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Question #1: How does this study compare to the government's National Exposure Report?
Question #2: Why test for chemicals in people? Risk assessment, public health policy
Question #3: Why did you test just 10 newborns?
Question #4: How do industrial chemicals get in my body?
Question #5: How can I reduce my chemical exposures?

Question #3: Why did you test just 10 newborns?

Studies of chemicals in human tissues are expensive — in this study, laboratory costs alone were $10,000 per sample. The methods are highly specialized, few laboratories are equipped with the machines and technical expertise to run the analyses, and costs are high. Because of these constraints, a high fraction of umbilical cord blood pollution studies have tested a small number of babies. We identified 41 studies in the peer-reviewed literature that have reported on cord blood levels for some of the same pollutants we tested. Of these, 15 percent (6 studies) tested 15 or fewer babies:

• 15 subjects — Inoue K, Okada F, Ito R, Kato S, Sasaki S, Nakajima S, Uno A, Saijo Y, Sata F, Yoshimura Y, Kishi R, Nakazawa H. 2004. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and related perfluorinated compounds in human maternal and cord blood samples: assessment of PFOS exposure in a susceptible population during pregnancy. Environ Health Perspect. 2004 Aug;112(11):1204-7.
• 15 subjects — Guvenius DM, Aronsson A, Ekman-Ordeberg G, Bergman A, Noren K. 2003. Human prenatal and postnatal exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers, polychlorinated biphenyls, polychlorobiphenylols, and pentachlorophenol. Environ Health Perspect. 2003 Jul;111(9):1235-41.
• 12 subjects — Mazdai A, Dodder NG, Abernathy MP, Hites RA, Bigsby RM. 2003. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in maternal and fetal blood samples. Environ Health Perspect. 2003 Jul;111(9):1249-52.
• 10 subjects — Sarcinelli PN, Pereira AC, Mesquita SA, Oliveira-Silva JJ, Meyer A, Menezes MA, Alves SR, Mattos RC, Moreira JC, Wolff M. 2003. Dietary and reproductive determinants of plasma organochlorine levels in pregnant women in Rio de Janeiro. Environ Res. 2003 Mar;91(3):143-50.
• 9 subjects — Cooper SP, Burau K, Sweeney A, Robison T, Smith MA, Symanski E, Colt JS, Laseter J, Zahm SH. Prenatal exposure to pesticides: a feasibility study among migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Am J Ind Med. 2001 Nov;40(5):578-85.
• 5 subjects — Schecter A, Kassis I, Papke O. 1998. Partitioning of dioxins, dibenzofurans, and coplanar PCBS in blood, milk, adipose tissue, placenta and cord blood from five American women. Chemosphere. 1998 Oct-Nov;37(9-12):1817-23.

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More From Body Burden — The Pollution in Newborns
Executive Summary
Babies are Vulnerable
Human Health Problems on the Rise
Guide to testing.
Adult Blood Test Results.
Why are babies born polluted?
Guest Commentary
Peer Statement