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MyHealthNewsDaily
A group of compounds used in a variety of products, including water-resistant clothing and microwave popcorn, may prevent childhood vaccinations from working properly, a new study says.
In the study, children who had higher concentrations of these compounds, called perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), in their blood had lower immune responses to diphtheria and tetanus vaccinations. An insufficient immune response to a vaccination can mean a child is actually vulnerable to catching a disease even though they've been vaccinated against it.
Indeed, the levels of antibodies in the blood of some children exposed to PFCs indicated they were not protected against these diseases by age 7.
"When we take our kids to the doctor's office to get their shots, we expect that the vaccines are going to work," said study researcher Dr. Philippe Grandjean, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. "What we found was that there was an increasing risk that they didn’t work if the kids had been exposed to the PFCs," Grandjean said.
The study is provocative, but the findings are not of immediate public health concern, said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Despite the link found in this study, vaccines have largely protected the public against diphtheria and tetanus over the same period of time that PFCs have accumulated in the environment, Schaffner said.
"These are illnesses that have been virtually eliminated from children," in the United States, Schaffner said.
However, Schaffner said investigations into the link between vaccines' effectiveness and PFCs, along with other potential environmental hazards, should continue.
The study will be published tomorrow (Jan. 25) in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
PFCs have thousands of uses in manufacturing, and most people have the compounds in their bodies, Grandjean said. They are slow to break down and persist for many years in the environment.
Studies in animals have suggested PFCs may lower the body's immune response, but their impact on people's health is unclear.
Grandjean and colleagues analyzed data from 587 children living in the Faroe Islands, in the northern Atlantic Ocean between Scotland and Iceland. These islands were chosen because their inhabitants frequently consume seafood, which is associated with increased exposure to PFCs. Still, overall,levels of PFCs in this area are similar to those found in other countries, including the United States, Grandjean said.
The researchers measured levels of PFCs in the blood of 5-year-old children, and tested the children's immune response to tetanus and diphtheria vaccinations at ages 5 and 7. The kids received complete vaccinations against these diseases, including a booster shot at age 5.
The higher the levels of PFCs were in the blood, the lower the children's response was to the vaccines.
A doubling of the exposure to PFCs was associated with a 49 percent lower level of blood antibodies in children at age 7, Grandjean said.
Children with some of the highest levels of PFCs were two to four times more likely to have antibodies in their blood at a level below what is thought to protect against these diseases.
The study "emphasizes the importance of making sure that the world does not pollute the natural environment," Schaffner said. "Clearly, greater efforts must be made to keep these perfluorinated compounds out of the environment," hesaid.
It's not clear exactly how people come to accumulate levels of PFCs in their body, so advice on how to avoid them may not necessarily work. But Grandjean said, "It would be prudent to avoid microwave popcorn [and] treatment of furniture, carpets, shoes and clothing with stain repellants," unless they are known not to contain PFCs.
Future studies into the health impact of PFCs should examine their effect on the immune system, Grandjean said. The researchers would also like to know if exposure to PFCs is associated with a reduced immune response to other vaccinations.
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Leave a Comment:
Surprise, surprise! Something we've been exposed to all of our lives is killing us!
I've always thought that popcorn was the culprit.
.
And here I was hating popcorn for those little hulls that get stuck in your gums. Little did I know how evil it truly was! (Actually, I still hate it more for the little hulls.)
"Killing us" may be a bit strong - more like, is possible a contributor in a small amount of sicknesses and death. Still, may be worth doing a PFC screen before vaccination to make sure that the children's bodies are more receptive to immunity.
This is interesting, but I would not call it conclusive until the same study can be repeated in a larger, more diverse population. The fact that this study was based on such a small, isolated group of people who may have other things in common that contributed to the results seen is a little troubling from a scientific standpoint. It would no be the first time that a study like this turned out to be wrong or identified the wrong cause because of the use of a small, isolate population with a less diverse genetic cross section. I am not saying that the results of this study are wrong, just that there is more work to be done before I am ready to accept it as fact.
I would wonder if the kids had lowered immunity overall, not just in the case of vaccinations.
This obviously means we need less regulation!
Industry will keep us safe. Industry will keep us safe. Keep chanting.
