Toxic metals turning up in food, study finds

Updated Mon. May. 5 2003 8:17 AM ET




Toxic metals turning up in food, study finds



CTV.ca News Staff

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Environmental Defence Canada examined unpublished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.