Study Finds Nurses Exposed to Dangerous Toxin Levels

They wash and disinfect their hands up to 100 or more times a day, with chemical-laced cleansers. They are exposed to housekeeping chemicals, latex, anesthetic gases, and radiation. The people who take care of us when we're unable to...nurses...may have some of the highest toxin levels of any occupation.

According to the Environmental Work Group (EWG), a study recently showed that nurses who were exposed to housekeeping chemicals, drug residue, radiation, and other toxic substances reported higher rates of miscarriages, cancers, and birth defects.

And it doesn't affect only our caregivers: it affects their offspring as well. The study also showed a 36% higher cancer rate among their children, even though the government does regulate the amount of radiation doses for pregnant nurses.

But just regulating it doesn't appear to be enough: children born to nurses reporting high exposures to these chemicals (at least once a week for nine months) were up to two times more likely to be born with a congenital defect than children born to nurses with low or no exposures to these agents, and up to nine times more likely to suffer from musculoskeletal defects at birth.

Disconcerting? Here are some more poisonous points to ponder: nurses get a double-dose of toxins. "What do you mean by a 'double-dose'?" you might ask. The same group, EWG, conducted studies on average Americans and found the presence of 469 chemicals in the blood, urine, and breast milk of 94 test subjects. These contaminants are found in the regular food, air, tap water and house dust we inhale and ingest every day. We also absorb chemicals through the skin. Nurses not only fall into this category, but they appear to be at at least a "double-risk" because of their work exposure to these toxins, plus those found in the health care environment.

Is anything being done?

Well, yes, and no. There is a growing awareness of the problem, and several groups, like EWG and the American Nurses Association have started a knowledge-based campaign. But currently, no safety testing for nurses is required. And while some health care products, like chemicals and drugs, have been tested for safety, that's not so for industrial chemicals used by consumers and found in people everywhere.

In the meantime, it would seem prudent that health-care workers, especially the most hands-on employees (nurses, CNAs, and nurses' assistants) go through a comprehensive detox program. This can be done relatively inexpensively and very effectively using a breakthrough mineral called zeolite.

In its liquid form, it is ingested tastelessly into the body and traps toxins, free radicals, chemical traces, and yes, even viruses. Nothing could benefit our health care workers more!

No one may know the full scope of this troubling outcome for years. Do you know a nurse or other hands-on healthcare worker? Show him or her this article. This time, it's our turn to do the care-taking!