Enviro Mentality

This is NO surprise, that there has been found a possible link to ADHD and pesticides.

Organophosphate pesticides are nerve toxins and work on the nervous system of an insect.  In large doses, the same actions would happen in a human being.

But, we humans are exposed to these compounds on a much smaller scale.  From womb to grave, depending on environmental factors such as where we live (agricultural areas being the highest or high applications of pesticides around the home and yard) to what we eat (organic or not) are cumulative.  These toxins are stored in fat and brain. It is no wonder why so many children today are experiencing ADHD.

Pesticides are excitotoxins causing the neurons in the brain to misfire.  ADHD is one of these conditions. Pesticides are just one class of excitotoxins, many artificial foods contain ingredients which cause this condition.

This is just another  example of the case to end pesticide exposure and a return to organic eating.  By visiting your local farmer’s market, and buying locally produced food, you can limit your pesticide exposure.

Despite what the people at the home improvement stores tell you, or the ads from Scotts or Ortho on television, lawn chemicals are dangerous.  Using lawn chemicals during pregnancy or even being around them after the application,  puts your baby in direct danger.

Products like Weed B Gon contain 2-4-D and a lesser known, older chemical called Dicamba.  2-4-D has been cited to cause abnormal fetal skeletal development, endocrine disruptions and more.  It was used in Vietnam as ‘Agent Orange” a defoliant.

Dicamba can cause spontaneous abortion and other problems during pregnancy.

Bottom line for all those curious pregnant women out there — STAY AWAY from any and all pesticides during pregnancy.  Lawn care products in the form of sprays, crystals or dust can and will be absorbed into your body by breathing, walking on the lawn after application (even days or weeks later) or touching clothing worn by other children who’ve played ON the lawn.

It’s time for the American dream of the perfect lawn to end.  Scotts, Ortho, Dow Chemical, Bayer and others only want to sell their products and are not interested in your health or that of your unborn child.

(For more information, go to other posts on Weed B Gon or pesticide exposure in the search box above)

A pesticide is, according to the EPA, “Any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.” A “Pest” is defined as: insects, mice & other animals, plants, fungi, microorganisms, (bacteria & viruses).

You might think that ‘pesticides’ are only found in yard & garden applications or farm uses. Guess again. Some very common household products contain pesticides: mosquito & tick repellents for outdoor human use, pet flea collars, soaps, powders & sprays, antibacterial hand soap, kitchen, laundry and bathroom sanitizers, mice & rat poisons, disinfectant sprays, mold & mildew killers, cockroach and ‘household’ insect killers. If you use any of these products you are coming into direct contact with pesticides.

The “inert’ ingredient listed on the back of the containers are not safe either. They can be emulsifiers which are chemical mixtures that bind together the pesticide. They could be blended in to increase its effectiveness, or an ingredient which make the product able to be sprayed. Inert ingredients do not function like the pesticide. However, they are far from being benign.

382 inert ingredients on the EPA’s list are or at one time were registered as active (pesticide) ingredients. 75 compounds are potentially toxic while 8 are considered to be of “toxicological concern.”

American consumers have become spoiled brats. They demand a wide variety of foods available 12 months of the year, most of which are either never grown in their region or not in season. So, to get them what they want the grocery industry sources fruits & vegetables from all over the world, not just the United States. Some of these countries are using chemicals that were banned in the U.S years ago, which are highly carcinogenic and toxic even in small doses. Many are labeled “Not For Use On Food”.

Unless you eat strictly an organic diet, your food is filled with pesticides. The best way to get food with less pesticide residue is to establish a rapport with a local farmer who does not use pesticides. Also, for a farmer to be CERTIFIED ORGANIC there is a tremendous cost and time consuming record-keeping. Some farmers use methods that go ‘beyond organic’ and this has proved to be just as good – if not better – than the ‘certified’ crops.

