You might think asbestos was banned. Not so. It was briefly up for a ban in 1991, but that was quickly overturned, and asbestos can still be used in many products today. As long as products contain only 1 percent or less asbestos, they’re perfectly legal.

Asbestos Causes Cancer

Mesothelioma is an aggressive and deadly form of cancer, says the Mayo Clinic, for which there is no cure for many people. Since the primary risk factor is from asbestos exposure, the most effective way to prevent this disease is to reduce your exposure whenever possible.

Asbestos Pollutes the Planet

Asbestos exposure isn’t just a worry for our health, either. It can work its way back into the environment, contaminating soil, air and water. Mesothelioma.Net points out that asbestos is still widely used in traditional power plants that burn fossil fuels. The asbestos may be found in plant insulation to prevent heat from escaping as well as to prevent fires. Workers may also use fireproof gear containing asbestos.

Asbestos may be used in coal mines, too, and in the gear miners use to stay safe. When not properly contained, asbestos can contaminate the air, soil, and water around mines, refineries, and power plants. “Residents may end up with asbestos in the air they breathe and the water they drink, putting them at risk for mesothelioma and other illnesses,” says Mesothelioma.net.

Asbestos is not only a risk when inhaled, but also when ingested.

The following chart shows the 9 most likely sources of asbestos exposure in your home. As the chart notes, though new asbestos use for home construction ended by 1980, many old homes still contain asbestos-laden insulation, flooring, ceiling tiles, and other materials.

Review the chart, take note of when your home was built, and get professional help from a contractor certified in safe asbestos abatement if your home was built before 1980 and you undertake home renovations.

Don’t DIY where asbestos is concerned!

What Else Can You Do to Avoid Asbestos Exposure?

In addition to renovating your home safely, you can protect yourself and your family by buying asbestos-free products.

Not only will this keep your family and the environment safe from exposure, but it’ll also show companies still using asbestos that you’ve had enough, says the Alliance.

Here are a few products that may still contain asbestos.

Textiles

Flame resistance is one of asbestos’ most useful qualities. For many years it was considered a miracle material for its ability to quench flames. In fact, the very name comes from the Greek word, asvestos, which means unquenchable or inextinguishable.

Asbestos was used frequently in fabrics designed to be flame resistant, like fire blankets, stunt man suits, and even curtains. Fabric usage was one of the most dangerous, because when these products came into contact with flames, the dangerous fibers would be released into the air.

How to Stay Safe

Using repurposed products like fire blankets and stunt man suits could seriously impact your health. So, if you’re looking for rustic accents to your bedroom or living room, stay away from vintage military or fireman clothes that may contain asbestos fibers.

Also, be careful when handling any family relics like old jackets or work clothes. Buying vintage is a great way to make your wardrobe eco friendly, but avoid old gear that could have been worn by firemen or repair men unsuspectingly working on contaminated sites.

Back to School Supplies

Reports of asbestos in Playskool crayons surfaced early in August, 2018, after the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) analyzed 27 back-to-school products. Playskool is sold primarily at Dollar Tree, but also through Amazon, eBay and DollarDays.com.

Even though the amounts found were very small, PIRG noted that children often chew on crayons or sharpen them, increasing chances that kids could end up swallowing or inhaling tiny but dangerous crayon shavings.

How to Stay Safe

Use colored pencils, beeswax crayons, and water-based markers from non toxic certified suppliers.

Don’t Miss Our Green Back-to-School Shopping Tips That Will Also Save You Money!

Kids Makeup

Earlier this year, a consumer watchdog group found asbestos in the products of Claire’s, a children’s makeup store. Claire’s has since said it’s removed the dangerous items from its stores and the remaining products are asbestos-free. But still…

How to Stay Safe

Skip the kids’ stuff and go with safe, plant-based, organic regular make up. For decorations, use face masks rather than painting right on kids’ skin, or easy peel-off stickers. Avoid face glitter (which kids could inhale or get in their eyes).

We pulled together 6 Non-Toxic Ways to Paint Your Face right here.

IMPORTANT!!

A proposed Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) opens the doors for increased asbestos production. This rule details how companies can present cases for asbestos use to the EPA, which would evaluate these appeals on a case-by-case basis.

That means that companies could resume using asbestos and potentially put consumers’ live at risk.

