By Linda Mason Hunter

© 2007 Linda Mason Hunter.  May not be reprinted without written permission of the author.

Shortly after the birth of her first child in 2003, Laurie Yung, 37, was asked to participate in a scientific study measuring the amount of flame retardants (polybrominatedbiphenolethers or PBDEs) in breast milk. She happily accepted. A chemical cousin of PCBs (banned in 1977), high levels of PBDEs are thought to be thyroid toxins and cause brain development problems in infancy.

A dedicated wilderness conservationist and long-time organic vegetarian, Laurie had good reason to believe her body burden would be low. It wasn’t. Tests revealed her breast milk contained PBDEs in the middle-high range. “I was shocked and heartbroken,” she admits. She came to realize that most PBDE exposure is through the dust in houses and offices. Her main route of exposure, she now believes, was an exposed polyurethane foam mattress she slept on for more than seven years. Biomonitoring changed Laurie’s life. She’s now leery of all foam products, particularly those that are exposed and crumbling.

Biomonitoring studies scientifically demonstrate that human exposure to industrial chemicals is widespread in the U.S., where it’s ten to 20 times higher than it is  in  Japan and European countries. Since 2000, six studies by the Environmental Working Group found 455 industrial pollutants, pesticides, and other chemicals in the blood and urine of 72 people, from newborns and grandparents to mothers and teens. They found that pollution of the human body begins before birth, in complex combinations of chemicals never tested for safety. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been conducting limited biomonitoring studies since 2001, but these national studies don’t shed light on state exposure patterns. It’s up individual states to do that.

Last September, California became the first state to do so. California Bill SB 1379 signed into law a voluntary, confidential biomonitoring program to track trends in exposure, identify highly exposed communities, and set priorities for legislative and regulatory action. In an effort to provide an accurate snapshot of the state, participants will be chosen to reflect geographic, occupational, economic, and/or racial characteristics. The program, which could begin as early as this year, will test for 30 to 40 of the most egregious chemicals—those that persist and bioaccumulate in the body.

Passing the law was not without its difficulties. It took four tries, thanks to pressure from the American Chemical Council. But an unlikely coalition of nonprofit organizations, church groups, and unions, plus a generous in-kind contribution from the CDC to do the lab work, finally overcame opposition

“Biomonitoring is a paradigm shift, the triumph of knowledge and science over ignorance,” explains Jeanne Rizzo, executive director of the Breast Cancer Fund. In this era of rampant disease, when an estimated 125 million Americans have at least one chronic disease, biomonitoring offers a true alternative medicine blazing a new path in public health policy.

Eight states are considering a bill similar to California’s—Minnesota, Vermont, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New York, and Washington.