Rocket fuel found where?
A shocking new study has found that 15 infant formulas sold in the US are contaminated with the rocket fuel, perchlorate – which is even worse than it sounds, because where tested, the water which was used to mix the formula was also contaminated with the same chemical.
From the Environmental Working Group:
Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reported that 15 brands of powdered infant formula are contaminated with perchlorate, a rocket fuel component detected in drinking water in 28 states and territories.
The two most contaminated brands, made from cow’s milk, accounted for 87 percent of the U.S. powdered formula market in 2000, the scientists said.
The CDC scientists did not identify the formula brands they tested.
The little-noticed CDC findings, published in the March 2009 edition of the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, raise new concerns about perchlorate pollution, a legacy of Cold War rocket and missile tests. Studies have established that the chemical is a potent thyroid toxin that may interfere with fetal and infant brain development (Kirk 2006).
First melamine, and now this.
We are led to believe that the chemicals that we are exposed to are not directly responsible for health problems — and that the body is designed to cope. When it comes to infants, their systems of detoxification including organs such as the liver, are underdeveloped, so this really is scary and unacceptable. But even adults need to think about their overall exposure to chemicals (something called body burden) and take steps to lower it. There are certain things we can’t avoid, but where we can, it makes sense to lower the level of harmful substances that are allowed into our system. Many people go on a “detox” to help with some of this. There are several ways to help the body clear toxins, but I think two principles need to be thought about seriously:
- You don’t buy detox in a bottle…you learn to support your body’s natural detox systems
- It is better to lower the body burden than to be on a detox, retox cycle
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:53 pm
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…A shocking new study has found that 15 infant formulas sold in the US are contaminated with the rocket fuel, perchlorate – which is even worse than ……
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:26 pm
At higher doses perchlorate and iodide SHARE immunotoxic effects because they are chaotropic (see iododerma, bromoderma, bromism), so increasing the dose of iodide in the infant formula is not likely to be the solution. Chaotropic anions keep proteins from coagulating and water from freezing — thus the liquid water on Mars stays liquid at very cold temperatures because it contains large amounts of perchlorate. I personally think industrial exposures to perchlorate keep important parts of the innate immune system (pentraxin 3, defensins) from coagulating with pathogens, and thereby increase the incidence of CD34+ tumors (thyroid, connective tissue) due to mutation-promoting viruses (e.g. high incidence of malignant nerve sheath tumors around the Whittaker Bermite rocket plant in Santa Clarita CA.) If pendrin is the primary means of excreting perchlorate through the urine, then premature infants and babies with diarrhea will retain perchlorate.
Perchlorate in drinking water, and perchlorate-rich items like opuntia cactus (nopales) and chew tobacco, need to be regulated. http://www.perchlorate.org
April 3rd, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Thanks Larry. You have a very interesting site on the perchlorate problem. What do you suggest should be done for children who are on formula right now — till the problem is addressed? Using distilled or RO water perhaps?
April 7th, 2009 at 5:52 am
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April 7th, 2009 at 6:56 am
Thanks. I look forward to your comments and questions….
Pooja
September 7th, 2009 at 5:36 am
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October 1st, 2009 at 6:01 pm
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