Toxins In Our Lives - Part 1

Toxins In Our Lives - Part 1

I'd like to take this time to talk about toxins. The topic has been on my mind for the last year while I was growing a human in my belly and now with a new baby in the house I am very conscious of the amount of toxins in our lives. I do my best to keep the amount of exposure as low as possible while I am constantly learning the best way to do that.

So this is some great information that I have learned so far that I want to pass along to other new parents, expecting parents and those just wanting to reduce their toxic load. I would love to hear feedback and see what others have to share as well. Feel free to comment at the bottom.

Did you know there are over 80,000 substances considered toxic in the US? And what's shocking is that 70% of them have ZERO health or other safety data known on file! 

That's scary! There are just too many products out there that are packaged pretty, smell good, or make cleaning easier but you really have no idea what is in them and how safe it really is for you and your family. By the way, did you know that the fragrance in cleaning products, many beauty products, and even home fragrance sprays is actually a toxin? Check out how to make your own homemade products here to avoid those nasty toxins. 

I have made this into a two part blog, this is part one that goes over the lesser known toxins, and part two has the more common toxins you may already be familiar with. These are in no particular order of importance but I will try to list each one, where it is found, why it is bad, and how to avoid it along with where I learned this information. I will go ahead and point out that a lot of this helpful information came from Dr. Paul Thomas's book "The Vaccine-Friendly Plan" which I highly recommend reading.

Flame Retardants

Flame retardants are on nearly everything we buy nowadays including vehicles, electronics, rugs, carpet, furniture, mattresses, some clothing and bedding, curtains, almost all foam filled products including kids and baby toys and the pillow you could be laying your head on at night. There are a few different chemicals that have been used for flame retardants over the last few decades but none are in any way safe. They all have been shown to lead to a range of health issues including being known carcinogens. Studies have actually shown no difference in flame resistance with some of the chemicals but they still use them even though they cause long term major issues like reproductive organ dysfunction, lower birth weight, endocrine disruption, obesity, and neurological disruption. To learn more, this is a fantastic link. 

One way to avoid and reduce your exposure to flame retardants is simply make smart purchases. When buying a new mattress, do your research and find one that is not sprayed with these toxins. Read labels, if it says it is fire safe or conforms to California fire code then don't buy it. When buying baby products I simply googled: crib without flame retardant, etc to find those that were safe. 

If it is something you simply cannot buy without flame retardant, like a vehicle, then do your best to off-gas it. Plastic items that you open up and they stink like plastic, let them sit outside especially in the bright sun to off-gas. That plastic smell is literally toxins, so once it fades it's safer to bring into your home. If it is a vehicle, you can park it in the sun with the windows cracked every day until you notice the smell fade. It would help if buying a new vehicle to get one that has been sitting on the lot for a long time so it has had a better chance to off-gas already. If it is something soft that you can wash, do it, try to remove the fabric cover that smells funky and wash it in a hot wash with an extra rinse to help wash off the flame retardant. This is especially important for all items you are using with a baby or giving them to play with since they put everything in their mouths.

Aluminum

The problem with aluminum is it makes your "body less able to read your genetic map as well as it should." Aluminum also makes us more susceptible to attack from free radicals because of how it affects our cells. Read this if you don't know why that is a bad thing. We consume foods and drinks that contain aluminum all the time, every day in fact. Generally our bodies are great at filtering out aluminum during the digestive process. The problem is with non food and drink aluminum that we are taking in. 

This is related the amount of aluminum in vaccines. This blew my mind to read, and then made me angry that the CDC allows this...

Direct quote from "The Vaccine Friendly Plan" by Dr. Paul Thomas:

"In the 1990s, researchers found that infants who received 45 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day of aluminum in IV fluids had impaired neurological development. This study proved the amount of aluminum was directly related to the severity of the cognitive difficulties. So the FDA made a recommendation that infants should never receive more than 5 micrograms of aluminum per kilogram of body weight per day. 

So for a newborn who weighs about 4 kilograms the max amount of aluminum they should receive is 16-20 micrograms per day. 

The vaccine recommended to be given at the time of birth, hepatitis B, contains 250 micrograms of aluminum."

And that's just the first vaccine. Then at 2 and 6 months, depending on which brand of vaccine the doctor uses, the dose of aluminum could be over 1000 micrograms. I almost want to cry when I think of the damage that is doing or our poor babies brains and cellular development when they are at such a critical and sensitive growth period. 

