How The Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-Being

[omega minimo]

Interviewed on Thom Hartmann, 8-19-09 - - - - Nena Baker also blogs at HuffPost

The Body Toxic
How The Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-Being
Nena Baker
http://www.thebodytoxic.com/

Hundreds of chemicals are in you, in me, in all of us. That much we know for sure. In The Body Toxic, investigative journalist Nena Baker answers the pressing questions raised by our ongoing, ubiquitous and unwitting exposures to the everyday toxics grabbing headlines today: phthalates in plastic; bisphenol A in food and beverage containers; flame retardants in furniture and perfluorinated chemicals in food wrappers.

Should we be concerned about the effects of these exposures on our health? Are consumer products largely responsible for the pollutants the U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is tracking in a representative sample of the population? Don’t regulators already make sure we’re safe from daily doses of hazardous substances?



With compelling clarity, The Body Toxic spells out the surprising answers that every consumer will want to know (but chemical companies would rather you didn’t). The Body Toxic is a powerful argument for urgent reforms to our nation’s notoriously toothless toxics laws, and a clarion for greener, cleaner chemicals in consumer products.


EVERYDAY TOXICS – Some surprising 
places you’ll find them . . .

Rubber duckies and other soft-plastic toys: A new law banned six types of phthalates, linked to breast cancer, decreased sperm counts and birth defects, in soft plastic toys in 2008. Many phthalate-containing toys are still in kids' toy boxes.

Canned food, including baby formula: Resin linings in most food and drink cans contain bisphenol A, an estrogen-mimicking chemical linked to hormone disruption, reproduction and fertility problems, birth defects and prostate cancer.

Upholstered furniture: Brominated flame retardants used in foam cushions are associated with an array of negative effects, including permanent learning and memory impairment. A pilot study showed a link between PBDEs and hyperthyroidism in house cats.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. It is amazing how this works... isn't it?

Listening to it, and I NEED to go get my groceries.

Oh noes, the food is addictive is again coming up....

[omega minimo]

2. The body chemistry of it is fascinating

The body being "fooled" about what its receiving.

More folks are seeking fresh foods, farmers' markets, organics, less processed foods; there are more and more choices for sodas and drinks that don't have HFCS and Aspartame. Some in glass.

I didn't know BPA is used to line cans.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Well today I got some bread, I went ok, French Bread sounds good with

the curry.

I READ the ingredients and went, no thank you... you guessed it.

The manager comes over and asks why?

I pointed to the Corn Syrup in the ingredient list and asked... why?

She was clueless, didn't know about it either, and she also tries to avoid it. We started chuckling on how much longer it takes to shop these days. I settled on the local bakery's bread that didn't have any of this crap.

And yes, you need to read the ingredients every time, sometimes the High Corn Syrup sneaks on you.

Oh and I seem to have restarted losing weight. I have to wonder if this has something to do with me in the last six months readying every damn label before I put anything on the hoping cart. And yes, one thing that used to be a regular in this house started adding the damn thing, so I stopped buying it.

[omega minimo]

4. It's helpful if folks have access to a Farmers' Market and Trader Joe's or health food store

TJ's isn't perfect but a lot of the stuff is preselected for thinks like GBH, HFCS, Nutrasweet, chemical additives and colors....

The COOP prices are high, unless stuff's on sale.

Cooking from scratch is an option :think:

[omega minimo]

7. .

http://www.thomhartman.com

[DCKit]

5. "I didn't know BPA is used to line cans." And cartons.

That's how they keep the milk from leaking out.

Fatty foods (milk and meat, especially) pull the BPA right out of the plastic. Canned corn? Not so bad, but frozen is better.

[omega minimo]

6. Thank you. I'll be more aware next trip to TJ's

[SoCalDem]

11. Remember when milk cartons were waxed?

or came in glass bottles?

Refrigerator storage dishes were glass & we used tinfoil to "seal" the air out.

Sandwiches were "gift wrapped" in waxed paper.

Beverages were stores in glass bottles

Floors were wood or tile
rugs were wool or cotton
upholstery was cotton/silk/linen
"stuffing" was feathers, kapok ..or horsehair
clothing was not chemically treated, and was cotton, linen, silk, wool
draperies/curtains were cotton

toys were wooden, cloth or metal

canned foods contained: water, salt, whatever veggie/fruit was in the can.

Even small towns had several real bakeries.. bakeries where the bakers showed up for work at midnight, and by 10AM, they were sold out..rinse & repeat 7 days a week. No preservatives necessary.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

13. Yup.

And back then life expectancy was fifteen years lower than it is today.

[SoCalDem]

14. I doubt that expanded life expectancy & the elimination of waxed milk cartons

have a direct correlation:hi:

Not ALL "improvements" have "improved" things.

