The day we "get used to" arsenic and even more troubling industrial/product chemicals in our bodies is the day we have lost our way.
[from David Dempsey] The 2008 studies will be part of a $2 million experiment in biomonitoring, which collects human tissue, hair, blood or urine to look for harmful contaminants.
But Brase worries that if a person is identified as exposed to chemicals, it might be blown out of proportion or misused in some other way. "If you come out with a study and 80 percent of children have some arsenic levels, that could incite the public to unnecessary concern and could push a policy agenda that may limit progress in this country," she said. Or it might lead to justified anger and policy reform to reduce chemical trespass into the bodies of children and other citizens.
The article appears to blur "biomonitoring" -- testing of human beings to determine what chemical substances have already invaded our bodies without our consent -- with the desire expose children deliberately to pesticides to see what happens. There's a big difference.
Adopting a style of research that has proved controversial in other states, Minnesota health officials are poised to test for arsenic in 100 children and for chemicals formerly made by 3M in 200 adults.
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/12534756.html?page=2&c=y
