The Newborn Body Burden

In the months leading up to a baby's birth, the umbilical code carries blood back and forth between the fetus and the placenta - where oxygen and nutrients are picked up by the blood for delivery to the developing baby.

Although it has been known that there are some substances harmful to a developing fetus which readily cross the placenta blood barrier; alcohol being a prime example, for a long time it was thought that the placenta acted as a rather efficient "filter" removing the majority of toxins from the fetal blood supply thereby allowing it to develop unaffected by harmful substances.

Now a study conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Commonweal has shown that the placenta is not as efficient a filter as was once thought. Using cord blood taken from 10 U.S. babies born between August and September 2004, tests were conducted in an attempt to detect some 260 different chemicals. Essentially all of the chemicals tested for were found in the cord blood samples including pesticides, consumer product ingredients (perfluorinated chemicals associated with products like Teflon, Scotchgard, carpet protectors and food wraps), and waste products produced by burning both coal and gasoline. This joint study is the first reported detection of over 200 of the chemicals in cord blood.

These findings are of particular concern for a number of reasons:
1. In a developing child, and particularly in the fetus, chemical exposure is greater on a pound-for-pound basis than for an adult.
2. An immature, porous blood-brain barrier allows greater chemical exposures to the brain - even into teenage years. (ADHD is on the rise)
3. A baby's organs and systems are rapidly developing. This makes them more vulnerable to damage from chemical exposures.
4. Systems such as the liver that remove toxins from the body are not yet fully developed in infants and children.
5. A longer anticipated life span of a child (when compared to an adult) allows more time for the negative effects of chemical exposure to arise.

Today there are approximately 75,000 chemical compounds in use in the United States. In addition - an average of 7 new chemicals are introduced into use every day. The vast majority of these chemicals are used with little or no testing with regard to the long-term effect they have on our health. This is in-spite of evidence that chemical exposures can and do have much more significant effects on the very young. There is also increasing evidence to support the notion that our genes may be re-programmed in ways that are both undesirable and lasting by the presence of heavy metals and other toxins in our bodies.

Couples planning to start a family in the near future are increasingly taking the strategy of consulting with an environmental medical specialist to test for chemical and heavy metal exposure. These are then chelated out of out of both prior to attempting conception, in order to give the children a better non-toxic start to their lives. Naturopathic doctors study environmental medicine, with some specializing more than others in this area. One of the best tests to check for heavy metal status is a DMPS urine challenge. At the Family Health Clinic, DMSA is given orally or DMPS given IV, then urine is collected and analyzed for 11 different heavy metals including mercury, aluminum and lead. Chronic diseases can be averted if heavy metals are identified and removed.

For further printed information on environmental medicine please see Dr Doris Rapp's books: Our Toxic World and Is This Your Child's World?