10 Americans

This is a great presentation by the President of the EWG, Ken Cook.
The risk of Cancer in the United States is higher than any other country in the world. Invest a few minutes to watch this video. For the health and safety of your family – it’s eye opening.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

3 Reasons to stop using antibacterial wipes or soaps

This post is from Change Becomes Change – it resonated with me and wanted to share it with you…

When my first baby was born, I was often called a germaphobe – for very good reasons that I won‘t even attempt to deny. Before we even brought him home from the hospital, every sink in the house was outfitted with some sweet-smelling antibacterial soap from Bath n’ Body Works. Our diaper bag was filled with antibacterial wipes, along with both cars, all purses and the nursery. We encouraged the use of a bink at indoor play places like our children’s museum so that he couldn’t put germ covered toys or fingers in his mouth. And as he got older, we had our own little mats to put down at restaurants (after scrubbing the high chair, table and other surfaces with the wipes!).

We didn’t do half of those things with my second baby, and we rarely use an antibacterial wipe now. Why? What’s changed? A couple things.

Read the rest of  the post here -

Change Becomes Change: 3 Reasons to stop using antibacterial wipes or soaps.

Bottled Water: Save Real Green

I’ve already written an article on why using a water filter is one of your best options for safe drinking water.  You may not be worried about the environmental impact of bottled water, that daily 60 million wattle bottles end up landfills – you’re just thirsty and want a drink of water. Let me appeal to the bottom line.

In this economy people are watching their budgets.

Let’s examine how much an average family of 4 is likely to spend annually on drinking water:
$ 200 – Using a water filtration system.
$ 520 – Home water cooler delivery.
$ 528 – 2 Gallon Jugs
$ 1755 – Drinking 3 bottles of water a day at a cost of .40 per bottle, 4 person family.

There are many cost variations. Clearly the brand you buy, how much you pay per bottle, how many bottles you drink each day… all of these factors will impact your annual cost. Use this link figure out how much your family is actually spending, this link also provided me figures that I used for the above calculations.

If you rent don’t despair, there are many portable water filtration systems available in the marketplace.

In some ways it is less convenient to use stainless steel, you have to keep the bottles clean, round them up, fill them up… but I’ve never been a fan of lugging heavy flats of water!

An average family of 4 can save $1555 per year eliminating bottled water. Add the dollar savings to the environmental impact of bottling plants, trucking, refrigeration, not to mention disposing of billions of bottles a year and perhaps you will reconsider grabbing that next plastic bottle of water.

CLICK HERE to see the great selection of stainless steel water bottles available at Amazon.

Toxins – Small Amounts Matter

Why should the average person be worried about toxins in their home, additives, preservatives and contaminants in their foods.

Even if we are being exposed.  The exposures are so limited.

They can’t  be of any consequence.  Right?

Are you sure?

Toxins are measured in measured in parts per billion.

One part per billion has been illustrated recently by the chemical companies as the equivalent of a single pancake in a stack of pancake 4000 miles high.

Surely limited amount wouldn’t impact our bodies.  It’s “too low” to matter the to chemical companies argue.

The EWG studied to blood of an Sustainable Furniture Maker named Jesse who lives in New York.

He is arguably an average American.  This is what was found in his blood.  Measured in parts per billion (ppb):

The Blood Content of our “Average American”

• 97.5 ppb – Badge 40H (Liner in canned foods)
• 45    ppb – PFC’s
• 21     ppb – Lead
• 1.11  ppb – Mercury
• .29  ppb – PBDE’s

Common Drugs that impact our  body, as they measure in our blood as parts per billion (ppb):

• 30 ppb – Cialis (one dose)
• 30 ppb – Paxil (one dose)
• 2.1 ppb – Albuterol (one dose)
• 35 ppb – Nuvaring – birth control

At small doses – Cialis side effects include a sudden decrease in hearing or vision. Users are directed to call their doctor taking Cialis if they get an erection lasting more than 4 hours.
Drugs are effective at the very same parts per billion that the chemical companies claim are inconsequential in their product.  Drugs are designed to be effective at low doses.
Chemicals are not tested to ensure their safety or their absence of side effects at low doses.
Chemicals are consumed without unknowingly and we don’t know if we are putting ourselves, our families and our unborn children at risk.
The evidence is gathering that we are putting them at risk.

We are seeing an alarming increase in disease that can’t be explained by better diagnostics:

• Hypospadias has doubled  from 1968 – 1993 – 1 in 125 baby boys
• 62% increase in acute lymphocytic leukemia over short period of time
• 40% increase in Brain Cancer – this is not a matter of better diagnostics, we didn’t miss brain cancer in the 1960′s, 70′s, 80′s & 90′s.
• 1-150 Children – if this is due to better or more frequent diagnosis -  where are the  Autistic adults?
• Fertility difficulties are rising in women under the age of 25.
• We have the highest rate of cancer in the world and if someone moves here from another country their likelihood of cancer increases – according to the American Cancer Society.

Over and above the Human Cost there is a monitory Cost of  to Disorder

• $ 43.4 Billion – Lead poisoning
• $ 9.2 Billion – Neurobehavioral disorders, autism etc.
• $ 8.7 Billion – IQ loss from mercury
• $ 35 Billion – Asthma in Children

What can we do daily to lower our exposure?

