0:00:00.000,0:00:03.000
Penelope Jagessar Chaffer: I was going to ask if there's a doctor in the house.

0:00:03.000,0:00:05.000
No, I'm just joking.

0:00:05.000,0:00:08.000
It's interesting, because it was six years ago

0:00:08.000,0:00:10.000
when I was pregnant with my first child

0:00:10.000,0:00:12.000
that I discovered

0:00:12.000,0:00:14.000
that the most commonly used preservative

0:00:14.000,0:00:16.000
in baby care products

0:00:16.000,0:00:18.000
mimics estrogen

0:00:18.000,0:00:20.000
when it gets into the human body.

0:00:20.000,0:00:22.000
Now it's very easy actually

0:00:22.000,0:00:24.000
to get a chemical compound from products

0:00:24.000,0:00:26.000
into the human body through the skin.

0:00:26.000,0:00:28.000
And these preservatives had been found

0:00:28.000,0:00:30.000
in breast cancer tumors.

0:00:30.000,0:00:32.000
That was the start of my journey

0:00:32.000,0:00:34.000
to make this film, "Toxic Baby."

0:00:34.000,0:00:36.000
And it doesn't take much time

0:00:36.000,0:00:38.000
to discover some really astonishing statistics

0:00:38.000,0:00:40.000
with this issue.

0:00:40.000,0:00:43.000
One is that you and I all have

0:00:43.000,0:00:45.000
between 30 to 50,000 chemicals

0:00:45.000,0:00:47.000
in our bodies

0:00:47.000,0:00:49.000
that our grandparents didn't have.

0:00:49.000,0:00:51.000
And many of these chemicals

0:00:51.000,0:00:54.000
are now linked to the skyrocketing incidents

0:00:54.000,0:00:56.000
of chronic childhood disease

0:00:56.000,0:00:59.000
that we're seeing across industrialized nations.

0:00:59.000,0:01:01.000
I'll show you some statistics.

0:01:01.000,0:01:03.000
So for example, in the United Kingdom,

0:01:03.000,0:01:05.000
the incidence of childhood leukemia

0:01:05.000,0:01:08.000
has risen by 20 percent just in a generation.

0:01:08.000,0:01:11.000
Very similar statistic for childhood cancer in the U.S.

0:01:11.000,0:01:15.000
In Canada, we're now looking at one in 10 Canadian children with asthma.

0:01:15.000,0:01:18.000
That's a four-fold increase.

0:01:18.000,0:01:20.000
Again, similar story around the world.

0:01:20.000,0:01:22.000
In the United States,

0:01:22.000,0:01:24.000
probably the most astonishing statistic

0:01:24.000,0:01:26.000
is a 600 percent increase

0:01:26.000,0:01:29.000
in autism and autistic spectrum disorders

0:01:29.000,0:01:31.000
and other learning disabilities.

0:01:31.000,0:01:33.000
Again, we're seeing that trend

0:01:33.000,0:01:35.000
across Europe, across North America.

0:01:35.000,0:01:37.000
And in Europe,

0:01:37.000,0:01:39.000
there's certain parts of Europe,

0:01:39.000,0:01:41.000
where we're seeing a four-fold increase

0:01:41.000,0:01:44.000
in certain genital birth defects.

0:01:44.000,0:01:46.000
Interestingly, one of those birth defects

0:01:46.000,0:01:49.000
has seen a 200 percent increase in the U.S.

0:01:49.000,0:01:51.000
So a real skyrocketing

0:01:51.000,0:01:53.000
of chronic childhood disease

0:01:53.000,0:01:55.000
that includes other things

0:01:55.000,0:01:57.000
like obesity and juvenile diabetes,

0:01:57.000,0:01:59.000
premature puberty.

0:01:59.000,0:02:01.000
So it's interesting for me,

0:02:01.000,0:02:03.000
when I'm looking for someone who can really talk to me

0:02:03.000,0:02:06.000
and talk to an audience about these things,

0:02:06.000,0:02:09.000
that probably one of the most important people in the world

0:02:09.000,0:02:12.000
who can discuss toxicity in babies

0:02:12.000,0:02:14.000
is expert in frogs.