A neighbor commented that her 8 year old granddaughter is ‘developing.’  I shook my head  & thought, ‘ That’s too early.’  because it doesn’t seem right that an 8 year old should be heading into puberty.  It should be  at least around 11 or 12 at minimum. Studies over the past 20 years confirm that girls are maturing at an earlier age.

African-American girls have earlier onsets of puberty than White girls do by a year or two.  Average age for the start of breast development are about 8.8 yrs. for African-Americans as compared to about 10 for Whites.A study done in 1997, Herman-Giddons was compiled from the journal, Pediatrics and confirms that the age trend is lower.  Doctors and mothers report that indeed, girls are entering puberty much earlier than they did 30 or 40 years ago.

Why is this?  Several indications are that the increased use of chemicals and pesticides over the last 40 years have played a role.  These chemicals are endocrine disruptors, which throw the hormone levels off by mimicking other hormones, fooling the body.

Increased use of plastics in food containers (phalates) and personal care as well as all aspects of modern human life have shown to impact hormone responses.  Artificial ingredients in food, personal care products all contribute to messing up one’s system.  One study even focused on the hair products that African-Americans use versus that of White girls revealing that ingredients in African-American hair products were more likely to contain estrogen or placental products, again affecting hormonal responses.

Our lives are changing and chemicals are playing a large part.  Do what you can to eliminate them whenever possible.

What’s on your food?  Below is a list of the highest pesticide contaminated fruits and vegetables published by the Environmental Working Group.

This list allows you to make better choices when buying food.  Obviously, for the most tainted products, organic produce is best.   If you can’t get organic, check at your local farmer’s market to see if  local farmers use chemicals.  Many farmers are opting not to because of consumer concerns.  Although local food providers are not ‘certified organic’  (which is a very expensive and paperwork-intensive process) some farmers call themselves ‘beyond organic.’  This means that they go far beyond what the current USDA specifications for organic are.

Notice, too, that imported grapes (from Chile, for example) are higher in pesticides that their U.S. counterparts.

This makes it even more important that you adopt a detox regimen, drink pure water and rid your life of as many chemicals as you can.  This is why herbal detox remedies are important, as well as detox baths.  Add to this the benefits of massage and you’re on your way to a healthier life!

FoodNews: Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides

The Full List: 47 Fruits & Veggies

Note: We ranked a total of 47 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because we looked at both domestic and imported samples.

Plastic bags have become a staple of modern life.  First introduced in the 1970’s, they  became the standard in the 1980’s.  Worldwide, we use about 500 BILLION to 1 TRILLION plastic shopping bags a year .It’s estimated that here in the United States we use about 84 BILLION bags a year.  They littler roadsides, flutter from trees, clog catch basins and ultimately end up in landfills and the ocean. Marine life suffers, too:  each year over 100,000 whales, turtles, birds and fish die of strangulation or starvation from eating or being caught up in plastic bag litter.  There’s even the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, a floating island of trash:  most of it plastic!  Plastic bags come from petroleum, so every one that’s used requires Middle East oil. The Earth is being destroyed and depleted for our convenience.

Retailers like Wal-Mart have jumped on the bandwagon and are selling reusable bags.  While a noble effort, consider where these bags are coming from.  Noting Wal-Mart’s reliance on cheap goods from China, I’d hardly think that these bags ARE fair trade.  They first had the black bags which were completely made out of recycled plastic.  Then they switched to the blue ones but they are only made from about 50% recycled plastic, and last half as long!  Leave it to Wal-Mart to LOOK ‘green’ but not be.

Australia,  Italy, Ireland, Mumbai (Bombay), and others like Taiwan have begun to charge for plastic bags. Here in the United States, several localities have either started charging for plastic bags or banned them outright. San Francisco has banned the use while Washington DC is imposing a 5 cent fee.  Of course, some residents are fuming and the oil lobby and retailer’s association are against it.

Chico bags are a light, easily packable way to reduce your plastic bag consumption. Many of you forget your bags.  Chico bags are easily packed into a purse or for you guys, a knapsack.  Mine are in my purse all the time.  I’ve loaded them the 14oz cans of cat food plenty of times., easily topping over 20 pounds! The good news is — they are really RECYCLABLE!  The company that makes them will take them back and rework them into something else!

