About a month ago, I read a couple of books that started a new trend in our family. The books mostly talked about the health benefits of eating organic, whole, minimally-processed foods, but it also informed of hidden dangers lurking in everything we use. City water treated with chlorine, artificial sweeteners, shampoos with sodium laurel sulfates (SLS). The most toxic thing in your bathroom, one book said, is probably your lipstick!
Naturally I was concerned about the health of my family, so we have converted most of what we eat to organic produce, nitrate free lunch meats, whole grains, and we have ditched high fructose corn syrup. I bought natural shampoos, body soaps, paraben-free moisturizer and deodorants, and we are currently looking for a filtering shower head.
A lot of friends and family roll their eyes at me, but the truth is that these things (aside from the awful deodorant) taste better and make our skin feel better. We love making our food as colorful as possible by adding organic avocados, tomatoes, and spouts to ordinary turkey sandwiches! It feels better to eat and live clean.
Today as I was watching my morning news show, a piece came on about the dangers of teen girls an their products. From what I understand, they tested 20 random teens and every single one of them had harmful chemicals in their blood (such as parabens, SLS, formaldehyde). They also said that the average teen uses 17 beauty products a day. That seems like a lot, but add up what you use. (BTW, toothpaste has SLS in it too...nice hunh?).
They gave a list of ingredients to avoid in your products to reduce the amount of chemical exposure. My notes are included in red for your reading pleasure.
— DMDM hydantoin and imidanzolidinyl urea, which are toxic contaminants
DMDM hydantoin is a preservative that works by releasing formaldehyde into the product. It is used in shampoos and cosmetics to prevent molds, mildews, and bacterial spoilage.
— Fragrance and dyes, which can lead to allergies, cancer and problems of the nervous system
— Methylchloroisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone, which can cause allergies and problems of the nervous system
— Parbens or “-parben,” which can lead to hormone disruption
Parabens are phytoestrogens (plant hormones) found in plants such as blueberries. They are used as preservatives in food, cosmetics, sunscreens, shampoos, and many other products...like lipstick.
— “PEG” and “-eth,” which are toxic contaminants
Polyethylene glycol. Used in toothpastes and creams as stabilizers. Some report that this chemical has a "low toxicity"...but when it is in everything you use??? Who knows.
— Sodium lauryl or laureth sulfate, which can cause skin damage
Commonly used in many soaps, shampoos, detergents, toothpastes and other products that we expect to "lather".
— Triclosan and triclocarban, which can lead to problems with the thyroid and environmental concerns Found especially in antibacterial products and plastics with microban. Found in 75% of all liquid hand soaps and 30% of bar soap. Studies have shown Triclosan to be present in the milk of 3 out of 5 nursing women. Studies on regarding the effects on the thyroid gland led to evidence of a hypothermic effect (lowers body temperature) and a "non-specific depressant effect on the central nervous system. Good times.
— Triehanolamine (TEA), which can cause allergies and contain toxic contaminants
It's scary to see all the weirdness they put in things. Anyway, if you are interested you can check out the full report here and listen to what Dr. Manny had to say regarding the report. Something that really caught my attention is that for years we have been hearing people say that the average age of puberty-onset is dropping. One example was premature breast development in 8-9 year old girls. Now they are showing evidence of hormone-altering chemicals in teen girls' blood. Coincidence? You decide!
The full report
The analysis
1 year ago
No comments:
Post a Comment