0:02:14.000,0:02:16.000
(Laughter)

0:02:16.000,0:02:19.000
Tyrone Hayes: It was a surprise to me as well

0:02:19.000,0:02:22.000
that I would be talking about pesticides,

0:02:22.000,0:02:26.000
that I'd be talking about public health,

0:02:26.000,0:02:29.000
because, in fact, I never thought I would do anything useful.

0:02:29.000,0:02:32.000
(Laughter)

0:02:32.000,0:02:35.000
Frogs.

0:02:35.000,0:02:38.000
In fact, my involvement in the whole pesticide issue

0:02:38.000,0:02:40.000
was sort of a surprise as well

0:02:40.000,0:02:43.000
when I was approached by the largest chemical company in the world

0:02:43.000,0:02:45.000
and they asked me if I would evaluate

0:02:45.000,0:02:48.000
how atrazine affected amphibians, or my frogs.

0:02:48.000,0:02:51.000
It turns out, atrazine is the largest selling product

0:02:51.000,0:02:53.000
for the largest chemical company in the world.

0:02:53.000,0:02:55.000
It's the number one contaminant

0:02:55.000,0:02:58.000
of groundwater, drinking water, rain water.

0:02:58.000,0:03:01.000
In 2003, after my studies, it was banned in the European Union,

0:03:01.000,0:03:03.000
but in that same year,

0:03:03.000,0:03:05.000
the United States EPA re-registered the compound.

0:03:05.000,0:03:08.000
We were a bit surprised when we found out

0:03:08.000,0:03:10.000
that when we exposed frogs

0:03:10.000,0:03:13.000
to very low levels of atrazine -- 0.1 parts per billion --

0:03:13.000,0:03:16.000
that it produced animals that look like this.

0:03:16.000,0:03:18.000
These are the dissected gonads of an animal

0:03:18.000,0:03:20.000
that has two testes, two ovaries,

0:03:20.000,0:03:22.000
another large testis, more ovaries,

0:03:22.000,0:03:24.000
which is not normal ...

0:03:24.000,0:03:26.000
(Laughter)

0:03:26.000,0:03:28.000
even for amphibians.

0:03:28.000,0:03:31.000
In some cases, another species like the North American Leopard Frog

0:03:31.000,0:03:34.000
showed that males exposed to atrazine grew eggs in their testes.

0:03:34.000,0:03:36.000
And you can see these large, yolked-up eggs

0:03:36.000,0:03:39.000
bursting through the surface of this male's testes.

0:03:39.000,0:03:42.000
Now my wife tells me, and I'm sure Penelope can as well,

0:03:42.000,0:03:45.000
that there's nothing more painful than childbirth --

0:03:45.000,0:03:48.000
which that I'll never experience, I can't really argue that --

0:03:48.000,0:03:50.000
but I would guess that a dozen chicken eggs in my testicle

0:03:50.000,0:03:53.000
would probably be somewhere in the top five.

0:03:53.000,0:03:55.000
(Laughter)

0:03:55.000,0:03:57.000
In recent studies that we've published,

0:03:57.000,0:03:59.000
we've shown that some of these animals when they're exposed to atrazine,

0:03:59.000,0:04:01.000
some of the males grow up

0:04:01.000,0:04:03.000
and completely become females.

0:04:03.000,0:04:06.000
So these are actually two brothers consummating a relationship.

0:04:06.000,0:04:09.000
And not only do these genetic males mate with other males,

0:04:09.000,0:04:11.000
they actually have the capacity to lay eggs

0:04:11.000,0:04:14.000
even though they're genetic males.

0:04:14.000,0:04:16.000
What we proposed,

0:04:16.000,0:04:18.000
and what we've now generated support for,

0:04:18.000,0:04:20.000
is that what atrazine is doing

0:04:20.000,0:04:22.000
is wreaking havoc causing a hormone imbalance.

0:04:22.000,0:04:24.000
Normally the testes should make testosterone,

0:04:24.000,0:04:26.000
the male hormone.

0:04:26.000,0:04:29.000
But what atrazine does is it turns on an enzyme,

0:04:29.000,0:04:31.000
the machinery if you will, aromatase,

0:04:31.000,0:04:33.000
that converts testosterone into estrogen.

0:04:33.000,0:04:35.000
And as a result, these exposed males

0:04:35.000,0:04:38.000
lose their testosterone, they're chemically castrated,

0:04:38.000,0:04:40.000
and they're subsequently feminized

0:04:40.000,0:04:42.000
because now they're making the female hormone.

