As an Alaskan fisherman,Timothy June, 54,used to think that he was safe from industrial pollutants at his home in Haines----a town with a population of 2400 people and 4000 eagles,with 8 million acres of protected wild land nearby.But in early 2007,June agreed to take part in a survey of 35 Americans from seven states.It was a biomonitoring project,in which people’s blood and urine were tested for traces of chemicals----in this case,three potentially dangerous classes of results---released in November in a report called “Is It in Us?”by an environmental group---were rather worrying.Every one of the participants,ranging from an Illinois state senator to a Massachusetts minister,tested positive for all three classes of pollutants.And while the simple presence of these chemicals does not necessarily indicate a health risk,the fact that typical Americans carry these chemicals at all shocked June and his fellow participants.
Clearly,there are chemicals in our bodies that don’t belong there.A large, ongoing study conducted by the Center for Disease Control found Prevention has found 148 chemicals in Americans of all ages.And in 2005, the Environmental Working Group found an average of 200 chemicals in the blood of 10 new-borns.”Our babies are being pre-polluted,”says Sharyle Patton of Commonweal,which cosponsored”Is It in Us?””This is going to be the next big environmental issue after climate change.”
54岁的蒂莫西·琼是阿拉斯加的以为渔民，他曾经认为在家乡海恩斯他可以免受工业污染物的危害。海恩斯使一座拥有2000多名居民和4000只鹰的小镇，附近有800万英亩受保护的荒地。然而2007年初，琼同意参加一项针对来自7个州的35名美国人的调查。这是一个生物监制项目，检测人们的血液和尿液中是否有化学物质痕迹------在该项目中要检测的是三种具有潜在危险的化合物，它们出现在诸如面霜，锡灌和浴帘等提用品中。这以令人担心的检测结果于11月份有一个环保组织发布在一份名为“它在我们体内吗？”的报告中。每一位参与者，从伊利诺伊州的参议院到马萨诸塞州的牧师，这三种污染物的检测结构都成阳性。尽管这些化学物质的单纯存在未必说明有健康隐患，但是普通美国人体内居然含有这些化学物质之一事实已足以令琼和其他参与者感到震惊。
我们体内显然有本不该存在的化学物质。由疾病控制与预防中心开展的一项大型持续研究发现，在各年龄段的美国人体内共发现了148种化学物质。2005年，环境工作组织在10个新生儿血液中发现了平均200种化学物质。来自公益组织的莎莉·巴顿说道：“我们的婴儿在出生前就遭到了污染。这将成为继气候变化后又一个重大的环境问题。”该公益组织联合发起了“它在我们体内吗？”这一研究。