Depending on age, the nasties from Monsanto, Cargill, et.al. are not things to which we've been exposed all our lives. Some of us --believe it or not-- did not have microwaves in our childhood kitchen. Our 'fast' popcorn was Jiffy Pop. Nothing came in plastic bottles or containers. One needn't be a chemist to read a food label. We washed with plain old soap.
The only vaccinations I recall were for polio, tetanus, and diptheria. WE had 'childhood' illnesses and the amazing thing is we recovered! In 12 years of school, only 1 of my original classmates died and that was from something terribly wrong with her liver which may have been from birth.
I've known about all the extra "crap" additives, preservatives, natural flavorings aka chemicals- added to foods for quite awhile now. I have IBS, my father suffers from impaired intestinal function, other members of my family have food intolerance. I've studied these chemical additives and found that some of them are toxic, are known to cause intestinal irritation, or do not break down in the colon!!! SO:
"Studies in animals have suggested PFCs may lower the body's immune response, but their impact on people's health is unclear." --- SEEMS quite obvious, by people who have half a brain, that their impact is lowering peoples immune systems and having an ill effect!!
"The study is provocative, but the findings are not of immediate public health concern" --- No, why not?? We have been letting the FDA allow these things in our foods, our shampoos, our cleaners, etc. without questioning it, while other countries have already banned them!
And, I am glad that this article is associated with vaccines because some of the additives/preservatives are known to be toxic and cause intestinal problems. Why isn't everyone given the informational insert (that comes with the vaccine!) just like you would any other prescription or over the counter medication???
It's microwave popcorn, not stove top kernels of corn you pop in standard oils. Lazy cooing will kill you. haven't you read all the crap ingredients in microwavable foods, however, I know people that grew up with microwave popcorn and foods, and they are nearing their 50's and doing just fine.
This is kinda like the egg scare and butter scare passed out decades ago. Too many eggs will kill you, and then after the the egg industry suffered in profits, all of a sudden eggs are good for you all over again.
mannbrod,
The fact that several members of your family have a history of similar food intolerances/gastrointestinal problems, that are NOT widely shared by the general population, is evidence of an hereditary problem within your family, not evidence of the validity of this study.
The "we didn't use all these chemicals when I was growing up" crowd should remember that before the advent of all of these things you hate, the average life expectancy was around 60 years. Its now around 70 years. On the whole, these advances have been beneficial rather than harmful. We should do two things. Place these findings into the context of the overall benefit of advances in the food and chemical industry and, as was stated earlier, recognize that this is a small study in an isolated population. The ability to generalize the findings of this study are very limited and more work is needed before the "Ban all PFC's" bandwagon hits the road.
Jkatze: glad you were lucky... many people weren't so lucky to not loose people. If you look at the stats, vaccine preventable diseases killed or disabled thousand to millions of people. there are still many diseases for which we have no vaccines that kill or severely effect millions of children every year. Instead of knocking vaccination we should be outraged that these compounds are in our foods. Why do we need extra chemicals added to a paper bag that stores popcorn? We can't even make informed decisions about these things b/c they're not included in the ingredient list.
Mannbrod: careful knocking the FDA. The biggest reason the FDA "allows" these things is b/c it's high underfunded. The FDA is being overwhelmed by a tidal wave of new products, and foreign imports and it can't be everywhere. Also, there are many times when a product or chemical is thought to be "safe" and then found to have potential negative health consequences. You can't blame a government agency for not doing its job when there may not yet be a job for it to do in a certain setting.
I'm not some crazy luddite who wants to go back to living in the woods. Technology has brought many benefits including the ability to use this blog. However, before we go tossing out new chemicals into the air or into what we eat, maybe we should research them a little more. Maybe we should ask if we even need a new popcorn bag or water resistance fabrics to wear or newer and better preservatives for foods? What was wrong with what we had before? Do we really need products with a shelf life measured in years or decades? Do we even need the product in the first place? OK, enough of my rant.
What is really interesting is there is also an article today about using drugs to enhance growth in pigs. What concerns me most is that perhaps alone, each of these small amounts of trace chemicals in food are reasonably safe, but who knows what cocktail of chemicals are flowing through us from various additives and whatnot in our foods? I worry that combinations of these various chemicals together may be a lot more harmful than people realize.