0:04:42.000,0:04:45.000
Now this is what brought me to the human-related issues.

0:04:45.000,0:04:47.000
Because it turns out

0:04:47.000,0:04:50.000
that the number one cancer in women, breast cancer,

0:04:50.000,0:04:53.000
is regulated by estrogen and by this enzyme aromatase.

0:04:53.000,0:04:55.000
So when you develop a cancerous cell in your breast,

0:04:55.000,0:04:59.000
aromatase converts androgens into estrogens,

0:04:59.000,0:05:01.000
and that estrogen turns on or promotes

0:05:01.000,0:05:03.000
the growth of that cancer

0:05:03.000,0:05:06.000
so that it turns into a tumor and spreads.

0:05:06.000,0:05:09.000
In fact, this aromatase is so important in breast cancer

0:05:09.000,0:05:12.000
that the latest treatment for breast cancer

0:05:12.000,0:05:14.000
is a chemical called letrozole,

0:05:14.000,0:05:16.000
which blocks aromatase, blocks estrogen,

0:05:16.000,0:05:19.000
so that if you developed a mutated cell, it doesn't grow into a tumor.

0:05:19.000,0:05:21.000
Now what's interesting is, of course,

0:05:21.000,0:05:24.000
that we're still using 80 million pounds of atrazine,

0:05:24.000,0:05:27.000
the number one contaminant in drinking water, that does the opposite --

0:05:27.000,0:05:29.000
turns on aromatase, increases estrogen

0:05:29.000,0:05:31.000
and promotes tumors in rats

0:05:31.000,0:05:35.000
and is associated with tumors, breast cancer, in humans.

0:05:35.000,0:05:37.000
What's interesting is, in fact,

0:05:37.000,0:05:39.000
the same company that sold us 80 million pounds of atrazine,

0:05:39.000,0:05:41.000
the breast cancer promoter,

0:05:41.000,0:05:44.000
now sells us the blocker -- the exact same company.

0:05:44.000,0:05:46.000
And so I find it interesting

0:05:46.000,0:05:48.000
that instead of treating this disease

0:05:48.000,0:05:51.000
by preventing exposure to the chemicals that promote it,

0:05:51.000,0:05:53.000
we simply respond

0:05:53.000,0:05:56.000
by putting more chemicals into the environment.

0:05:56.000,0:05:58.000
PJC: So speaking of estrogen,

0:05:58.000,0:06:01.000
one of the other compounds that Tyrone talks about in the film

0:06:01.000,0:06:04.000
is something called bisphenol A, BPA,

0:06:04.000,0:06:07.000
which has been in the news recently.

0:06:07.000,0:06:09.000
It's a plasticizer.

0:06:09.000,0:06:12.000
It's a compound that's found in polycarbonate plastic,

0:06:12.000,0:06:14.000
which is what baby bottles are made out of.

0:06:14.000,0:06:16.000
And what's interesting about BPA

0:06:16.000,0:06:19.000
is that it's such a potent estrogen

0:06:19.000,0:06:21.000
that it was actually once considered for use

0:06:21.000,0:06:24.000
as a synthetic estrogen in hormone placement therapy.

0:06:24.000,0:06:27.000
And there have been many, many, many studies that have shown

0:06:27.000,0:06:30.000
that BPA leaches from babies' bottles

0:06:30.000,0:06:32.000
into the formula, into the milk,

0:06:32.000,0:06:34.000
and therefore into the babies.

0:06:34.000,0:06:36.000
So we're dosing our babies,

0:06:36.000,0:06:38.000
our newborns, our infants,

0:06:38.000,0:06:40.000
with a synthetic estrogen.

0:06:40.000,0:06:42.000
Now two weeks ago or so,

0:06:42.000,0:06:44.000
the European Union passed a law

0:06:44.000,0:06:46.000
banning the use of BPA

0:06:46.000,0:06:48.000
in babies' bottles and sippy cups.

0:06:48.000,0:06:50.000
And for those of you who are not parents,

0:06:50.000,0:06:52.000
sippy cups are those little plastic things

0:06:52.000,0:06:55.000
that your child graduates to after using bottles.