What you can do:

Share this post widely on your social media and with your friends and family.

 Contact the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance to learn more and find out what you can do to protect you and your loved ones from asbestos.

The post 9 Sneaky Ways You May End Up a Victim of Asbestos Exposure appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Research has shown that cooking with Teflon-type cookware could expose you to toxic chemicals that might cause cancer. Specifically, PFOA, a chemical linked to cancer, liver disease, and reproductive disorders, was used for decades by DuPont and other companies to make non-stick pots and pans, reports Environmental Working Group. Scientists at Harvard and the University of Massachusetts have found that PFOA is “hazardous at the tiniest doses,” which is why you should avoid it if you possibly can.

What can you cook with instead? Here’s a list of non-stick cookware alternatives, all of which are available in kitchen stores, some grocery stores, big box and department stores, and in our own Big Green Purse store on Amazon.com.

CAST IRON

√ Indestructible

√ Inexpensive

√ Easy to clean

√ Versatile

√ It works!

Once cast iron is properly seasoned (just follow the directions on the label that comes with most pans), you can cook absolutely anything in it, though I wouldn’t use it to boil water.

It’s great for sauteeing, frying, braising, stewing, and cooking something as simple as scrambled eggs.

It works as well on the stovetop as it does in the oven. In fact, if you’re cooking a dish that needs to be browned on the top, you can easily move your cast iron skillet or casserole from the range to the oven broiler without missing a beat.

Clean it with a gentle scrub brush or slightly rough sponge and hot water, then either dry it with a towel, or just put it back on the range for a minute and let the heat evaporate whatever water remains.

If you’re washing out a greasy pan, you only need a little bit of liquid dish soap – you don’t want to wash away the seasoning on the pan that makes it so effective.

Possible Downside: Cast iron is heavy. But I personally like the exercise I get using it and find that other than a 10-qt Dutch oven, it’s never too much to handle.

STAINLESS STEEL

√ Excellent for boiling potatoes, rice, pasta

√ Great for browning and sauteeing meat

√ Can tolerate high heat

√ Can go from range to oven as long as it doesn’t have plastic handles

Downside:  Food can quickly burn if the heat gets too high or the pan gets too dry. Then, the pan can be difficult to scrub clean.

The denser or heavier stainless steel is, the better it will be at conducting heat and the easier it will be to clean. Use liquid soap for most cleaning, and a little baking soda to scrub away stuck food.

STONEWARE, ENAMELED CAST IRON & CERAMICS

√ Good for stews and casserole dishes, or for making a meal in a dish you can both cook and serve in

Downside: Beware ceramic pots that are glazed inside with materials that could contain lead or other toxic chemicals.

Contra Costa (CA) Health Services warns against using traditional glazed terra cotta (clay) dishware from Mexico and other Latin American countries, as it is likely contaminated with lead.

Similarly, the Department of the Environment in Australia warns against using highly decorated traditional dishes from some Asian countries, and antique pots and pans that are heavily decorated.

Enameled cast iron is particularly attractive and can easily go from stovetop to the oven.

GLASS

 √ Terrific for cookware, though primarily available as baking pans, pie pans, and casserole dishes

√ Non-reactive, so food won’t pick up any taste from the glass

√ Affordable

√ Can easily go from the oven to the table, as long as you set it on a potholder or non-metal trivet until it cools down.

Downside: If you put hot glass on a cool metal surface, like the top of a stove range or a metal trivet, it could shatter into a thousand pieces. So use glass—but use it carefully, and pay attention to extreme temperature shifts.

What About Aluminum?

Aluminum cooks a lot like stainless steel, but it’s usually lighter.

Cooking at high heat won’t emit toxic fumes, like Teflon-type pots and pans.

But there is some concern that aluminum can leach into food and potentially have human health problems.

Aluminum is on the “2007 list of top priority toxins in the U.S., a list put out every year by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry,” reports the Livestrong Foundation. Concerns have also been raised about the link between aluminum and Alzheimer’s. Right now the Alzheimer’s Association does not believe that “everyday sources of aluminum pose any threat” to increased Alzheimer’s risk.

