Toxic Burden
“If you think about the chronic conditions that the world is experiencing now – like fertility problems, thyroid conditions, diabetes, ADHD – these are all heavily impacted by hormones” and what disrupt’s hormones?
Toxins in our products do - and they are everywhere.
— Carol Kwiatkowski,
The executive director of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX), a not-for-profit research foundation focused on reducing harmful chemicals in the environment.
The Toxic Load
Whether from the food we eat, the things we drink, the air we breathe or the products that touch our skin, our bodies face a daily barrage of toxins. Making plastics malleable, pans nonstick, fabrics waterproof, shower gel fragrant, furniture fire-resistant and cleaning sprays antibacterial, a litany of industrial, artificial chemicals combine with impurities and pollutants like pesticides, hydrogenated fats, prescription drugs, mercury, and lead, meaning the mere experience of everyday existence is saturated with synthetic substances.
The accumulation of all these chemicals together inside your body creates what is known as your ‘toxic load’ or ‘toxic burden’.
Our Homes.
Super-simply, our homes and its furniture and items are off-gassing [the airborne release of a chemical, a chemical in vapor form]. Whenever you smell a product, it’s off-gassing and it happens the most when a product is new. Fresh paint odor? New memory foam smell? New couch? New toys? Carpets? Cots? All off-gassing into our homes and many products or materials continue off-gassing even after the “new smell” has gone away—the fumes are just much more subtle but continual many for years and years. Prolonged exposure to these kind of chemicals can cause anything from headaches, respiratory illnesses, hormone disruption to a variety of cancers.
Body Products.
Cosmetic chemicals enter the body through the skin, inhalation, ingestion and internal use, and pose the same risks as food chemicals. In addition to the risks posed by intentionally added ingredients, cosmetics can be contaminated with heavy metals, including arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and nickel. Fun hey? No category of consumer products is subject to less government oversight than cosmetics and other personal care products. Toxic Beauty, the documentary which condenses a three-year investigation of the virtually unregulated chemicals in personal-care products is very much worth your time to watch. Toxic Beauty zeroes in on the research behind parabens (a class of preservatives) and phthalates (plasticizers commonly found in fragrances). Both are considered endocrine disruptors, or chemicals that mimic hormones, which may lead to hormonal imbalance, infertility, sperm damage, early puberty, and even hormone-related cancers, like breast cancer. Both are proven to infiltrate the body and are in basically all standard beauty products.
Fragrance.
Synthetic scents or “fragrance” represent an unidentified mixture of ingredients including carcinogens, allergens, respiratory irritants, endocrine disruptors, neurotoxic chemicals and environmental toxicants. These artificial scents can can be found in all kinds of body care and cosmetic products, as well as air fresheners, cleaning materials and laundry detergents - in fact synthetic fragrance is so prevalent in our products we are becoming "desensitised" to their risks.
The safety of fragrance chemicals is not determined, monitored or safe-guarded by any governmental agency globally in any comprehensive fashion. Instead, the fragrance industry has been trusted to self-regulate and to establish its own safety guidelines for the use of fragrance chemicals. A National Academy of Sciences points out some vital facts:
About 95 percent of chemicals used in synthetic fragrances are derived from petroleum (crude oil). They include benzene derivatives (carcinogenic), aldehydes, toluene and many other known toxic chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects, central nervous system disorders and allergic reactions.
In research conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found an average of 14 chemicals in 17 name brand fragrance products they tested but — none of these chemicals were actually listed on the label.
Are you wondering why companies would continue to use synthetic scents if they’re so bad for our health? The answer is straightforward — they are cheaper. Synthetic scents can be an extremely cheap way to give everything from shampoo to lotion to candles a desirable scent.
Avoiding synthetic scents for men, women and children is one of the most critical swaps we can make for our health.
Air.
Did you know that the EPA states that the air inside our homes is up to five times more polluted than the air outside? Isn’t that staggering? Our products [furniture, paints, flooring, cleaners, candles, toys, bedding - the list is endless] have continued to be made with cheaper more toxic materials and ingredients and now many off- gas harmful chemicals into the air in our home for years after we buy them. Pair that with toxins in products like fabric softeners, perfumes, candles and cleaners and we have air thats unsafe to breath - adding to out toxic load daily.
