Daily News Archive October 11, 2005 More Contaminated Than Their
Mothers, New WWF Report Shows (Beyond Pesticides, October 11,
2005) European children are absorbing dangerous chemicals into
their blood from computers, textiles, cosmetics and electrical
appliances, according to a new study released last week by WWF.
Generation X, WWF’s first European Union—wide family testing
survey, found a total of 73 man-made hazardous compounds in the
blood of grandmothers, mothers and children from 13 families in
12 countries. The highest number of chemicals, an average of 63
and including some which are now banned like DDT, was recorded
among the oldest generation tested, while the middle generation
-- the mothers -- registered only 49. But tests on the children
in the 13 families showed an average of 59 dangerous chemicals
-- many of them new products in widespread use like flame
retardants, the WWF said. "It shows that we are all unwittingly
the subjects of an uncontrolled global experiment, and its is
particularly sho