Each of us on this Earth must make a choice every day to save resources.  Whether its turning off lights,  buying a solar charger, fixing leaking faucets, switching to a composting toilet or buying a more fuel efficient car:  everything — EVERYTHING — we do does have an effect!

Sun-Mar composting toilets may look a little funny at first glance, and seem overpriced, but the benefits  far outweigh the cost.

A 4-person household using a  3.5 gallon flush toilet will flush 70 gallons per day down the toilet or over 25,000 gallons per year.

An older 7 gallon toilet uses 140 gallons a day which equals  50,000 gallons a year.

Do you want to WASTE that much GOOD water to flush poop down the toilet?  Think about it. Billions of gallons of purely good, drinkable water are being wasted every year by the flush of a toilet.  Isn’t that insane?

Like it or not, our planet is running out of drinkable water.  Our aquifers are being depleted by wasteful use of our most precious resource.  The quest for the perfect lawn uses millions of gallons a DAY!  California, really a desert, insists on being a lush tropical oasis complete with swimming pools in just about every yard!  Desert paradise, Las Vegas, is gobbling up water with its obscene obsession for water waste as it caterers to tourists and an ever-expanding urban sprawl.

What about your neighborhood?  What about you? Have you planted drought resistant plants and shrubs for your area?  Have you made an effort to cut back on your watering?  Have you thought about the benefits of drip irrigation instead of sprinklers?

Saving water is up to ALL of us.  From our toilets to the yard — YOU — can make a difference… starting today!

Sweating isn’t the only way to detox.  Many spa products: facial scrubs, aromatherapy, body scrubs, facial masks,  facial scrubs, bath tea blends and herbal tea blends can help do the job also.

Most people believe that you only start detoxing from the inside out. Yes, that’s true but you can start from the outside in.  By removing dead skin, stimulating the outer skin layers down into the deeper areas through massage or bath salts or herbal detox baths, the entire body system is invigorated and prompted to move out toxins.

Drinking herbal teas before, during and after your bath can assist in getting out toxins.  You’re detoxing from the inside (with the tea), from the inside TO the outside (with the removal of toxins) and from the outside in via your bath!

A massage before your detox bath also assists in moving out toxins. and is essential for pain relief.  By stimulation lymph systems, release from muscle and tissues it it very beneficial in detoxification.

Regularly bathing is a spa bath is a good way to keep illness at bay.  By strengthening your immune system, consistently removing toxins, your body already has a head start on fighting flu and colds during winter months. Using bath salts is a great way to help rid yourself of toxins and pain.

That organic food in your freezer or refrigerator is probably owned by Kraft, Cargill, Kellogg, Pepsi, Hershey, M&M, Coca Cola and others.  Click here fora link to research done by Phil Howard, Assistant Professor at Michigan University.

It’s obvious that ‘big food’ wants to cash in on the recent rise in demand for organics.  Private labels go from Wal-Mart, Costco, Sam’s Club, Kroger, Target and down to more ‘organic’ companies like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.

Ah, but things get dicey when the so-called ‘organics’ get caught with their pants down like Aurora Dairy did in 2007.  Co-mingling non-organic milk with organic, stepping outside the organic standards for feed and bedding,  moving cows from organic facilities to non-organic and continuing to claim milk was organic, and failure to process milk according to the National Organic Program (NOP), and along with a host of other violations. These ‘greenwashed’ products often contain pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones from cross contamination.

Wal-Mart too, has been involved in investigations which allege ‘greenwashing‘ of its products.

What IS Organic?  Watch this short video and see if you are making a difference with your purchases.

Organic certification is under attack.Go to these sites to read more about….

Beauty and Cosmetics: http://www.organicconsumers.org/bodycare/index.cfm

Food: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/oca/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4756

To HELP PRESERVE ORGANICS, visit the Organic Consumer’s page and use their links to fight back FOR ORGANICS!