BY SARAH SCHMIDT, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE, MAY 11, 2009
After steering clear of food packaging containing bisphenol A for a couple of days, Rick Smith saw the levels of the hormone-disrupting chemical linked to breast and prostate cancer in his body increase 7.5 times after just two days of restricting his diet to canned foods heated in a microwave using a polycarbonate plastic container.
The BPA test, showing an "immediate and dramatic increase" in the "harmful toxin," was one of four involving pollutants found in consumer products unveiled yesterday, showing an increase in levels of up to 2,900 times after short-term, regular-use exposure.
The results are contained in the new release of the Canadian book, Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health.
"The results are staggering. Obviously, we suspected we'd see an increase, but nowhere near that much, especially given that we were only doing this over a couple of days. I can only imagine what levels of these chemicals look like in people that use these products as a matter of course because all the products we were experimenting with are well-known, brand-name, off-the-shelf products," Smith, co-author of the book and executive director of Environmental Defence, said in an interview.
Along with co-author Bruce Lourie, the two detoxed by abstaining from everyday consumer products known to contain pollutants, then loaded up on the common, brand-name products in order to measure the effect on their bodies.
After using everyday scented toiletries containing phthalates for just two days following a shower-free weekend, and hanging out in a condominium set up for the experience with an air freshener that also contained the chemical, the levels in Smith's body increased by as much as 22 times. Phthalates, also found in many hard plastic toys, have been linked to abnormal reproductive development.
And Smith, who had banished triclosan from his home many years ago after reading studies identifying the antibacterial agent as a carcinogen and reproductive toxin, saw the levels rise in his body by a "mind-blowing" 2,900 times after using, over a two-day period, brand-name deodorant, toothpaste, anti-bacterial soap and shaving cream containing triclosan.
In the case of mercury, a known neurotoxin harmful to children's development, Lourie, who is chairman of the board of directors for Environmental Defence, reduced his exposure to the element by not eating fish for a month. Then, over a two-day period, Lourie ate tuna sandwiches for lunch and tuna sushi or tuna steak for dinner. The levels of mercury in Lourie's blood increased by 2.5 times after eating those four tuna meals over two days.
The experiments show that, "our choices as consumers really do have a profound, and very rapid, effect on the pollution levels in our bodies," according to the authors.
Trade organizations representing the chemical industry and manufacturers of products containing these chemical insist that the levels found in consumers products pose no health risk to their customers.
Smith said these groups "should not be trusted" on this point.