Here's a number or two you might not have been aware of. They are staggering in the their implications and you just might want to know about them, especially if you're pregnant or considering a pregnancy.
In August and September of 2004, the Environmental Working Group conducted a study in which the umbilical cord blood of ten babies born in U.S. hospitals was examined. The study found a total 287 different industrial chemicals circulating through the bodies of the newborns. The babies carried an average of 200 chemicals, including mercury, fire retardants, and pesticides. The report stated that of the 287 chemicals found, 180 are known to be carcinogens, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 are associated with birth defects.
If there was ever a good time for someone to rethink their approach to going green, the nine months of pregnancy might be one of the very best times there is. The next generation desperately needs this one to realize there is no such thing as "away". Our little green planet is just not big enough for us to keep indulging in such head-in-the-sand nonsense as thinking that we can throw something away and be finished with it. There is no line of demarcation between the environment and us. We are our environment. If we don't smarten up, soon, the numbers found by studies such as the one conducted by the EWG are going to grow more and more frightening.
1 comments:
Fetal development is very critical ... people don't understand how at risk newborns are. Quite a number of those chemicals are considered hazardous by Health Canada, and as a result, are regulated. The exposure rate may be OK for adults, but for a fetus, serious damage could occur -- and no one would know until later on in life.
Report is here: http://archive.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/execsumm.php
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