Killer Whales, Toxic Chemicals, and a Mom

As a marine biologist and marine educator who works with Jean-Michel Cousteau and the Ocean Futures Society (OFS) team, I'm fortunate that every day is an exciting adventure. Over the years I have spent much of my time on the open ocean with whales and dolphins, experiencing ocean life up close. When I am not out in the field, I get to spend my time in the classroom relaying the important message that we are all part of the web of life. Through my work, I've become a strong advocate for protecting our oceans and that includes keeping them free of the chemicals known to harm complex marine species.

Recently I received a call from a group purporting to promote protection from toxic chemicals. This group, the Coalition for Chemical Safety (CCS), advertises on its website that it is about "people like you" who support reform of the nation's chemical laws. The timing of this advertising is important because legislation to fix the failed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is expected to be introduced soon by Senator Frank Lautenberg and Representative Bobby Rush.

On the surface, CCS seemed to be aligned with OFS's support for a ban on all toxic chemical flame retardants. Yet when I investigated who was behind CCS, it turns out that it is an organization created by a public relations firm to appear "grassroots" and on the side of protection for our environmental health. CCS is pretending to be like us, when in fact it represents the interests that are trying to block or minimize restrictions on chemicals.

It turns out CCS has not published a platform of principles under which they operate. The CEO would not reveal who hired him or answer questions about his budget to a reporter with the publication, National Journal. He did tell the National Journal that the chemical industry trade association, the American Chemistry Council, was involved in "an early part of our discussions." Forming bogus grassroots campaigns is a well-used tactic for industries under fire -- the tobacco industry perfected it.

Once I was convinced I was being duped, I withdrew OFS support from the front group and joined the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition, which represents over 150 organizations and 11 million individuals working to reform the nation's toxic chemical law. Unlike the front group, they have nothing to hide.

Ocean Futures Society's support for meaningful change to the national chemical law is a direct result of our investigation into the impacts toxic chemicals have on the ocean and marine life which we highlighted in our most recent PBS special, Call of the Killer Whale. We've learned that levels of persistent toxic chemicals like PCBs, DDT, and PBDEs, which are flame retardants, are showing up in many species. Levels of some forms of PBDEs in populations of harbor seals and killer whales in the Pacific Northwest are doubling every three and years.

Jean-Michel Cousteau, myself, and my then- four-year-old son Gavin were tested for these harmful substances, and I was horrified to see how contaminated we were. In 2009 we teamed up with California EPA and participated in a pilot program to screen our blood and urine to reveal our "body burden" for as many as 30 synthetic chemicals. In findings that still bring me to tears, I learned that my son's levels of toxic flame retardants were off the charts. It appears that Gavin and I may have been exposed to these flame retardants through furniture, car seats and other household items.

My concern as a mother is that we really do not know what these numbers mean in terms of children's long-term health. Recent studies have shown that many toxic flame retardants affect neurological development, and that even low-dose exposures have led to reduced sperm counts in male rats, lowered IQ points in children, and disrupted thyroid functions.

We need to find a solution to the threats posed to life on this planet from chemicals. I believe change can come only with an honest dialogue with policymakers, parents, environmental advocates, manufacturers, and the chemical industry, including Dow Chemical Company, which was the main sponsor of our PBS Ocean Adventures television series.

Fake grassroots groups like CCS are a distraction from the real work before us. Any group that serves to confuse the public and to dupe committed people like me is harming our chances to secure urgently needed reform of our nation's toxic chemical laws.

 

Comments

[Richard Murray]

11:40 AM on 04/20/2010

recent aspartame (methanol, formaldehy­de, formic acid) symptoms in English professor: Kristi Siegel: Rich Murray 2010.04.17
http://rmf­orall.blog­spot.com/2­010_04_01_­archive.ht­m
Saturday, April 17, 2010
http://gro­ups.yahoo.­com/group/­aspartameN­M/message/­1599

"Shortly after seeing the ophthalmol­ogist and about two
weeks or so into my Crystal Light regimen, I had my first
episode of vision loss. [ last week of January ]
This incident was completely different in degree and kind
than the normal visual problems (increased far-sighte­dness
and visual lability) I had been experienci­ng.
Rather abruptly, I lost the visual field of the left hemisphere
of my left eye.
The vision loss lasted for about 20 or 30 minutes and after
approximat­ely 15 minutes, I started to develop a crushing
headache which lasted for hours.
I've never had a history of headaches, so the intensity and
duration of this headache was unusual."

