Blood tests find cocktail of chemicals in EU ministers

Highlighting the need to curb the everyday use of chemicals, blood tests carried out on 14 ministers in European Union nations found a cocktail of several toxic chemicals, including DDT pesticide residues, according to a WWF survey released today.

“The ministers are all contaminated with industrial chemicals whose effects are largely unknown,” said Karl Wagner, director of World Wildlife Fund’s anti-chemical campaign, which carried out the survey.

The WWF said it could not accept that “continuing exposure of the whole population, and especially of unborn children and developing infants, or the wider environment, to a cocktail of hazardous chemicals can be considered either ‘safe’ or acceptable.”

The WWF has used blood testing to highlight the need for tougher EU regulations on the use of chemicals, arguing that many chemicals in use today pose a dangerous health risk to humans and to wildlife alike.

The tests were carried out on 14 EU ministers, one each from Britain, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and two ministers from Hungary.

The ministers’ blood samples were analysed for 103 different man-made chemicals, including those used to make fire retardants, PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, used in furniture, perflourinated chemicals found in non-stick pans or grease-proof pizza boxes, and synthetic musks used in toiletries and cleaning products.

They were also tested for residues of phthalates, used to soften children’s plastic toys, pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, which were used in electrical equipment until they were banned in the 1970s after they were found to be toxic.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has warned PCBs could be carcinogenic to humans.

The maximum number of chemicals found in one sample was 43, WWF said, adding that the “highest concentration” of chemicals found across the small sample was the phthalate additive and the DDT toxin.

All 14 samples found traces of PCBs, pesticides, flame retardants, and perflourinated chemicals.

“The chemicals found in ministers also contaminate polar bears, dolphins, birds of prey and many other species even in the most remote environments,” the report said.

New proposals now being discussed by EU governments would update existing 20-year old legislation shifting responsibility for testing chemicals to manufacturers, instead of governments. It requires registration and safety data for thousands of high-use chemicals.

The most toxic and all carcinogenic chemicals would have to carry the label of “substances of very high concern” and would need a special license for use under the legislation.

The chemical industry is demanding changes to the proposal however, arguing the testing and registration would cost them too much money.

Last year, the WWF held a similar experiment involving 156 people including the EU’s Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom, who is pushing the tougher rules. Those samples also found high amounts of DDT and other toxins.