According to the U.S. EPA and Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the two premier health monitoring organizations in the world, this year you and all Americans will be exposed to more than 60,000.00 to 100,000.00 chemicals plus more than 300,000.00 radioactive isotopes. Of the more than 100,000.00 chemicals, 60,000.00 have already been labeled toxic or sub-toxic to the human body and only 10,000.00 have been labeled safe by government standards. Unfortunately it is impossible to design any study on the long term interaction on human of the avalanche of toxins that people are exposed to. Fortunately there are many well documented natural remedies that boost your immunity and will help you live healthy in an unhealthy world.
An important area to pay attention to is that of reducing our everyday environmental exposures. Following is a list of various suggested measures to help achieve this.
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Ditch the plastic, grab the glass, think Pyrex.
Plastics include BPA (bisphenol A) #7, and other substitutes such as bisphenol S (BPS) and phthalates #3. Plastics have been linked to hormonal disruption and many diseases. According to a 2008 article in JAMA, data from the NHANES suggests a strong relationship between urine concentrations of bisphenol A and the incidence of CVD, type 2 diabetes, and liver-enzyme abnormalities.1
Also, if you do use plastic, NEVER microwave in it!
An interesting article on heating food in plastics appeared in the Wall Street Journal in 2013, where Dr. Rolf Halden, director for the Center for Environmental Security at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, was interviewed. The article states:
Phthalates, the chemicals that make a PVC container flexible, “can migrate out of the plastic when it’s heated,” says Dr. Halden, who has done comprehensive studies on emerging contaminants and plastics for more than a decade. Phthalates can leach into food, resulting in hormone imbalances and birth defects-although no one knows at what level those effects are triggered, he says. Phthalates are present in measurable levels in the blood of nearly every person in the developed world, he adds.2
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Use safe and organic personal care products and household items.
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Avoid the’Dirty Dozen’ endocrine disruptors and find proper replacements.
An endocrine-disrupting chemical is an “exogenous substance that causes adverse health effects in an intact organism or its progeny, secondary to changes in endocrine function,” according to the European Union.
Chemicals include:
- Diethylstilbestrol
- Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
- Dioxins
- Perfluoroalkyl compounds
- Solvents
- Phthalates
- Bisphenol A (BPA)
- Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene organophosphate/organochlorine pesticides
- Polybrominated diphenyl
A Steering Committee of scientists recently utilized evidence characterization in order to determine the contributing disease burden on the health and economic cost of endocrine disruptors. In their introduction, the committee summarized the problem as follows:
These chemicals have been shown to interfere with a variety of endocrine pathways, including estrogen (14), androgen (14), thyroid (15, 16), retinol (17), aryl hydrocarbon, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor pathways (18). The chemicals are widely used in consumer products, electronics, and agriculture, and widespread human exposures occur. Many EDCs are food contaminants (eg, pesticides, BPA, and phthalates), although inhalation and dermal absorption are known pathways for human exposure. Potential consequences of exposure to EDCs include infertility and male and female reproductive dysfunctions (19), prostate and breast cancer (20), birth defects (21), obesity (22, 23), diabetes, cardiopulmonary disease, neurobehavioral and learning dysfunctions, and immune dysregulation (24).
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Filter Your Water
The Environmental Working Group assessed 48,000 communities in 45 states with 256 Americans. They found over 300 containments in tap water.5 The following list of various filter types (with a summary of what they remove) was presented to me by one of my environmental medicine instructors in naturopathic school:
- Reverse Osmosis -particles, pollens, human hairs, yeast, bacteria, solvents; similar to distilled water which removes everything
- Carbon -odors, colors, solvents, chlorine and fluorine, pesticides, volatile solvents, cyanotoxins
- Ion Exchange -heavy metals, salts, minerals, just about everything
- Steam Distillation- can remove heavy metals, micro-organisms, bacteria, sediment, minerals and contaminants, but still can contain volatile organics (gasoline) if not used with carbon filter and it cannot remove substances with lower boiling points than water.
- Ceramic Filters -takes out algae, protozoa, fragile
- UV Light -Class A system. This needs to be a slow passage of water so that light particles can contact that which is to be killed. This method is often used with hot tubes. It won’t remove metals or solvents; casts shadows.
- Berkey -Consists of six media types for matrix of microscopic pores (pathogenic bacteria, cysts, parasites, sediment and materials), adsorption and absorption (ionic barrier for viruses), ion exchange (heavy metals), and gravity flow for optimizing removal rate.
Note: Steve wrote the best-selling book for 12 ½ years on many natural remedies well researched to boost immunity, counteract environmental toxins, and help you live healthy in an un-healthy world. His book is entitled Fighting Radiation & Chemical Pollutants With Foods, Herbs, & Vitamins — Documented Natural Remedies that Boost Your Immunity & Detoxify
Learn more in both our Certified Clinical Master Herbalist (CCMH)™ Program which is on Wednesday nights and our NHI Certified Nutritionist Consultant (CNC)™ Program which is on Tuesday nights. You can join either or both programs at anytime – the sooner the better – or take individual modules or nights. See our NHI Schedule for more information.