Here I am returning to where I left you on the June 25 with Part 2 of ‘Our kids’ bodies contaminated with chemicals’. I interrupted the series of articles because Ramadan, the month of fasting, is important to Muslims around the world. I felt I had to probe into some of fasting’s multifaceted benefits, whether they are spiritual, physiological, social, or humanitarian aspects. I also discussed healthy ways to perform fasting in order to reap good health results.

In the first two articles of ‘Our children contaminated with chemicals’, I went through the dangerous health consequences of some of the chemicals found in children’s pre-prepared and processed foods, wear (flame retardant chemicals…), body care products (lotions, shampoos, bubble baths…), toys, paint, furniture, water, environment, and more. What is very frustrating is that our children are daily exposed to such toxins without our awareness or choice. Moreover, we have difficulty convincing government agencies to regulate them and the giant industries to stop using them. This is due to the powerful influence of special interest groups and those who stand to gain from the sales of such products and tampered foods.

Do you remember Rowan and Mikaela, mentioned in Parts 1 and 2 of the articles? Their test results not only showed high levels of flame retardant chemicals commonly used in baby clothes, but also other toxic chemicals. Some were phthalates, which are “plasticizers,” softeners added to “plastic bottles, kitchenware, toys, medical devices, personal care products and cosmetics.” Phthalates have been shown in studies to cause “reproductive defects, obesity and early puberty.”

According to Russ Hauser, professor of environmental and occupational epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, even low-levels of phthalates in humans may lead to male infertility. A study, done at the University of Rochester, New York, revealed that male foetuses exposed to phthalates through their mothers showed impairment in “testicle function and with a defect that shortens the space between the genitals and anus.”

Phthalates are chemicals that make plastic softer and more pliable such as found in plastic water bottles, food plastic films (saran), cosmetics, and more. Pregnant mothers, in particular, should be extra cautious with exposure to phthalates (cosmetics, plastic water bottles exposed to heat, plastic film touching food…), as they tend to be disruptive to systems of children and foetuses in particular.

Once in the body, most chemicals turn into xeno-estrogens, which act like the female hormone, estrogen. Cumulatively, the hormone becomes very harmful to health, leading to early puberty, hormonal imbalances, congenital defects, and eventually hormonal cancers. Look up the chemicals on the Internet in order to learn more about them and how to avoid them. You will do your children and yourself a favor when you minimize their use.

Although the American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Food and Drug administration (FDA) insist that they are taking the necessary measures for human safety, they still do not demand toxicity studies on humans from the chemical industry before giving their consent to the use of such chemicals in personal products, toys, baby formula bottles, or in processed foods. Every year, 15,000 chemicals are submitted and the agency requests only 10 percent of that amount for additional testing. Recently the EPA has arranged for a “voluntary testing program” with the industry!

Dr. Leo Trasande, assistant director of the Center for Children’s Health and the Environment at Mount Sanai Medical Center, New York, has a different view. He finds this kind of testing has come a little too late and said “The problem with these tests is that they are really baseline tests that don’t measure for the kind of subtle health problems that we’re seeing.”

After the chemical testing of her children, Rowan and Mikaela, Michelle Hammond, their mother, became an activist against toxic chemicals, testifying in the California legislature and advocating for body burden testing programs across the state and she succeeded. Luckily, Rowan and Mikaela did not develop symptoms or health problems, resulting from their bodies’ overload of toxic industrial chemicals. Hammond still continues her crusade against chemicals and said: “I am angry at my government for failing to regulate chemicals that are in mass production, and in consumer products [textiles, kitchenware, toys, medical devices, mattresses, personal care products, cosmetics…].”

Moreover, Dr. Leo Trasande, who believes that more childhood diseases and disorders will surface with the extensive use of industrial toxins, said: “We are the humans in a dangerous and unnatural experiment in the United States, and I think it’s unconscionable…We are in an epidemic of environmentally mediated disease among American children today…Rates of asthma, childhood cancers, birth defects and developmental disorders have exponentially increased and it can be explained by changes in human genome. So what has changed? All the chemicals we’re exposed to.”

A ‘lame’ counter argument comes from Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on Science and Health, a public health advocacy group. It said: “My concern about this trend about measuring chemicals in the blood is [that] it’s leading people to believe that the mere ability to detect chemicals is the same as proving a hazard, that if you have this chemical, you are at risk of a disease, and that is false.” (!!!)

Are we going to wait until our bodies get poisoned? If rats in studies develop neurological defects from the flame retardant chemicals, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) found in children wear, then what are these doing to underdeveloped nervous and immune systems like Rowan’s and other infants and children.

According Trasande, children under six of age are most vulnerable to toxic chemicals due to their undeveloped immune systems and small vital organs: “Pound for pound, they eat more food, they drink more water, they breathe in more air.” “And so [children] carry a higher body burden than we do.” He believes that something has to be done to save the health of little innocent children who have no say in what is inflicted upon them. We parents should protect their interest as long as we are responsible.

PBDEs have not been tested until recently. After study results, Sweden banned their use in 1998 and the European Union banned them in 2004. Yet, they are still not banned in the US and Saudi Arabia! Several manufacturers of PBDEs did take the initiative by stopping their use, (probably) fearing a backlash from consumers. However Deca, another kind of toxic chemical, is still being used in mattresses, textiles, electrical equipment, construction materials, and other products, which unfortunately come, in direct contact with babies, children, and people everyday and everywhere.

And since governments are interfering in children’s health and treatments (imposing vaccines, chemotherapy…) they should also try to check for toxicity in food, water, air, clothing, and environment and restrict the use of industrial chemicals and whatever else of harmful substances that can lead to allergies, birth defects, learning disabilities, disease, and even cancer.

Next week, I will continue exploring some of the other toxins included in children’s wear, food, snacks, water, and environment and found everywhere even if you try to avoid them.

References:

• Chemical in Everyday Products and Children’s Health by Philip J. Landrigan, MD

• Planet in Peril by Anderson, Animal Planet’s Jeff Corwin, and Sanjay Gupta for CNN

• Interview with vaccine researcher (refused to be named) by Jon Rappoport (www.nomorefakenews.com)

• Autism Statistics – mindspec.org

• Why the manufactured food supply is designed to keep you addicted, not nourished by Mike Adams

http://m.naturalnews.com/news/045514_food_addictions_chemical_ingredient...

• Four most dangerous toxins to the brain by Derek Henry

http://www.naturalnews.com/045510_brain_toxins_fluoride_heavy_metals.htm...

N.B.:

Individuals with medical conditions or on medication should consult their physicians when they decide to introduce anything new in their diet even if it is natural.

The previous Health Solutions articles are located at www. arabnews.com

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