Monday, December 7, 2009

The bigger picture

Anyone who knows me well knows I'm fairly obsessed with chemicals in general -- yes, in my food for sure, but also in my home (where I can also control them to an extent). I accept that we are exposed to a large amount of chemicals in the world that are mostly out of our control. You could avoid planes where the seats and interior is packed with fire retardant chemicals, or you could never eat or drink from plastic containers, but these become both impractical and somewhat pointless. Impractical because I live in a large city, work full time, and can't spend all my time trying to avoid every possible chemical. Somewhat pointless for two reasons: (1) most people agree that the actual chemicals we are exposed to are far less relevant that the amount and duration of exposure -- thus why it may make more sense to focus on where you really can reduce exposure, and (2) because you really can't avoid them regardless -- the best example is the polar bear. Polar bears have no real predators besides asshole humans, and they obviously live in some of the remotest areas of the world -- far from civilization, tourism, etc. Yet many chemicals have been found in polar bears from fire retardants to PCBs to pesticides. All of human origin.

As a recent NYT article a friend passed along points out, over 80,000 new chemicals have been developed since World War II. We are developing them far faster than we can test and fully appreciate their impact. What works is often not worth the cost. We are now realizing that these chemicals don't go away, they simply build up and up and up. Some never leave the body and others never leave the soil. Very smart people have come up with some pretty terrible solutions. Heroin was a pretty bad solution to cocain addiction.

What I try to do, just to throw it out there, is avoid chemicals in my home whenever possible. From floor cleaners to counter cleaners to bathroom cleaners to soap, shampoo, toothpaste, shaving cream, hair gel, dishwasher tablets, laundry products to air fresheners and on and on there are now excellent alternatives to virtually every home product. If you have a growing child or a pet, it is infinitely more important. I'm always amazed when I hear people talk about a pet having health problems or tumors and they never seem to consider that pets walk around on floors and counters and lick their paws. So do infants with their hands and feet.

The same NYT article discusses how 200 years ago girls started their period at 17 on average -- it's now 12. Most companies and government agencies would say there is no problem and no risk. But do we want to wait another 200 years and see our daughters begin menstrating at 8? Not only are chemicals insufficiently tested as to their impact on children, but they are far too often tested in isolation. Again, amount and duration of exposure is everything. The safety of a fire retardant in our mattress is irrelevant without factoring that many of us spend enough time on planes to throw those studies off considerably.

And we're realizing more often that what we do with something might matter. Most plastics are fairly safe, but some are less safe and almost all plastics become more dangerous when heated (microwave, dishwasher, etc.). Non-stick coatings are pretty safe, but when they start to get old or chipped they are not so safe at all.

The least we can do is control it in what we eat and in our homes. I find that drugstore.com has a great selection of natural products. Its one of the largest out there, and its reasonably priced. If you buy a decent amount shipping is free and you get money applied to your next order. There are a lot of new natural products out there. I've tried a ton that I love and a lot that I hate. Happy to recommend anything at all if asked.

No comments:

Post a Comment