including
the federal health and environment ministers and the bicycle-riding
leader of the New Democratic Party, Jack Layton.

The chemicals ranged from such well-known hazardous substances as
arsenic and mercury to other compounds, such as pesticides, that can
cause cancer, affect breathing and endanger the reproductive system. The
tests looked for 103 chemicals in total.

Liberal environment critic John Godfrey tested positive for 55 of the
chemicals, followed by Layton and Health Minister Tony Clement with 54
each, and embattled Environment Minister Rona Ambrose with 49.

Rick Smith of Environmental Defence, the group that persuaded the
politicians to submit blood and urine samples in August, said all had
higher levels of pollution in their bodies "across the board" than a
small group of adults and children who took a similar test in 2006.

"What we can take from it is that it doesn't matter where you live, what
you do for a living, it doesn't matter how old you are - and in the case
of these four politicians it doesn't matter how powerful you are - we're
all polluted," he said from Toronto.

There is no indication the chemicals in the politicians' blood and urine
samples pose a definitive health risk, or are present in abnormally high
ratios.

Of the four, Ambrose, who introduced the Conservative government's plan
to crack down on harmful chemicals last month, had the highest rate of
arsenic in her blood.

Clement, responsible for the country's health policy, had the highest
rate of PFCs (chemicals in such stick- and stain-resistant products as
Teflon and Scotchgard), PCBs (heat-resistant chemicals used as coolants
and lubricants in electrical equipment) and organochlorine pesticides
such as DDT.

Layton's blood had the highest rate of a chemical compound made to
ensure computer monitors and televisions are hard to burn. The chemical
causes skin problems, nervous and immune system problems, and has been
linked to cancer in laboratory rats and mice.

Smith said federal politicians will have an opportunity to act on health
threats posed by toxic substances when they review the Canadian
Environmental Protection Act, used to regulate chemicals, later this
year.

C 2007 Torstar Corporation

http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/167787


Results of environmental blood tests
CTV News and Current Affairs
Wed 03 Jan 2007
Time: 23:00:00 ET
Network: CTV

LLOYD ROBERTSON: And still with Ottawa, this cautionary tale about the
chemical contaminants and toxic by-products which we are exposed to
every day. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests the
pollutants that are all around us are also in side of us. A new study
tested the blood of four federal politicians. CTV medical specialist
Avis Favaro has these surprising results.

AVIS FAVARO (Reporter): It's a clever stunt with a serious goal. Four
federal politicians volunteered to be tested to see just how many
chemical pollutants were lurking in their bodies.

JOHN GODFREY (Liberal health Critic): I just really do not want to be
the most toxic politician in Canada.

JACK LAYTON (NDP Leader): I have no idea what they're going to find.

FAVARO: What the test found was that they all had up to 55 different
toxic chemicals in their bodies that shouldn't be there, the highest
levels in the man who feared it the most, Liberal health critic John
Godfrey.

GODFREY: It's impossible to know how you pick this thing, these things
up.

FAVARO: Following him were NDP leader Jack Layton and federal Health
Minister Tony clement, both with 54 pollutants. Forty-nine of the
chemicals tested were found in federal Environment Minister Rona
Ambrose. The tests found pesticides, arsenic from wood decks and lawn
furniture, chemicals used to make non-stick coatings, and flame
retardants used in computers and furniture, chemicals scientists are
finding in house dust. What's more, the flame retardants have been
linked to thyroid cancer, a disease suffered by Olivia Chow, Jack
Layton's wife.

JACK LAYTON (NDP Leader): How many of us have been thinking as our
family members contract cancer that maybe it has something to do with
these compounds that we're putting into the atmosphere.

FAVARO: The environmental group behind the tests says it puts a new face
to chemical pollution.

RICK SMITH (Environmental Defence Fund): Even if you're the people
running the country, you're personally affected, your family is
personally affected by the failings of the federal government to clean
up pollution. So, you know, the message of this study is get cracking.

FAVARO: Government officials say they've already started, with a new
chemical management plan announced late last year.

TONY CLEMENT (Health Minister): In modern society, we all accumulate
chemicals in our everyday existence. So the key thing is to obviously
have the science on our side to decommission those kinds of chemicals
that, if they accumulate, are harmful to us in some way.

FAVARO: But environmentalists want even tougher controls and they think
this stunt may actually help. That's because three years ago they tested
the blood of several European politicians. Last month the European Union
introduced some of the most stringent anti-pollution laws in the world.
Lloyd.

ROBERTSON: So, Avis, how are we to regard the levels in our Canadian
politicians? Trace amounts, dangerous?

FAVARO: Well, indeed, some of them are trace amounts. However, there are
some of which we don't know what the safe level is. For example, flame
retardants. And the other key point is we don't know what happens when
you have trace amounts of a number of different chemicals in the body.
It's a chemical soup and it's really an experiment, and we need to know
a lot more.

ROBERTSON: So will these people be tested again then?

FAVARO: I don't know if they're going to volunteer to continue being
tested, but the federal government has committed to what's called
biomonitoring, where they're actually going to test 5,000 Canadians on a
regular basis to see how many chemicals are in the blood, at what
levels? Are the levels going up or going down? How do we compare with
other countries? And what kind of health problems may be linked? It's
sad to say, but we haven't done this yet, and at least they've committed
to starting this.

ROBERTSON: It will be interesting to see what comes out of this in terms
of government policy.

FAVARO: Very much so, Lloyd.

ROBERTSON: Thank you, Avis.

FAVARO: Good night.