The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) has put out a call for Greater Vancouver women from India, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong for a new health study about exposure to chemicals that can harm women and their growing babies.
Dubbed SEED (Study of Newcomer Women and Developmental Toxicants), the study will explore how things like food, everyday household work, cultural practices and hobbies expose reproductive-age, new-immigrant women from South and East Asia to toxicants.
Heavy metals like mercury, lead and cadmium can be found in low levels in foods, like fish, organ meat and candies; traditional medicines and treatments; personal-care items; and cinnabar, which is used in vermillion paint by Indo-Canadian women to indicate their married status.
Over time, regular exposure to such products can cause heavy metals to build up in a woman’s body and pass to her unborn children, leading to slowed growth and brain development, according to BCCDC.
Adult women born outside Canada tend to have higher levels of reproductive and developmental toxicants in their bodies than women born in Canada, according to the centre, and studies have shown that both Asian women and their children may be at higher risk for exposure to mercury.
The SEED study will assess newcomer women’s blood and urine for levels of mercury, lead, cadmium and other toxicants.
Reducing these dangerous chemicals in pregnant and looking-to-become pregnant newcomer women will help prevent future health risks to children during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Besides a blood and urine sample, participation in the study involves completing an hour-and-a-half, in-person survey about health, diet, everyday product use and exposures.
Participants will receive $50 and will be sent their personal blood toxicant results.
To participate in the study, women must be between 19 and 45 years old; have arrived in Canada one to five years ago directly from India, China, Taiwan or Hong Kong; be either less than 16 weeks pregnant OR not have been pregnant for at least the past eight months and not breastfeeding; speak English, Punjabi, Hindi, Mandarin or Cantonese; and live in the Greater Vancouver area.
For more information, phone 604-707-2529.