Below is the chart from Dr. Paul Thomas's book with each vaccine and the amount of aluminum. 

There are many pediatricians and doctors around the world who are starting to see this and agree more and more that aluminum should not be given to pregnant and breastfeeding moms, as well as babies and children of all ages. To avoid aluminum you need to look at your antiperspirant and switch if you see it on the label, avoid the Tdap vaccine during pregnancy, no soy formula for infants because soy contains high levels of aluminum, and if you must get aluminum containing vaccines for your infant just space them out at least a month apart to lower the dosage given at each time. The hep B vaccine at birth is absolutely unnecessary unless you are hep B positive or someone in your home is. 

Learn more about aluminum in vaccines here.

3rd Hand Smoke

This may be a new term to you but it is the invisible mix of chemicals that cling to a room long after the cigarette has been put out and "causes significant genetic damage in human cells". The chemicals from cigarette smoke can last in place for 6 months to a year or longer after a cigarette is smoked in a space. A cigarette has over 6,000 chemicals in it and the actual chemical can linger on your clothes, skin, hair, carpet, kids toys, bed, sofa, all over inside your vehicle and any place smoke was in the air. The danger of these known carcinogens is just the same as second hand smoke, especially for young children and babies that will be touching so many surfaces and then putting their hands or objects in their mouths so frequently. 

To avoid this serious danger exposure there must be zero smoking inside the home and vehicle where children will be or anyone who has a sensitivity to the smoke. Smoking should always happen outdoors and preferably with the smoker wearing a jacket or sweater that they take off before going back inside. This way the chemicals are not on the clothes they are wearing inside. 

Fluoride

I used to be a big proponent of fluoride, mostly because I worked in the dental industry for 10 years and we were taught that it's not that bad, it's good for you, it helps prevent tooth decay. But unfortunately we were wrong. In April 2015, the US Dept of Health and Human Services lowered the recommended fluoride level in drinking water for the first time in 50 years because people, mainly children, were getting too much fluoride. Also the Cochrane Collaboration has concluded that fluoridated water has zero benefit for adults. In large quantities(toothpaste, mouthwash, water, dental treatments) fluoride is a neurotoxin and endocrine disruptor which can cause impaired brain function and ADHD.

Fluoride has been shown to help prevent tooth decay in children, not adults, but it does already exist in public water supplies. There is no need to provide additional fluoride through toothpaste and mouthwash to your kids or yourself. The ingredients in fluoride free brands are just as effective at removing plaque, cleaning your mouth and keeping you cavity free. We leaned in dental assisting school that toothpaste is just for the flavor, it's the actual work of the brush and floss that are what make a difference in keeping your mouth clean.

Accumulated Toxin Exposure

I want to share an excerpt from Dr. Paul Thomas's book that really stuck in my mind and I hope it clicks with you too: 

"You can expect your doctor or dentist to downplay the harms of toxic exposures, saying that any given toxin - whether it be X-rays, residual pesticide on food, lead in old pipes, or fluoride - is harmless because the exposure is so small. Don't be duped by these false assurances. It doesn't matter how small any given single exposure may be. One plus one does not equal two, it may equal three thousand. If the toxins are interacting in a harmful way that scientists have yet to understand or if your child begins accumulating exposures, it is more than enough to cause harm."

It is a little overwhelming to learn all of this at once. I know! But honestly getting the toxins out of my life has actually saved me money since I buy less "products" for myself and home, and I feel better. I have more energy, my adrenal fatigue has faded and I am happier.

This is a different world than the one we grew up in 30 years ago, there are so many more dangerous chemicals and toxins in the world. Our parents didn't have to worry or even think about these things so it can be hard to talk about it with family members who don't see the point or why this is so important but just remember you are making these changes to help yourself and family be safer and live the healthiest and longest life they can.

I'm sure you can think of many people in your life who are affected with ADHD, obesity, depression, infertility and all the other side effects I mentioned above but no one is really talking about how those could be linked to products we use every day. Maybe in another 10 or 15 years when studies start to surface, then our government will catch on and start to make different regulations. But for now we have to be proactive in our own lives. We just do not know how this huge mix of toxins in our bodies is going to affect us until 20, 30 or more years from now and then it could be too late to make a change or stop the effects. So let's be smart and eliminate as much toxins as we can now!

Click here for part two of this post about the toxins in plastics, pain relievers and cleaning products and how to avoid them!