One of my biggest complaints about aluminum is that I can often taste it in the food I cook.  I have aluminum 9×13 baking pans that I used to also bake meals like lasagna in. However, I noticed that the lasagna would sometimes pick up an aluminum taste, because the acidic tomato sauce in the lasagna reacted with the aluminum in a corrosive way. The only thing I use my aluminum pans for now is the occasional cake.

What Should You Do With Any Non-Stick Cookware You Have?

If you currently use non-stick cookware and want to get rid of it, don’t donate it to someone else.

Either send it back to the manufacturer, or just throw it away.

If you must continue cooking with it, use it on very low heat and only for boiling water or other tasks that have little chance of burning.

Do not use metal utensils, like spatulas or stirring spoons, as those could scratch the nonstick coating off and into the food you’re cooking.

Sources:

TwoKitchenJunkies.com in The Ultimate Guide to Healthy Cookware

Update on PFOA, Environmental Working Group

The post Non-Stick Cookware Alternatives That Won’t Give You Cancer appeared first on Big Green Purse.

 “Baby Emma just found
out Tide’s toxic secret—and she’s shocked that her favorite detergents are
contaminated with a cancer-causing chemical!

Women’s Voices for the Earth’s recent report, Dirty Secrets: What’s Hiding in Your Cleaning Products, revealed a secret cancer-causing chemical called 1,4-dioxane
hiding out in both Tide and Tide Free & Gentle – which, appallingly, is
marketed to moms as a healthier choice for their children’s laundry.

Emma decided that Tide can’t hide their secret anymore.
We’re blowing their cover by spreading this
image on Facebook revealing that Tide®
and Tide Free & Gentle® contain
a chemical known to cause cancer.

We need your help to get this photo to go viral. Help Emma convince Tide to take the cancer
out by posting her image on Tide’s Facebook wall
and sharing it with your friends.

 Tide® and Tide
Free & Gentle® are two of the top-selling
detergents in the country, which is why the company doesn’t want people to know
they contain 1,4-dioxane, a chemical known to cause cancer.

You know what makes this even more appalling? (Aside from
the fact that 1,4-dioxane doesn’t need to be in there, and that Tide knows how
to take it out—they just won’t.) Tide Free & Gentle® is marketed to unsuspecting moms as a
“healthier choice” for their children’s laundry! If only those moms knew…

That’s why, even if
you don’t use Tide®, Emma needs your help. There are
millions of people out there who have no idea that Tide is toxic, who are
unknowingly washing their clothes in a product that contains a carcinogen. You
can be the one to open their eyes to this toxic detergent by helping us
spread this image.

 What
is 1,4-Dioxane?

1,4-dioxane is classified as a probable
carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a known carcinogen
under Proposition 65 in California. 1,4-dioxane is sometimes found in products
that create suds, like shampoo, liquid soap, and bubble bath. It is an expected
contaminant when chemicals like sodium laureth sulfate, PEG compounds, and
others are present.

We know that it’s possible to
strip this harmful chemical out of products. Procter & Gamble (makers of Tide)
reformulated its Herbal Essences®
shampoo in 2010 to strip out 1,4-dioxane. Tide Free & Gentle® contains three times
the amount of this cancer-causing chemical!

Johnson & Johnson, another massive
consumer products company, announced
in July that is stripping 1,4-dioxane from all of its products worldwide.
There’s no reason that Procter & Gamble can’t do the same.

 Tide is providing us with the perfect example of why we need
to pass the Safe Chemicals Act, which will actually provide a baseline for what
“safety” means. Because we obviously differ from Procter & Gamble (makers
of Tide®) on what is safe when it comes
to toxic chemicals.

For example, the Tide
website says:
Safety: The Most Important Ingredient in
Tide®. If that’s true, 1,4-dioxane should never have been
in the product in the first place from our perspective.

 But Procter & Gamble continues to claim
that levels of 1,4-dioxane are “safe” in its detergents. The bottom line is that there is no safe level of a known
cancer-causing chemical.

We’re done being ignored by Tide. It’s time to turn up the
volume, and it’s time to take it viral.

Help us reveal Tide’s secret and force them
to remove this harmful chemical by spreading the word all over social media!