BINGO !!! It's called "toxic loading" ewg.org
Anyone that hasn't already suspected that these bags are toxic really needs to wake up. Pretty much all packaging in cans, microwave bags, and plenty of other types of packaging is unhealthy - especially if you eat from them habitually and regularly like most Americans. Seriously, Americans just aren't ready to take responsibility for their own health so expect people to remain purposefully ignorant on the dangers of these bags and cans with BPA and other toxins for years to come.
And here I am eating popcorn after getting a tetanus shot a few days ago.
You're doomed.
The persistence of the compounds in Scotchguard and other stain-protectors has been known for a long time. It was found in polar (N & S) snow years ago, so it is really impossible to avoid it. The unknown factor is the health affect on living organisms. Should we perhaps find out about that BEFORE broadcasting these chemicals through the biosphere?
And I am completely baffled by the popcorn bags. Why is it added to those? Does it prevent scorching of the paper?
ROTFLMAO here.
I want to see how many were in the study and how many years they were tracked.
technology is killing us.
The answers are here:
"Grandjean and colleagues analyzed data from 587 children living in the Faroe Islands, in the northern Atlantic Ocean between Scotland and Iceland. These islands were chosen because their inhabitants frequently consume seafood, which is associated with increased exposure to PFCs. Still, overall,levels of PFCs in this area are similar to those found in other countries, including the United States, Grandjean said.
The researchers measured levels of PFCs in the blood of 5-year-old children, and tested the children's immune response to tetanus and diphtheria vaccinations at ages 5 and 7. The kids received complete vaccinations against these diseases, including a booster shot at age 5."
Obviously PFCs need to be studied more, but "Clearly, greater efforts must be made to keep these perfluorinated compounds out of the environment," and avoiding products with PFCs on them would be "prudent."
So, when will the CDC come out with adjusted dosages and revised booster schedules to compensate for the the impact of PFCs on efficacy. You aren't going to effectively reduce the PFCs. The only thing that can be adjusted is the vaccination profilaxis. Duh!
Why? When anything is found to be toxic or cause problems in other tests, why have to screen 10,000 to 1,000,000 or more to see if the toxicity is present in them or that it causes problems with even a few.
It should be the TOTAL responsibility of the manufacturer to make ANY and ALL tests, not the FDA or USDA or any other Governmental body. These tests are NOT being done because they would decrease the overall profitability of their products or actually make the product not to be profitable at all or even highly dangerous. Simply put: GREED. Past examples have shown that many tests done by Manufacturers are at least suspect.
Rob-2470805
Well I'll never... I taught I saw a putty-kat, I mean I thought Technology was suppose to be saving lives. Well maybe it's saving people temporarily so they can suffer another kind of death later in life. Who knows.
Video gaming will eff up the mind like no other technology, and cell phones will fry your brain and make men sterile too.
Texting kills people also. That coffee pot that made my coffee I drink in my car will kill me too if I spill it all over my crotch and lose control of the car. Damn that coffee pot. We all should boycott coffee pots now.
/sarc
Ben Birdsey
That would be the same as in asking the Pope to cough up the invisible man in the sky fer ya. It;s never gonna happen.
Arieus
Are you referring to the Giant Invisible Spaghetti Monster? 'Cause if you are, well, you're wrong! He does exist!. The Easter Bunny told me so.
yaaaa yaaaa ya yaaa yaaaaa
Another useless study, are these people getting paid to do this
Another useless comment - every science article has at least one of these comments regardless of rigor or merit - perhaps the writer can just put one at the top and then the rest get blocked for banality and/or stupidity? At least require the commenter to actually state why they think a study is so worthless instead so we can see exactly how they are intellectually deficient.
jroliver: No Value (click)
Oh, this is rich. Chemicals in your Made in China microwave bags canceling out the toxins big pharma insists on pumping INTO your body. Bad news for the couch sitting-popcorn eating vaccine sheepies.
LOL, hehe...
Response regarding popcorn bags being produced in China. Weaver popcorn aka Pop Weaver brand makes there bags in Vanburen, IN. Go figure! American made from the hulls, to the bag... ;p
However, your post was still funny. :)
Your post is of no value and is highly inflammatory. Vaccinations have an excellent record of safety and efficacy. Big Pharma doesn't make a tremendous amount of money off of most of these products which is why we face chronic shortages. They make much more off of having their own brand of Lipitor or Viagra.
