Study Reveals High Levels of Dangerous Chemicals in Pets’ Bodies
I would like to thank Amanda of Environmental Working Group for alerting me to a report that her organization recently released. An excerpt from the report is below.
High Levels of Toxic Industrial Chemicals Contaminate Cats And Dogs
. . . In the first study of its kind, Environmental Working Group found that American pets are polluted with even higher levels of many of the same synthetic industrial chemicals that researchers have recently found in people, including newborns.
The results show that America’s pets are serving as involuntary sentinels of the widespread chemical contamination that scientists increasingly link to a growing array of health problems across a wide range of animals—wild, domesticated and human.
I recommend that you read the report. The findings are disturbing. For instance, consider the following.
Dogs and cats were contaminated with 48 of 70 industrial chemicals tested, including 43 chemicals at levels higher than those typically found in people, according to our study of plastics and food packaging chemicals, heavy metals, fire retardants, and stain-proofing chemicals in pooled samples of blood and urine from 20 dogs and 37 cats collected at a Virginia veterinary clinic.
Diseases such as cancer and hyperthyroidism are becoming more prevalent in pets. Part of the increase in prevalence can be explained by the longer life expectancies that pets currently enjoy. Cancer, in particular, is more likely to strike when animals are older.
However, the bodily effects of many chemicals listed in the study are not fully understood. In my mind, it is very likely that chemical body burden is playing a role in these disease processes.
Environmental Working Group has launched a campaign to raise awareness about this issue. You can view the campaign’s website by clicking here. The campaign’s spokesdog, Eddie, has a good blog. He also has a profile on Dogster.
You have questions. 
Yay for Eddie! We’re 100% for that! Mommy makes sure we only use pet-friendly cleaning products (Nature’s Miracle, Seventh Generation), gives us filtered water (water pitchers are soooo nice!), only lets us out (supervised) in our own chemical-free yard and not on the road (icky oil and runoff), and feeds us healthy pet food that counteracts some of the environmental toxins and boosts our immune systems (Blue Buffalo).
She does what she can for our household, and wishes that the other places she takes me to visit would do the same.
[…] among pets. There is rampant speculation about what causes many of these syndromes. Breeding, chemical body burden, and yes, diet probably play a role. But there is one factor that is not in dispute. All of the […]
It’s bad enough for me to get out every morning and face the pollution on the roads on the way to my job — and even at home– with whatver toxins are in rugs and rug cleaners, bug poisons, even what we bring home on the soles of our shoes!!
Our pets are much closer to the ground — surely they are exposed to these toxins in a more concentrated way than we are — and what we humans are exposed to is not good for us either!!!