Canaries in a Coal Mine

By Laurette Healey

Women are the Bellwether of Environmental Health By: Laurette Healey September 10, 2007

Women are the Bellwether of Environmental Health By: Laurette Healey September 10, 2007

Women's bodies are unique markers of environmental contamination and bear the burden in significant ways. By the time a woman becomes pregnant she may well have been exposed to any number of the 85,000 synthetic chemicals that are registered for use in the United States.1

Early coal mines did not feature ventilation systems, so miners would routinely bring a caged canary into new coal seams. As long as the canary kept singing, the miners knew their air supply was safe. When the singing started to slow, the miners knew they had a limited amount of time left to get out. The canary had little control over its fate, but it continued to sing anyway.

Research shows us that American women have an average of 91 industrial compounds and pollutants in their blood and urine at all times.2 Her daily regime of personal hygiene and simple household activities are the hosts to chemicals that she will absorb through her skin, nose, and mouth. Because women have more body fat, they will store more fat-soluble toxic materials, even when exposed to the same amounts as men.3 The future of her unborn child will not only be influenced by her genes but also by the menagerie of chemicals and pollutants that have accumulated in each mother's body during her lifetime. Mothers then transfer a lifetime of accumulated toxins during pregnancy and through breast milk to newborns.

A Lifetime of Environmental Threats

Cancer is the most common disease with scientific evidence of environmental links. Cancer accounts for one out of every four deaths in California.4 Other diseases include:

• Asthma + 3 million Californians have Asthma which includes 700,000 children. It is the leading cause of absenteeism in schools.2
• Autism + According to the California Birth Defects Monitoring Program, genetic defects and exposure to toxic chemicals are likely causes for autism.5
• Birth Defects + More than 20,000 California babies are born each year with structural birth defects, having a missing or deformed body part.6
• Breast Cancer + An estimated 50,000 women living in California had breast cancer last year, double the amount from 2000.

California is one of the fastest growing regions in the United States with 40 million people living within its borders. Almost 75% of these people live in Southern California. The sheer density of population combined with the magnitude of California's geography and projected population growth only increases the urgency with which we must address and enact legislation to protect the public health. The following are some critical points I have identified and will pursue:

1. Protect Our Children The California EPA must base its "risk assessment" on those who are most vulnerable to environmental pollutants + women and children. The current tests are based on healthy adult males weighing 150 pounds. EPA approved chemical exposure safety levels must be safe for all of our citizens and must include gender, age, and race as part of its testing parameters.
2. Multiple Chemical Interactions Since most adult bodies carry more than 90 synthetic chemicals at one time. It is imperative that safety studies and human health risk assessments are conducted to determine the health factors to humans when chemicals interact. Presently there are no requirements to produce data about chemical interactions and its effect on human health.
3. Workplace Education Workers have the right to know the health impacts of the environment that they work in. Daily monitoring of hazardous toxins or environmental pollutants that may be present at worksites should be a public safety mandate.
4. Healthy Choice Tax Incentives Manufacturers should be allocated tax incentives, extended patent protection, and preferred intellectual property rights, as incentives to produce environmentally safe products.

In Conclusion:

Government must protect the right of all citizens to a healthy environment. Failure to do so is a fundamental violation of its obligation to serve the best interests of the people. Along with the course of action outlined, the California EPA must structure its testing procedures to "prevent" hazardous chemicals from being deployed into the population - not after there is "cause" for concern. A healthy society is a prosperous society. The economic advantage speaks for itself.

1 Phillip R. Leeand Steve Heilig, MPH, "Collaboration on Health and the Environment: A New Imperative". 2 Environmental Working Group, "Body Burden: The Pollution in People". (online) 3 Mariam Jacobs & Barbara Dinham,eds. "Silent Invaders: Pesticides, Livelihoods, & Women's Health"(ZED Books) 4 Sandra Steingraber, "Welcome to the Cancer Generation," Living With Cancer (online) 5 "Nowhere to Hide: Persistent Toxic Chemicals in the U.S. Food Supply" (Pesticide Action Network,2001) 6 California birth Defect Monitoring Program (online)