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Something is amiss with our children
Written by Alice Shabecoff, co-author with her husband Philip of Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on our Children
As we watched each of our five grandchildren and their friends enter this world and begin their life's journey, it became more and more clear that something is amiss with this generation. How are your children and your friends' children doing?
Most likely, one in three of the children you know in this generation suffers from a chronic illness. Perhaps it's cancer, or birth defects, perhaps asthma, or a problem that affects the child's mind and behavior, such as Downs Syndrome, learning disorders, ADHD or autism. Though one in three may sound exaggerated, unbelievable, the figures are there amidst various government files.
This generation is different.
Childhood cancer, once a medical rarity, has grown 67 percent since 1950. Asthma has increased 140 percent in the last twenty years and autism rates without a doubt have increased at least 200 percent. Miscarriages and premature births are also on the rise, while the ratio of male babies dwindles and teenage girls face endometriosis.
The generations born from 1970 on are the first to be raised in a truly toxified world. Even before conception and on into adulthood, the assault is everywhere: heavy metals and carcinogenic particles in air pollution; industrial solvents, household detergents, prozac and radioactive wastes in drinking water; pesticides in flea collars; artificial growth hormones in beef, arsenic in chicken; synthetic hormones in bottles, teething rings and medical devices; formaldehyde in cribs and nail polish, and even rocket fuel in lettuce. Pacifiers are now manufactured with nanoparticles from silver, to be sold as 'antibacterial.'
What's wrong with rinsing a pacifier in soapy water?
Despite naysayers (who pays them to say nay?--that's a whole story in itself), it's clear there is both an association and a causative connection between the vast explosion of poisons in our everyday lives and our childrens' "issues."
Over 80,000 industrial chemicals (tested only by the manufacturer) are in commerce in this country, produced or imported at 15 trillion pounds a year. Pesticide use has leaped from the troubling 400 million pounds Rachel Carson wrote about in the 1960s to the mind-boggling 4.4 billion pounds in use today. Nuclear power plants, aging and under-maintained, increasingly leak wastes, often without notifying their community.
What could be more elemental than our desire to protect our children? Children and fetuses, because of their undeveloped defense systems, are ten to sixty-five times more susceptible to specific toxics than adults. These toxics diminish the capacities of our children...the future of our families, our communities, our nation.
Illness does not necessarily show up in childhood. Environmental exposures, from conception to early life, can set a person´s cellular code for life and can cause disease at any time, through old age. This accounts for the rise in Parkinson´s and Alzheimer´s diseases, prostate and breast cancer.
A message of hope and optimism
Yet this is not the dispiriting 'Bad News' it might seem. It is, actually, a message of hope and optimism. We are fearful only when we are ignorant and powerless. Now that we know what is happening, we can determine not to let it happen further.
These poisons are manmade; manufacturers can take them out of our children´s lives and make profits from safe products. 'Green chemistry' can replace toxic molecules with harmless ones. We can connect global climate change actions to environmental health strategies. If we replace coal-fired power, in the process we reduce not only carbon but also emissions of the tons of lead, mercury, hydrochloric acid, chromium, arsenic, sulfur and nitrogen oxides that cause autism, Alzheimer's and other public health menaces.
In a riff on Pogo, let's say, "We have met the heroes and it is us." We cannot bury our heads and hope it will all go away. We cannot leave the job to someone else. Some may feel the problem is so massive, it's best to pretend it doesn't exist. But it isn't more massive than we allow it to be. It's totally within our reach.
We can make each other smarter and stronger. It is in our power to learn about what harms our children and to share our knowledge. It is in our power as a community of citizens and parents to demand action against the current harmful policies and practices and against the indiscriminate use of processes and practices that destroy and degrade all life on our planet.
Read EWG's review of the book and learn more about the Shabecoffs and Poisoned Profits here.
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This is an incredible book and I look forward to using it in my courses.
I think the points above are all unfortunately true and I agree wholeheartedly the the solution or a great part of it lies in consumer awareness and then different consumer choices. Recently I have started becoming more aware and concerned about the industry I am in. I am one of the owners of adultsextoys.com and I hadn't considered the toxicity of sex toys until I started to learn about the toxicity of chemicals used in children's toys like certain chemicals used to soften plastics called phalates. Now I am becoming increasingly aware and am carrying some manufactures which are phalate free but even then some are phalate free and yet are "jelly" toys and those are still apparently not good so it really looks like its about finding out about each manufacturer and then educating the consumer. Sex toys like children's toys should be fun and safe. Here is what I know so far...the brands Lelo,Treeze (which also have replaceable motors), Tantus, Vixen and JimmyJane (which is one we don't yet carry)are all phalate free and made of relatively safe materials (example: medical grade silicone.)
