Top of the POPs contamination

A new report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says people are contaminated with several hundred synthetic chemicals, many of which are pesticides.

In the rush to industrialise, thousands of substances have been released into the environment with few prior checks on their potential for causing long-term harm. Wildlife throughout the world has been contaminated and many species harmed.
    More than 350 synthetic contaminants have been found in the breast milk of mothers, many of which are pesticides—including aldrin, DDT, dieldrin, chlordane, heptachlor, mirex, toxaphene, and HCH. 
    In the UK during the 1990s, the intakes of lindane and DDT of some breast-fed babies have been only just within the World Health Organisation Tolerable Daily Intake for these substances. Although the use of DDT has been banned in many countries, including the UK, residues continue to occur in humans due to a possible combination of illegal use and environmental contamination.
    Despite the concerns raised in the WWF report, there is convincing evidence of the benefits of breast milk to the overall health and development of the infant.
    However, action should be taken to try to reduce body contamination. Measures should be put in place to reduce human exposure and ensure that, over time, the contamination of breast milk is reduced.
    There is mounting concern that these contaminants are endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) or hormone distrupters. For example, animal experiments have shown increased territorial marking in male mice exposed in the womb to certain EDCs such as DDT, the ‘oestrogen mimicking’ pesticide. In humans WWF speculate that these kinds of effects might translate to increased social aggression.
    WWF is actively involved with the United Nations Environmental Programme Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants* (POPs) negotiations. WWF is pushing for the phase out of identified POPs rather than just management options, and for the inclusion of certain criteria to identify further POPs, so that in future more dangerous chemicals can be eliminated worldwide.

* aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, dioxins and furans, endrin, heptachlor, HCB, mirex, PCBs and toxaphene.

Gwynne Lyons, Chemical Trespass: a toxic legacy, For more details contact: Elizabeth Salter, June 1999, Toxics Programme, WWF, Panda House, Weyside Park, Godalming, Surrey GU7 1XXR, Tel, +44 (0)1483 412 518, Fax, +44 (0)1483 426 409, email esalter@wwfnet.org

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No.45, September 2000, page 15]