The analysis finds it hard to find Chemicals in Mothers and Newborns

Scientists monitor the health effects of only a few hundred of the roughly 40,000 commercially used Chemicals listed in the US Toxic Substances Control Act Inventory. These monitored substances are ones that scientists know how to measure well and can find in the human body.The study used a new screening technology to identify toxic  that were found in human specimens. The study found 109 industrial in the blood of pregnant women and newborns, including 55 Chemicals never-before reported in people.

Tracey J. Woodruff, director of the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment at the University of California San Francisco said the study authors focused on pregnant women and Newborns because prenatal exposure to industrial Chemicals can lead to health problems such as reduced IQ and childhood cancers. The researchers collected the blood samples from 30 pregnant women and their babies’ umbilical cords during delivery.

The scientists analyzed the samples using high-resolution mass spectrometry and detected roughly 35,000 features found patterns of chromatographic peaks and retention times that could correspond to molecules of interest for biomonitoring.Tracey J. Woodruff also said that the researchers wanted to prioritize the that people are most exposed to. So they developed a screening process that winnows down the list of features to several suspected toxic Chemicals.

The process is dependent on a suite of software tools that allow researchers to compare the mass spectra of the  found in blood to databases of high-production-volume chemicals and libraries of chemical formulas. Other 55 Chemicals never reported before in people, the researchers detected 42 “mystery”. The team derived molecular structures but could find no information on what they were used for or what products they were from.