Think of your body as a sponge. On the typical human there are said to be 1,000,000 pores per square inch of skin. The surface area of an average-sized person is reckoned to be around 14 square feet (a bit macabre, but interesting to consider). At 144 inches per square foot, and 1,000,000 pores per square inch, the average person has a whopping 2,016,000,000 tiny holes in their body. Suddenly Bubble Boy doesn’t seem so crazy.
We are literally saturated with chemicals, some of them with known toxicological properties. We’ve all become familiar with the toxic effects of eating mercury-laden fish, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Exposure to these chemicals happens in the most banal of ways: shampooing your hair, putting on lipstick, moisturizing your skin, drinking a cup of brewed coffee, handling industrial packaging, cooking with non-stick pans, driving your car, and even just sleeping.
Over 30 years ago the federal government began regulating environmental toxins with the Toxic Substances and Control Act of 1976. This act established the beginnings of a weak system for testing and regulating toxic chemical substances. The problem is that even 30 years ago chemicals were already are all around us. Over 60,000 chemicals produced previous to the 1976 act were grandfathered in with free passes to any kind of testing or regulation.
Last year in the New York Times, cancer researcher and survivor Dr. David Servan-Schrieber (a founder of Doctors Without Borders) summed up the problem: “Since 1940, we have seen in Western societies a marked and rapid increase in common types of cancer.” While the argument of environment and lifestyle is valid, there is a certain point at which the healthiest of lifestyles in the unhealthiest of environments quickly becomes a losing battle. The average adult human carries around hundreds of synthetic chemicals in their body. The majority of these synthetic chemicals are known to cause abnormal hormonal activity, and hormonal disruptions carry a higher risk of disease. The science of testing for chemicals in the body is called biomonitoring. Let’s return to our list of everyday activities and see what chemicals we can pick up:
Shampooing your hair exposes you to parabens, compounds known to cause hormonal disruptions by mimicking estrogen in the body, and 1,4-dioxane which is “known to the State of California to cause cancer.”
Moisturizing your hole-covered skin can expose you to phthalates (often listed on skincare products as “fragrance”) which have been known to cause reproductive disorders by disrupting the endocrine or hormonal system.
Drinking a cup of brewed coffee can expose you to decaBDE, a flame retardant in the plastic belonging to a group of chemicals called PBDEs. The ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) states that: “nothing definite is know about the health effects of PBDEs in people. Practically all of the available information is from studies of laboratory animals.” According to a study by the Illinois state EPA: “based on animal studies, the possible health effects of decaBDE in humans involve the liver, thyroid, reproductive/developmental effects, and neurological effects.”
The list goes on to include more flame retardant chemicals in bedding and upholstery, lead and parabens in make-up that cause infertility, and PFOA in non-stick cookware that is associated with testicular, liver and pancreatic cancers. Like decaBDE, the majority of these chemicals in regular use today have unknown effects on humans. Think back to the days when lead was common in paint, asbestos in walls and ceilings, and no official reports were available on the toxicological effects of these chemicals. Around 1,000 new chemicals are added every year to the approximately 85,000 already on the federal registry.
While there is no going back to a chemical free world, there are alternatives. Over 90 percent of chemical in use today are made from petroleum. No one in their right mind would hop into a barrel of crude to freshen up, or down a bottle of oil with lunch. There are certain things our common sense simply will not allow us to do; preservation of the species and all that. Knowledge is power, and it’s the knowing that allows us to steer clear of things dangerous to our health. Check out the nonprofit watchdog Environmental Working Group at www.ewg.org for informational databases of everyday products.
As oil supplies dwindle and prices rise, so too will the demand for biochemicals. While we can’t break away from our chemically dependent society, we can have a say in what those chemicals are, where they come from and which ones we allow into our bodies. Organic, bioderived chemicals offer a huge opportunity for the health and well-being of our bodies, our families and our planet.
Going organic never made so much sense.
Chemicals and The Human Sponge
We are literally saturated with chemicals, some of them with known toxicological properties. We’ve all become familiar with the toxic effects of eating mercury-laden fish, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Exposure to these chemicals happens in the most banal of ways: shampooing your hair, putting on lipstick, moisturizing your skin, drinking a cup of brewed coffee, handling industrial packaging, cooking with non-stick pans, driving your car, and even just sleeping.
Over 30 years ago the federal government began regulating environmental toxins with the Toxic Substances and Control Act of 1976. This act established the beginnings of a weak system for testing and regulating toxic chemical substances. The problem is that even 30 years ago chemicals were already are all around us. Over 60,000 chemicals produced previous to the 1976 act were grandfathered in with free passes to any kind of testing or regulation.
Last year in the New York Times, cancer researcher and survivor Dr. David Servan-Schrieber (a founder of Doctors Without Borders) summed up the problem: “Since 1940, we have seen in Western societies a marked and rapid increase in common types of cancer.” While the argument of environment and lifestyle is valid, there is a certain point at which the healthiest of lifestyles in the unhealthiest of environments quickly becomes a losing battle. The average adult human carries around hundreds of synthetic chemicals in their body. The majority of these synthetic chemicals are known to cause abnormal hormonal activity, and hormonal disruptions carry a higher risk of disease. The science of testing for chemicals in the body is called biomonitoring. Let’s return to our list of everyday activities and see what chemicals we can pick up:
Shampooing your hair exposes you to parabens, compounds known to cause hormonal disruptions by mimicking estrogen in the body, and 1,4-dioxane which is “known to the State of California to cause cancer.”
Moisturizing your hole-covered skin can expose you to phthalates (often listed on skincare products as “fragrance”) which have been known to cause reproductive disorders by disrupting the endocrine or hormonal system.
Drinking a cup of brewed coffee can expose you to decaBDE, a flame retardant in the plastic belonging to a group of chemicals called PBDEs. The ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) states that: “nothing definite is know about the health effects of PBDEs in people. Practically all of the available information is from studies of laboratory animals.” According to a study by the Illinois state EPA: “based on animal studies, the possible health effects of decaBDE in humans involve the liver, thyroid, reproductive/developmental effects, and neurological effects.”
The list goes on to include more flame retardant chemicals in bedding and upholstery, lead and parabens in make-up that cause infertility, and PFOA in non-stick cookware that is associated with testicular, liver and pancreatic cancers. Like decaBDE, the majority of these chemicals in regular use today have unknown effects on humans. Think back to the days when lead was common in paint, asbestos in walls and ceilings, and no official reports were available on the toxicological effects of these chemicals. Around 1,000 new chemicals are added every year to the approximately 85,000 already on the federal registry.
While there is no going back to a chemical free world, there are alternatives. Over 90 percent of chemical in use today are made from petroleum. No one in their right mind would hop into a barrel of crude to freshen up, or down a bottle of oil with lunch. There are certain things our common sense simply will not allow us to do; preservation of the species and all that. Knowledge is power, and it’s the knowing that allows us to steer clear of things dangerous to our health. Check out the nonprofit watchdog Environmental Working Group at www.ewg.org for informational databases of everyday products.
As oil supplies dwindle and prices rise, so too will the demand for biochemicals. While we can’t break away from our chemically dependent society, we can have a say in what those chemicals are, where they come from and which ones we allow into our bodies. Organic, bioderived chemicals offer a huge opportunity for the health and well-being of our bodies, our families and our planet.
Going organic never made so much sense.