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How is Chemical Saturation of Consumer Goods Legal? Products that contain endocrine disrupting chemicals saturate consumer goods and our food and water supply. How is this legal? Back in the 1950's, we did not have the same testing skills that we have now. There were barely any cancers, diabetes was ridiculously rare, asthma was almost non-existent and reserved to old smokers, people ate lard and animal fat without developing cancer and humans enjoyed basking in the sun in really ugly bathing suits without developing skin cancer. Eggs were fried in bacon grease, which was also dumped on pancakes with a generous portion of maple syrup. Butter was spread on toast and dinner was a nice greasy meatloaf - since there was no lean, or extra lean, ground meat back then. But, cancers were rare. Diabetes was rare. Obesity was rare. Mental illness was rare. Asthma was extremely rare. People enjoyed animal products and sunshine and were healthy. So, there wasn't really much to test for, since most of these chronic conditions were extremely rare or non-existent. Chemical exposure limits were set using the only known risk associated with exposure, which was death. So, at the point that, quite literally, there were "no additional deaths" in animal studies, the exposure limit was set. Since there was no thought of diseases, since there were barely any diseases, no one could look into the future and test for conditions that did not yet exist or were extremely rare at that time. Remember, back then, lead was a great additive for gasoline, indoor and outdoor paints, asbestos was a revolutionary insulator, mercury was really neat to play with and DDT was safe. I played with mercury in elementary school, holding this most toxic metal in my bare hands, absorbing it into my skin, it was really cool! The ball started rolling because of human innocence - just like a child does not know a stove is hot, or that you can fall off furniture and get hurt or that running into the street can lead to being hit by a car, we didn't know to look for what had never been experienced or was very rare. The right word is human innocence. Money was being made and jobs were being created, which brought this country out of a horrible depression. In some ways, what was done was a good thing - at that time. But, times change as we learn from past mistakes and mature. Prior to the 1970's, all household and industrial waste was released into rivers and streams. Considering most releases were organic, poop, food, etc, the environment remained balanced. Additional algae formed to deal with the septic waste and all was good. In the late 1960's and early 1970's, we started noticing that people who ate the fish in many rivers and streams were getting sick, developing cancers and birth defects. The EPA worked to pass legislation to protect the rivers and streams by banning releases of industrial waste, creating a very effective network of collecting sewage from homes in populated areas and moving the waste to sewage treatment facilities. It is now 40 years later and their plan has had an incredibley positive impact on our rivers, streams and environment. But, what to do with the toxic waste? What to do with all that toxic sewage sludge? It was decided to dump it off the coasts. That did not work out real well. By 1988, the EPA created a schedule to obtain permits for dumping until 1991 when the practice was banned completely due to the horrible effects on the aquatic life of the ocean from the chemicals in our sewage. Poop does not kill fish, does not cause birth defects, does not reduce fertility and does not cause the incredible deformaties in nature that were seen first in our rivers and streams and then in the oceans. So, with billions of gallons of water running over the areas where we were dumping this mess, the dilution was still not enough to prevent the damage to the animals and plants in the ocean. What did we decide to do with it after that? I'll get to that in a minute - first you need to know a little more history. Back to the 1970's. With the knowledge that certain chemicals were interfering with the reproduction cycle of fish, causing birth defects in the fish and in humans who consumed the fish - testing on certain chemicals began. New exposure limits were set based on the expected exposure at that time. There was only about a million tons of phthalates, a specific endocrine disruptor, being produced at the time and production of bisphenol A, another known endocrine disruptor was relatively minimal as well. With our huge computers and telephones that still had wires and outlets, we set new standards for exposure limits. Cancers, asthma, diabetes, obesity and other human health issues were increasing, but were still less than a third of the rate they are today. Do not believe the rates have tripled because we are living longer - all of the increases are in younger and younger people - far younger than the life expectancy of the 1970's. It's not due to population increase either - the increased 'rate' is the number per 1,000, not the total number. As far as chemical dumping from factories, most of our factories moved out of the country in the 1970's rather than comply with the EPA's restrictions on chemical dumping and the enormous cost of removing the chemicals from their waste. For example, in China there were no restrictions and companies could continue dumping whatever they wished into the environment without having the EPA regulations increasing costs of production - and the cost of consumer goods. The overwhelming majority of our waste became consumer, rather than factory, waste. In the 1970's, when it was realized that there might be a bit of a problem, the limits were set per product based on the anticipated exposure to a certain number of products. However, the cleaning product industry exposure limit was based only on anticipated exposure to cleaning products. The body care product exposure limit was set based only on anticipated exposure to body care products. The limit on emissions from plastic houseware products was based only on anticipated exposure to plastic houseware products. The limit on emissions from plastic toys was based only on anticipated