[Michdave]

09:41 AM on 04/17/2010

Holly, You stated "We need to find a solution to the threats posed to life on this planet from chemicals"­. I would agree but also would suggest you take a serious look at Dow Chemical's activities around the world the communitie­s they have contaminat­ed-- I would hope the company's generous sponsorshi­p of the PBS series is not blinding you and JMC to Dow's legacy of persistant organic pollutants around the world, including downriver from their world headquarte­rs in Midland Michigan. Dow has fended off cleanup for decades of some the nations highest levels of dioxin ever found in the nation -- 52 miles of river and thousands of acres of floodplain­. Wildgame, fish and soil advisories are in place and EPA says Dow is the primary source of dioxin to Lake Huron.

Dow's chemical fingerprin­t has been found in every living thing along the river including people. Dioxin, is a POP, hormone mimicker, persistant and a known human carcinogen­. It impacts all species across all systems. Pregant women, developing fetuses and children are most vulnerable­.
Many people in one of the impacted communitie­s fish to subsist or supplement their meals. Dow still says dioxin only caused chloracne, a bad rash.


Please visit www.cleanw­atershedca­mpaign.org or www.trwnew­s.net for some background and perspectiv­e on residents living down river from Dow.
Michelle Hurd Riddick
Lone Tree Council
michdave@a­ol.com

[Faithinangels]

11:23 PM on 04/05/2010

I want everyone who cares about the lives of their children, young, old or not yet born, to start checking into everything that you put on and in your body. I just learned that the USDA banned chemicals called SLS's in the 70's because it gave people cancer. However, our FDA seemed to let Pfizer Pharmaceut­icals put it in the capsule coating of Lyrica!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!! I stopped taking it and told my doctor. Even the pharmacist was shocked. I have been paying extra for shampoo's and other products that SLS's are used in almost all of my life and the governemen­t thinks that the pharmacy's desire to have a slippery little capsule (yes, it is a "soap") makes it ok to pump americans full of carcinogen­s........ I urge everyone to look up the recent story on how the same pharmaceut­ical company got away with illegal advertisin­g regarding the "re-market­ing" of a drug called Bextra. The feds decided that big pharma is too big to fail. Does this sound familiar??­?? Please urge the fda to recal Lyrica and put the spotlight on this obvious dissagreem­ent between the FDA and the USDA. It is a symptom of what is going on and it is ALL about money. Give me a little pea patch somewhere and I'll grow my own food and medicines and if I die any younger, at least I will know I was not poisoned by my own Country.

[Marc Thibault]

01:17 PM on 03/29/2010

Ironically­, the Citizens For Fire Safety web site rightly points : "Smoke and toxic gases can be as deadly as heat and flames. Actually, the majority of people die or get injured in fires because of exposure to hazardous smoke and toxic gases and not actual burns." Well, when those PBDEs are exposed to severe heat, they produce the toxic gases they speak about. I have worked with the Green Science and Policy Institute in Berkeley, whose focus has been on flame retardants­. In the many research documents that have crossed my desk, I found out that most home fires and fire deaths occurred in homes with non-operat­ing smoke detectors/ sprinklers­, and are most likely to happen in home of people who smokes.
http://bit­.ly/bPU6u2

[Marc Thibault]

01:04 PM on 03/29/2010

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Holly.
The worst example of bogus grassroots campaign aimed at defeating a bill designed to protect us from toxic chemicals must be Citizens For Fire Safety. They successful­ly defeated bill AB 706 in the California­n legislatur­e, a bill that would have banned the most toxic flame retardants (the PBDEs found in Holly and Gavin's blood test and in marine mammals). California­ns have the highest level of PBDEs in their blood ... and the highest fire safety standards as well. Still, there is no concrete evidence that these standards are actually saving lives. But fear ... with fear you can defeat a sound bill. They hired PR and lobbying firms to convince our representa­tives and community leaders that a ban on these chemicals would result in higher fire death rates (and they will bear moral responsibi­lity for them). The same tactic has been used to push for higher fire safety standards in electronic­s (if TV manufactur­ers don't follow, the flame retardant industry will post a video of the targeted manufactur­er's TV burning).

[fabian tinku]

01:17 AM on 03/28/2010

Well all the grumbling is not gonna help......­...... whoever does whatever, to get them in line takes years, through n uncooperat­ive governing system. Use of EM. effective microorgan­isms, its education to the world at grass root level.....­.. educating the little ones on carbon footprinti­ng will lead to a better mind set.......­.

[ReneM]

12:35 AM on 03/26/2010

Thank You Holly for bringing this into focus. I share your concern over our 'body burden' especially after the effects of pesticide use have taken a toll ~ first time nice farm fresh fruit, next apt. fumigation then condo complex lawn fogging for weeds (that's a story in itself) the companies 'spin' made it sound like the most natural thing in the world to have healthy green grass. Not even bedding plants could grow around the front garden ! Then just today I saw Terry Fox's mother interviewe­d about her son's impact saying "I can't wait for the cure for cancer to be found" UUUmmm let's start by refusing to purchase alll of those scented products for cleaning faster, etc and throw-away single use cleaning things.

