HUFFINGTON
07.22.12
CHEMISTRY LESSONS
04
“The contamination of our world is not alone
a matter of mass spraying. Indeed, for most
of us this is of less importance than the
innumerable small-scale exposures to which
we are subjected day by day, year after year.”
EARLIER THIS YEAR, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared that there is no safe
level of lead in the bloodstreams of
children. Even in tiny amounts, exposures to the heavy metal via dust
and flakes of lead paint can damage
a child’s developing brain.
Scientists today are also heard
stating similarly grim warnings
about a growing number of environmental toxins, found in a
lengthening list of places.
“People took Carson somewhat
seriously in the case of DDT, but
she was also talking in very broad
terms about chemicals,” says Pingree. Whether from eating a piece
of salmon or breathing in secondhand smoke or chemicals sprayed
on a lawn, each of our everyday
exposures may be tiny, though not
necessarily insignificant.
“One part in a million sounds
like a very small amount — and
so it is,” wrote Carson, referencing a likely amount of pesticide
residue on food. “But such substances are so potent that a min-