Buy organic

Eat low mercury fish

Drink filtered tap water

Use Cast Iron and Stainless Steel Cookware instead of Non-stick

Avoid “fragrance”

Kid Safe Chemical Act:

Requires that chemical has to be safe from children and other who are sensitive before they are allowed in the market.

Assumes chemicals are harming people until proven otherwise. Place the burden on the chemical companies to prove the chemicals are safe.

Prioritizes safety reviews, bans and phase-outs based on the chemicals found in people’s blood/tissue and known to be hazardous.

Chemicals found in Cord Blood are presumed to be unsafe.

Help Get it passed!

SIGN THE PETITION TODAY!

GET INVOLVED.

Most of the figures for this article came from a presentation by EWG president Ken Cook ~ 10 Americans. It’s a great presentation, well worth the time it takes to watch.

It’s Just a Little Make Up – Is it Safe?

The average woman who wears make up daily will absorb almost 5lbs of make up each and every year and men slather, smear and spray their own share of products.

Product containing an average 126 individual ingredients – but they’re safe and FDA approved right?

Not so fast…

In the US there are approximately 82,000 registered chemicals & 10,500 are used in cosmetics. Of these 10,500 chemicals less than 10% have been evaluated for safety by the CIR, the FDA or any other publicly accountable institution.

Incidentally, the government approves on average 7 new chemicals every day – the evaluation of most chemicals taking less that 3 weeks.

But the make-up sits on our skin, right?

Not exactly…

Scientists have found many common cosmetic ingredients in human tissues….including phthalates, parabens and a fragrance ingredient musk xylene. Conclusively we don’t know these ingredients are harmful, the trouble is we don’t know that they’re safe either.

The good news is that there are products that we can choose that are safer.

Check back often for new products in Diva Reviews.

For more information check out the cosmetics database.

Why Are American Children So Sick?

This is a good piece that illustrates why we need to take action and get concerned about the food we are feeding our families and the food our children are being fed away from us.

By Robyn O’Brien – The Daily Green
Since when did it get so hard to be a mom? Ten years ago, we didn’t worry about sending a peanut butter and jelly sandwich into school with our children; we didn’t medicate our eight-year olds to get them through the school day; and the movie Rain Man was all we knew of autism.

Today it is estimated that 50% of Hispanic and African-American children will develop diabetes, that 1 in 90 boys has autism, and that 1 in 4 children has asthma. Pediatrics just reported that from 2002-2005, there was a 103% increase in diabetes medication for children, a 47% increase in asthma medication, a 41% increase in ADHD medication and a 15% increase in high cholesterol medicine.

How did our children get so sick?

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE STORY.

Robin’s suggestions to do just one thing – send a letter to Kraft.

Use Care Choosing Beauty Products

The purchasing decisions we make on a daily basis may impact more than just the environment.

The food we put in our body, the air we breath and the personal care products we use may impact our quality of life. According to the EWG, Americans have the highest rate of cancer in the world.

Consumers rely on government agencies to protect them, the evidence suggests this may not be wise. Personal Care products contain an average 126 individual ingredients and my belief is that we don’t know if they are safe. The US has approximately 82,000 registered chemicals & 10,500 are used in cosmetics. Of these 10,500 chemicals less than 10% have been evaluated for safety by the CIR, the FDA or any other publicly accountable institution.

Read the rest of the article at The Climate Community…

Why Buy Organic?

Organic products can wreck havoc on our budgets… Why bother?

The short answer is; for better nutritional value, to reduce toxin exposure, for better tasting foods and for the environment.

Is it really more nutritious?

In 2001 Virginia Worthington reviewed 41 published studies comparing nutritional values of convention to organic produce. An example of her findings; 5 servings of organic fruits and vegetables would your daily intake of vitamin c, while conventional produce did not. Further studies have had similar findings.

Do the pesticides really matter?

From the consumer health digest:
The most common class of pesticide in the US is organophosphates (OP’s). These are known as neurotoxins. An article published in 2002 examined the urine concentration of OP residues in 2-5 year olds. Researchers found, on average, that children eating conventionally grown food showed an 8.5 times higher amount of OP residue in their urine than those eating organic food. Studies have also shown harmful effects on fetal growth, as well.

Is it really better tasting?

Buy a conventional tomato and an organic one – do your own taste test. My experience is that it often does taste better. I recently bought some full size organic carrots after buying baby carrots for a long time – I was surprised how much better they tasted than baby carrots.

I don’t purchase everything organic all the time. There are certain foods that I buy organic most of the time it is a balance between what is available and how much of a premium the pricing is. I’m trying to get better about leaving foods and making other choices if they aren’t organic, but it’s a process that doesn’t happen over night.

One thing I know for sure – the more I know – the more I try to buy organic!

Some  information for this post came from The www.ConsumerHealthDigest.com.

Check out the trailer for Food, Inc.
Information on Genetic Modification.

Food Inc.

Check out the preview for Food Inc and an interview with the film maker by Bill Maher. Food Inc. is a documentary that digs into food production in the United States.
I missed this when it was playing in Los Angeles, but it’s on my Netflix list!

Indoor Air Pollution Fact Sheet – American Lung Association site

Air pollution contributes to lung disease, including respiratory tract infections, asthma, and lung cancer. Lung disease claims close to 335,000 lives in America every year and is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Over the last decade, the death rate for lung disease has risen faster than for almost any other major disease.

Healthy Air from the American Lung Association.

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