The Chemicals That Stick Around in the Body How the U.S. tracks the potentially harmful substances that build up in humans

The CDC tests for 212 of the more than 80,000 chemicals developed since the industrial revolution. Its latest full survey, released in 2009, listed many new ones, including Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in polycarbonate plastics and epoxy; perchlorate, found in fireworks and explosives; perfluorinated chemicals, used in many nonstick coatings in cookware; and acrylamide, a chemical formed when carbohydrates are cooked at high temperatures (think french fries).

Virtually all the survey participants had measurable levels of those chemicals in their blood or urine, the CDC reported.

Many questions remain about which chemicals pose imminent threats, to whom and how people can avoid them. And the Toxic Substances Control Act, which regulates new and existing chemicals, hasn't been updated since 1976.  

Continue Learning:  http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304360704579417241249848968

CDC: Water at Marine base linked to birth defects

A long-awaited study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a link between tainted tap water at a U.S. Marine Corps base in North Carolina and increased risk of serious birth defects and childhood cancers.

But the study did conclude that babies born to mothers who drank Lejeune tap water while pregnant were four times more likely than women who lived off-base to have such serious birth defects as spina bifida. Babies whose mothers were exposed also had a slightly elevated risk of such childhood cancers as leukemia, according to the results.


Continue Learning:  http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/12/06/cdc-water-at-marine-base-linked-to-birth-defects/

Agent Orange, Corporatism, Government, Coleen Boyle…. and Autism?

So what was Coleen Boyle’s role in Agent Orange? In 1984 she joined the CDC as part of the prevalence reporting team for Agent Orange on the VES Mortality Study Staff.  In 1987, this study staff said that there was not a causal connection between Agent Orange exposure and health outcomes of veterans.

“As part of the Agent Orange staff, Dr. Boyle served as the principal investigator for the Vietnam Experience mortality studies and as senior epidemiologist for a large, multi-centered cancer case-control study.”

After the date of the congressional hearing with Admiral Zumwalt, Coleen Boyle was listed as part of a study that looked at the prevalence of Viet Nam veterans who had children with spina bifida called “The Embryo Study”.  The study showed that those men who had reported a higher exposure to Agent Orange had a higher than normal likelihood of fathering children with spina bifida.

Continue Learning:  http://www.ageofautism.com/2013/09/agent-orange-corporatism-government-coleen-boyle-and-autism.html