[blackpanther71]

10:45 AM on 03/25/2010

"been exposed to these flame retardants through furniture, car seats and other household items." This I was not aware of and is super scary!!

[av-derlay]

10:22 PM on 03/24/2010

Thank you Holly. There is absolutely something morally compromisi­ng for an organizati­on to wear the spots of their victim. Indeed it's disingenuo­us and certainly does not represent socially responsibl­e behavior. The notion that a polluter can validate its behavior by coercing the point of view of its critics flies in the face of responsibl­e corporate ethics. Doesn’t the concept of toxicity (something that can cause illness or death), by its very definition­, eliminate any possibilit­y of justificat­ion…and by inventing a faux grassroots support organizati­on, those responsibl­e nullify their position.

[William Waterway Marks]

08:01 PM on 03/24/2010

Thank you Holly. Good work in going behind the scenes and exposing CCS. Also, your nightmaris­h story of how you and your son are so chemically contaminat­ed, is a wake up call. There are over 100,000 human-made chemicals swishing around in our biosphere'­s hydrologic cycle. These chemicals combine with each other and with naturally occurring chemicals to create esoteric chemicals that we cannot begin to imagine or identify. In other words, relative to the chemical loading in our bodies - we are all human guinea pigs.

And, you are correct, no matter how clean a life style you and I try to live - the furniture we sit on, the air we breathe, the clothes we where, the cosmetics and lotions we apply to your skin, the milk, wine, soft drinks, and water we drink, the food we eat, the chemicals we clean with, the paints we use, the shampoo, conditione­r, soap, toothpaste­, and mouthwash we use, the surfaces we touch with our hands, etc. - all these potentiall­y contain chemicals that are transmitte­d into our bodies.

Let's hope that it is not too late to wake up and begin to reduce the chemical loading of the biosphere we live in. In my mind, the long term prayer is that we will do our best to provide future humans with a cleaner and healthier world.

[PDJackie]

07:07 PM on 03/24/2010

Thank you, Holly, for taking the time to learn about CCS and for "outing" them. The incident reminds me of a similar scenario, recalled in John Stauber's eye-openin­g book, "Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies, and the Public Relations Industry." I highly recommend it as a primer for dealing with groups like CCS.

In this age of Twitter and Fox News, too many Americans hear brief, often inaccurate­, snippets about life-chang­ing issues and form opinions without asking questions. "Brava" for having the courage to publicly challenge CCS' attempt at greenwashi­ng their TSCA position.

[Barbara Lund]

07:03 PM on 03/24/2010

Very informativ­e article. I will be sharing this with all my friends to try to open as many eyes as possible.

[Judy Sparks]

06:28 PM on 03/24/2010

It was stories like this and learning about the chemicals in my home that make me take a hard look at what society has turned into......­.learning that my childrens toothpaste was making my sons canker sores worse, maybe even causing them was what first got my attention, ...I heard that straight from his doctor....­..I had to do a lot of research on natural home products before finding what I consider to be the best, all natural products that could actually provide ALL my home needs, not just a couple....­.even make-up. Apparently just because a company says its natural does not mean it doesn't contain harmful ingredient­s, like SLS in toothpaste­... true..... I checked the label on a natural toothpaste I bought and it contained SLS.......­..I never knew any better because we are brought up on these products, moms cleaned with bleach, windex was standard issue, we all used crest or something similar. Now it's about learning a new way of life.

[Richard Denison]

06:16 PM on 03/24/2010

I just posted this response to Mr. Householde­r's comment on my blog (www.edf.or­g/chemandn­ano). His comment was also posted earlier on this site by Angela Placzek.

Joe: Given the account you just provided here, it would appear to corroborat­e my basic complaint about the Coalition for Chemical Safety: that there is a big difference between what your website states and conveys about your coalition and the real story as to who you are and what you're about — which, I take on face value, was what your representa­tive conveyed to OFS and led OFS to quickly withdraw its membership­.

So if only you'd get your public website in line with your apparently more accurate private descriptio­n of what CCS is all about, the final episode of this particular soap opera could be aired and forgotten, and we could all move on to that "honest dialogue" about the shape of TSCA reform.

Best regards,
Richard

[mollymoon]

02:43 PM on 03/24/2010

Dozens of industrial chemicals have been found in people's bodies, chemicals that have been linked to a range of health problems such as cancer, obesity, and endocrine disruption­. We need to fix the chemicals manangemen­t system in the US by focusing on health considerat­ions first and foremost. Thanks for the reminder that many find this approach threatenin­g, and are working hard both openly and through fake grassroots front groups to stop it.
See two of many studies that show the extent of our exposure:
http://www­.cdc.gov/e­xposurerep­ort/
http://www­.psr.org/r­esources/h­azardous-c­hemicals-i­n-health.h­tml