exposure to plastic toys. The food industry packaging limits were set only based on anticipated exposure to the emissions absorbed by food from food packaging. No one looked at the combination of the expected exposure to *all* sources in *all* consumer goods. Another exposure that was never calculated, or even anticipated at that time, was our food and water supply - because it wasn't happening yet. At that time, all the waste was going into rivers and streams, remember? In addition, there were far fewer products that contained endocrine disrupting chemicals, far fewer plastics. The combined level of exposure anticipated at that time, was exponentially less than we are actually experiencing today. Back to what was chosen to be done with household sewage. Every cleaning and body care product used in the home goes down the drain. The sewage from approximately 70% of the households in the country is piped to a sewage treatment facility. At these locations, the water is evaporated from the solids. The solids are contaminated with the chemicals from consumer cleaning and body care products. The sewage is spread on agricultural fields, absorbed by plants, and returned to our homes in our food and water supply. In addition to chemicals in consumer goods such as cleaning and body care products as well as household furnishings, the same endocrine disrupting chemicals are in our food and water - yet another exposure source that was never anticipated. The politics of chemicals in consumer goods is a relatively complex issue. When you take into consideration the fact that each product in each different industry is safe by 1950's standards, regulation cannot be achieved until new standards are created. However, our government, our society, is so overwhelmed with diseases caused by chemical saturation that there is no money available to regulate all of the industries, including estimates of exposures from our food and water supply. The exposure studies would need to be immense to determine exposure routes, exposure limits, current exposures and how to control combined exposures from combined industries. The only industry that should have been aware of the fact that the current level of consumer exposure is way beyond toxic is the chemical industry. Try to understand, they make money manufacturing the chemicals for consumer goods and they also make money manufacturing the chemicals for the drugs to treat the illnesses caused by chemicals in consumer goods. The chemical industry, pharmaceutical industry and medical community are not interested in preventing diseases - there is far too much profit in sickness and long-term illnesses. These organizations support political candidates that support them and will block any regulation of the industry. Think about it, a candidate with no money cannot run for office. The only way to get money to run for office is to take bribes, I mean campaign contributions, and make commitments to support the industry that financed your campaign. So, basically, legislation is not going to happen because our elected officials have made promises to block any attempts at legislation. Health care costs have increased in direct linear correlation to the increases in expensive, long-term diseases such as cancers, asthma, leukemia, heart disease and diabetes. All of these can be directly attributed to the chemicals in consumer goods that interfere with the endocrine system. The endocrine system regulates the behavior of every cell in the body - but it cannot compensate for exposure to toxins that interfere with cell functions. Looking for a cure is useless. There no cure for chronic poisoning. The only cure is to remove exposure to the poisons that are causing the cells to divide improperly or not die as programmed by the endocrine system. All there is at this point is symptom control and remove the body part or organ that was damaged by exposure to toxins. Fifty years ago, there were barely any long-term diseases. Today, without medical intervention to remove or regulate body parts and systems, at least one quarter of the population would be dead. How many drugs are you on to keep you alive? How many drugs are your friends, family and co-workers on to keep them alive? How many surgeries have you, family, friends or co-workers had to keep you alive? Fifty years ago, before the explosion in chronic conditions caused by exposure to chemicals, health care costs were minimal. Now, with the explosion in long-term diseases and cancers, health care costs have also exploded and are destroying our country financially. There is no profit in natural products. Companies cannot make money on natural solutions because almost everything you need is already in your kitchen. The solutions cannot be patented, all of them would be the same. Would you honestly spend $4 for a bottle of name-brand window cleaner that was nothing more than distilled water with a quarter cup of vinegar that would cost you less than a quarter to dump in a spray bottle yourself? I sell two books that give you the information you need to switch to inexpensive, effective natural solutions. The only way that we can cut down on the amount of chemicals that cause cancers, asthma, and other long-term diseases is if we choose to use natural solutions. Solutions that do not put toxic chemicals in our own homes that we breathe in, absorb and that go down the drain and come back in our food and water so we get to eat them, too. So, it all comes down to consumer choices. You can continue to use products that contain toxic chemicals in your home and poison the food and water supply for ourselves and future generations or you can start switching to natural products that are overpriced and often contain synthetic fragrances linked to asthma, allergies, cancers and also come back in the food supply or, the most sensible choice, start learning to make your own natural, inexpensive non-toxic solutions that harm no one. RESOURCES: Sunflower Naturals Non-Toxic Body Care Sunflower Naturals Non-Toxic Cleaning Guide Please read the articles down the side of the site pages to learn more about how chemicals in consumer goods affect your health, your environment and the health of children. |
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