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FULL REPORT
2: Babies are vulnerable to chemical harm 3: Human health problems on the rise
Printer-Friendly Version (PDF) RELATED DOCUMENTS
News Release: CDC Petition (21 July) EWG Ltr to Chemical Companies (21 July) EWG Letter to Chemical Lobby (PDF) Chemical Lobby Response #1 (PDF) Follow-Up Letter to Chemical Lobby (21 July) Stmt from US Rep. Slaughter (PDF) Stmt from Minority Leader Pelosi (PDF)
THE LATEST ON BODY BURDEN
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Dear [NAME], On behalf of Environmental Working Group, I am writing to inquire if your company has detected any of the chemicals you produce in the blood of American babies. EWG's recent review of the open literature indicates, surprisingly, that comparatively few of the thousands of chemicals U.S. companies produce have been tested for in human umbilical cord blood. To our knowledge, the study we released last week ("Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns") tested for the widest array of toxic chemicals to date in the blood of individual babies. It is our assumption that any chemical company concerned about the potential health impacts of their products would take the rudimentary step of testing to see if those products end up in people, especially during the period in life when people are most vulnerable to chemical insultÑin the womb, during infancy, and throughout early childhood. What we want to know is whether or not your company has performed, but not published, laboratory tests to determine if your chemicals end up in babies through transplacental movement. If your company has performed those tests, we ask that you make public the results. If you have not conducted such tests, we would like to know why not. Our inquiry touches on important matters not only of public health science, but also of ethics and law. You may be aware of the lawsuit the Environmental Protection Agency filed against DuPont in 2004 for multiple violations of federal laws, including the Toxic Substances Control Act. Figuring prominently in EPA's complaint was the company's failure to report a 1981 finding of the Teflon-related chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in umbilical cord blood in a study that measured the chemical in babies born to female employees. The EPA's complaint puts the matter very clearly:
We are also curious to know if your company intends to nominate any chemicals, including chemicals you produce, for inclusion in the national exposure assessment conducted by the Centers for Disease Control. We thank you for your consideration in this matter. Sincerely yours, Kenneth A. Cook NOTE: This letter was sent to the following chemical company CEOs: William S. Stavropoulos, President & CEO John C. Hodgson, Vice President James P. Harris, Senior Vice President Peter Huntsman, President & CEO Morris Gelb, COO Jim Gallogly, President & CEO John Krenicki, President & CEO William A. Woodburn, President & CEO Kevin F. Sullivan, Vice President, Chemicals John Jones, President & CEO Dennis H. Reilley, Chairman, President, & CEO J. Brian Ferguson, Senior Vice President Rajiv L. Gupta, Chairman & CEO Dan F. Smith, President & CEO David Weidman, President & CEO Nance Dicciani, CEO Stephanie A. Burns, President & CEO Hugh Grant, Chairman, President, & CEO Mike Campbell, President & CEO Mark P. Bulriss, Chairman, President, & CEO Robert L. Wood, President & CEO Robert S. Morrison, Chairman of the Board & CEO
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