Polluted pets
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has found that cats and dogs are polluted with even higher levels of many of the same synthetic industrial chemicals that researchers have recently found in people, including newborns.
An EWG study found dogs and cats were contaminated with 48 of 70 industrial chemicals tested, including 43 chemicals at levels higher than those typically found in people. The study tested blood and urine from 20 dogs and 40 cats.
Compared to the average levels found in humans in national studies, dogs had 2.4 times the amounts of stain-and grease-proof coatings (perfluorochemicals). Cats had 23 times more fire retardants (PBDEs), and more than 5 times the amounts of mercury.
"The presence of chemicals in dogs and cats sounds a cautionary warning for the present and future health of children as well," said Jane Houlihan, VP for Research at EWG. "This study demonstrating the chemical body burden of dogs and cats is a wake-up call for stronger safety standards from industrial chemical exposures that will protect all members of our families, including our pets."
Just as children ingest pollutants in tap water, play on lawns with pesticide residues, or breathe in an array of indoor air contaminants, so do their pets, the report noted. But, since they seven times faster, pets also develop health problems much more rapidly.
"This study shows that our pets are susceptible to the absorption of potentially harmful chemicals from our environment just as we are," said Dr. John Billeter, DVM, the veterinarian who conducted the blood and urine tests. "Perhaps even more troubling is that these chemicals have been found in higher levels in pets than in humans implying potential harmful consequences for their health and well being and the need for further study."
EWG is a nonprofit activist research organization based in Washington. The group's press release can be found here. More information on its research available here.
Comments
wake up !
Our animals are being poisoned by unecessary vacinations that is what is killing our pets / filling them with chemicals ... IMHA is a major cause of death to our pets it is triggered by injections forced by laws and vets and it took me 2 years and 5000.oo to save my pet holistically !!!!!
Posted by: Deborah Rocco | April 21, 2008 8:54 AM
O.K., drinking tapwater may not be great for your kids, but...do they EAT the grass like dogs and cats do? Doubt it.
Posted by: sheila | April 21, 2008 8:56 AM
considering that pets have the longest
life spans in history, and live from 3 to
5 times longer that their wild counterparts.....whats the point???
Also we now have the longest lives in recent history so I'm not loosing any sleep over it
Posted by: denny | April 21, 2008 10:49 AM
One of our dogs was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma. We did the only thing you could do for a friend, we proceeded with treatment at a veterinary cancer center in southern California. I was amazed to see how many dogs and cats; all breeds from mutts to purebreds had been diagnosed with some form of cancer. So man y animals just at this clinic.
Our vet told us the toxins in our environment were largely to blame. If these toxins are killing our pets what are they doing to our kids and us?
We still have our girl, Tilly and the chemo is working well, for now but there is no cure and she will eventually succumb to her disease. We just want to make here life as normal and comfortable as possible for what time she has left.
Posted by: mark | April 21, 2008 10:51 AM
No, of course children (most anyway) don't actually EAT the grass, but the chemicals (fertilizers, lime, etc) gets on their hands and small children love to put their fingers in their mouths.
Out of concern for my pets, I have already switched to non-toxic, natural ingredient-based household cleaning products.
Mark, my best wishes for you and Tilly. I know what you are going through.
Posted by: jeane | April 21, 2008 1:25 PM
Its not just the grasses, its also the carcigens in the food they are eating. So many die in 5-7 years from cancer from foods like Iams, etc.
Posted by: Robyn Jones | May 13, 2008 8:10 AM