AOL News, December 21,2010 reported on “Risky business: EPA builds list of potentially dangerous chemicals,” and the Autism Research Review International picked up the story and ran “EPA to release list of chemicals that are most strongly implicated in neurobehavioral disorders”. The list is currently being revised and finalized by a 12-member research team. The preliminary list includes, methylmercury, aluminum, arsenic, bisphenol A, cadmium, chlorpyrifos, DEET, lead, PCBs and phthlates. Methylmercury, according to the website toxins.usgs.gov is an neurotoxin and the form of mercury that is most easily bioaccumalated in organisms.
We have had tests run on Matthew and it shows high levels of both mercury and aluminum in his system. Unfortunately many of the chemicals listed above weren’t even tested for. I attended the ARI Conference (formerly know as Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!)) in Baltimore last year and one of the lecturers mentioned that he was more concerned with cadmium than any other toxin when it came to exposure to children. This is because many toys are made with red colored plastics and to achieve that color they are often made with cadmium. He was further concerned because, unlike lead, cadmium is not restricted in children’s toys. Many toys are made in China and even with restrictions, toys are making it to the US that contain lead. It reasons to be concerned with the levels of cadmium which are not checked at all. And to further the concern, many of these toys are toys children like to mouth. He specifically mentioned some of the beads used in girls jewelry making kits. Often young girls will make a bracelet or necklace with these beads, and even though they are not intended to be placed in the mouth, the girls will chew or suck on their jewelry absentmindedly.
Elise Miller, who is a member of the EPA’s advisory committee on children’s health protection, comments, “it legitimizes the public health concerns. So many consumers hear contradictory reports from different scientific studies highlighted in the media, so having an EPA list more or less ‘settles’ the question of whether or not these are chemicals of concern.
I can’t wait to see this final list of chemicals that are neurotoxins. I also can’t wait to see how this may or may not affect their distribution and cleanup. Stay well.
