I. Contamination with Synthetic Chemicals

Human exposure to toxic chemicals has dramatically increased in the last century. Millions of compounds have been formulated and some 50,000 are now in commercial use. The environmental persistence of many of these compounds is cause for concern, In addition, many of these synthetic compounds accumulate in biological organisms ("bioaccumulation"), storing in bone, fat, or another compartment of the body.

Hundreds of these compounds are found in U.S. citizens, with many present in each of us (1). In addition to commercial compounds, many drugs -- both pharmaceutical and so-called recreational -- can remain in the body for an extended time. Drugs such as LSD (2, 3), PCP (4), cocaine (5), marijuana (6) and diazepam (7) are found in fat. These drugs can be retained for extended periods, especially under conditions of chronic use (5,8-11).

Adverse health effects have been shown for some of these compounds. Health effects from most compounds have not, however, been studied in detail. Further, the health effects from combinations of chemicals are unknown. It is clearly preferable to have low levels of foreign compounds rather than high.