Posted on 04/18/2008 6:08:25 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
(Study results serve as warning for small children, researchers say)
We bred them to protect us and warn us of impending trouble.
According to a new report, our pets are doing their job.
The Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental watchdog group, released a study Thursday showing that dogs and cats are carrying heavy burdens of many household chemicals - flame retardants, plasticizers and stain-resisting chemicals - in their blood and urine.
Many of these chemicals have been linked to illness, cancer and developmental delays in laboratory and companion animals. Some of these chemicals, such as lead and mercury, are also known toxins for people.
The study found that in some cases, the concentrations of chemicals in pets were more than 20 times higher than what's been detected in the typical adult.
The group says these findings should serve as a warning, particularly to those concerned about small children, who are similar in size to pets, spend lots of time on the floor like dogs and cats, and have many of the same behaviors, such as putting anything and everything into their mouths.
"The results were unexpected and stunning," said Olga Naidenko, a senior scientist for the environmental group and an author of the new report.
Others caution that the findings are only preliminary and that larger and more rigorous studies are needed to verify and understand these results.
In 2007, researchers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released results from a study examining the levels of a particular kind of flame retardant in the blood of house cats. These chemicals are known to interfere with thyroid production.
The EPA researchers showed that felines had extraordinarily high concentrations of these chemicals in their blood - levels on par with those found in children - and submitted the idea that pets could be useful sentinels for household chemical exposure. They also suggested these high concentrations of flame retardants might be associated with rise in cases of hyperthyroidism in cats.
Scientists at the environmental group in Washington agreed with the EPA's conclusion that pets could be sentinels for human health. And they launched a pilot program to assess the chemical burden of companion animals.
The research involved 20 dogs and 37 cats from a veterinary clinic in Virginia. The group looked for 70 chemicals typically found in people, such as plastic additives, chemicals found in food packaging, heavy metals, fire retardants and stain resistors.
They found 48 of the 70 chemicals in the samples they collected. For 43 of those 48 chemicals, the concentrations were higher than what has been seen in people.
"These dogs and cats were highly polluted," Naidenko said.
For instance, in the case of certain stain- and grease-proof coatings found on carpets and nonstick pots and pans, dogs had levels more than double the concentrations found in people.
When it came to cats, the group found their average blood concentration of flame retardants was 23 times higher than in people.
And although mercury levels were lower in dogs than people, they were five times higher in cats.
Naidenko thinks that's the result of high fish content in the diets of most cats.
Potential flaws in study
However, while Scott Graff, a veterinarian at the Animal Clinic in Sussex, agreed the results from the group were interesting and provocative, he cautioned that there were some flaws in the methodology.
For instance, samples taken from individual dogs and cats were pooled together. That means if one animal had very high levels of a particular chemical, while the others didn't, that one could have brought up the average in the others.
He also said the number of animals recruited for the study was small. More animals would be needed to strengthen the findings.
But, he said, the findings were worrisome. And they should cause some concern for people who own pets and have children.
Like cats and dogs, small children spend lots of time on the ground - on the rugs and lawns where many of these chemicals are found.
Their behavior, and therefore their potential for chemical exposure, mirrors that of house pets.
"I'm a pet-centric," said Graff, who does not have children. "But if I was a parent, I'd be piqued by this study and really question what materials were in the new carpet I was laying down or in the house I was building."
The trade groups for the chemical and pet industries could not be reached for comment.
The Environmental Working Group is calling on the government to more heavily regulate pet products for toxic and worrisome chemicals. Because, despite the warnings this study highlights for humans, there might also be items geared toward pets that are exposing these animals unnecessarily, Naidenko said.
Typical induce fear by ignoring the obvious approach.
Children do not clean themselves constantly with their tongue.
Why does this remind me of “The Sixth Sense”?
How about a bit of Pine-Sol in your soup?
Yep. They’ve been pimping this for a while now. All cut from the same cloth, I’m sure.
Mainly, you publish a little, tiny, insignificant “finding” so you can garner more Government Money (Tax Dollars) to stay in business.
They studied less than 100 pets in ONE Vet clinic. Come on!
Nyquil works quicker with less damaging side effects to the kids, LOL!
Are you old enough to remember when our folks could dope us up with over-the-counter cough syrup filled with codeine? I miss those days...
My mom would drink that for cramps.
I kid you not!
ATTENTION EVERYONE!!!!
Please stop inserting household chemicals into your pets.
Thank you.
Maybe YOUR children don’t....
Nyquil or Pine-Sol?
(no really)
The codeine cough syrup.
I had a dog that got squirrel poisoning once. He puked it up fur and all right on the living room floor.
In 1902 the life expectancy in New York City, Pittsburgh and other cities was 40 years old. This was because of bad water and the close proximity of water wells to their outhouses. The building of the pipe lines and chlorination of water we now live to the 80s. The social security people want us to die earlier. Did you ever wonder how come we are living longer in spite of all the talk of the hazards of chemicals?
THESTORY3
Over-the-counter cough syrup?
Fancy-pants!
We just got a child sized version of a hot toddy. :-)
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As far is the study is concerned, yes, it seems their sampling is rather small.
On the other hand, however, I know what kind of chemicals are in pet products, household cleaners, gardening sprays and personal care products.
I was forced by personal circumstances to 'go organic' almost 3 years ago when it concerned any product that I came in direct contact with.
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The National Library of Medicine has a toxicology database that is, IMHO, very good: http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/
I urge everyone who has even minor skin problems to read the label of the products they use and research the ingredients.
It's amazing what using 'real' soap can do for your skin.
[and I say that as an dyed-in-the-wool, non-tree-hugging, meat-eating Texan.]
:-)
My Black Lab did that last spring with three baby rabbits. Of course we had company at the time, including two little kids who FREAKED out.
They got a graphic lesson in “The Circle of Life,” LOL!
Blackberry Brandy was another “medicine” Mom reached for often, LOL!
I, too, make a lot of my household cleaners. Not because we have allergies, but because I’m CHEAP. Water, and vinegar or water and bleach go a long way to killing just about any germ in any room. :)
Yep. Hydrogen peroxide is another favorite around here. Cheap, effective & practically orderless.
It just amazes me how much 'foof' is in things like shampoo and laundry products.
I've always seemed to have to race down the laundry isle because of the smell. Even before there was any chemical issue.
and don't get me started on those women who have to drown themselves in perfume before they go shopping.
I'd almost rather they break wind than smell like a $2 trick on central avenue.
BLEECH!
:-)
Are you old enough to remember when our folks could dope us up with over-the-counter cough syrup filled with codeine?
Over-the-counter cough syrup?
Fancy-pants!
We just got a child sized version of a hot toddy. :-)
**********************************************************
Heroin was originally a “trade name” for a Bayer cough syrup... it has since become a generic name for anything made from the same active ingredient.
From Wiki ... From 1898 through to 1910 heroin was marketed as a non-addictive morphine substitute and cough medicine for children. Bayer marketed heroin as a cure for morphine addiction before it was discovered that heroin is converted to morphine when metabolized in the liver, and as such, “heroin” was basically only a quicker acting form of morphine. The company was somewhat embarrassed by this new finding and it became a historical blunder for Bayer.
LOL!
And Coke was originally called 'Coca-Cola' because it contained nine-miligrams-per-glass of cocaine...a derivative of the coca plant.
Wouldn’t proper cooking temps. break down most of these chemicals in pets?
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