Where do DDT, hexachlorobenzene, PCBs, and perfluorochemicals (linked to thyroid disease) concentrate in the food supply?
Food Sources of Perfluorochemicals
4.9/5 - (32 votes)
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
What about perfluorochemicals, another persistent industrial pollutant, recently linked to thyroid disease?
Though the highest levels were found in the United States, China comes in #2. Where is exposure coming from? A little in dust and drinking water, but overwhelmingly meat and fish—though, of course, our infants get it mostly from us.
What about the dietary intake of PCBs and organochlorine pesticides in children and adults? Fish, fats, meat, cheese, eggs, dairy, poultry. Same sources for children.
What about DDT? Again, mostly fish—everything eventually kind of flows into the sea, though our children get a bit more DDT drinking milk than adults.
And for those aching for a little hexochlorobenzene, it’s conveniently packaged in these same foods.
How many pesticides do you think our children are potentially exposed to? Well, here’s the list, in alphabetical order. This is just up to A. Why don’t we just stop at T here.
How do these chemicals get into our food supply? We’ve so polluted our planet, now it just comes down in the rain, and can concentrate their way up the food chain.
Eight different pesticides were recently reported contaminating the snow-packed tips of the Rocky Mountains. If they’re contaminated, then everywhere’s contaminated.
So, the best we can do is eat as low on the food chain as possible—plant foods, preferably organic.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Kannan K, Corsolini S, Falandysz J, Fillmann G, Kumar KS, Loganathan BG, Mohd MA, Olivero J, Van Wouwe N, Yang JH, Aldoust KM. Perfluorooctanesulfonate and related fluorochemicals in human blood from several countries. Environ Sci Technol. 2004 Sep 1;38(17):4489-95.
- A. Fromberga, K. Granbya, A. Højgårdb, S. Fagta, J.C. Larsena. Estimation of dietary intake of PCB and organochlorine pesticides for children and adults. Food Chemistry. 15 April 2011;125(4):1179–1187.
- Yeung LW, So MK, Jiang G, Taniyasu S, Yamashita N, Song M, Wu Y, Li J, Giesy JP, Guruge KS, Lam PK. Perfluorooctanesulfonate and related fluorochemicals in human blood samples from China. Environ Sci Technol. 2006 Feb 1;40(3):715-20.
- Zhang T, Sun HW, Wu Q, Zhang XZ, Yun SH, Kannan K. Perfluorochemicals in meat, eggs and indoor dust in China: assessment of sources and pathways of human exposure to perfluorochemicals. Environ Sci Technol. 2010 May 1;44(9):3572-9.
- Melzer D, Rice N, Depledge MH, Henley WE, Galloway TS. Association between serum perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and thyroid disease in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Environ Health Perspect. 2010 May;118(5):686-92.
- Vogel JR, Majewski MS, Capel PD. Pesticides in rain in four agricultural watersheds in the United States. J Environ Qual. 2008 May 2;37(3):1101-15.
- Nougadère A, Reninger JC, Volatier JL, Leblanc JC. Chronic dietary risk characterization for pesticide residues: a ranking and scoring method integrating agricultural uses and food contamination data. Food Chem Toxicol. 2011 Jul;49(7):1484-510.
- Hageman KJ, Hafner WD, Campbell DH, Jaffe DA, Landers DH, Simonich SL. Variability in pesticide deposition and source contributions to snowpack in Western U.S. national parks. Environ Sci Technol. 2010 Jun 15;44(12):4452-8.
Image thanks to Tomasz Sienicki via Wikimedia
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
What about perfluorochemicals, another persistent industrial pollutant, recently linked to thyroid disease?
Though the highest levels were found in the United States, China comes in #2. Where is exposure coming from? A little in dust and drinking water, but overwhelmingly meat and fish—though, of course, our infants get it mostly from us.
What about the dietary intake of PCBs and organochlorine pesticides in children and adults? Fish, fats, meat, cheese, eggs, dairy, poultry. Same sources for children.
What about DDT? Again, mostly fish—everything eventually kind of flows into the sea, though our children get a bit more DDT drinking milk than adults.
And for those aching for a little hexochlorobenzene, it’s conveniently packaged in these same foods.
How many pesticides do you think our children are potentially exposed to? Well, here’s the list, in alphabetical order. This is just up to A. Why don’t we just stop at T here.
How do these chemicals get into our food supply? We’ve so polluted our planet, now it just comes down in the rain, and can concentrate their way up the food chain.
Eight different pesticides were recently reported contaminating the snow-packed tips of the Rocky Mountains. If they’re contaminated, then everywhere’s contaminated.
So, the best we can do is eat as low on the food chain as possible—plant foods, preferably organic.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Kannan K, Corsolini S, Falandysz J, Fillmann G, Kumar KS, Loganathan BG, Mohd MA, Olivero J, Van Wouwe N, Yang JH, Aldoust KM. Perfluorooctanesulfonate and related fluorochemicals in human blood from several countries. Environ Sci Technol. 2004 Sep 1;38(17):4489-95.
- A. Fromberga, K. Granbya, A. Højgårdb, S. Fagta, J.C. Larsena. Estimation of dietary intake of PCB and organochlorine pesticides for children and adults. Food Chemistry. 15 April 2011;125(4):1179–1187.
- Yeung LW, So MK, Jiang G, Taniyasu S, Yamashita N, Song M, Wu Y, Li J, Giesy JP, Guruge KS, Lam PK. Perfluorooctanesulfonate and related fluorochemicals in human blood samples from China. Environ Sci Technol. 2006 Feb 1;40(3):715-20.
- Zhang T, Sun HW, Wu Q, Zhang XZ, Yun SH, Kannan K. Perfluorochemicals in meat, eggs and indoor dust in China: assessment of sources and pathways of human exposure to perfluorochemicals. Environ Sci Technol. 2010 May 1;44(9):3572-9.
- Melzer D, Rice N, Depledge MH, Henley WE, Galloway TS. Association between serum perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and thyroid disease in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Environ Health Perspect. 2010 May;118(5):686-92.
- Vogel JR, Majewski MS, Capel PD. Pesticides in rain in four agricultural watersheds in the United States. J Environ Qual. 2008 May 2;37(3):1101-15.
- Nougadère A, Reninger JC, Volatier JL, Leblanc JC. Chronic dietary risk characterization for pesticide residues: a ranking and scoring method integrating agricultural uses and food contamination data. Food Chem Toxicol. 2011 Jul;49(7):1484-510.
- Hageman KJ, Hafner WD, Campbell DH, Jaffe DA, Landers DH, Simonich SL. Variability in pesticide deposition and source contributions to snowpack in Western U.S. national parks. Environ Sci Technol. 2010 Jun 15;44(12):4452-8.
Image thanks to Tomasz Sienicki via Wikimedia
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Title
Food Sources of Perfluorochemicals
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
In multiple videos I explore how an array of foods are contaminated with other industrial pollutants. See Food Sources of PCB Chemical Pollutants; and Food Sources of Flame Retardant Chemicals. Which fish is most contaminated? See Farmed Fish vs. Wild-Caught. In addition to eating as low as possible on the food chain, choosing organic can reduce our family’s pesticide exposure. See, for example, Can Pesticides Be Rinsed Off?
For further context, check out my associated blog posts: Protecting Our Babies From Pollutants; Countering Dietary Pollutants & Pesticides; Apple Peels Turn On Anticancer Genes; and Fukushima Radiation and Seafood.
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