Conscious Choice Seattle: On the Trail of Toxins

March 2005

On the Trail of Toxins

Doing her part — and then some — about environmental health

by Andrew Mulholland

As a faculty member and environmental researcher at Antioch University-Seattle’s Center for Creative Change, Kate Davies has readjusted her imaginings about academic life. In fact, she admits those fantasies are “completely shattered.”

“Long summers off, reading, sitting on the deck with a tall drink...ha!” she says. “It was just a dream.”

But the loss of some leisure hasn’t affected Davies’ affable demeanor. She happily conducts weekly online discussion sessions with students to draw out their development, along with a formidable class load.

That’s citizenry in the educational community.

What’s more, Davies is doing plenty for all Washington citizens. She is lead author of a new report showing that our state has the highest rate of breast cancer in the country—and that environmental toxins play a role. Davies found associations between those toxins and rates of asthma in children too. Visit www.iceh.org for more details about the research.

The study received some media play, though Davies and her colleagues are honest about not being able to precisely show which toxins cause what illness. No matter, Davies says; she is on the issue for the long haul. The rest of us, especially anyone with kids or who cares about children and their health, can be grateful for that. Here are some thoughts from this month’s Evergreen Citizen:

The I-want-it-now culture: “We live in a society in which people like certainty, that X causes Y. But real life and real science is not that simple.”

Not child’s play: Davies is especially focused on investigating how environmental toxins affect kids.

“First of all, kids breathe more, eat more and drink more per pound than adults,” she says. “Second thing, kids have behaviors that make them more vulnerable. Children put things in their mouths more and they are close to the floor.

“Third of all, kids’ metabolisms are different. Lead can do more damage in the intestinal tract. Their organs are still forming. The blood-brain barrier is not completely developed until a child is two years old.”

Timing is (almost) everything: “What we are finding in environmental research is that it is not just the amount of exposure to pollutants and toxins. We used to think health damage was proportionate to the dose.

“But the revolution in toxicology is that timing is critical. Exposure at just the wrong time in, say, fetus development can lead to a birth defect.”

What each of us can do: Davies says the state Department of Health finds it challenging to get funding for toxin-related projects. “For now, we have to rely on activist organizations like Northwest Environment Watch and the Environmental Working Group,” she says.

In particular, the Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org ) has a Body Burden program that can enlighten us about how most everyone is a walking brew of toxic chemicals.

Andrew Mulholland writes frequently for Evergreen Monthly.

Recommend this page to a friend

Top Ten pages recommended to friends: