I will never forget the TV commercial showing how safe pesticides were supposed to be. It portrays a family valiantly trying to eat their picnic in their front yard as a fumigating truck drives by. Through the fumes, the actors struggle to smile and chow down.
It is true that many chemicals have improved our lives, but their cavalier, indiscriminate use has consequences that are often hidden from us. They need to be vetted and studied by public agencies, not the corporations that produce them. Testing has been wanting, especially how their toxic effects synergize when mixed in our body. Correcting these problems won’t be easy. We are on our own for now. So, put your best foot forward: push back from chemicals as much as possible and eat a plant-based diet to maximize detoxification pathways in your intestines, liver and kidneys. And above all, eschew the worst chemical we are exposed to; high fructose corn syrup.
Reference
Chemicals found in common household products may kill 100K Americans prematurely each year
The Hill (10/12, Guzman). “Exposure to a synthetic group of chemicals called phthalates may contribute to about 100,000 premature deaths each year among older Americans, according to the journal Environmental Pollution.” These chemicals “are used to make plastics more flexible and are found in hundreds of products such as cosmetics, detergents, food packing, soaps, shampoos and others” but they “are known to interfere with the human body’s hormonal system.” Disrupting the endocrine system has “been linked to ‘developmental, reproductive, brain, immune, and other problems,’ according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.” This new study “estimates phthalates may be associated with somewhere between 91,000 and 107,000 premature deaths in the U.S. among adults ages 55 to 64” and that “the deaths could cost the country between $40 billion and $47 billion annually.”
