Environmental Medicine: Excerpts from Articles on Current Toxicity, Solvents, Pesticides and Heavy Metals

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  Jan, 2001  by Walter J. Crinnion

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Abstract: Chemical compounds ubiquitous in our food, air and water are now found in every person. The bioaccumulation of these compounds in some individuals can lead to a variety of metabolic and systemic dysfunctions and in some cases, outright disease states. The primary classes of the most common toxic offenders are solvents, pesticides and heavy metals. Of heavy metals, mercury is the one most individuals are burdened by. The systems most affected by these xenobiotic compounds include the immune, neurological and endocrine systems.

Environmental Toxic Load

The 20th Century with its promise of "Better Living Through Chemistry" has brought a host of chemical toxin related illnesses (referred to here as "Environmental Illnesses"). Recent articles in the medical literature have shown that the rate of cancers not associated with smoking are higher for those born after 1940 than before, and that this increase of cancer is due to environmental factors other than smoking. [1] We are also experiencing the new medical diagnoses of Sick (Closed) Building Syndrome, [2,3] and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), [4-6] both of which are known to be related to overexposure to environmental contaminants. The primary action of the major pesticide classes is to disrupt neurological function. [7] The primary action of the solvents is neurotoxicity [8] as well. In addition to being neurotoxic these compounds are profoundly immunotoxic [9-11] and are often toxic to the endocrine system as well. The adverse health effects are not limited to those systems only as these compounds can also cause a variety of dermatological, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, respiratory, musculoskeletal, and cardiological problems. [12]

Our environment is currently flooded with chemicals that fill our air, our water, our food and our bodies. Since 1976 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been running the National Human Adipose Tissue Survey (NHATS). [13] NHATS is an annual program to collect and chemically analyze a nationwide sample of adipose tissue specimens for the presence of toxic compounds. The objective of the program is to detect and quantify the prevalence of toxic compounds in the general population. The specimens are collected from autopsied cadavers and elective surgeries from all regions of the country. In 1982 they expanded beyond their normal list to look for the presence of 54 different environmental chemical toxins. Their results were astounding. Five of these chemicals: OCDD (a dioxin) and four solvents: styrene, 1,4-Dichlorobenzene, xylene, and ethylphenol were found in 100% of all samples. The ranges of these five compounds found in every sample were also alarming. OCDD levels ranged froml9-3,700ng per gram of fat, styrene 8-350 ng/g, 1,4-Dichlorobenzene from 12-500 ng/g, xylene from 18-1,400 ng/g and ethylphenol from 0.4-400ng/g. These alone would give each person a total toxic burden ranging between 57.4-6,350 ng of toxins per gram of fat!

Another nine chemicals were found in between 91-98% of all samples, including such toxins as: Benzene, toluene, chlorobenzene, ethylbenzene, DDE [*], three dioxins and one furan. In addition, PCBs were found in 83% of all samples and beta-BHC in 87%. These along with a few more gave a total of 20 toxic compounds found in 76% or more of all samples. This would provide a range of toxic compounds in 76% of individuals that would go up to 25,704 ng of these twenty toxins per gram of fat (not total load)! Additional studies have shown the same startling facts. A CDC study of 5994 persons aged 12-74 found that 99.5% had p,p-DDE at serum levels equal to or greater that 1 ppb, in a range of 1-379 ppb. [14] A study of adipose levels taken from autopsies from older subjects who had lived in Texas showed the presence of p,p-DDE, Dieldrin, Oxychlordane, Heptachlor epoxide and para-BHC in 100% of all samples. [15] A study of four-year old children in Michigan revealed the presence of DDT in over 70%, PCB in over 50% and PBB in over 21%. [16] It was found that nursing was the primary source of exposure for these individuals. These ongoing assessments have shown quite clearly that it is not a question of if we are carrying a burden of toxic xenobiotic compounds, it is a question of how much and how do they affect our health. This multiple chemical load comes from daily exposures to chemical compounds in our air, food and water.

Indoor Air -- Home

In 1985 the TEAM study (Total Exposure Assessment Methodology) by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) changed the way we viewed our indoor air quality. This study showed that the greatest personal exposure to levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) occurred from air in the home and not from outside air as had previously been thought. [17,18] These studies looked for the presence of 20 VOCs also known as 'solvents' in indoor air, outdoor air, breath and "personal air" in a total of 780 persons. Their "personal air" was sampled by attaching sampling cartridges on their clothing. Personal air samples revealed very high exposure levels to eleven VOCs (see Table 1), in levels much higher than would have been predicted by outdoor air levels. The biggest source of these "personal exposures" came from indoor air, which showed much higher levels of VOCs, especially at night, than what was measurable in the back yard of the same home in the same time frame.