0:06:55.000,0:06:58.000
But just two weeks before that,

0:06:58.000,0:07:01.000
the U.S. Senate refused to even debate

0:07:01.000,0:07:03.000
the banning of BPA

0:07:03.000,0:07:06.000
in babies' bottles and sippy cups.

0:07:06.000,0:07:08.000
So it really makes you realize

0:07:08.000,0:07:10.000
the onus on parents

0:07:10.000,0:07:12.000
to have to look at this and regulate this and police this

0:07:12.000,0:07:14.000
in their own lives

0:07:14.000,0:07:16.000
and how astonishing that is.

0:07:16.000,0:07:19.000
(Video) PJC: With many plastic baby bottles

0:07:19.000,0:07:22.000
now proven to leak the chemical bisphenol A,

0:07:22.000,0:07:24.000
it really shows how sometimes

0:07:24.000,0:07:26.000
it is only a parent's awareness

0:07:26.000,0:07:30.000
that stands between chemicals and our children.

0:07:30.000,0:07:32.000
The baby bottle scenario proves

0:07:32.000,0:07:35.000
that we can prevent unnecessary exposure.

0:07:35.000,0:07:37.000
However, if we parents are unaware,

0:07:37.000,0:07:39.000
we are leaving our children

0:07:39.000,0:07:42.000
to fend for themselves.

0:07:48.000,0:07:50.000
TH: And what Penelope says here

0:07:50.000,0:07:52.000
is even more true.

0:07:52.000,0:07:55.000
For those of you who don't know, we're in the middle of the sixth mass extinction.

0:07:55.000,0:07:57.000
Scientists agree now.

0:07:57.000,0:07:59.000
We are losing species from the Earth

0:07:59.000,0:08:01.000
faster than the dinosaurs disappeared,

0:08:01.000,0:08:03.000
and leading that loss are amphibians.

0:08:03.000,0:08:05.000
80 percent of all amphibians

0:08:05.000,0:08:07.000
are threatened and in come decline.

0:08:07.000,0:08:09.000
And I believe, many scientists believe

0:08:09.000,0:08:12.000
that pesticides are an important part of that decline.

0:08:12.000,0:08:15.000
In part, amphibians are good indicators and more sensitive

0:08:15.000,0:08:17.000
because they don't have protection from contaminants in the water --

0:08:17.000,0:08:19.000
no eggshells, no membranes

0:08:19.000,0:08:21.000
and no placenta.

0:08:21.000,0:08:24.000
In fact, our invention -- by "our" I mean we mammals --

0:08:24.000,0:08:27.000
one of our big inventions was the placenta.

0:08:27.000,0:08:29.000
But we also start out as aquatic organisms.

0:08:29.000,0:08:31.000
But it turns out that this ancient structure

0:08:31.000,0:08:34.000
that separates us from other animals, the placenta,

0:08:34.000,0:08:36.000
cannot evolve or adapt fast enough

0:08:36.000,0:08:38.000
because of the rate that we're generating new chemicals

0:08:38.000,0:08:40.000
that it's never seen before.

0:08:40.000,0:08:43.000
The evidence of that is that studies in rats, again with atrazine,

0:08:43.000,0:08:46.000
show that the hormone imbalance atrazine generates causes abortion.

0:08:46.000,0:08:49.000
Because maintaining a pregnancy is dependent on hormones.

0:08:49.000,0:08:51.000
Of those rats that don't abort,

0:08:51.000,0:08:53.000
atrazine causes prostate disease

0:08:53.000,0:08:55.000
in the pups so the sons

0:08:55.000,0:08:57.000
are born with an old man's disease.

0:08:57.000,0:08:59.000
Of those that don't abort,

0:08:59.000,0:09:01.000
atrazine causes impaired mammary, or breast, development

0:09:01.000,0:09:03.000
in the exposed daughters in utero,

0:09:03.000,0:09:05.000
so that their breast don't develop properly.

0:09:05.000,0:09:07.000
And as a result, when those rats grow up,

0:09:07.000,0:09:10.000
their pups experience retarded growth and development

0:09:10.000,0:09:13.000
because they can't make enough milk to nourish their pups.

0:09:13.000,0:09:16.000
So the pup you see on the bottom is affected by atrazine

0:09:16.000,0:09:18.000
that its grandmother was exposed to.

