Toxic Exposures in the Green Mountain State

This study set out to determine if a range of common industrial chemicals found both in the environment and consumer products could be detected in the bodies of a half dozen ordinary Vermonters. The participants were tested for four categories of chemicals— bisphenol A, mercury, organochlorine pesticides and PBDE flame retardants —all of which are common chemicals used both in our environment (e.g., pesticides applied to crops) and in the manufacturing of consumer products (e.g., flame retardants applied to computers). Many of these chemicals don’t break down easily. All are known to be dangerous to human health. Some are even dangerous in minute concentrations because they mimic natural hormones in the body, which regulate the body at extremely low concentrations.

Unfortunately, the findings confirmed our concerns. Almost all of the range of chemicals for which we tested did show up in the bodies of these ordinary Vermonters. The chemicals were in fact present at levels suspected of causing human health problems. We found three of the four classes of the chemicals tested in the bodies of every participant in the study. The amount of each chemical varied widely from participant to participant. The amounts present were sometimes lower than and other times higher—in some cases many times higher—than the amounts found in participants nationally.

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