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Introduction
Recent studies reveal that we all have toxic pesticides in our bodies – a chemical "body burden" that we all carry. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documents environmental chemical exposures in its National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, released every two years since 2001.
We know that some individuals and communities suffer more pesticide exposure than others, such as children, farmers, farmworkers, pesticide applicators and people living near pesticide factories and conventional farms. The CDC reports show that we all have cause for concern, as we all carry a measurable body burden of pesticides and other synthetic chemicals. Many of these chemicals are known to cause cancer, birth defects, damage to the nervous system, or disruption of hormones essential for growth and development - yet these exposures continue to be forced on us without our knowledge or consent.
How to get involved
Review and use the resources below, and contact us by email, or phone at (415) 981-1771.
Resources
PANNA Articles and Documents
- Report -- Chemical Trespass: Pesticides in our Bodies and Corporate Accountability, April 2004
- Article -- Pesticides Among Chemicals Found in New Study on Household Dust, March 2005
- Press Release -- Toxic Pesticides Above "Safe" Levels in Many U.S. Residents, April 2004
- Article -- Biomonitoring: A Tool Whose Time Has Come, April 2004
- Article -- Polluting Our Bodies Without Permission, Spring 2003
- Article -- New Reports Find Pesticides in People, February 2003
- Report -- CDC Releases 2nd National Report on Chemical Body Burden, January 2003
- Article -- New Evidence That Endocrine Disruptors Block Sperm Function, August 2002
- Article -- Low Doses of Common Weedkiller Damage Fertility, October 2002
- Article -- Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood, December 2001
- First Word, December 2001
Selected Online Resources
On Chemical Body Burden
- Body Burden Working Group
- Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center
- CDC's National Environmental Exposure Reports
- Natural Resources Defense Council on chemicals in breastmilk
- Environmental Working Group
- Physicians for Social Responsibility
- Sandra Steingraber
On Health Effects of Pesticides
- PANNA's Pesticide Database
- Our Stolen Future
- Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE)
- CHE science page
- Physicians for Social Responsibility