Synthetic Chemical Mixtures in the Food, Water and Air of American Cities

Patrick Sullivan, Ph.D., Forensic Management Associates, San Mateo, CA;
James Clark, Ph.D., Soil/Water/Air/Protection Enterprise, Santa Monica, CA;
Franklin Agardy, Ph.D., Forensic Management Associates, San Mateo, CA;
Paul Rosenfeld, Ph.D., Soil/Water/Air/Protection Enterprise, Santa Monica, CA

Forensic Management Associates, San Mateo, CA

It should be no surprise that synthetic chemicals released into our environment contaminate the human body since the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe are all contaminated. This is a known condition of our daily lives that the vast majority of us accept as a reality of the modern world. Our acceptance of this reality is buffered by the assurances of both the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that there is little health risk from being exposed to low levels of these individual environmental contaminants. When considering the reality of our health and the health of our children and families, however, can we confidently accept the assurances of the EPA and the FDA that some level of allowable pollution does us no harm?  In the real world where we are all exposed to mixtures of chemical residues in our food, water and air, the health risk from these mixtures is totally unknown. Given these uncertainties, most of us would prefer to have no daily intake of chemical residues. Yet, depending upon where we live, the amount and diversity of chemical residues in food, water and air can vary dramatically. By using FDA and EPA data bases in combination with freedom of information requests, chemical mixtures in the food, water and air of 36 cities were characterized. Selected data from this study and the most common chemical mixture found in the human habitat are presented.