Folks, there is nothing like fresh popcorn right off the top of your own stove. It's easy, it's almost as fast as microwave popcorn, you use just as much or as little of everything as you wish, it's much less expensive, and, the biggest bonus of all - IT'S LESS EXPENSIVE than the microwaved crap. Give it another try.
... no, biggest bonus is that it won't f#$% up your immune system with some Frankenchems
Do they still make hot-air poppers? No need to add anything - use good old bulk popcorn out of a jar.
Yes, they still make those.
As far as energy is concerned, not only is microwaving quicker and more convenient, it uses much less electricity compared to popping corn on an electric stove, and then to heat the water to wash the pan.
Mailman - funny that should mention that. My hot air popper is quite old but still works well. I only make popcorn at most, once a month. Last time I looked at the popper closely and it said "made in USA" - imagine that!!!! It's fast, easy, and I put REAL BUTTER on the popcorn and it's delicious - not "butter flaver". Coincidentally, at our summer cabin we have an old MICROWAVE corn popper that you just pour popcorn into and then put it in the microwave - it works good too, and you just use plain old popcorn from a bag.
Doesn't matter since so many "intelligent" parents weren't getting immunizations since they cause autism. Oh, maybe it's this stuff instead.
As a pediatrician I don't fault parents for doing what they think is best for their children. The trouble is that there is a lot of very bad information out there, some of it even has an MD behind it (Jenny McCarthy's physician friend who has sold out and is making a mint off of his supplement business). The resistance to immunizations is nothing new, it's just taken on a new form. When smallpox immunization first came out there were a lot of people who objected on moral grounds b/c they considered illness part of God's will. There were others who were concerned about "toxins." Still others worried about possible unforeseen effects. None of this has really been born out (well, I can't speak to God's will).
There are huge studies worldwide looking at these questions and none have demonstrated significant harm or a risk of autism. Following the Wakefield article, there were some places that held off on MMR immunization for further research to be done. There was an increase in autism even in the abscence of immunization. I would look at the PFCs among many other chemicals in our environment (including what comes out of exhaust pipes) rather than going after vaccines.
p.s. I don't make a lot of money off of vaccines and neither do pharm companies (with a few exceptions), which is why there are chronic shortages. A lot of pediatricians don't even give vaccines in their offices anymore b/c of cost and refer kids to their local health department. So the finance argument doesn't work.
The guy who originally said that the MMR vaccine causes autism (stupid man) had his medical license stripped from him because he was found to have L-I-E-D through his teeth. He studied what? 5 kids? Some ridiculously low number of children.
In China, they stopped making the MMR shots as a 3 in 1 because of this man and his ludicrous claims. Instead they gave children 3 different shots over a period of years (this spanned thousands of kids and over a long period of time) and kids were still diagnosed with autism at an alarming rate.
Quit blaming vaccines when they clearly do more good than harm.
I have always strongly suspected that microwaved popcorn was bad for one's health; how could anything that stinks that bad be good!
I can't even use the breakroom at work 'cause someone is always microwaving that stinky stuff!
Folks, does anyone remember REAL popcorn, the popcorn made from scratch, on the top of your stove? It's easy to do, it's almost as fast as a microwave, you add just as much seasoning of any type as you wish, it's far less expensive than the micro wave crap and it takes so much better than that artificial version. Just try it again, and you'll never return to the microwave garbage version. And yes, you can even do it on a single-burner not plate.
Old fashioned can't beat the taste of micorwave....
um...Snakezoid, looks like your nose knows best. The information on this link is old news, BTW. They've known about the dangers of the "butter flavor" for quite some time.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3179470
The only thing that old fashioned stove popped popcorn will ruin is the pot that you cook it in. You can always buy a new pot.
There is nothing wrong with popcorn. Pop you own.
Amen, it's worth the extra time
If I read this correctly, it's not popcorn but the bag in which the popcorn is prepared in the microwave. This leads me to think that if you prepare popcorn on the stove, the "old-fashioned" way, there should be no problem. I'm now thinking jiffypop could make a comeback! I have seen other articles and studies that indicate microwave ovens have caused other genetic problems. Hmmmmmm
"is it a good idea to microwave this?" !
"The study is provocative, but the findings are not of immediate public health concern, said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville".
