Every day, we get new warnings about what we should or should
not eat. Missing from all this confusion is scientific certainty
about how environmental pollution actually affects our health. Do
pesticides harm our immune system? Do chemical toxins pose a heath
risk? How much does air pollution contribute to the skyrocketing
rate of asthma? Could air or water pollution contribute to rising
rates of breast cancer, autism and birth defects?
Every day, we get new warnings about what we should or should not eat. Missing from all this confusion is scientific certainty about how environmental pollution actually affects our health. Do pesticides harm our immune system? Do chemical toxins pose a heath risk? How much does air pollution contribute to the skyrocketing rate of asthma? Could air or water pollution contribute to rising rates of breast cancer, autism and birth defects?
We just don’t know.
That is why biomonitoring – research that measures the levels of chemicals in our bodies by analyzing samples of blood, tissue, urine and breast milk – is so urgently needed.
During the last few years, a network of public health, faith, labor and environmental health groups – known as the California Body Burden Campaign – has championed legislation that would make California the first state in the nation to establish a biomonitoring program.
Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, has introduced legislation that would create “The Healthy Californian Biomonitoring Program.”
The pilot programs established by her bill would focus on biomonitoring using breast milk as a marker of community health.
Cancer advocacy groups have long promoted breast-milk monitoring because more than 200 toxic substances, including flame retardants, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT and other pesticides, have been found to accumulate in the fatty tissue of the breast.
At the same time, the bill would counter new mothers’ concerns through the development of educational materials that emphasize the importance of breastfeeding to community participants.
Last April, the bill passed the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. In January, however, it will face new votes in other committees.
We urge the Legislature to pass this pioneering legislation. An ounce of prevention is worth tens of thousands health care dollars.
