Each day, you and I and all of the other pets and people in this country are exposed to hundreds of chemicals. Many of those have never been tested for safety, and some of them have been shown to cause cancer, developmental problems, and other health problems. Those chemicals can make it into our bodies through the air we breathe, the food and water we eat and drink, and the products that humans use to keep themselves, us, and our houses clean. No one has studied what happens to people (let alone pets!) when they're exposed to all kinds of chemicals all the time. By looking at blood and urine samples, scientists can see how much of which chemicals are in our bodies. What they find is called body burden.

You'd think so—I sure used to—but it turns out they aren't. Of the 80,000 or so different chemicals being made today, fewer than 10 percent have been assessed for safety by any publicly accountable agency. The nation's only toxic chemical regulation law, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), is over 30 years old and doesn't do much to make sure that chemicals are safe. Instead of chemical companies having to prove that chemicals are safe before they can be used, consumers have to show evidence that a chemical is harmful after it's already done the damage! Pets for the Environment thinks that the government ought to enact toxic chemical reform legislation to make sure chemicals are safe before they're in our homes.

A volunteer veterinary clinic took blood and urine samples from 20 dogs and 40 cats that generously volunteered. (Dogs and cats don't give as much blood as humans, so it took a team effort!) The samples were combined according to chemical groups and sent off to a lab to be tested. Scientists used body burden testing to check the samples for 70 chemicals, of which they found 45 in cats and 35 in dogs. All told, 43 of those chemicals were found in higher levels in pets than in humans. You can read EWG's report about the pollution in pets here.

Some scientists are fond of saying that "the dose makes the poison," but in fact some recent studies have found chemical effects at low doses and none when higher doses are tested. Pharmaceutical drugs are effective at very low concentrations in human bodies, so there is no reason to believe that the same concentrations of mercury, lead or hormone disrupting chemicals are safe. On top of that, chemicals are tested for safety individually, but we're not exposed to just one chemical. No one has looked at the effects of the complex mixtures of chemicals to which we're exposed.

In general, laboratories do not conduct body burden testing for individual humans (let alone animals), and people must be part of a scientific study to be tested. The scientists cannot use the results to diagnose illnesses or make specific recommendations an individual pet's care. Your best bet is to take simple steps to reduce your exposure, and join us in the fight for better health protections for all living creatures!

Pets’ exposures to toxic chemicals can come from food, water, beds, or chemicals in consumer products that end up in dust or dirt we ingest while grooming. These can be hard sources to avoid, but there are ways to reduce your exposure. For starters, drink filtered tap water, and get your humans to take off their shoes when they come in the door. We've got a whole checklist of tips you can use to protect pets from toxic chemicals.

If only buying safer products was that easy! Unfortunately, "natural" is just a marketing term. It could mean anything, like that a product contains a small amount of essential oil in a sea of synthetic chemicals. Or it could mean nothing at all, because the fact is, no one's checking. Even if a product is 100 percent natural, it isn't necessarily safe—after all, poison ivy is natural, and you sure wouldn't want to buy that. Have your owner choose products based on information from trusted sources. Research ingredients, and know which ones to avoid. The key to buying safer products is to be a skeptical consumer.

This is a tricky question. Science is getting closer and closer to making sure chemicals are safe without testing on animals. Simple tests, for things like irritation, can often be accomplished with computer modeling and other non-animal methods. But it will be years, maybe even decades, before alternative tests can reliably predict more complex problems like endocrine disruption and developmental toxicity. These are problems that have big effects on people, pets, and wildlife, too. To make sure chemicals are safe for all of us, we must keep running animal tests until alternative tests are more reliable. In the meantime, we should focus on getting the most information and the best health-protective policy with as few animal tests as possible. A few simple changes to the way things are done can minimize animal suffering. For example, if all companies made their test results public, we wouldn't have to test the same things over and over, and tests should be designed to get the most information from the smallest possible number of animals. Certain particularly cruel tests are no longer necessary, and by funding the development of alternative tests we can look forward to a day when no animal testing is needed at all. (For more information, read EWG's FAQ on animal testing.)

Sad, but true: even wild animals are affected by chemical pollution. High levels of pesticides, fire retardants, plasticizers and other chemicals have been found in everything from birds to bears to fish. Scientists have seen health effects in those animals that are likely connected to their chemical body burden. Many toxic chemicals concentrate as they go up the food chain in the animal kingdom, meaning bigger animals often have exponentially higher levels. Wild animals don't have human owners to protect them, which is another reason why we need to make sure chemicals are safe before they make it into the environment.

Scientists have been conducting body burden tests on humans for a while now, and what they've found isn't pretty. We're all exposed to these chemicals, and by fighting for legislation to help protect pets, you'll be helping to protect humans and wild animals too. Environmental Working Group, the organization that helped launch Pets for the Environment, has information on the pollution in people, and lots of tips to help humans reduce their exposure to toxic chemicals.

Unfortunately, we can't answer that question right now. There's still too much research left to do before we'll know which brands and products are safest. What we can tell you is what materials and ingredients to be on the lookout for. Avoid pet food with the chemical preservatives BHA, BHT and exothyquin, and anything that lists "by-products" on the label. Don't use clay kitty litter, and stay away from PVC playthings, which can leach phthalates. For more tips like these, check out Eddie's Healthy Pet Tips and sign up for the Pets for the Environment eNewsletter!

There are lots of ways you can help!

• Stay informed: Sign up for Eddie's newsletter and we'll keep you posted with tips and action alerts
• Play it safe: Use our simple tips to help reduce your exposure to toxic chemicals
• Join the fight: Make a donation and get a Pets for the Environment collar tag
• Spread the word: Send your friends an e-card to tell them about the campaign