Safe Sunscreen

Safe sunscreenAs a redhead with blue eyes, I have to be very careful about going into the sun. I don’t tan; I burn!

I’m very wary about the chemicals that are used in typical sunscreens. Many of these chemicals, such as oxybenzone, vitamin A (retinyl) palmitate, fragrance, parabens and phthalates, cause endocrine or neurological damage.

However, I believe it’s important to get some sun so I can activate the cholesterol in my skin and turn it into vitamin D. There’s a vitamin D deficiency in this country that is especially high in kids with autism as well as other autoimmune diseases.

The trick is to get a little bit of sun for maybe 10 minutes or so, right before my skin turns pink, and then put some safe sunscreen on.

How do you know if you have a safe sunscreen? Check out the Environmental Working Group’s Guide to Sunscreens. The EWG is my go-to source checking the safety rating of personal-care products, cleaning products, cellphones and produce.

About two thirds of the sunscreens tested contain toxic ingredients!

 

Formaldehyde in Johnson and Johnson Products

Formaldehyde in Johnson and Johnson ProductsFormaldehyde in Johnson and Johnson products? For decades, Americans have come to believe that Johnson and Johnson’s products are perhaps the best choice for their babies.  I know that when my boys were little, I was given lots of little samples of their shampoos, body washes and powders for babies.

Now, Johnson and Johnson is finally yielding to pressure and changing the formulas of their personal-care products to remove known carcinogens:  formaldehyde (released by the ubiquitous quaternium-15) and 1,4-dioxane.  WHY WERE THESE ALLOWED TO BE IN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?

I think it’s because we’ve collectively fallen asleep at the wheel.  I think most Americans assume, as I used to, that if it’s sold in a store, it must be safe because surely the FDA has tested it for safety.  NOT TRUE.

Most people don’t know that ingredients applied to your skin bypass the liver, meaning that those toxins are free to float around your baby’s body and inflict harm.

The sad thing is that we’ve placed our trust in this and other companies because we’ve been led to believe, by millions of dollars spent on marketing and advertising, that their products are safe.

The really sad thing is that our children are being born pre-polluted, and adding known carcinogens to their personal-care products is only hastening the time that they reach toxic overload.  This is one of the, if not THE, main reason why there is an epidemic of children’s chronic illnesses today, such as autism, ADHD, allergies, asthma and autoimmune.  As Jon Stewart said, “And that’s just the A’s”.

Pollution in Newborns

Pollution in NewbornsI’m sorry to say that most people just don’t know this.  I didn’t either, despite the fact that it was published by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in 2005, the year my older son was born.

In their landmark report, Body Burden:  The Pollution in Newborns, the EWG pointed out that an AVERAGE of 200 toxic chemicals were in the cordblood of newborns, meaning that there is only one place these could have come from:  the mother.

They found a total of over 280 carcinogens, heavy metals, endocrine disruptors, plastics, neurologically damaging pesticides and other nasties in these babies.

I remember telling our former pediatrician about the shocking levels of heavy metals that I had discovered in myself and my sons.  She said, “But you don’t live in a toxic waste dump!”

The point is, I don’t think you have to anymore to be this toxic because we’re all being exposed to these toxicants on a daily basis, then unknowingly passing them onto our children, whose toxin load will accumulate over time, and they’ll pass it on to their children.

It’s one of the main reasons we’re seeing such an epidemic of chronic illnesses like cancer and autoimmune diseases as well as developmental delays and disorders such as autism, ADHD, PDD-NOS and sensory processing disorder in children these days.

The good news is that people can be recovered from these conditions.  I’ve recovered my own sons from sensory processing disorder, asthma, eczema and acid reflux.

Here’s the trailer from the well-thought-out documentary, “Unacceptable Levels“.  It’s 2 minutes long and worth it for you to get a glimpse of what’s going on.

TOXIC CHILDREN’S TOYS

They’re oh so cute, but oh so toxic.  75% of children’s Disney, Spider-Man and Dora the Explorer back-to-school products had high levels of phthalates.  Phthalates give plastics that “rubber ducky” feel.

Other children’s toys to avoid are:

  • Faux-leather goods (which contain lead)
  • Cheap jewelry (which can contain lead, arsenic and cadmium)
  • Some art supplies (which may contain carcinogens and volatile organic compounds)

 

FRENCH FRIES ARE NEUROTOXIC

What?  Yep, french fries and any other browned, starchy foods like potato chips and cereal contain acrylamides, which are both neurotoxic and carcinogenic.  Read more…

SOURCE:  Environmental Health Perspectives

 

MOST GULF OF MEXICO SHRIMP CONTAIN CARCINOGENS

Shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico is widely contaminated with carcinogens.  53% of sampled shrimp contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as xylene, toluene and benzene, which are carcinogenic.  Read more…

SOURCE:  GreenMedInfo


DANGEROUS EMFS FROM CELL PHONES

New research shows that radiation emitted from cell phones may damage DNA and disrupt DNA repair, which could ultimately lead to cancer.  Read more…

SOURCE:  The Environmental Working Group’s Enviroblog

PLASTICS AND BREAST CANCER

A new study strengthens the tie between breast cancer and toxic exposures to plastics and carcinogens in the workplace.

Specific industrial sectors with elevated risk included: agriculture, bars-gambling, automotive plastics manufacturing, food canning, and metalworking.

Premenopausal breast cancer risk was highest for automotive plastics and food canning.  Read more…

SOURCE:  Environmental Health Journal

DIET SODA AND MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Aspartame-sweetened sodas exposed to higher temperatures turn into poisonous wood alcohol (methanol).  Methanol turns into carcinogenic formaldehyde, which can cause multiple sclerosis.  Read more…

SOURCE:  Dr. Joseph Mercola