I think Dr. Shaffner is seriously underestimating the power (and intent) of the internet to distort and magnify a hot-button issue like this. Ivory tower science observations, however well intentioned, just do not fly well in today's combative media arena. Whether the study ultimately proves to be accurate or not, this headline will ricochet around the web forever. Whoever wrote the headline (and whomever approved it) should have been a professional journalist and known how to handle information responsibly, instead of posting a tabloid screamer that is designed to arouse fear and hostility.
Well, he (Schaffner) also said, "Clearly, greater efforts must be made to keep these perfluorinated compounds out of the environment."
Dr. Philippe Grandjean, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, also said, "It would be prudent to avoid microwave popcorn [and] treatment of furniture, carpets, shoes and clothing with stain repellants," unless they are known not to contain PFCs.
What exactly do you have a problem with?
Well said Rembo. A quick glance around the Vine confirms your statement.
MarineDoc,
You agree with the "ivory tower" description of scientists creating a (in this case nearly 600 person) study regarding the effect of chemicals on people's health, especially long-lasting ones like these, that have had very little long-term study done before they have been put into the environment in large quantities?
I agree that the headline is imprecise, and that some posts here have been more conspiracy theory than based on science, but overall, most comments have more to do with giving up microwave popcorn, a "prudent" decision.
I believe that the story will be distorted, misquoted, and improper extrapolations will be made by people who have not read the study, don't understand the methods, results or conclusions.
The study was NOT about microwave popcorn. Unfortunately, people only see things as "good" or "bad". I think I'm going to go microwave some popcorn...
well, it's a good thing I never buy that expensive, horrible tasting popcorn then...
HAHA our vaccines dont work but we wont admit that so we will just blame it on the popcorn, sad!
.....no mention of the cancer viruses that are put in the vaccines? Wonder why.
Maybe the article didn't mention "cancer viruses that are put in vaccines" because there are no cancer viruses in vaccines. Ya think?
umm.... wrong...
I have a wonderful list of all the components of any comercially available vaccine and nowhere does it list "cancer virus." I didn't go to school for 19 years including residency to take care of children so I could inject them with toxins or cancer viruses.
Your comment is wrong on many levels and highly inflammatory. I hope it's soon blocked.
Whatever you do, stop letting your kids eat the bag!
But its so tasty.. those PFCs really add a kick to it!
If they think PFCs are causing diminished antibodies, what else are PFCs doing to us?
"Better living through chemicals," indeed. Thanks Big Chem!
Suggestion... go back to popping popcorn on the stove. I hate the microwaved stuff. It has no flavor.
I think it has too much flavor, none of it a corn taste.
Also, another reason NOT to believe that everything they sell on your grocery store shelves is safe to eat. Don't put things that aren't (really) food in your mouth; didn't your mother teach you that?
Please! Don't tell my girlfriend that!
Promise. ;)
There's protein eventually...
This is directly the fault of the republicans because they work tirelessly to dismantle and hinder the EPA.
And I hug my hot air popper a little bit tighter ...
Yet again, misuse of the work efficacy. Efficacy is the capacity for beneficial change. In this study, they determined what appears to be a result ("had lower immune response").
The correct term would be "effectiveness"!
So what?
Well joemike, normally people who get paid to write for a living are expected to use the language correctly. It's not that hard.
"difficult"
Efficacy is correctly used, it also refers to the effectiveness of vaccines. Apparently, people would rather prentend to know it all instead of actually having knowledge.
PFCs are toxic, especially to kids;
...but...
Fragrant Chemicals are extreme toxic poisons to all humans. These chemicals are known to cause illnesses such as ADHD, schizophrenia, cancer, learning disabilities, hyperactivity, kidney disease, liver problems, and many other health problems.
If you love your family, then do not expose them to Scented dryer sheets (Bounce, etc), Febreze, Scented air freshners, or any other household product that is scented because all these scented things use toxic Fragrant Chemicals.
Professor Anne C. Steinemann has lots of good information on these toxic fragrant chemicals, here is one example:
http://water.washington.edu/outreach/FactSheets/hiddenhazards.pdf
and more links here.
This also includes NON stick coating in pans....TEFLON, FLUORIDE.....egod people need to stop using this crap.
If you are dumb and lazy enough to eat microwave popcorn-you deserve to be poisoned.