Welsh Euro MP Jill Evans will be giving a sample of her blood for a biomonitoring survey on Tuesday (24th June) as part of the WWF campaign for better control of hazardous man-made chemicals - many of which occur in everyday products such as televisions, carpets, furniture and food.
The leader of Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales in the European Parliament has been chosen to join 150 people around the UK to see if they have specific persistent and bioaccumulative man-made chemicals in their bodies. She will give blood at a special ambulance in Roald Dahl Plass, Cardiff Bay at 12pm.
The European Parliament is about to start negotiating new European chemical legislation. WWF is pressing for guarantees that this legislation will adequately protect people from hazardous chemicals.
Their campaign is aimed at pressing the UK Government and UK MEPs, together with other European Member States, to ensure the new European Chemical Regulation restricts the manufacture and use of hazardous chemicals and requires the use of safer alternatives.
Jill Evans will be available for photographs and interviews at Roald Dahl Plass, Cardiff Bay from 11.45am onwards.
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Biomonitoring Survey Information Leaflet - discovering the extent of our own chemical contamination
An Overview of the situation
Currently, the laws controlling the manufacture and use of chemicals are far from adequate. But in Europe, politicians now have an opportunity to rectify this unacceptable situation. Throughout 2003 and 2004, they will be negotiating new European chemical legislation.
At the moment, there is no guarantee that this legislation will adequately protect us from hazardous chemicals. That is why WWF is campaigning and pressing the UK Government and UK MEPs, together with other European Member States, to ensure the new European Chemical Regulation and restricts the manufacture and use of hazardous chemicals and requires the use of safer alternatives.
For more information about the campaign, please refer to the Chemicals & Health Campaign leaflet.
Problem Chemicals
Many man-made chemicals help us to lead better, healthier lives, but some are hazardous and threaten the health of people and wildlife.
The chemicals that WWF is most concerned about are those that are either:
‘persistent’ - meaning that they do not break down and thus remain in the environment for a long time; or
‘bioaccumulative’ - meaning that their levels build-up in living things over time; or
‘hormone disrupting’ - meaning they interfere with the normal functioning of our body’s hormone system.
Persistent and bio-accumulative chemicals build up in our bodies and those of wildlife and we pass on this legacy to our children during reproduction, pregnancy and breast-feeding. Because these chemicals are persistent and bioaccumulative, they are impossible to clean up later. History has shown that such contamination can turn out to be toxic. There is evidence that such chemicals have adverse impacts on wildlife and there are disturbing trends that indicate that human health may also be affected in numerous ways.
Hormone disrupters are man-made chemicals that can interfere with our hormone systems and can affect the development, reproduction and behaviour of exposed people and animals. Developing babies in the womb are particularly at risk since their early development is extremely sensitive to chemicals, especially hormones. WWF, the Women’s Institute (WI), and many other environmental and health groups believe that this is unacceptable.
WWF’s Chemicals and Health Campaign
WWF is campaigning with the WI in England and Wales, for the better control of hazardous man-made chemicals, many of which occur in everyday products like televisions, carpets, furniture and food.
As part of the campaign WWF is conducting a small biomonitoring survey of campaign supporters across the UK. We will test around 150 people to see if they have specific persistent and bioaccumulative man-made chemicals in their bodies.
What is Biomonitoring?
Biomonitoring is where biological samples, for example human blood, are analysed in a laboratory to identify the presence and levels of certain substances in the human body. The results give an interesting record of the chemicals to which a person has been exposed and which have been retained within the body. In addition, policy makers need information about the extent to which chemicals are accumulating in human tissue. This information can be used to determine whether current regulations are adequately protecting the public from chemical risks and if they are found not to be, to decide what needs to be done to rectify the situation.
WWF’s biomonitoring survey will be conducted by an ambulance testing unit touring the UK collecting blood samples from WWF and WI members. These will then be analysed for the presence and levels of a few specific persistent and bioaccumulative man-made chemicals and the results will be made public.
What chemicals are WWF testing for?
We are testing for the presence and levels of the following types of man-made chemicals.
PBDEs (Poly Brominated Diphenyl Ethers) This is a group of brominated chemicals, some of which are suspected hormone disrupters, used widely today as flame retardants on many everyday items. They are contaminating humans and wildlife throughout Europe, the Arctic, and North America. The levels of contamination are increasing relatively rapidly.
PCBs (Poly Chlorinated Biphenyls) This is a group of industrial chemicals which were used in electrical equipment in the 1970s but banned in the UK after they were found to be toxic and to be building up in animals and people across the globe. Some babies born with adverse behavioural and neurological effects are now associated with elevated levels of PCBs in their mothers’ bodies.
OCPs (Organo-Chlorine Pesticides) Many pesticides developed and in widespread use in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s were OCPs. Many have now been banned in the UK after they were belatedly found to be highly persistent in the environment and cause long-term toxic effects in wildlife. For example, populations of birds of prey were devastated due to DDT causing their egg-shells to thin and break.
For more information on how to avoid these chemicals, visit the WWF-UK Chemicals & Health website www.wwf.org.uk/chemicals.
Why is WWF conducting a biomonitoring survey?
In the UK, the occurrence of hazardous man-made chemicals in everyday situations and products is not a well-recognised problem. Even less well-known is the fact that these chemicals tend to build up in our bodies. Most people think of hazardous chemicals as occurring in factories and being used in industry. There is a widespread assumption that the Government or some other relevant authority has put in place safety regulations and guidelines and that there should be nothing to worry about. This is not the case.
WWF’s Chemicals and Health campaign aims to raise awareness of the problem and ask people to show their concern by taking action to change the situation. This can be done in two ways: through making safer choices in their own lives, and by pressing politicians and legislators to better protect us, and the environment, from hazardous man-made chemicals.
The biomonitoring survey is part of this awareness-raising. Through the survey we aim to stimulate debate by discovering the extent of contamination of people by specific man-made chemicals that occur in everyday products and situations.
The WWF biomonitoring survey will be scientifically rigorous but of limited scope. WWF believes that the UK Government should follow-up this work. In the US, such work is already underway – see for example the US national survey report at www.cdc.gov/exposurereport.
There are many man-made chemicals about which we have little or no information on their long-term health effects. The information we have on the types, levels and toxicity of the thousands of different chemical contaminants found in our food, water and air is incomplete. We need to understand much more about the chemicals in our immediate environment. This is especially important for those who may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of certain chemicals, including pregnant women, babies and infants.
What should you do next?
If you are interested in giving a blood sample as part of WWF’s biomonitoring survey, contact your local WWF representative and ask to be considered as a volunteer. (If you don’t know who your local representative is, call the campaign hotline on 01483 860 869.) If places are available, you will be given further information about the biomonitoring survey and what is involved.