That said, I have not looked into each of these companies in detail but am just thankful they are out there so I have some options. In my industry To applaud two of my "competitors" I have heard SmittenKittenOnline.com scrutinizes toy safety and edenfantasys.com has a safety materials ratings on its toys. We carry over 8,000 toys so i am starting to get a handle on how we might be able to present info. to consumers as well. I have always considered myself an advocate of alternative medicine and the environment and now am realizing that my industry has been part of the problem.
This write up on children and toxins throws around a lot of data with no reference to where it was obtained.
I do not know the intention of the writer, but the piece has the ear marks of a scare tactic to motivate the reader to do something - like buy a book.
You can learn more about this topic at our symposium Nov 21 in Berkeley, CA.
It is essential that we all understand what legacy we have created for our children.
MAKING HEALTHY BABIES RAISING HEALTHY CHILDREN
Living Well in a Toxic World
Where: UC Berkeley Art Museum Theater, 2625 Durant Ave. Berkeley, California
When: Saturday, November 21, 2009, from 9 am to 4 pm
Sponsors: Sage Femme, Ryder Foundation, Midwifery Today, Autism Recovery Consortium
Tickets: $60 until Oct 31, $75 after http://makinghealthybabies.eventbrite.com
The 2009 CIA World Factbook ranks the USA 45th among nations for infant mortality— the worst among all industrialized countries. The autism rate in our country is now 1 in 100.
How we can understand and take appropriate steps to ensure healthy mothers,
births and children? Take a unique look at the entire system that affects
our future generations- a mother’s current environment,
the birth environment and your child’s toxic world.
This symposium brings together scientists, doctors, researchers and professionals for a compelling conversation about environmental influences around birth and childhood. Featuring plenary speakers, panels, audience questions, and film clips.
Revolutionary new software will also be introduced that will help parents assess the risks our children may encounter from the environment before birth, at birth and during childhood. Our three part program will make clearer to attendees what they should know about environmental health, their world, and how it affects them and their children.
Session One: Preparing for Childbirth
Sharyle Patton, Director, Commonweal Health and Environment Program, presents several new biomonitoring studies documenting the ubiquity and complexity of chemical and environmental exposures that people experience every day, and how those exposures could influence pregnancy and the health of our children. Exciting new software will be introduced which gives parents-to-be the opportunity to evaluate environmental exposures, and the effect they may have, so lifestyle changes can be made to ensure healthier outcomes for families and children. This session concludes with an expert panel including Ms. Patton; Dr. Joanne Perron OB/GYN who will correlate the environmental science with her own personal experience; and Julie Matthews, Certified Nutrition Consultant, who will describe the best diet for pre-pregnant women
Session Two: The Birth Experience
Robbie Davis-Floyd, PhD, medical anthropologist and author of eight books including Birth as an American Rite of Passage, presents a brief history of birth in the USA. This presentation will focus on women’s ideas and cultural values about childbirth. The session concludes with a panel consisting of Dr. Davis-Floyd; Elizabeth Davis, a Certified Professional Midwife, who will touch on an integrated view of birth; and pediatrician Dr. Marshall Klaus and his wife, Phyllis Klaus C.S.W., M.F.C.C., who discuss the care and support a woman needs during birth. A new film by Diana Paul of Sage Femme will introduce this session.
Session Three: Healthy Childhood
Dr. Andy Wakefield, academic gastroenterologist and Director of Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas, presents new information and good news about the treatment and prevention of autism (now affecting 1 in 100 children). A ChARMtracker demo will be featured introducing this web-based treatment tracking software for autism. The session will conclude with a panel consisting of Dr. Wakefield; Pramila Srinivasan (ChARM founder); Kenneth Bock (an integrative family practitioner whose practice is a beta site for the ChARM Physician product); and a returning Julie Matthews, nutrition consultant for children with autism. Clips from Elizabeth Horn’s film "Finding the Words" will open this session.
Audience questions and answers will be taken at the end of each session.
