Costing the Earth

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Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

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Costing the Earth: My Toxic Cocktail

My Toxic Cocktail

BBC Radio 4 - Costing the Earth, My Toxic Cocktail

Anna Turns finds out how synthetic chemicals are making their way into our bodies.

Anna Turns investigates the synthetic chemicals which are in her own body - from pesticides to flame retardants. She asks how they got there and whether it matters.

We are all surrounded by synthetic chemicals in our everyday lives - from pesticide residues in food to chemicals used in the manufacture of household products - but most of us are not aware that they also make their way into our bodies. In this programme, environmental journalist Anna Turns investigates her own 'chemical body burden' - the amount of persistent, synthetic pollutants that have accumulated inside her system. A blood test shows her that traces of pesticides which were banned before she was even born can still be detected in her body. Analysis of the contents of her vacuum cleaner reveals that chemicals used to make furniture and electrical goods more fire-resistant are there too. Anna goes around her house, room by room, identifying the key sources of chemicals, and asking how they've travelled from the carpets and cleaning products into her own body. She talks to chemists and environmental scientists and asks what the threat to human health may be, and whether it matters that we now all carry around our own toxic cocktail.

Produced by Emma Campbell

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Costing the Earth

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