Environmental Illness

We live in a society that has over 70,000 chemicals, only a handful have been tested for safety.

Where are they? 
What can they cause in your life? 
How does your body respond to these chemicals? 
What is this doing to the children being born today? 
How can we make our environment safe & change our world?
Where to start? 
Is there help out there?  

These are loaded questions and if you have read my page on, Cancer & Women then you have learned about some of the dangers in our foods, plastics and water. There I have also made suggestions to help you make change. But that page does not address many more of the chemicals that we are breathing in or wearing every day.

Where are they?
In your car, in the chemicals you use to clean your home, in your makeup, you health products, your food, your clothing and your carpet. We are basically surrounded by chemical creations, or chemically infused products. But we have never been taught to recognize them.

What can they cause in your life? 
A myriad of health issues that you and your doctor may never relate to the true source. Here is a tiny list of some of them: foggy brain, fatigue, rashes, insomnia, irritability, mood swings, premature menopause, premature puberty, infertility, cancer, cysts, tumors, heart palpitations, allergic reactions, increased blood pressure, loss of memory, nervous twitching, weight gain, femininity in men, masculinity in women, migraine headaches, and the list goes on.

How does your body respond to these chemicals?
Your body constantly seeks homeostasis, so it tries to clear out all toxic matter. But when there is an overabundance of toxins, it will attempt to store them in a safe place. The body will frequently store the toxins in fat cells. Often these toxic or abnormal fat cells are stored around the middle of the body.

What is this doing to the children being born today?
Children today are being born with many toxins already in their bodies. Recent studies show the life giving placentas of otherwise healthy mothers, containing over 600 chemicals! Thus the new generations of children are being born with foreign, toxic matter already in their system. This is probably why we see so many little children having asthma, cancer and auto-immune diseases, when none of this existed when I was a child over 50 years ago.

How can we make our environment safe & change our world?
We have to do the research and share what we discover with each other. We need to turn down the products that are a health hazard and find ways to use other products that do the same job. When a nation says 'No!' by not buying a product, it will no longer make the company money and it will be removed from the market. Companies respond to the consumer when the consumer refuses to buy something. This can change the entire market place, and thus change our world.

Where to start? 
Here are some simple changes you can make starting right now.

1) Change out your cleaning products.

  • Use vinegar and water (1:1 mix) to wash windows and walls.
  • Use baking soda to scrub sinks, pots, pans, grill, oven, stove, floors, walls, and anything that needs a hard scrub. You can make it into a paste and leave it on a pot and when you come back later it will is an easy wash. 
  • Use essential oils instead of perfume for your perfume and to freshen air. 

2) Buy only sheets that are made of cotton. If it says wrinkle-free or has a mix of polyester, remove them and replace with flannel or other pure cotton sheets. This is especially important if you suffer from insomnia,

3) Driving keep a window down so you have air flow even if you are running an air conditioner. Thhis is especially important if you have small children on board. Your automobile is a house full of chemicals.

4) Check your clothes and start replacing them with all cotton, preferably organic cotton or other natural fibers. Avoid polyester and acrylics and anything that is wrinkle free.

5) Get a water filter for you drinking water and also water filters for your showers. Fill your bath with water through your shower filter. Avoid bathing children in water without a filter, especially children that have any kind of allergy or asthma.

Is there help out there? 
Yes, today there are lots of organizations, people and their websites that can help you find what is causing issues in your environment. Here are some of the links and some videos that you can watch to learn more.

Certified Toxic Free Seal
http://www.absolutelyorganic-toxicfree.com/page/page/1362495.htm
The Certified Toxic Free Seal certifies that a product and its ingredients have been reviewed by the Toxic Free Foundation.  The formulas have been found to be FREE of any ingredients that would be suspected to have short or long term affects on the health and safety of anyone using them. 


Toxic Free Tips
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/toxicfreetips/
This is an amazing resource, and it is our taxpayer money that has funded it.
Toxic Free Tips is an information resource for households, schools, and workers. Toxic Free Tips and the Washington Department of Ecology do not endorse any product, business, or political cause. Our goal is to provide you with current, high-quality information so that you can stay informed and make safer choices about toxics in everyday products.


Skin Deep
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
EWG's Skin Deep is an online safety guide for cosmetics and personal care products, launched in 2004 to help people find safer products, with fewer ingredients that are hazardous or that haven't been thoroughly tested. Skin Deep combines product ingredient lists with information in more than 50 standard toxicity and regulatory databases. The database provides easy-to-navigate safety ratings for tens of thousands of personal care products.


Environmental Working Group ~ Food News
http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/
This is only one part of the website but want to make sure you know about it. It rates food for pesticide danger and Apples (non-organic) have been on the top of the list for years. Please realize that these apples are in lots of baby food, apple juice and applesauce. 


Toxic Free Awareness
http://toxicfreeawareness.com/
The Million Moms Challenge seeks to engage a million Americans with millions of moms in the developing world facing issues impacting pregnancy, childbirth and children's health.


Toxic Free Legacy Coalition
http://toxicfreelegacy.org/.
The Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition is a broad-based alliance of organizations across Washington state that rejects the trespass of persistent toxic chemicals in the environment and our bodies. These chemicals, such as PCBs, mercury, and dioxin, have been linked to neurological disorders, reproductive problems, developmental impacts, cancer, and genetic damage. Given the dangerous impacts of persistent toxic chemicals, we must act now to eliminate them. By joining together, we stive to ensure our children's fundamental right to be born without toxics in their bodies and to grow up in a healthy environment.


Debra Lynn Dadd 
http://www.debralynndadd.com/about-debra
Author of "Toxic Free" Debra has been on a mission for three decades to help Americans understand the toxic dangers in our environment.
When I first found out--back in 1978--that there were toxic chemicals in my own home making my body sick, I wanted to know where they were found in consumer products, how they make us sick, and how we can choose and find safe products. 
I have been researching and writing about how toxic chemicals affect our health and how to make safer choices as consumers for more than twenty-five years.


Deserving Pets
http://www.deservingpets.com/?Click=898
Pet supplements developed by a veterinarian who realized even the high priced foods do not have all of what your pet needs. 





Educational Video on Toxins