New report asks "Is It In Us?" 

Most people think laws protect us from products and pollution that hurts our health and environment, but a new Environment Illinois report confirms that this simply isn’t true. In November, Environment Illinois released the results of a national biomonitoring project, which tested thirty-five Americans, including five Illinoisans, and found toxic industrial chemicals in the bodies of every person tested. Human and animal studies link these chemicals—bisphenol A, phthalates, and PBDEs—to birth defects, developmental disabilities, leaning disabilities, cancer, and other health harms.

People’s exposure to toxic chemicals from the products they use everyday—like food cans, baby bottles, cosmetics, and children’s toys—is a failure of our nation’s chemical safety policy. Environment Illinois is working to maintain Illinois’s leadership among states in adopting commons sense solutions—like phasing out mercury and PBDEs.

Our report finding toxic chemicals in the bodies of all of the Illinoisans we tested made the cover of the Chicago Sun-Times.