A disturbing story came to light this week, from CNN's Planet In Peril series. Our children are being exposed to such high levels of industrial chemicals, that studies are showing many of them to have up to seven times greater levels in their blood than their parents. Think about that for a minute. If their levels are this high now...How high do you think they will be by the time they are adults?
With so many cancers and chronic illnesses being blamed on environmental causes...How sick do you think these children might be by the time they are parents? How many might be unable to be parents? We are talking about chemicals that are known carcinogens, and known to be in products we and our children are using every day. It's a much larger problem than I had ever realized...especially for our children.
Of course, we can not be sure how these exposures will affect our children's future health, only time will tell. But, if these studies are any indication, the future is very troubling.
This is from a CNN article on these recent studies...
"We are in an epidemic of environmentally mediated disease among American children today," he said. "Rates of asthma, childhood cancers, birth defects and developmental disorders have exponentially increased, and it can't be explained by changes in the human genome. So what has changed? All the chemicals we're being exposed to."
See a three minute video from CNN here.
When I think about all of the soft teething toys that I gave to my children to play with (and chew on) over the years, not even thinking to question what chemicals they might be absorbing...I wonder what harm these toys may have caused them, or will cause them in the future? To think that we (parents), are actually unknowingly poisoning our own children, because manufacturers are being aloud to use toxic chemicals in toys, bottles, soaps, and more...it just seems wrong. How can this be aloud to happen? How long will it be allowed to happen? How many children will be harmed before something will be done?
This post "Sipping Bisphenol-A", is from The Cleaner Plate Club...
A while ago I wrote about toxic baby bottles — specifically, baby bottles that leach bisphenol A, a hormone disruptor that is associated with cancers, impaired immune function, early onset of puberty, obesity, diabetes, and hyperactivity, among other problems. Although the bisphenol A scare is relevant to anyone consuming food and drink from plastic, it was the bottles that most troubled me. Before that post, I’d been regularly using baby bottles that leach the stuff, according to the Guide to Safer Plastics. But after that post? I went ahead and ordered glass baby bottles from here. (In case they’re sold out, as they’re selling out everywhere, you can also order them here. And here. And here.
Even more sad is...These chemicals (see some of them here) are in so many products, that they are almost impossible to avoid. And, there is no requirement for any chemicals to be proven safe before they are used in the products we use every day.
From Cynthia's Interests...
Phthalates are chemical substances that make PVC plastic soft and flexible. They are widely used in products such as food wrappings, vinyl shower curtains, and cosmetics. They are also used in soft plastic toys and other baby products, such as teething rings and rattles. Phthalates can leach out of plastic over time.
Earlier this month I did a post on "The Environmental Risks of Breast Cancer", which was the outcome of a telephone conference I participated in through Pure Prevention. Although the focus was on breast cancer, this post also provides a lot of information and links on these industrial chemicals...
An estimated 100,000 synthetic chemicals have been registered for use in the United States in the last 40 years, but fewer than 10 percent of them have been fully tested for their effects on our health. Because many of these chemicals accumulate in body fat and remain in breast tissue for decades, every woman, man and child now carries synthetic chemicals in their bodies—including some that have been found to cause mammary tumors.
My earlier post also touches on the toxic affects of chemicals in household cleaners, and how to make your own non-toxic cleaners at home. At Crazy Aunt Purl, there is a post on her experiences with cleaning non-toxic(ish)...
Mostly I wanted to know if I could get the same level of cleaning out of natural or "green" cleaners as I do with my heavy duty chemical cleansers. Then I started to think back to my great-grandma and her little farmhouse out in Blanco, Texas. She used white vinegar on windows and plain soapy water on everything else. Her house smelled like lemon and fresh air, it was spic 'n span with never a trace of dust anywhere. I don't remember a single cleaning product in her house, aside from soap flakes and vinegar and no one ever got sick from not having enough antibacterial cleaning chemicals.
So...How worried are you about the affects of these industrial chemicals on our children? Have you already noticed medical problems in your child, that may be caused by some of these chemicals? Do you wish the government would get involved and ban some of these toxic chemicals from products? I'm very interested in what other moms think about this hidden danger to our children.
Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at CatherineBlogs.com and The Political Voices of Women
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