Doc Watson

Hundreds of Toxic Chemicals Measured in Newborn Babies

WASHINGTON — Not long ago, scientists believed that babies in the womb were largely protected from most toxic chemicals. A new study helps confirm an opposite view: that chemical exposure begins in the womb, as hundreds of industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides are pumped back and forth from mother to baby through umbilical cord blood.

Environmental Working Group (EWG) commissioned laboratory tests of 10 American Red Cross cord blood samples for the most extensive array of industrial chemicals, pesticides and other pollutants ever studied. The group found that the babies averaged 200 contaminants in their blood. The pollutants included mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and the Teflon chemical PFOA. In total, the babies' blood had 287 chemicals, including 209 never before detected in cord blood.

This is an email I just received from a friend of mine, Scott Tips, at the National Health Federation concerning the Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting this month which could greatly limit our access to vitamin and mineral supplements.

Codex Alimentarius Commission (28th Session) Rome, Italy
NHF Update on Codex Proceedings Currently in Session

July 5, 2005

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is an international body, operating under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), that is charged with establishing food standards that will be implemented worldwide. One of the food standards being set is for vitamin-and-mineral food supplements, overseen by one of the Commission's Committees that meets annually in Bonn, Germany. That Committee had just last November prepared and sent to its parent Commission a draft Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements that would greatly restrict consumer access to vitamins and minerals.