**Not on Facebook? You can still take action by sending
a quick email telling Tide to take the cancer out.

 RELATED POSTS

Tell Tide to Come Clean and Ditch the 1,4-Dioxane Now

 Protect Us and Our Kids from Toxic Chemicals Now

The post Tell Tide to Clean Up Its Cleaning Products appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Women’s Voices for the Earth (WVE), a terrific non-profit organization whose scientists keep an eye on the consumer products you buy, has just issued a report that identifies toxic chemicals used by five top companies: Clorox, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, SC Johnson and Son, and Sunshine Makers (Simple Green). WVE looked at 20 different cleaning products – and found toxic substances in all of them. If not for this study, titled “Dirty Secrets: What’s Hiding in Your Cleaning Products?” you’d never be the wiser, because none of the noxious chemicals were listed on the product label.

WVE believes consumers deserve to know what chemicals they are being exposed to so they can easily avoid products that may make them or their kids sick. I agree. That’s why I wholeheartedly support WVE’s call for Congress to pass new federal legislation called the Cleaning Product Right to Know Act requiring cleaning product manufacturers to disclose all the ingredients they use in their products directly on the product label.

I’ve also signed WVE’s petition urging one of the offending companies, Tide, to remove the cancer-causing chemical 1,4-dioxane from its Tide Free & Gentle® detergent. 1,4-dioxane is a known cancer-causing chemical, and has been linked in animal studies to increased risk of breast cancer. Nevertheless, Tide Free & Gentle® is being marketed to moms as a healthier choice for their kids’ laundry, even though infants and children are particularly vulnerable to chemical exposures because their immune, neurological, and hormone systems are still developing.

WVE is targeting Procter & Gamble (makers of Tide®) because P&G has taken 1,4 dioxane out of some of its other products, like its Herbal Essences® shampoo. More than 75,000 people have signed the petition asking the company to do the same for Tide and the rest of its products. Ironically, the Tide website says: Safety: The Most Important Ingredient in Tide®. If that’s true, then 1,4-dioxane should never have been in the product in the first place.

Here’s one more important way you can make a difference: use your big green purse. Shift your spending to safer laundry detergents that are free of toxic chemicals. Here are some we sell in the Big Green Purse store; you can also find them in many grocery stores.

Seventh Generation

Ecover

Method

Here are more ways you can take action.

Related Posts:

Your Big Green Muscle is Getting J&J To Make Its Baby Shampoo Safer

The post Tell Tide to Come Clean and Ditch the 1,4-Dioxane appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Lori of Groovy Green Livin’ asks “What the heck is fracking?” You won’t like her answer anymore than she did. It’s like a “mini-bomb or earthquake exploding underneath the ground” that leaves behind extremely toxic waste water. “The quantities of fracking fluids used in a single well contain so much benzene and other toxic chemicals that they could potentially contaminate more than the amount of water New York State consumes in a day.  Water is so contaminated with methane and other chemicals from fracking that it can become discolored, bubble and could actually catch on fire at the kitchen tap….The chemicals from fracking can cause chronic illness, loss of sense of smell and taste, animals hair to fall out, severe headaches and cancer.”

Betsy of Eco Novice writes, “the big kicker for me in all of this is that fracking was exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act in the 2005 energy bill, which means that the entire process is happening with minimal regulation. So a process that potentially threatens drinking water is not subject to the regulation that is supposed to. . . protect our drinking water.”

Lisa of Retro Housewife Goes Green wonders if the increased number of EARTHQUAKES where she lives in Oklahoma are connected to the increasing amount of fracking going on there. What? Earthquakes? Think about that one for a minute. She also wonders whether the value of natural gas is being greenwashed. Sure, it’s an alternative to coal. But is it really any better? Fracking, plus nat gas’ own carbon footprint, make you wonder.

Karen of Best of Mother Earth got educated when she watched the Oscar-nominated film “Gasland,” which tracks the impact that fracking has had on people’s lives and the environment all over the U.S. “I found myself horrified, REALLY angry, and of course immediately frustrated…Once they frack, there is no going back,” she says. “The damage and destruction is done.”

There is some good news in the fracking debate. As Harriet at Climate Mama reports, the New Jersey legislature has banned fracking anywhere and everywhere in the state. Can you get your state to do the same?

Yes, you can! Over at Big Green Purse, you can find links to updates on what’s happening in your state, and sign a petition to get Senators to sign the FRAC Act.