0:09:18.000,0:09:21.000
And given the life of many of these chemicals,

0:09:21.000,0:09:24.000
generations, years, dozens of years,

0:09:24.000,0:09:26.000
that means that we right now

0:09:26.000,0:09:28.000
are affecting the health

0:09:28.000,0:09:30.000
of our grandchildren's grandchildren

0:09:30.000,0:09:33.000
by things that we're putting into the environment today.

0:09:33.000,0:09:35.000
And this is not just philosophical, it's already known,

0:09:35.000,0:09:37.000
that chemicals like diethylstilbestrol and estrogen,

0:09:37.000,0:09:39.000
PCBs, DDT

0:09:39.000,0:09:41.000
cross the placenta

0:09:41.000,0:09:43.000
and effectively determine

0:09:43.000,0:09:45.000
the likelihood of developing breast cancer

0:09:45.000,0:09:47.000
and obesity and diabetes

0:09:47.000,0:09:49.000
already when the baby's in the womb.

0:09:49.000,0:09:51.000
In addition to that, after the baby's born,

0:09:51.000,0:09:53.000
our other unique invention as mammals

0:09:53.000,0:09:55.000
is that we nourish our offspring after they're born.

0:09:55.000,0:09:57.000
We already know that chemicals

0:09:57.000,0:09:59.000
like DDT and DES and atrazine

0:09:59.000,0:10:01.000
can also pass over into milk,

0:10:01.000,0:10:03.000
again, affecting our babies

0:10:03.000,0:10:05.000
even after their born.

0:10:06.000,0:10:08.000
PJC: So when Tyrone tells me

0:10:08.000,0:10:11.000
that the placenta is an ancient organ,

0:10:11.000,0:10:13.000
I'm thinking, how do I demonstrate that?

0:10:13.000,0:10:15.000
How do you show that?

0:10:15.000,0:10:17.000
And it's interesting when you make a film like this,

0:10:17.000,0:10:20.000
because you're stuck trying to visualize science

0:10:20.000,0:10:22.000
that there's no visualization for.

0:10:22.000,0:10:25.000
And I have to take a little bit of artistic license.

0:10:30.000,0:10:35.000
(Video) (Ringing)

0:10:35.000,0:10:37.000
Old man: Placenta control.

0:10:37.000,0:10:39.000
What is it?

0:10:39.000,0:10:42.000
Oh what?

0:10:42.000,0:10:45.000
(Snoring)

0:10:45.000,0:10:50.000
(Honk)

0:10:50.000,0:10:54.000
Puffuffuff, what?

0:10:56.000,0:11:00.000
Perflourooctanoic acid.

0:11:03.000,0:11:05.000
Blimey.

0:11:05.000,0:11:08.000
Never heard of it.

0:11:08.000,0:11:12.000
PJC: And neither had I actually

0:11:12.000,0:11:14.000
before I started making this film.

0:11:14.000,0:11:17.000
And so when you realize that chemicals can pass the placenta

0:11:17.000,0:11:20.000
and go into your unborn child,

0:11:20.000,0:11:22.000
it made me start to think,

0:11:22.000,0:11:25.000
what would my fetus say to me?

0:11:25.000,0:11:28.000
What would our unborn children say to us

0:11:28.000,0:11:31.000
when they have an exposure

0:11:31.000,0:11:34.000
that's happening everyday, day after day?

0:11:34.000,0:11:52.000
(Music)

0:11:52.000,0:11:54.000
(Video) Child: Today,

0:11:54.000,0:11:58.000
I had some octyphenols,

0:11:58.000,0:12:01.000
some artificial musks

0:12:01.000,0:12:06.000
and some bisphenol A.

0:12:06.000,0:12:08.000
Help me.

0:12:11.000,0:12:14.000
PJC: It's a very profound notion

0:12:14.000,0:12:16.000
to know that we as women

0:12:16.000,0:12:18.000
are at the vanguard of this.

0:12:18.000,0:12:20.000
This is our issue,

0:12:20.000,0:12:23.000
because we collect these compounds our entire life

0:12:23.000,0:12:26.000
and then we end up dumping it and dumping them

0:12:26.000,0:12:29.000
into our unborn children.

0:12:29.000,0:12:31.000
We are in effect

0:12:31.000,0:12:33.000
polluting our children.

