Feb. 23--At least once a day, I wonder if the stuff in my house is killing my son.
I tell myself I'm being unnecessarily anxious. (It wouldn't be the first time.)
But the authors of a new book would say I'm not.
Canadian researchers and environmentalists Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie's book "Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Dangers of Everyday Things" (Counterpoint, $25) is the result of a series of human experiments that show how quickly exposure to harmful chemicals can raise their levels in our bodies.
They conclude that seemingly innocent, everyday things might be killing us, because these hormone-altering chemicals are in just about everything and even low levels of them, over time, are harmful.
"This notion that there's such a thing as a safe level just simply doesn't exist for endocrine-disrupting chemicals," Lourie said. "There is no safe level. Zero is safe, everything above zero is less safe."
From the baby wash I rub on my 19-month-old's body each night, to the canned tomatoes in my homemade pasta sauce, to his well-worn teddy bear, Mr. Tweedles -- they're all suspects, all potential hazards and carriers of Bisphenol-A (BPA) or phthalates or lead.
Last week, Smith and Lourie and a team from the Michigan Ecology Center visited the Free Press to talk about the book's finding, toxic toys and the Michigan Children's Safe Products Act, which sits in the Senate Health Policy Committee.
We tested stuffed animals, rubber ducks, wooden toys, plastic garage-sale finds and an old toy fire truck.
We found brominated-flame retardant, cadmium and lead.
Other books have been written about the danger in everyday things. In this case, the two researchers took revealing those dangers into their own bodies.
While holed up in a condo, they exposed themselves to seven common chemicals that researchers have linked to disease and defects.
They used deodorant and shampoo known to contain phthalates, which have been linked to hormone disruptions. They drank out of baby bottles made with BPA and ate food from cans lined in BPA, reheated in microwaveable BPA-filled containers. They ate mercury-heavy tuna.
With each chemical, they tried to mimic the exposure people have in everyday life. Before and after using the products, they tested their blood and urine. After just two days of regular exposure, in almost each case, the numbers went up.
BPA levels went up seven and a half times. For phthalates, normal exposure upped levels 22 times. With seven tuna snacks or meals, levels tripled.
With two days of using antibacterial products from non-alcohol-based hand-sanitizer to toothpaste, triclosan levels went up 2,900 times. Triclosan, a registered pesticide, has been linked to thyroid issues and cancer.
"You've got to think as a population, in the wake of swine flu, that our population exposure to this chemical would be hugely increased," Smith said. "This is a chemical that the American Medical Association is actually suggesting should not be used at home. ... Hand-washing is all people need."
We should all worry, but parents and expectant mothers especially. Children stick their hands and toys in their mouths. They crawl on the floor, breathing in more dust. Our children's bodies are still developing.
"At very, very low levels, we're talking parts per billions, these chemicals can mimic hormones in your body and alter genes as they're forming," Smith said. "The huge range of childhood epidemics like autism, ADHD, obesity, asthma and childhood cancers, these are all being linked to the levels of toxic chemicals that are around us in the environment."
And in our kids' toys.
According to healthytoys.org, a Web site created by the Michigan Ecology Center, 1.4% of children's products surveyed in 2008 had arsenic in them. Twenty percent showed traces of lead, which can result in IQ deficits, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, stunted or slowed growth and impaired hearing.
It's hard to tell the difference between toxic toys and the safer variety.
The toys we tested at the Free Press had low levels of toxins except for a toy fire truck from the 1980s. It would be illegal to sell it under today's standards because of its lead, chromium and mercury content.
That was scary, but truthfully, seeing a toy with any level of a toxin in it is scary. Like one of my son's rubber ducks. Why should it have 26 parts per million of lead in it, but another bath toy tested was clean?
Right now, what can parents do? Educate themselves. Watch for recalls, research which companies practice safe standards and look for products free of toxins. Wash your children's hands with regular soap. Keep their toys out of their mouths.
Basically, as with most areas of parenting, you do the best you can.
"If you're careful about what you buy and you focus on a few key chemicals, it's actually pretty easy these days to choose this brand over that brand," Smith said. And after that, you wait for our country to catch up to others around the world.
"There's more awareness, and governments around the world are ramping up," Lourie said. "There's good news coming out of Washington here on different chemicals. We're hopeful there will be good progress here in the U.S."
Contact KRISTA JAHNKE: 313-222-8854 or kjahnke@freepress.com
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