Our Daily Poison

By Dr. Mercola

How many chemicals are you exposed to on a daily basis? There’s no way to know for sure, but chances are toxic chemicals are in your food and many items you touch hundreds, if not thousands, of times a day.

What is known that your toxic burden is largely related to your purchasing decisions and lifestyle. While environmental pollution is certainly a factor, primary routes of chronic exposure include your diet, and personal care and household products.

Tests have confirmed that those who eat non-organic foods and use chemical-based products tend to have far higher levels of toxins in their , and 91 were independently funded. Of those:

100 percent of the industry funded studies supported aspartame’s safety
92 percent of the independently funded studies identified at least one potential health concern

However, of the seven non-industry funded studies that supported aspartame’s safety, six were done by the FDA. The seventh was a literature review of mostly industry-sponsored research. Considering the long-standing revolving door between various industries (especially Monsanto, which acquired G.D. Searle in 1985) and the FDA, it’s questionable as to whether an FDA study can be considered truly “independent,” even though they were counted as independent in Walton’s review.

If you give that concern any merit, you’d more or less be looking at 100 percent of industry-related studies claiming aspartame to be safe, and 100 percent of independent studies flagging some sort of health concern!

The Hormone-Wrecking Power of Plastics

A number of common household chemicals are endocrine disruptors, meaning, they alter the normal function of your hormones. These are referred to as “endocrine-disrupting chemicals” (EDCs). A 2013 Environmental Working Group (EWG) report²⁶ identified many of the best-known hormone wreckers; 12 of the worst are listed in the following table. I’ve written about many of these in prior articles, so for more information about any particular one, please follow the links.

A hormone’s job is to interact with the cells in your body, sending signals that instruct them to perform certain tasks, but EDCs interfere with this communication process. Small but repeated EDC exposures can mimic your natural endocrine system — and that’s what’s so concerning. Your hormones operate at parts per million and parts per billion concentrations. This is why many experts believe there is no safe level of exposure for many of these EDCs.

As noted in the film, the effects noted in animals such as rats are now — some 25 years later — being observed in humans. This includes early-onset of menopause in increasingly younger women. This effect was demonstrated in animal studies decades ago, and is now turning out to hold true in humans as well.

The fact that EDCs cause generational effects makes the proliferation of chemicals in pregnant women all the more disturbing. In a 2005 landmark study,²⁷ EWG found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in the umbilical cord blood of infants born in the US, including pesticides, environmental waste chemicals, BPA, flame-retardants, PCBs, and even DDT. Some of these chemicals can cross the placenta and produce effects at very tiny doses. In an important 2012 World Health Organization (WHO) report about endocrine-disrupting chemicals, the authors wrote:^28,²⁹

“The diverse systems affected by endocrine-disrupting chemicals likely include all hormonal systems and range from those controlling development and function of reproductive organs to the tissues and organs regulating metabolism and satiety. Effects on these systems can lead to obesity, infertility, or reduced fertility, learning and memory difficulties, adult-onset diabetes, or cardiovascular disease, as well as a variety of other diseases.”

Tips to Help You Avoid Toxic Chemicals

Tens of thousands of industrial chemicals are used daily in consumer products with grossly inadequate safety testing — if ANY safety testing was done at all. Even under the best circumstances, the current American system does not look at how chronically low doses of chemicals affect you, or how aggregate exposures affect you over time — and it’s these combined effects that pose the greatest concern.

Within such a dysfunctional system, you are the best one to keep your family safe. Although no one can successfully steer clear of ALL chemicals and pollutants, you can minimize your exposure by keeping a number of key principles in mind.

Eat a diet focused on REAL FOOD that is locally grown, fresh, and ideally organic whole foods. Processed and packaged foods are a common source of chemicals such as BPA and phthalates. Wash fresh produce well, especially if it’s not organically grown.
Choose grass-pastured, sustainably raised meats and dairy to reduce your exposure to hormones, pesticides, and fertilizers. Avoid milk and other dairy products that contain the genetically engineered recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST).
Rather than eating conventional or farm-raised fish, which are often heavily contaminated with PCBs and mercury, supplement with a high-quality krill oil, or eat fish that is wild-caught and lab tested for purity, such as wild caught Alaskan salmon.
Buy products that come in glass bottles rather than plastic or cans, as chemicals can leach out of plastics (and plastic can linings), into the contents; be aware that even “BPA-free” plastics typically leach other endocrine-disrupting chemicals that are just as bad for you as BPA.
Store your food and beverages in glass, rather than plastic, and avoid using plastic wrap.
Use glass baby bottles.
Replace your non-stick pots and pans with ceramic or glass cookware.
Filter your tap water for both drinking AND bathing. If you can only afford to do one, filtering your bathing water may be more important, as your skin absorbs contaminants. To remove the endocrine-disrupting herbicide Atrazine, make sure your filter is certified to remove it. According to the EWG, perchlorate can be filtered out using a reverse osmosis filter.
Look for products made by companies that are Earth-friendly, animal-friendly, sustainable, certified organic, and GMO-free. This applies to everything from food and personal care products to building materials, carpeting, paint, baby items, furniture, mattresses, and others.
Use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter to remove contaminated house dust. This is one of the major routes of exposure to flame retardant chemicals.
When buying new products such as furniture, mattresses, or carpet padding, consider buying flame retardant free varieties, containing naturally less flammable materials, such as leather, wool, cotton, silk, and Kevlar.
Avoid stain- and water-resistant clothing, furniture, and carpets to avoid perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs).
Make sure your baby’s toys are BPA-free, such as pacifiers, teething rings, and anything your child may be prone to suck or chew on — even books, which are often plasticized. It’s advisable to avoid all plastic, especially flexible varieties.
Use natural cleaning products or make your own. Avoid those containing 2-butoxyethanol (EGBE) and methoxydiglycol (DEGME) — two toxic glycol ethers that can compromise your fertility and cause fetal harm.
Switch over to organic toiletries, including shampoo, toothpaste, antiperspirants, and cosmetics. EWG’s Skin Deep database³⁰ can help you find personal care products that are free of phthalates and other potentially dangerous chemicals.
Replace your vinyl shower curtain with a fabric one.
Replace feminine hygiene products (tampons and sanitary pads) with safer alternatives.
Look for fragrance-free products. One artificial fragrance can contain hundreds — even thousands — of potentially toxic chemicals. Avoid fabric softeners and dryer sheets, which contain a mishmash of synthetic chemicals and fragrances.

Sources and References

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Our Daily Poison

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