0:12:33.000,0:12:37.000
And this was something that was really brought home to me a year ago

0:12:37.000,0:12:39.000
when I found out I was pregnant

0:12:39.000,0:12:41.000
and the first scan revealed

0:12:41.000,0:12:44.000
that my baby had a birth defect

0:12:44.000,0:12:46.000
associated with exposure

0:12:46.000,0:12:48.000
to estrogenic chemicals in the womb

0:12:48.000,0:12:50.000
and the second scan

0:12:50.000,0:12:52.000
revealed no heartbeat.

0:12:52.000,0:12:55.000
So my child's death, my baby's death,

0:12:55.000,0:12:58.000
really brought home the resonance of what I was trying to make in this film.

0:12:58.000,0:13:00.000
And it's sometimes a weird place

0:13:00.000,0:13:03.000
when the communicator becomes part of the story,

0:13:03.000,0:13:05.000
which is not what you originally intend.

0:13:05.000,0:13:08.000
And so when Tyrone talks about

0:13:08.000,0:13:11.000
the fetus being trapped in a contaminated environment,

0:13:11.000,0:13:15.000
this is my contaminated environment.

0:13:15.000,0:13:18.000
This is my toxic baby.

0:13:18.000,0:13:21.000
And that's something

0:13:21.000,0:13:24.000
that's just profound and sad,

0:13:24.000,0:13:26.000
but astonishing

0:13:26.000,0:13:29.000
because so many of us don't actually know this.

0:13:31.000,0:13:33.000
TH: One of this things that's exciting and appropriate

0:13:33.000,0:13:35.000
for me to be here at TEDWomen

0:13:35.000,0:13:39.000
is that, well, I think it was summed up best last night at dinner

0:13:39.000,0:13:41.000
when someone said, "Turn to the man at your table and tell them,

0:13:41.000,0:13:44.000
'When the revolution starts, we've got your back.'"

0:13:44.000,0:13:46.000
The truth is, women,

0:13:46.000,0:13:49.000
you've had our back on this issue for a very long time,

0:13:49.000,0:13:51.000
starting with Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring"

0:13:51.000,0:13:53.000
to Theo Colborn's "Our Stolen Future"

0:13:53.000,0:13:55.000
to Sandra Steingraber's books

0:13:55.000,0:13:58.000
"Living Downstream" and "Having Faith."

0:13:58.000,0:14:01.000
And perhaps it's the connection to our next generation --

0:14:01.000,0:14:04.000
like my wife and my beautiful daughter here about 13 years ago --

0:14:04.000,0:14:06.000
perhaps it's that connection

0:14:06.000,0:14:08.000
that makes women activists

0:14:08.000,0:14:10.000
in this particular area.

0:14:10.000,0:14:12.000
But for the men here, I want to say

0:14:12.000,0:14:14.000
it's not just women and children that are at risk.

0:14:14.000,0:14:17.000
And the frogs that are exposed to atrazine,

0:14:17.000,0:14:19.000
the testes are full of holes and spaces,

0:14:19.000,0:14:21.000
because the hormone imbalance,

0:14:21.000,0:14:23.000
instead of allowing sperm to be generated,

0:14:23.000,0:14:25.000
such as in the testis here,

0:14:25.000,0:14:27.000
the testicular tubules end up empty

0:14:27.000,0:14:29.000
and fertility goes down by as much as 50 percent.

0:14:29.000,0:14:32.000
It's not just my work in amphibians,

0:14:32.000,0:14:35.000
but similar work has been shown in fish in Europe,

0:14:35.000,0:14:38.000
holes in the testes and absence of sperm in reptiles in a group from South America

0:14:38.000,0:14:40.000
and in rats, an absence of sperm

0:14:40.000,0:14:43.000
in the testicular tubules as well.

0:14:43.000,0:14:45.000
And of course, we don't do these experiments in humans,

0:14:45.000,0:14:47.000
but just by coincidence,

0:14:47.000,0:14:49.000
my colleague has shown

0:14:49.000,0:14:51.000
that men who have low sperm count, low semen quality

0:14:51.000,0:14:54.000
have significantly more atrazine in their urine.

0:14:54.000,0:14:56.000
These are just men who live

0:14:56.000,0:14:58.000
in an agricultural community.

