May 5, 2003
Canadians are consuming trace amounts of toxic metals in their diet, according to a study to be released Monday by an environmental group.
Environmental Defence Canada examined unpublished federal government data obtained through Access to Information.
The data came from the Canadian "Total Diet Study," which tracks a wide range of contaminants found in food. The group compared the amounts of heavy metals in the Canadian diet to intake guidelines established by Environmental Protection Agency in the United States.
Environmental Defence Canada's assessment is that Canadians are consuming trace amounts of industrial metals like lead and cadmium, and it might be affecting our health.
Cadmium and lead, says the EDC's executive director, Burkhard Mausberg, are very toxic. "Two chemicals the body doesn't need," he says, "and the intake through food is higher that that which is safe."
Cadmium is a metal used in manufacturing and phosphate fertilizers. Researchers found that Canadians are, at times, eating four times the amount considered safe for cadmium consumption.
And young children, ages two to four, are apparently eating the most, in foods like shelled seeds, organ meats, cabbage, celery and peanuts.
Lead, for which there is no safe limit, is a metal used in manufacturing. It was found in raisins, muffins and beef. The highest levels of lead were found in salad oil, followed by cold cuts.
Environmentalists say the trace metals in food are the result of industrial pollution, which ends up - through precipitation or sewage runoff -- in the soil used to grow food or feed livestock.
"It's an important snapshot of where we're at with the environment," Sarah Winterton of Environmental Defence Canada told Canada AM on Monday. "We've got to get lead and cadmium and other heavy metals out of industry."
At higher levels, both lead and cadmium are linked to health problems. Concerns linked to lead include lowered IQ, behavioural problems, anemia and kidney toxicity. Cadmium is also a suspected carcinogen, Winterton said.
Health Canada says the levels found in foods are so low, they don't pose a risk. And University of Guelph scientist Beverly Hale, who researches trace metals in the environment, agrees. "All of the intakes on this study are below the maximum daily intake set by the World Health Organization," Hale told CTV News.
Still, environmentalists say we just don't know the long term effects.
"Are we going to find out for each child what the effect should be," asks Mausberg. "Or are we going to say we are not going to pollute our air and water."
Environmental Defence Canada is recommending that there should be a phasing out of heavy metals released into the environment, and that the government take steps to legislate maximum residue limits through the Food and Drug Act and Regulations.
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