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« Synthetic chemicals: The unfortunate predicament | Main | Tell Clorox: Take back the filter! »

April 17, 2008

EWG pet health study spurs launch of new organization

Ed. note: This post comes to us from a friend and colleague of ours, Eddie. For more of his work, visit Pets for the Environment.

Let's say, just for the sake of example, that you were a dog. Or a cat, if you prefer (although I can't imagine why you would). You'd spend your days lazing about, taking naps, playing outside, and eating treats. Humans would pat your head and tell you how cute you looked.

Sounds like a pretty neat life, right? Lighthearted, carefree, simple. . . I bet you're a little jealous.

Well, I thought it was pretty neat too, until I found out that pets are full of toxic chemicals. And that really burns my brisket, because see, I am a dog.

EWG took samples from 20 dogs and 40 cats to test for toxic chemicals in our bodies, and I'm one of those dogs. They found 48 of the 70 chemicals they looked for, including PCBs, PBDEs, phthalates, and heavy metals, and lots of other stuff. In fact, we were more polluted with 43 of the chemicals they found than most humans are! Scientists think that other cats and dogs (and birds and lizards and fish and rabbits) have the same chemicals in them. Humans call it body burden. I call it really lousy.

It turns out we're all exposed to this stuff every day, in lots of different ways. There's pollution in the air and water and chemicals in the housedust, on the carpet and the couch, and probably even in our food. Humans created all these chemicals, and now they might be making us sick!

That's why we pets have decided to step in. We've formed our own organization, and we're calling on humans to clean up the mess they've made. It's time for the humans' government to pass chemical safety standards that will keep all of us, pets and people, safe and healthy.

In the meantime, we're finding tips for keeping pets healthy. So if there's an eco-pet in your household, send them on over to Pets for the Environment. We need all the paws we can get!

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