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« CNN's Sanjay Gupta MD interviews EWG President Ken Cook | Main | New Science, New Solutions Explored at Heinz Conference »
Greening your family: One woman's inspiration
Special to Enviroblog by Lindsey Carmichael, MPH, Author, Greening Your Family
My public health ethics class began with the intense, young professor asking a simple question: What do you value the most?
We were given a few moments to reflect, and were then asked to share our answers with the class. Fairly quickly a theme emerged, one focusing on relationships with family. For one student, her relationship with God trumped family, and for a few others the idea of freedom was the thing they valued the most, but people factored into the majority of responses to the question of what they held most dear.
I think it's safe to assume that for those of us who are parents, our children and their well-being rank at the top of the list of things we value. Collective well-being is what Greening Your Family is about.
There was a landmark, one-of-a-kind study conducted in 2004 by the Environmental Working Group called 10 Americans (watch the video). Researchers took samples of the umbilical-cord blood of ten babies and tested it for the presence of 413 toxic chemicals.
The results were alarming. More than 285 industrial chemicals were found in the cord blood, with an average of roughly two hundred chemicals per child. The testing revealed the presence of dioxins, volatile organic compounds, Teflon by-products, and pesticides.1 Exposure to some of these chemicals is associated with a host of serious adverse impacts on human health, including immune and hormone system disruption, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), infertility, birth defects, and cancer.2
How many of you reading this knows a child with ADHD, or has a friend who has had trouble conceiving?
Lobbyists in the industrial chemical industry acknowledge the presence of these chemicals in humans, but they assert that these chemicals exist at extraordinarily low doses, or concentrations, and that therefore any adverse effect on human health is dubious.
Ken Cook, EWG president, addressed this point in a presentation he gave about the 10 Americans experiment. He talked about the fact that many pharmaceuticals are designed to trigger the desired biological effect at very low doses, and discussed various examples.
The asthma drug Albuterol, he said, is designed to be effective at 2.1 parts per billion. Cialis, the erectile-dysfunction drug, is designed to trigger the desired biological effect at 30 parts per billion. Cook made the point that 97.5 parts per billion of the chemical Badge-40H (found in the liners of tin cans and linked to hormone system disruption) were found in a sample of blood taken from a man living in New York City.
The same person registered 45 parts per billion of perfluorocarbons (PFCs), the industrial chemical found in nonstick materials such as Teflon. In studies though PFCs have been linked to both hormone disruption and cancer. Thus, the concentration of some of these chemicals is minute, their effect is not. The impact of exposure to pharmaceuticals is regulated and well studied; the impact of exposure to industrial chemical cocktails is neither well regulated nor well studied.
The 10 Americans study confirms that babies today are born pre-polluted. We know that the most vulnerable times in human development are in the womb and in infancy. And we know, based on the results of EWG's research, among other sources, that as a society, we are not adequately protecting those who are most vulnerable.
It is time to start.
Lindsey Carmichael's Greening Your Family is available from the author's web site. You can read a review in The Boston Globe.
I find this idea completely appalling: industry and our government have allowed our environment to become so polluted that our innocent babies and children are contaminated. Environmentalists such as Rachel Carson and many others warned us many years ago. Carson was labelled by the chemical industry as a hysteric. It is time that we change our thinking--our planet is our home. We live in the garbage that we dump. Indigenous people warned us, and yet we have dumped on them, too. We must change our ways. It is so unfair to our children and it is our obligation to protect them. Mobilize. We need to mobilize and fight. We can change things. We can. But we cannot be apathetic or lethargic. It is time to act! Thank you enviroblog and the authors you inform us about, for all that you do! http://ecofeminism-mothering.blogspot.com/
But if you imagine the scenario in which a woman purifies herself prior to pregnancy (completely hypothetically of course -- it's an ideal situation which could never actually occur in today's environment) in order to ensure that her baby is born uncontaminated by these chemicals, then the first concern that should come to mind is that the baby will then have no "natural" resistance to these compounds. The presence of these compounds from a young age guarantees that the ones who survive and reproduce are those who can bear a certain level of chemical poisoning. It's the reality of the omnipresence of these chemicals that also necessitates their presence from early development.
