Raising Happy Healthy Children…Naturally!
I just love Mike Adams! Can everyone relate?
My husband tells me I have a hypersensitive sense of smell but I think its ONLY to chemicals. Perfumes, fake aromatherapy candles, etc…..all make me tense up (among other lovely things like headaches, itchiness, watery eyes). If I’m suddenly in close quarters with someone who is doused in perfume/cologne, you can bet that ALL I’m thinking about is how to get away FAST.
Toxic Perfume Lady (comic)
I’m thinking its a really good thing that the media has recently been focusing on Bisphenol A, pthalates and PBDE’s. If you’ve not had a chance to glance at the news lately, bottom line is that these chemicals are used in a variety of every day products and are proving to be a burden to our bodies, especially our little ones. Bisphenol A is used in hard plastic, think baby bottles. Its also used in the plastic that lines food cans. PBDE’s are flame retardants and used in TV’s, sofas, mattresses. Pthalates are used not only in cosmetics but are the main softener used in polyvinyl chloride (think soft plastic….like baby toys).
All of these chemicals are labeled “endocrine disrupters” as they can block natural hormone functions and they have been shown to cause genetic changes in the reproduction system (low sperm count, egg production disruption, changes in breast/testicular tissue). Endocrine disrupters are the cause of the sex changes that we’ve seen in amphibians and fish. JUST what you want to be experimenting on your bodies, heh?
A recent collaborative of environment groups across the country tested a small group of volunteers representing a cross section of the population (ranging in age from 12 to 50). All were found to have these three chemicals in their bodies. This small monitering mimics the results of a recent CDC study of over 2,500, where 92% were found to have Bisphenol A in their urine.
One of the things that has always driven me bonkers about this chemical issue is that the responses we get from the powers that be are always singular. Meaning, they respond to the outcry against each individual chemical as if it is not really the sum of our entire exposure that is important. No one is regulating or calculating our entire body burden and no one who markets chemicals in any way (from personal care to plastics) is stepping up to take responsibility.
Anyhow, back to my point of the recent media attention. I think its important that we don’t let this topic die. That we continue to talk and blog about it and thereby keep it active enough for the news media to report on.
Here’s a quiz you can take to get an idea of YOUR body burden. http://extras.insidebayarea.com/bodyburden/bodyburden.html
This is one of the best articles that I have read on the subject of vaccines.
This is one of those things that I just can’t get past. As many know, on this natural living path, there are many times that you have to weigh out what is important to you. Its near impossible to eliminate all toxins and/or chemicals that we are exposed to. Propylene glycol in ice cream and Entenmann’s is one of those things for me that I can’t get out of my head enough to be able to consume them (not that I eat them anyhow).
The chemicals in personal care products is another for me. Let me show a statement made by EWG recently and see if it has as much impact on you as it did on me;
98% of all products contain one of more ingredients never publicly assessed for safety.
Not only that,
More than 750 personal care products sold in the U.S. violate industry safety standards or cosmetic safety standards in other industrialized countries.
EWG states the following in regards to their massive and extensive analysis of ingredients in over 23,000 products sold in the U.S. ;
We found nearly 400 products sold in the U.S. containing chemicals that are prohibited for use in cosmetics in other countries, and over 400 products containing ingredients that cosmetic industry safety panels have found unsafe when used as directed on product labels, including the U.S.-based Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) and the International Fragrance Association.
If you’ve read through the HP site’s space on Personal Care products, you know my stand on this already. There’s so much tossed at us that we all just assume is safe because otherwise it wouldn’t be permitted to be sold to us. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The cosmeceutical industry is largely a SELF REGULATED industry. Do your research on those ingredients you are putting on your family. Will it kill them? Probably not but it certainly isn’t helping them any.
There’s really not alot out there in the natural arena that has what I would consider acceptable “natural” ingredients. SLS is a common ingredient in most natural bubble baths which is safe according to The American College of Toxicology as long as its use is brief, discontinuous and rinsed thoroughly from the skin. Hmm….sounds like the exact opposite of bubble bath, heh?
Anyhow, we started using the Children’s Shampoo as Bubble Bath! It works really well (as long as I force the tap to shoot the water out with more force by holding my hand on half of the faucet) and is quite inexpensive if you consider how much natural bubble bath WITH SLS costs.
Remember when this first hit a few years ago? You’d think something would have been done about it by now. Think again. Toy jewelry purchased by investigators in MA found items with lead levels 1800 times higher than is considered safe.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has begun
testing for excessive levels of formaldehyde in a range of clothing,
following alarming findings by the New Zealand media.
Scientists from New Zealand consumer affairs program Target showed that
some woollen and cotton clothes imported from China contained up to 900
times the acceptable level of formaldehyde.
Formaldehyde is commonly used in the production of textiles and clothing.
Contact with residual of the chemical can cause short-term symptoms such
as skin and respiratory irritations. Long-term health affects from
excessive exposure to formaldehyde can be more serious, as has it has been
classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a known
carcinogen. Continue reading ‘ACCC tests clothing for carcinogens’
The FDA has found in tests of canned infant formula that the plastic linings of the cans are leeching Bisphenol A into the formula IN MUCH HIGHER LEVELS (according to EWG) THAN FOUND TO CAUSE SERIOUS ADVERSE AFFECTS IN ANIMAL TESTS.
There is a string of corruption following the use of this chemical…read on……AND PASS IT ON!!!!!!!
A group of professional housecleaners in the Boston area got together and started a co-op to make their own environmentally friendly and safe house cleaners. Cool!
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=07-P13-00024&segmentID=4