And for more links to great resources and legislative updates, see Jennifer’s post at Care2.

Please. Take action today.

The post Fracking: A Clear and Present Danger appeared first on Big Green Purse.

But it’s not. Fracking is short for “hydraulic fracturing,” explains Chris Bolgiano in this Bay Journal article. “It involves drilling a hole a mile down, then thousands of feet horizontally, and pumping down millions of gallons of water laced with sand, salt and chemicals to crack the shale. Gas is forced up, along with roughly 25 percent of the contaminated wastewater, often hot with radioactivity.”

Chris adds, “Fracking chemicals include formaldehyde, benzene, and others known to be carcinogenic at a few parts per million. Municipal plants can’t handle fracking wastewater, and it’s stored in open pits until trucked elsewhere. If enough fresh water can’t be sucked from streams on site, trucks haul it in.

“Eighteen-wheelers rolling 24/7 pulverize country roads and cause accidents, like the one that spilled 8,000 gallons of toxic materials into a Pennsylvania creek last year. And they emit enough carbon to seriously shrink the greenhouse gas advantage of fracked gas.”

Fracking is rampant up and down the Eastern Seabord right now, as the natural gas industry tries to tap the gas that’s trapped under a massive underground rock formation called the Marcellus Shale. But it’s also occurring in the Midwest and southwest, 36 states in all. The industry claims that it’s doing the public and the environment a service, since the U.S. has abundant natural gas reserves and natural gas emits half the carbon emissions of coal and oil. Plus, says the industry, fracking creates local (though temporary) jobs.

But here’s the very significant downside:

EXPLOSIONS

Fracking causes explosions similar to the oil blowup that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico last year. One explosion in Pennsylvania last June spewed flammable gas and polluted water 75 feet into the air for sixteen hours. A blast in West Virginia injured 7 people while flames shot 40 feet into the air.

TAP WATER ON FIRE

Over 1,000 cases of water contamination have been reported near fracking sites, reports Food and Water Watch. Fracking operations in Pennsylvania alone are expected to create 19 milion gallons of wastewater. The Oscar-nominated documentary GasLand captured this tap water catching on fire because it contained so much methane as a result of drinking water contamination from nearby fracking operations.

WORSE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

About that methane: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, methane is 21 times more damaging a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Similarly, a study released by researchers at Duke University in April found methane levels in shallow drinking water wells near active gas drilling sites at a level 17 times higher than those near inactive ones.

AND — WHO’S SURPRISED? — CANCER

Scientists at the Endocrine Disruption Exchange who tested fracking fluids found that 25 percent can cause cancer; 37 percent can disrupt our endocrine system; and 40 to 50 percent can affect our nervous, immune and cardiovascular systems.

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO

Citizen, public health and environmental groups cheered yesterday when New Jersey’s state legislature became the first in the nation to unanimously ban fracking. Said Senator Bob Gordon (D-Bergen), “Any benefits of gas production simply do not justify the many potential dangers associated with fracking such as pollution of our lakes, streams and drinking water supplies and the release of airborne pollutants. We should not wait until our natural resources are threatened or destroyed to act. The time to ban fracking in New Jersey is now.”

New Jersey is a good start, but remember: Fracking is currently underway in 36 states. Here’s what you can do to stop it in your state.

On Capitol Hill, the FRAC Act, a bill that has been in the Senate since 2009, would force the natural gas industry frackers to comply fully with the Safe Drinking Water Act and protect our drinking water. You can easily sign a petition here to ask your Senators to support the FRAC act.

Do it today.

Want to Read More?

Fracking in Maryland: Chesapeake Bay Foundation Petitions White House

Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers

Marcellus Shale Protest: What’s the Big Deal…?

The post What the Heck is Fracking? And Why Don’t You Want It Anywhere Near Your Water? appeared first on Big Green Purse.

The Precautionary Principle was hammered out at the historic Wisconsin Wingspread conference in 1998 by scientists, researchers, and citizens. The principle is grounded in the simple belief that we should not wait to protect ourselves or the environment until we have absolute proof that certain products or activities can cause us harm.

To the contrary, the principle declares: “When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken, even if some cause-and-effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.”