I'm not saying that this is a good thing, merely that it may not be a completely awful, shocking, undesirable thing, and that there are other things to consider in the picture here. All 10 babies were carrying traces of hundreds of chemicals -- that would suggest that a significant percentage of adults today were also born with many chemicals present in their blood, and while disease and defect rates may be up, so is life expectancy. The 10 Americans study may be better taken not as a horrifying exposé of drug companies' damage to the world, but as the discovery of yet another sad externality to our modern way of life.
Thank you for your comments. Your idea of purification prior to conception is interesting. In fact there are many things that couples can do prior to trying to conceive to minimize the presence of harmful chemicals in their bodies (e.g. both partners eating an organic diet).
The 10 Americans study to me is an indicator of the unintended consequences of our modern way of life, as you pointed out. However it also raises the question of necessity. Do our children need to be born pre-polluted- is this the way it has to be? To what extent has our chemicals policy in the United States allowed this to be the case? I have to believe there is a middle ground that protects human health without simultaneously stifling innovation. It’s my hope that we collectively find a way to identify the answer the question my Public Health Ethics professor posed (what do we value most) and use it to guide our toxics policy going forward.
One thing I have been doing to be greener is change my household cleaners. I have a 4 year old and a 7 month old, so surface cleaning and laundry are big issues. I have switched from normal big name brand cleaners to Carribean Mist.
The reason I have switched to them is they have a complete line up of eco-friendly cleaners for the entire home. Also, I live in Michigan where they are located so I'm also buying local. Feels good to be green and supporting local business!
I couldn't believe it when this environmentally safe laundry soap actually took out stains in my baby's clothes. That was nice!
We are dog lovers as well. Shar-Peis are our breed and they do tend to stink. Nothing like wet dog stink when your dog naturally stinks to begin with! I must say Carribean Mist has been a life saver in this case. Safe and non toxic around the dog and kids... Thank You Carribean Mist!
http://carribeanmist.com
I guess I was wrong about where Carribean Mist was located, but the same... I love the products!
Using green household cleansers is something that we should all be doing. I'm not sure where I read or heard this, and I believe it was CBC Radio (Canada) that housewives who stayed home with the kids and used chemical products (greater daily exposure) had a greater risk of cancer. Not surprising. As an instructor (teach pest control) in a local college, and a blog writer for Biofloris.com (natural pest control for the garden)- I have gone completely green over the last several years. Household cleansers, personal grooming products, sunscreen - you name it. They are a little more expensive - so stock up when they're on sale. I have so many students that have been diagnosed with ADD & ADDH that it's practically an epidemic - pollution creates body burden - it's time we all made changes - and a little at a time makes a big difference everywhere! Everybody - celebrate earth day with a committed change in habits.
I ate organically and so on before becoming pregnant, and while I was pregnant and so on. Yet I feel it is wrong to put this burden on the parent. Many people cannot afford to buy organic food and non-toxic household cleaners. Many do not have this luxury, yet they deserve to raise their babies in a safe and healthy world, too. Water, air, soil, and food "should" be clean. Industries should not be allowed to pollute and poison as they do. Governments need to protect their citizens from pollution. This is a basic human right.
Educating families and raising awareness about toxic chemicals in the home is my mission. I provide a place where families can shop for close to 400 products that are safer and better for families and the environment and save 30-40% off store prices. Families love these products and more families need to know that we have choices. Products ranging from laundry, cleaning, skin care, dental care and even vitamins/supplements.
I wish I knew about this store when my children were young ~ top selling baby shampoos, bath soaps and even wipes contain toxic chemicals. Read labels and look closer at what we're bathing our children with.
Going "Green" doesn't have to cost you alot of money.
visit: http://www.bestgreenstore.com
I'll help you convert your home today !