0:14:58.000,0:15:00.000
Men who actually work in agriculture

0:15:00.000,0:15:03.000
have much higher levels of atrazine.

0:15:03.000,0:15:05.000
And the men who actually apply atrazine

0:15:05.000,0:15:08.000
have even more atrazine in their urine,

0:15:08.000,0:15:11.000
up to levels that are 24,000 times what we know to be active

0:15:11.000,0:15:14.000
are present in the urine of these men.

0:15:14.000,0:15:17.000
Of course, most of them, 90 percent are Mexican, Mexican-American.

0:15:17.000,0:15:19.000
And it's not just atrazine they're exposed to.

0:15:19.000,0:15:22.000
They're exposed to chemicals like chloropicrin,

0:15:22.000,0:15:24.000
which was originally used as a nerve gas.

0:15:24.000,0:15:26.000
And many of these workers

0:15:26.000,0:15:28.000
have life expectancies of only 50.

0:15:28.000,0:15:31.000
It shouldn't come to any surprise that the things that happen in wildlife

0:15:31.000,0:15:33.000
are also a warning to us,

0:15:33.000,0:15:35.000
just like Rachel Carson and others have warned.

0:15:35.000,0:15:38.000
As evident in this slide from Lake Nabugabo in Uganda,

0:15:38.000,0:15:40.000
the agricultural runoff from this crop,

0:15:40.000,0:15:42.000
which goes into these buckets,

0:15:42.000,0:15:45.000
is the sole source of drinking, cooking and bathing water for this village.

0:15:45.000,0:15:47.000
Now if I told the men in this village

0:15:47.000,0:15:49.000
that the frogs have pour immune function

0:15:49.000,0:15:51.000
and eggs developing in their testes,

0:15:51.000,0:15:53.000
the connection between environmental health and public health

0:15:53.000,0:15:55.000
would be clear.

0:15:55.000,0:15:58.000
You would not drink water that you knew was having this kind of impact

0:15:58.000,0:16:00.000
on the wildlife that lived in it.

0:16:00.000,0:16:02.000
The problem is, in my village, Oakland,

0:16:02.000,0:16:04.000
in most of our villages,

0:16:04.000,0:16:06.000
we don't see that connection.

0:16:06.000,0:16:08.000
We turn on the faucet, the water comes out, we assume it's safe,

0:16:08.000,0:16:11.000
and we assume that we are masters of our environment,

0:16:11.000,0:16:14.000
rather than being part of it.

0:16:14.000,0:16:16.000
PJC: So it doesn't take much to realize

0:16:16.000,0:16:19.000
that actually this is an environmental issue.

0:16:19.000,0:16:22.000
And I kept thinking over and over again

0:16:22.000,0:16:24.000
this question.

0:16:24.000,0:16:27.000
We know so much about global warming and climate change,

0:16:27.000,0:16:29.000
and yet, we have no concept

0:16:29.000,0:16:31.000
of what I've been calling internal environmentalism.

0:16:31.000,0:16:33.000
We know what we're putting out there,

0:16:33.000,0:16:35.000
we have a sense of those repercussions,

0:16:35.000,0:16:37.000
but we are so ignorant of this sense

0:16:37.000,0:16:40.000
of what happens when we put things, or things are put

0:16:40.000,0:16:42.000
into our bodies.

0:16:42.000,0:16:44.000
And it's my feeling

0:16:44.000,0:16:46.000
and it's my urging being here

0:16:46.000,0:16:48.000
to know that, as we women move forward

0:16:48.000,0:16:50.000
as the communicators of this,

0:16:50.000,0:16:53.000
but also as the ones who carry that burden

0:16:53.000,0:16:56.000
of carrying the children, bearing the children,

0:16:56.000,0:16:59.000
we hold most of the buying power in the household,

0:16:59.000,0:17:02.000
is that it's going to be us moving forward

0:17:02.000,0:17:05.000
to carry the work of Tyrone and other scientists around the world.

0:17:05.000,0:17:07.000
And my urging is

0:17:07.000,0:17:09.000
that when we think about environmental issues

0:17:09.000,0:17:13.000
that we remember that it's not just about melting glaciers and ice caps,

0:17:13.000,0:17:15.000
but it's also about our children as well.

0:17:15.000,0:17:17.000
Thank you.

0:17:17.000,0:17:27.000
(Applause)