Master of Ceremonies
Carolyn Raffensperger, M.A, J.D. is the Executive Director of the Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN). In 1982 she left a career as an archaeologist to work for the Sierra Club, where she addressed an array of environmental issues, including forest management, river protection, pesticide pollutants, and disposal of radioactive waste. She began working for SEHN in 1994. As an environmental lawyer, she specializes in fundamental changes in law and policy necessary for the protection and restoration of public health and the environment. Carolyn is coeditor of Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing the Precautionary Principle (Island Press, 1999), the most comprehensive exploration of the history, theory, and implementation of the precautionary principle. She coined the term "ecological medicine" to encompass the broad notions that health and healing are entwined with the natural world. She wrote a bimonthly column for the Environmental Law Institute's journal Environmental Forum from 1999 until 2008.
THE DAY’S EVENTS
9 a.m. Registration
9:30 a.m. Welcome — Host Carolyn Raffensperger, Executive Director, Science and Environmental Health Network
9:45 a.m. Session One: Preparing for Childbirth
Sharyle Patton, Director, Commonweal Health and Environment Program, discusses the effects of the environment inside and outside a woman’s body.
10:15 a.m. Panel and Q & A
Sharyle Patton, Julie Matthews, Certified Nutrition Consultant, and Joanne Perron, MD, FACOG, RYT, examine the route to a healthy pregnancy.
10:45 Break
11:05 Short Film: “Besos” by Diana Paul
11:20 Session Two: The Birth Experience
Robbie Davis-Floyd, Ph.D, medical anthropologist, presents a brief history of birth in the USA, focused on how to have a “healthy” birth and baby.
11:50 a.m. Panel and Q & A
Robbie Davis-Floyd, Marshall Klaus, M.D. and Phyllis Klaus, L.C.S.W, M.F.T.
and Elizabeth Davis, Certified Professional Midwife, discuss the birth experience.
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:45 p.m. Short Film: “Finding the Words” by Elizabeth Horn
2:00 p.m. Session Three: Healthy Childhood
Dr. Andy Wakefield, academic gastroenterologist and Executive Director of Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas, presents new information about the treatment and prevention of autism (now affecting 1 in 100 children).
2:30 p.m. Dr. Kenneth Bock and Pramila Srinivasan, Ph.D, will present a demo of ChARMtracker, a new ground-breaking web-based treatment tracking software for autism.
2:50 p.m. Panel and Q & A
Andy Wakefield, Kenneth Bock, Pramila Srinivasan and Julie Matthews talk about the latest developments in autism research and treatment.
3:45 p.m. Concluding Remarks by Carolyn Raffensperger
4:00 p.m. The sessions close
Hi Bill,
This piece excerpts the facts from the book my husband Philip and I wrote, Poisoned Profits, published last year by Random HOuse. We give full citations in the book which I hope you'll look at. The whole point is, that we're not trying to scare or stretch the truth, we're trying to set forth the extensive evidence and catalyze public interest and participation.
Alice
Families for a Clean Tennessee Video Hits the Streets!
VIEW THE VIDEO NOW!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4AfA2_fNMM
Families for a Clean Tennessee released a video reinforcing a poll conducted
by Insider Advantage. The poll uncovered that more than 80% of voters
oppose dumping nuclear waste in ordinary commercial landfills.
The poll also uncovered the following:
* 90% believe nuclear waste should be disposed of in long-term isolation
facilities.
* More than 75% of likely voters-both Democrats and Republicans-- are more
likely to support a candidate for Governor that is opposed to nuclear
dumping and the BSFR program.
* Nearly 60% are more likely to support a legislative candidate that is
opposed to nuclear dumping and the BSFR program.
* More than 50% have stated they would actively work for the election of any
candidate from either party that opposes the dumping of nuclear waste in
Tennessee landfills.
* More than 50% support Senate Bill 687, and more than 60% are more likely
to vote for candidates that support Senate Bill 687.
* 63.5% believe that under no circumstance should nuclear waste be dumped in
Tennessee.
A copy of the poll has been sent to every legislator in Tennessee along with
a pledge asking them to support ending the practice of Bulk Survey for
Release.
VIEW THE VIDEO NOW!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4AfA2_fNMM
You my dear are apparently clueless regarding these issues. What are you afraid of? Why do you not want to know of believe that this is true. This is a part of the problem.