Industries use scientific uncertainty as a way to avoid cleaning up their act. Companies often magnify the importance of uncertainty to persuade citizens, legislators, and regulators that they, too, should delay action. Think how much farther along we’d be at solving the climate change crisis if the energy industry hadn’t fought every proposed carbon dioxide regulation with the cry, “There’s not enough proof that CO2 causes global warming!”

At the same time, budget crunches and competing priorities mean that important studies that could document environmental impacts often are shunted aside. Ironically, the longer we wait to address a problem, the greater the costs become – to the environment, to our health, and to the economy.

The Precautionary Principle has four tenets.

1) We — consumers, governments, manufacturers — have a duty to respond to early warnings. We must act before harm occurs, not after the fact. We don’t wait for our child to get hit by a car to tell her to look both ways when crossing the street. People shouldn’t need to contract cancer or asthma to get access to safe ingredients, or for companies to remove products like Bisphenol-A from baby bottles or control the air pollution coming out of cars.

2) Consumers should not bear the “burden of proof.” Under our current system, you and I and, essentially, our environment, have to prove that we’ve been harmed before the government is willing to intercede on our behalf and before industry is willing to change the way it does business.  Under the Precautionary Principle, manufacturers would need to demonstrate safety.

Can this approach work for industry? It’s taken hold in Europe. Starting with chemicals already known to cause cancer and birth defects, cosmetics companies are being required to reformulate their products to contain safer ingredients. Here in the U.S., the nonprofit Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is urging manufacturers to follow suit. Putting the burden of proof not on you and me but on producers should become the law of the land.

3) It is our responsibility to explore alternatives to toxic substances and activities. What good does it do us to know, or even suspect, something will harm us if we don’t choose a safer alternative? Increasingly, we have real choice in the marketplace: more organic foods, more fuel-efficient vehicles, more recycled products, less plastic, less stuff overall. When we opt for the most environmenally friendly products and services available, we provide powerful incentives to manufacturers to shape up..

4) The Precautionary Principle requires democratic participation. Companies should not be allowed to decide our fate in their corporate board rooms. It’s up to us to provide guidance as well as accountability by participating in public hearings, writing letters to companies, voting on ballot initiatives, electing responsive public officials, and, of course, using our Big Green Purse in the marketplace to favor products that offer us the healthiest, safest options.

In fact, often, our first line of defense is the way we spend our money — or choose to keep it in our pockets. If you’re stymied by all the confusing green labels, start with products that meet independent standards for health and environmental sustainability. For suggestions of products to avoid and choices to make, read this month’s Green Mom’s Carnival on the relationship between the environment and cancer, hosted by Tiffany at NatureMoms.

(photo credit)

The post We Don’t Wait for Our Child to Get Hit By a Car Before We Tell Her to Look Both Ways When Crossing the Street appeared first on Big Green Purse.

“Ever since the publication of my book,  The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being, people ask me what I’ve done in my own life to reduce exposures to toxic chemicals.

One answer is: I vacuum a lot more. And one family of toxic chemicals is the reason for it. Called polybrominated diphyl ethers, or PBDEs, these toxic flame retardants were – beginning in the 1970s — added to everything from furniture foam, mattresses, carpet padding and drapery backings, to car interiors, computers, TVs, fax machines and small kitchen appliances.

Because of the way PBDEs were blended into foam and plastic – think of a baker stirring chocolate chips into cookie dough – they can easily escape from the materials into which they are mixed. As a result, PBDEs settle in the dust on the floors of our homes, where children and pets spend most of their time. Indeed, researchers believe dust is the primary route of human exposure to PBDEs.

Based on the findings in animal studies, the EPA classifies PBDEs as a possible human carcinogen. Like other endocrine-disrupting chemicals I write about in The Body Toxic, PBDEs also are suspected of causing an array of negative health effects, including thyroid hormone disruption and permanent learning and memory impairment.

Because of their widespread use, PBDEs have built up at astonishing rates in the environment and in people. No one can say for certain how PBDEs are affecting humans, young or old. But research led by Dr. Linda Birnbaum, who was recently appointed director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, makes the case that house cats may be sentinels for humans, especially the littlest ones.

“Think about a cat’s behavior,” said Birnbaum. “They’re on the floor; they’re on the furniture. They get dust on themselves. They ingest it through grooming. Well, little kids are all over the floor and furniture, and they’re frequently mouthing things, including their hands.”

