TOXINS..
Now there's a word. Like stress, 'toxin' is a word that simply wasn't significant to any of us 20 years ago, And both are perhaps the most destructive words for our health today.
The word "toxin" is a polite form of the word "poison". There are more than 200 identified industrial chemicals-from pesticides, flame retardants, jet fuel, to neurotoxins like lead and other harmful heavy metals that surround us daily. Perhaps the reason the word 'toxin' is used is to deflect the seriousness of the effects, (if known), of the chemicals which are--poisonous and ultimately life-threatening-directly or as they accumulate over time. Let's call it for what it is-POISON!!
In 2008 I wrote a PBS show and a book called Detox Strategy. Still relevant today, my intention was to offer a simple guide to help avoid the exposure to poisons or "toxins" in our daily lives. I sincerely hope that many of you have seen that show or read my book, or one like it, and have taken measures to at least provide clean drinking and shower water to your families and do your best to buy organic foods and notice the ingredients included in home and body care products you apply to your body regularly.
Sometimes as I speak with young people, I am faced with the overwhelming urge to apologize for my generation-that over-zealous, thoughtless group who invented plastic and one chemical after another without any teeny-tiny thought of consequence. Our Native American brothers and sisters from "The Great Law of the Iroquious" had the sober idea called "Seven Generation Stewardship". It suggests human consider the impact decisions will have on 7 generations in the future (about 140 years) before making decisions irresponsibly. How I wish our Congress aligned with that mindset.
Overall, Mr. Kristof cries out for the public to spearhead a public health revolution! Do you realize that the reason that cholera was overcome back in 1854 was that a British doctor started such a revolution that ultimately led to germ theory of disease and to investments in sanitation and clean water, saving millions of lives? Those discoveries are as important today as they were in 1854.
Our current task is more difficult because the effects of these substances are cumulative,stealthy and long term. The author of the article aptly calls them "silent epidemics". Often they are found in our air and are invisible so it's hard to think about something you can't see. And of course, the tremendous profit those chemicals afford the corporations that make them make a conversation to diminish or eliminate them a hard one to be heard.
It's imperative that our ongoing health be targeted toward understanding clearly what is actually at the root of our disease processes, not how to just treat the symptoms once they occur. The revolution is mounting in our universities, with our citizen scientists, and through education in our schools and in our community meetings.
In September, I will be launching the series, "Natural Health Breakthroughs with Brenda Watson". In one of the segments I focused on environmental poisons, and interviewed scientists in the mainstream who have devoted their careers to this study.
On the upside, I also reas another article-"FDA Proposes Limit on Arsenic in Infant Rice Cereal". Perhaps not the most uplifting title, but after all, the revolution has to start somewhere.....BABY STEPS.
Here are some organizations that can use your help protecting our environment and our bodies-
Environmental Working Group www.EWG.org
Pesticide Action Network www.PANNA.org
Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families www.saferchemicals.org
Help STOP the CHRONIC POISONING of AMERICA
Article taken from Healthy Living with Brenda Watson