| Sources and uses of chemicals in newborn blood |
Chemical family name |
Total number of chemicals found in 10 newborns (range in individual babies) |
Common consumer product chemicals
(and their breakdown products) |
47 chemicals
(23 - 38) |
| Pesticides, actively used in U.S. |
Organochlorine pesticides (OCs) |
7 chemicals
(2 - 6) |
| Stain and grease resistant coatings for food wrap, carpet, furniture (Teflon, Scotchgard, Stainmaster...) |
Perfluorochemicals (PFCs) |
8 chemicals
(4 - 8) |
| Fire retardants in TVs, computers, furniture |
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) |
32 chemicals
(13 - 29) |
Chemicals banned or severely restricted in the U.S.
(and their breakdown products) |
212 chemicals
(111 - 185) |
| Pesticides, phased out of use in U.S. |
Organochlorine pesticides (OCs) |
14 chemicals
(7 - 14) |
| Stain and grease resistant coatings for food wrap, carpet, furniture (pre-2000 Scotchgard) |
Perfluorochemicals (PFCs) |
1 chemicals
(1 - 1) |
| Electrical insulators |
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) |
147 chemicals
(65 - 134) |
| Broad use industrial chemicals - flame retardants, pesticides, electrical insultators |
Polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) |
50 chemicals
(22 - 40) |
| Waste byproducts |
28 chemicals
(6 - 21) |
| Garbage incineration and plastic production wastes |
Polychlorinated and Polybrominated dibenzo dioxins and furans (PCDD/F and PBDD/F) |
18 chemicals
(5 - 13) |
| Car emissions and other fossil fuel combustion |
Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) |
10 chemicals
(1 - 10) |
| Power plants (coal burning) |
Methylmercury |
1 chemicals
(1 - 1) |
| All chemicals found |
287 chemicals
(154 - 231) |