Read Part 2 of this article.

The post New Book Highlights Environmental, Health Threats from Toxic Chemicals appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Chances are great that our daughters will pass on to our grandchildren some of the same chemical molecules they inherited from us. The estimated age by which a daughter will purge 99 percent of the inherited chemical varies depending on the chemical. It will take a day to excrete the phthalate plasticizers that soften up cosmetics, paint and plastics, but a year to dump mercury. Our daughters will be at least teenagers but perhaps senior citizens before they’re rid of the common flame retardants and stain-proofing chemicals we pass along. They would be 166 years old before they’re free of their inherited lead.

Meanwhile, their own body burden continues to increase. According to EWG’s test results, chemicals that persist in the body were found at higher levels in mothers than daughters, showing how chemicals can build up in the body over a lifetime. Mothers had an average of 1.5 to 5.2 times more pollution than their daughters for lead, methyl mercury, brominated flame retardants, and the Teflon- and Scotchgard-related perfluorochemicals PFOA and PFOS.

The EWG study, which was done on four mothers and their daughters, found that each of the eight women’s blood or urine was contaminated with an average of 35 consumer product ingredients, including flame retardants, plasticizers, and stain-proof coatings. These mixtures of compounds found in furniture, cosmetics, fabrics, and other consumer goods, have never been tested for safety. The mothers and daughters in this study join 64 other people tested in six EWG biomonitoring programs conducted between 2000 and 2006. In total, EWG biomonitoring has found 455 different pollutants, pesticides, and industrial chemicals in the bodies or cord blood of 72 different people — including 10 newborn babies with an average of 200 chemicals in each child.

“EPA studies show that children from birth to age two are 10 times more sensitive to cancer-causing chemicals than adults,” said Jane Houlihan, EWG’s vice president for research. “Scientists have found that chemicals’ toxic effects can be passed down for four generations, by causing permanent genetic changes that can be inherited. A stew of toxic chemicals is not the legacy mothers want to hand down to their children.”

We monitor the pollution in our air, our water, and even our fish. Isn’t it time we started paying attention to the pollution in our bodies?

Related Post: What’s in YOUR body, Mom?

The post A Mother’s Day Question: What Do You Have in Common with Your Daughter…or Your Own Mother? appeared first on Big Green Purse.

*  Breast cancer strikes more women in the world than any other type of cancer except skin cancer.

* In the U.S., a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer increased steadily and dramatically during the 20th century.

* Today, a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is one in eight.

* The increasing incidence of breast cancer over the decades following World War II paralleled the proliferation of synthetic chemicals.

* An estimated 80,000 synthetic chemicals are used today in the U.S.; another 1,000 or more are added each year. Complete toxicological screening data are available for just 7 percent of these chemicals.

* Many of these chemicals persist in the environment, accumulate in body fat, and may remain in breast tissue for decades. Many have never been tested for their effects on human health.

Thanks to reduced use of hormone therapy, breast cancer rates for women over 50 may be declining.  Nevertheless, 216 chemicals and radiation sources have been linked to breast cancer and all women remain susceptible. Of particular concern are the agents known as endocrine disruptors. These are chemicals that mimic our natural endocrine system and ultimately disrupt the work it does to regulate growth, reproduction and other human health conditions.

Protect Yourself from Breast Cancer

Dr. Gray says that one important way consumers can protect themselves is to avoid products that contain endocrine disruptors like phthalates, parabens, growth hormones in meat and dairy products, and bisphenol A.

* Choose phthalate-free perfumes, soaps, shampoos, lotions and even nail polish.

* Avoid parabens. Parabens, a preservative, are being replaced by ascorbic acid.

* Eat organic food and dairy products. Cows that graze on organic feed and in free-range conditions will be free of artificial hormones.

* Skip plastic water bottles. Consumers can avoid bisphenol A by choosing stainless steel water bottles rather than hard plastic, and glass over plastic or metal cans for the food they buy.

These “big green purse” options will not only protect women individually. The way women spend their money sends a direct message to manufacturers. Saying “no” to breast cancer by choosing the safest products and services will pressure companies to say “no” to these same chemicals before they’re even added to the product.

Download a complete copy of the report here.

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