Poisoned Planet

Poisoned Planet: How Constant Exposure to Man-Made Chemicals is Putting Your Life at Risk

By Julian Cribb
Allen and Unwin (2014)

Book Review

Poisoned Planet is an encyclopedia of environmental toxins and their effect on human health. At present, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved 84,000 different manufactured chemicals. This doesn’t include unintentionally released chemicals, which number even higher. In 36 years, the EPA has only banned five chemicals. The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) monitors 212. All human beings on the planet have a minimum of 150 toxic chemicals in their bloodstream, regardless of where they live.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that man made toxic chemicals cause 4.9 million deaths annually. According to Australian journalist Julian Cribb, the largest source of chemical toxicity is coal burning power plants, giving off mercury, cadmium, sulfur and volatile organic carcinogens. These toxins cause 170,000 deaths annually, mostly from mercury poisoning. Mercury enters the food chain via fish, rice and green vegetables. Public health officials have been warning pregnant women and small children not to eat tuna or shellfish for two decades.

While many toxic exposures are unavoidable, it’s really scary how many people are poisoning themselves and their children through indoor air pollution, food packaging, sunscreens, cosmetics and cleaning products containing toxic chemicals. See Obgyns Speak Out On Toxic Chemicals and Buyer Beware: Americans are Systematically Poisoning Themselves

Cribb is highly critical of doctors for failing to warn their patients about these risks. Sadly current medical training is totally drug-based and medical students receive minimal training in nutrition or toxicology.

In the developed world, indoor air pollution is caused by chemicals emitted by synthetic building materials; wall, floor and furniture coverings; bedding; paints; plastic; foam rubber and common pesticides.

The most worrying toxins in food packaging are phthalates and bisphenyl A (BPA). Both are linked to cancer, infertility, asthma, obesity, diabetes and endocrine and neurobehavioral disorders.

Toxins found in sunscreen and cosmetics include phthalates, triclosan and parabins, which have all been linked to cancer, infertility and obesity.

Epidemiologists estimate eighty percent of all cancers are linked to environmental factors, with cancer rates increasing by 1-3% a year. There is also growing evidence implicating environmental toxins to the growing epidemic of infertility and Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

The Triumph of Profit Over Health

Bought

Directed by Jeff Hays

Film Review

Bought is a new release film that can be viewed free online – but only until Aug 29. Go to http://www.boughtmovie.net/free-viewing/

Bought is a well-made scientifically based documentary about the role of Food Inc and Big Pharma in the rise of chronically debilitating illnesses. Specially it demonstrates how the mindless pursuit of profit has corrupted both scientific research and regulatory bodies charged with protecting our health and safety.

Most of the film focuses on the vaccine industry. It begins by profiling children who have developed autism, intellectual handicap and/or seizures as a direct result of childhood vaccination. Because federal legislation grants manufacturers and doctors blanket immunity from liability, children with disabling vaccine complications are compensated by a federal vaccine compensation panel. One of the families interviewed received a $7 million settlement for the lifetime medical and custodial costs for their severely disabled child.

The filmmakers also interview numerous doctors, researchers, whistleblowers and lawyers who challenge medical and government claims that vaccines are perfectly safe for everyone. As one lawyer points out, vaccines, like prescription drugs, are classified as “unavoidably unsafe.” It’s for this reason Congress has granted vaccine manufacturers blanket immunity for debilitating conditions that can arise from vaccination.

The film considerably heightens my personal concerns that the administration of multiple vaccines has been incorporated into well child care despite the dearth of research into their long term safety or efficacy. The current trend (in New York City, California and other jurisdictions) to make vaccination compulsory is a particularly alarming human rights violation. Especially in view of multiple studies linking vaccination to the growing incidence of autism, ADHD, Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions.

The New York City law is so strict that children can’t be exempted from mandatory vaccination even when a sibling – or the children themselves – have had a prior debilitating reaction to a vaccine.

The film also focuses on the link between GMOs and children’s health problems, particularly allergies. It’s largely thanks to dedicated grassroots organizing by Moms Across America that there is any public awareness that nearly all non-organic potatoes, sugar beets, soy, corn and vegetable oil produced in the US – and all livestock who consume these products – contain genetically engineered ingredients..

According to a recent survey, 91% of Americans support mandatory labeling of GMO containing foods – only 4% oppose it.

Is Lipstick Killing Us?

A study in the May 2, 2013 Environmental Health Perspectives reveals that commercial lipstick and lip gloss contain potentially hazardous levels of heavy metals, such as aluminum, cadmium, chromium and manganese. The study also notes that young people (i.e. preteens and teenagers) absorb heavy metals at higher rates than adults.

The article notes that the last decade has seen considerable publicity regarding lead (which causes brain damage, particularly in children and young people) contained in lip products. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), lead in lipstick is merely an impurity, owing to high levels of lead in the environment.  Environmental researchers state otherwise. They assert that lead-containing color pigments are the main source of lead in lipstick.

At present the FDA chooses not to regulate the amount of lead or other metals in cosmetics. They do set a maximum allowable lead concentration in candy of 0.1 ppm (1 mg/kg). As their own figures indicate, the lead levels in some popular brands of lipstick and lip gloss greatly exceed 0.1 ppm. Although most women don’t knowingly eat lipstick, they inadvertently swallow it and absorb it through mucous membranes in the mouth. Moreover some women reapply it as often as 10-12 times a day.

As the authors point out, the European Union Cosmetics Directive makes it illegal to manufacture, import or sell any cosmetic products with detectable levels of lead, cadmium, chromium or other heavy metals harmful to human health.

Cadmium is a known human carcinogen associated with lung cancer and respiratory system damage, kidney and bone impairments. Animal studies have shown that exposure to cadmium during pregnancy can result in low birth weights, skeletal deformities and behavior and learning problems

Chromium is also a known human carcinogen; inhalation causes lung cancer and oral exposure through drinking water has been linked with increased stomach tumors.

The EHP paper indicates that evidence linking manganese with neurological and neurobehavioral problems in children is still inconclusive. However there are numerous studies linking high manganese levels to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aheh.200400556/abstract

http://www.alzforum.org/new/detail.asp?id=2770

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijad/2011/607543/ref/

Surely it’s high time for the US to follow Europe’s example and adopt the Precautionary Principle. Under the Precautionary Principle, the burden would be on manufacturers to prove their products are safe as a condition of bringing them to market. At present, the obligation is on women to prove they’re unsafe.

photo credit: Auntie P via photopin cc