Healing Our World: Weekly Comment

By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

Synerginistic – A Concept We Need to Embrace

"There must be a happy medium somewhere between being totally informed and blissfully unaware."
-- Doug Larson

"Only those within whose own consciousness the sun rise and set, the leaves burgeon and wither, can be said to be aware of what living is."
-- Joseph Wood Krutch

Billions of pounds of toxic substances have been entering our air, earth and water since before the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s. Nearly every modern manufacturing activity today releases chemicals, and we come into direct contact with them every day. Such a large amount of toxic substances has been released for so long that there may be no naturally occurring clean air, soil or water left on our planet. But few scientists and medical professionals today are taking into account the unknown effects of how these chemicals are combining and affecting us, even at very low levels of exposure.

The synergenistic effect that takes place when these chemicals combine may be the most complex, and unrecognized, environmental problem facing us today. Few scientists will speak of it and most studies still adhere to a flawed assumption of modern chemistry that “the dose is the poison.” This mantra, heard by public health officials around the world, says that how much you are exposed to a chemical determines the level of danger. The fallacious assumption being made, though, is that small exposures are acceptable.

Researcher Noshena Khan examines a beaker of ionic liquids used as solvents. (Photo by Warren Gretz courtesy NREL)

The truth is that small exposures can be very dangerous to the complex endocrine and immune systems of our bodies, but since Western medicine cannot measure those effects, they have chosen to claim that they do not exist. This is a classic problem in the way science has been practiced since the Scientific Revolution began the course of modern science in the 1600s.

Toxic chemicals are found in just about every member of modern society, including indigenous populations from the Arctic to the equator who are usually considered sheltered from the technological world. And because they remain in the body, often at the cellular level, these chemicals are passed from generation to generation.

Exposure to human made chemicals during early fetal development can impair motor function, spatial perception, affect learning, memory and auditory development, impair fine motor coordination, balance, and in severe cases, result in mental retardation. What might be the global effect of a five to 10 point reduction in IQ across the population?

Many scientists today believe that every pregnant woman in the world has endocrine disruptors in her body that are transferred to her fetus. Measurable concentrations of endocrine disruptors are also in mother’s milk.

Unfortunately, consumer agencies still refuse to get the message. In one of the most blatant abuses of scientific methodology in recent years, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) decided last week that polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the soft plastic found in many baby toys, does not have to be removed. This decision ignores the mountains of evidence of the dangers of PVC.

CPSC commissioner Mary Sheila Gall said, “Consumers may have a high level of assurance that soft plastic products pose no risk to children.” But the most amazing statement came from Ken Giles, CPSC spokesman when he said, “This is a fundamental principle in toxicology: The dose makes the poison.” He went on to say that children “put things in their mouth frequently but they don’t leave it there very long.”

Baby with a plastic teething ring (Photo credit unknown)

This flagrant discarding of the facts even ignores the CPSC’s own analysis. On June 15, 2001, the CPSC released a report that stated, "There may be a risk of health effects from DINP exposure for any young children who routinely mouth DINP plasticized toys for 75 minutes/day or more." Unfortunately, industry pressure was just too great.

Diisononyl phthalate, or DINP, the phthalate most commonly found in toys, is a known toxic hazard. The June 18, 1998 issue of "Rachel’s Environment & Health Weekly" reported that “the warning label of a bottle of DINP sold to an experimental laboratory says, ‘May cause cancer; harmful by inhalation, in contact with skin, and if swallowed; possible risk of irreversible effects; avoid exposure; and wear suitable protective clothing, gloves, and eye/face protection.’”

But a typical PVC teething ring or bath duck, which contains about 40 percent by weight of DINP, either has no label or has a label that reads “Non-Toxic.”

So what can you do with this awareness that our political, industrial, and even medical leaders are succumbing to the pressure of greedy industries instead of protecting our health? There are many things you can take control of in this out of control situation:

1. Exert control over the substances you do have control over. Eat only organic produce when possible to reduce the intake of pesticides. If you eat meat, reduce the amount and eat only organically raised products. Otherwise, you are adding to your own bodies growth hormones, antibiotics, and a veritable pharmacy of drugs used to treat the cattle.

2. Do not drink tap water. It is known to contain hundreds of chemicals that are not regulated by federal guidelines. When a local water agency says they are complying with federal regulations, they mean regulations for only those chemicals that are regulated. If you use a tap water filtration system, check the list of chemicals being removed. Most cheap systems only remove a handful of chemicals.

3. Don’t breathe second hand smoke for any reason, for any length of time. The nearly 3,000 chemicals present in every cigarette contribute to the cumulative toxic load in our bodies. Sure, breathing second hand smoke for a few minutes won’t necessarily kill you, but it adds to the increasing chemical load in our bodies.

4. Don’t wait for something to make you sick before taking action. If your intuition tells you that store you are about to enter has lots of chemicals in the air, minimize your exposure. For example, dry cleaners use a brew of very toxic chemicals that result in the distinct odor you detect when you go in. Get out as fast as you can! In fact, don’t dry clean! There are alternatives. Tire stores are another example. Tire dust is extremely harmful. Don’t breathe it!

5. When you are sitting in traffic, roll up your windows and set your climate controls to use only recirculating air. Otherwise, you are breathing all the dangerous exhaust fumes around you.

6. Make sure your vacuum cleaner has a HEPA Corp. high efficiency filter. All the toxic dust in our air settles eventually on the ground, floors, and finds its way into carpets.

7. Refuse to buy products that will increase your exposure to chemicals. There are many websites that will help you figure this out.

8. Don’t put things in your baby’s mouth that contain this toxic chemical soup.

9. See an alternative health care professional who can test your body for the presence of low levels of chemicals.

We have to force our leaders and public health officials to cast off the simplistic assumptions of their past and begin facing the realities that our modern society has created. Economics can NEVER be used as the test for public health proclamations and we have to remove from office any official that takes such a dangerous path.

RESOURCES

1. See the Second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals by the Centers for Disease Control at: http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/

2. See a discussion of the CDC report by Environmental Defense at: http://www.environmentaldefense.org/pressrelease.cfm?ContentID=2636

3. Find out what chemicals are released in your community at: http://www.scorecard.org

4. See a "Healing Our World,” commentary about endocrine disruption at: http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2000/2000-07-31g.asp

5. See another "Healing Our World,” commentary about toxic toys at: http://ens-news.com/ens/apr2002/2002-04-05g.asp

6. Find out who your elected representatives are and contact them. Tell them we must begin accepting that we are poisoning ourselves with the byproducts of greed. You can find them at http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html

{Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher in Seattle and the author of "Healing Our World", A Journey from the Darkness Into the Light," available at: http://www.xlibris.com/HealingOurWorld.html or your local bookstore. His new book of photographs and thoughts on interconnectedness, “Of This Earth, Reflections on Connections,” is now available. Learn about it at: http://ofthisearth.org. Please send your thoughts, comments, and visions to him at: jackie@healingourworld.com and visit his website at: http://www.healingourworld.com}