United Nations Radio

Ed Begley Jr

Chemicals used in industry and agriculture often have unintended effects on our bodies. The UN Commission on Sustainable Development is currently discussing how to achieve sound management of chemicals worldwide. A UN Campaign called Safe Planet has invited public figures to volunteer to have their bodies tested and make their personal chemical "body burdens" public, to raise global awareness of the need for action on the threats posed by hazardous chemicals and wastes. Jocelyne Sambira spoke to Safe Planet Campaign Supporter and actor Ed Begley Jr.

Duration: 3'51"

BEGLEY JR: I'm a man who's 60 years of age now, and I'm a Baby Boomer: you know, one of the people after World War Two who started to live a modern life in this sea of new chemistry. There's been a lot of chemistry around for many years and we depend on much of it. But suddenly we were getting exposed to percoethylene a lot because we're doing more dry cleaning, we're sleeping on a polyurethane mattress, and we're pumping gas with benzene and ethylene dibromide in it, and pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and there was a lot of chemistry that was new to our bodies. And so mine is the first generation that really is affected by it a great deal their whole lives. So I wanted to take part in this Body Burden Test to see how many chemicals remained in my body from early exposures that is foreign to a normal body.

SAMBIRA: Do you feel a bit anxious?

BEGLEY JR: No! I've led a very healthy lifestyle in many ways. I started to avoid toxics quite regularly in 1970. I started to use non-toxic cleaners, I became a vegetarian, I stopped eating red meat then, I did a lot of things that might count in my favour. I was quite vigilant about many toxic things I could quantify, but there's a lot I can't quantify. How much flame retardant have I been exposed to? I have no way of knowing.

SAMBIRA: What is flame retardant?

BEGLEY JR: It is something they put in garments, they put in carpeting, they put in many different materials, to prevent fires. It comes with the best of intentions. They want to prevent fires, people die from fires, so I understand why they do it. Fire marshals and others, insurance companies and everybody promoted the use of flame retardants so kids aren't dying in flammable nightwear. But is there another way? Can we do it without those chemicals which do have an effect on our body? Is there another way to make things less flammable without this chemical? Those are the kind of questions that we're asking. Can we live without Saran wrap and disposable cameras and dandelion-free lawns? I think we can definitely do that. Can we live without flame retardant? I'd like to go down that path and see if we can do that-and homes and garments will still be safe.

SAMBIRA: In your job do you encounter a lot of chemicals also, and toxins?

BEGLEY JR: Yeah. The film industry has been an industry that celebrates excess for many years. So I in 1970 and many years thereafter have tried to do things differently: to not ride in the limos, to not waste things on the set, to try to get them to be less toxic on the set. What is that you want to put in my hair to remove the glue? No! Let's not use that! That's toxic, that's acetone! Let's use something else to get the stuff that you've put in my hair...I've tried on the set in every way that I had control to get them to avoid toxic chemicals.

SAMBIRA: You can inspire a lot of people with your story, but what can you do in terms of getting governments to be accountable?

BEGLEY JR: That's the challenge: to get government to take on a leadership role in this and to move us away from so many toxic chemicals that we don't need. There's so many that we do need, of course, but what about the ones that are non-essential? A perfect example years ago was Alar, a chemical that's a dangerous chemical, it is potentially cancer causing, and all it did was make apples look better, made them more uniform, made them prettier. It doesn't kill any pests. And so that was a wise move, I think, taking Alar away from apple farming. And we have perfectly wonderful apples now that people buy. Apple orchards are thriving and they don't use Alar anymore. So that's the trick: to begin to get rid of the chemicals we do not need and to move towards a less toxic environment in every way and stick with good chemistry. There's plenty of good chemistry going on out there, green chemistry and things that are quite beneficial, and stick with that.

US Actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr. speaking to Jocelyne Sambira.