Toys.
A 2011 study found toxic flame-retardants in eighty percent of children’s toys. Chemicals used as retardants are linked to cancers, lowered IQ and sperm count, compromised reproductive systems, birth defects, endocrine and thyroid disruption, impacts to the immune system and adverse effects on fetal and child development - and here we are giving them to our kids to play with and cuddle? Those chemicals are off gassing into our kids [SIDS risk for babies too] and they will do so for many years despite washing - because they are made to stick. It’s horrific and many of us are unaware [as I was too] and as a parent we receive no education on safe toys for our children - don’t you think thats criminal?.
Baby Products.
Avoiding toxic chemicals is crucial when it comes to protecting our babies and children, who are uniquely vulnerable to toxic chemicals. They aren’t just little adults; their immune, neurological, endocrine and entire bodily systems are still developing, and studies show that even small exposures during critical windows can lead to a barrage of health issues.
Flame Retardants in bedding, car seats, and foam baby products like nursing pillows and nap mats. Phthalates in Fragrance in cleaning and personal care products, and plastics, as it’s a plastic softener. High-Risk Pesticides used in Bug repellent, disinfectant cleaners and hand soaps, and residues in non-organic produce. BPA & BPA Substitutes in plastic containers like baby bottles, sippy cups, and other feeding containers, plastic food packaging and canned food liners. Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde Releasers in Baby personal care products like shampoo and liquid soaps - and this is just the TIP of the issues.
These toxins above are endocrine disruptors that are linked to reproductive malformations, reduced fertility, developmental disorders, asthma, and increased allergic reactions. Studies show that flame retardants appear immediately in the bloodstream and urine, and have linked these chemicals to long-term impacts like endocrine disruption, lower IQ, ADD, fertility issues, thyroid disease and cancer.
Cleaners.
Did you know that standard household cleaners from multi-puporse sprays to oven cleaners are some of the most toxic items in our homes? Few people realise that standard cleaning products can compromise our immunity due to their ingredients being linked to hormone disruption, carcinogens, skin, eye, and lung irritants as well as asthma, allergies and developmental disorders. I grew up assuming if they were on the shelf in a shop, they must be safe but sadly they are not safety tested or ingredient checked - nor are the labels always transparent and sadly many of them are truly unsafe for our kids, pets and family.
Pharma.
We are living in times where antibiotics are prescribed like lollies, where you can get vaccinations in a drive through and we are given outdated information by GP’s who are either stopped from telling us the truth or have not got up to date training on accurate risk vs benefit data. When was the last time we went to the doctor’s and they asked us about the food we were eating? The make up we are wearing? If our home water is filtered? If we are using toxic cleaning products? Research from the CDC suggests that 30 percent of antibiotic prescriptions in doctor’s offices, hospital-based clinics, and emergency departments are not needed? Isn’t that wild considering the damage that overuse of them can do to our bodies. Every single time we put pharmaceuticals in our bodies they contribute to our toxic burden and to lowering our immune system - and while at times they are absolutely necessary there are many ways we can reduce our dependance on pharmaceuticals and replace them with much healthier options for our bodies.
Food.
Organic farming reduces pollution, conserves water, reduces soil erosion, increases soil fertility, uses less energy overall and of course and of course reduces our toxic burden. The positive health impact of an organic diet can be almost immediate, too.
One 2019 study found that after only six days of eating organic food, subjects had on average 60% less synthetic pesticides in their urine. The health benefits of a diet low in pesticide residues have repeatedly been proven by scientists. Another recent French study found that of the 68, 946 adults analysed, those eating an organic diet had “a significant reduction in the risk of cancer”, warranting further research of underlying factors “to implement adapted and targeted public health measures for cancer prevention.”.
In 2018, a separate Harvard study found that for women undergoing infertility treatment, those who ate more high-pesticide fruits and vegetables were less likely to have a live birth, whilst “low-pesticide residue fruit and vegetable intake was not associated with this outcome.”