Once we "got" plastic, it was just too cheap & easy to use, to NOT "improve" everything:(

[omega minimo]

20. So imagine what it would be if we went back to those healthful practices!

[wuvuj]

27. think first?

...

[Johonny]

22. I do miss the corner bakery

lucky I live in a big city now and there are several around me.

It's not that there isn't any benefit to things like flame retardants etc... I think life is a balancing act of mitigation vs. risk.

[scarletwoman]

31. Just FYI, that "wax" on milk cartons was paraffin, which is a petrochemical. (nt)

[omega minimo]

32. Did paraffin leach toxins into the milk?

[scarletwoman]

36. Don't know. Just saying that bad chemicals in food packaging goes back a long ways.

Think about the Franklin expedition and the lead in their canned food.

[blm]

8. This has been a cause for Teresa Heinz-Kerry and was discussed in her 2006 book

written with John Kerry - This Moment on Earth.

The products most people use every day (deodorant, shampoo, body soaps, detergents, nail polish) have become a greater part of their body's chemical makeup than most people realize.

[omega minimo]

9. This is unfortunately, one of the lessons of 3+ decades ago that many forgot...

Thanks for the reminder. :hi:

[truedelphi]

25. I was unaware of her book. Thanks so much. n/t

[Octafish]

10. Endocrine Disruption

Some of the chemicals from plastics, pesticides, etc. closely mimic chemicals needed by the body. While very similar chemically, they cause major problems for development and health.

[SoCalDem]

12. like dying from taking a whiff of peanut butter

or from asthma:(

[Octafish]

16. Exactly. A cascade caused by things so small we can't see.

PS: I lost my step-mother to asthma. Gosh. It's been almost 10 years...

[omega minimo]

18. "whiff of peanut butter"?

:shrug:

[eppur_se_muova]

40. for the peanut-allergic. nt

[omega minimo]

41. Can a whiff kill?

Or does it have to be eaten?

[etherealtruth]

46. If you can smell it ....

molecules of "it" have attached to nasal receptors and can be absorbed, or inhaled.

[scheming daemons]

15. The only solution is for all of us to live like the Amish...

....

:shrug:

[omega minimo]

17. There are plenty of alternatives. Solution = be informed, be selective, be mindful.

And IMHO it helps to avoid "All of Nothing" thinking. We all do what we can. Speaking of cans, the BPA lining cans and cartons was news to me. :think:

[SoCalDem]

19. Companies just HAD to do away with that "metallic" smell

so why not replace it with an odorless toxic slurry..but hey.. it's WHITE & shiny..so it MUST be ok :eyes:

[omega minimo]

21. You're over my head again. Which white what?

:hi:

[SoCalDem]

23. Look inside most cans these days.. The INSIDE of the can

is coated with a slick white material..that "shields" the food from the "tinny-taste" that lots of canned foods used to get.

[omega minimo]

24. Oh the cans, yes. TY. I thought SD was talking about chemicals in general.

It's been easy to find non-toxic personal body care products since the 70's.

[truedelphi]

26. K & R number nine n/t

[alarimer]

28. Do not trust the Huffington Post for medical or scientific advice.

They are a bastion of the world's worst kind of unscientific bullshit.

This article is the same woo-woo NONSENSE.

Anyone who buys it is a credulous idiot.

I am so sick of people passing this shit off as anything other than the utter nonsense it is.

[omega minimo]

29. Says you. So, you don't pay any attention to what you put in and on your body? Got kids?

What complaint could you possible have with people being aware of toxins in the environment and avoiding them where possible?

FUCK YOUR "WOO WOO" UTTER NONSENSE.

You live a black and white world, fine. Don't try to spread YOUR crap where it's not WELCOME.

:puke:

[SidDithers]

47. +1...nt

Sid

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

30. It's probably the same people putting metal oxide salts in our water supply.

[omega minimo]

34. "Chlorine is poison."

Professional advice at the dentist's office yesterday.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

35. Yup.

Water polo is the leading cause of death in horses.

[omega minimo]

37. Wanking

causes blindness

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

38. Actually, no, that's a myth.

Like indigo children, or chlorine in the water supply being bad for you.

[omega minimo]

39. Chlorine is poison

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

42. High concentrations of chlorine are poison.

Low concentrations of chlorine are perfectly safe.

[omega minimo]

43. No, they're not.

:hi:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

44. Then how do you explain life on earth?

Because there are low concentrations of chlorine everywhere.

Welcome to basic chemistry. You're five hundred years late, but at least you've shown up.

[omega minimo]

45. How do you explain your presence here?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

48. It's a mystery to you isn't it?

The rules aren't that complicated, but somehow you have an awful hard problem understanding them.

[omega minimo]

49. No

you have an awful hard problem complying with them.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

50. Not at all.

Just your false interpretation of the rules. And by that I mean your double standards.

[DU GrovelBot]

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