By Sarah A LoBisco, ND

Remember the old adage if you don’t have health, you don’t have anything? Makes sense.

I once heard one of my mentors proclaim that the point of keeping the body temple healthy is so that it won’t distract one from fulfilling their purpose in life.

Furthermore, if you are too busy being sick, how can you enjoy your life?

I discussed in part one of this blog some of the effects of environmental exposures on a child’s growing body.

This blog will continue with the education of the links between exposures and health and end with some empowering steps to help protect our future generation.

PCBs, Phthalates, BPA, and Pesticides: Endocrine Disruption to the nth Power.

The scary part of this chemical soup of a world is that the additive effects of these toxicants haven’t been fully studied. To make matters worse, they are being pumped out into our planet at the rate of thousands per year.

In a recent Metametrix blog, Christie Egeston discussed the effects of our plastic and pesticide happy world on just one aspect of  our biology, our hormones. She explains:

Widely used until the 1970s, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) do not break down in the environment and increase in the fatty tissues of animals and humans, traveling up the food chain in fish, fatty meats, and dairy products. Infants are exposed through breastfeeding. Phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA) are used in many consumer products. Phthalates are widely used in cosmetics and body care/consumer products (usually listed as “fragrance”), so skin absorption is the most likely route of exposure. BPA exposure occurs daily through its use in products such as food packaging and beverage containers. Although mostly banned since the 1980s, chlorinated pesticides persist in the environment and continue to add to the toxic burden of people today. Each of these compounds has been shown to be only weakly estrogenic. However, when exposed to multiple PCBs, yeast (with genetically engineered estrogen receptors and human endometrial cells) experienced a seven-fold increase in toxic effects versus the effects of exposure to a single PCB. The estrogenic activity in the yeast was upwards of 150 times greater when exposed to both endosulfan and dieldrin versus exposure to each compound individually.

Even scarier is our food supply can be tainted.  For example, what happens when this process is derailed, by a well-meaning mom-to-be,  through her very attempts to eat a healthy diet!?

I’ve already reviewed organic, but let’s look at the mercury and fish consumption link in the pregnant woman.

“Levels of [mercury] exposure that are defined as safe by the official limits, are actually having adverse effects,” environmental health scientist Dr. Edward Groth, who authored one of the three reports, said at a web conference, according to the Post.

“These are not trivial effects, these are significant effects. There does appear to be evidence now, fairly persuasive evidence, that adverse effects occur from normal amounts of seafood consumption,” Groth, who is an adviser to the World Health Organization, continued.

One of the reports — an epidemiological overview on the effects of the toxic metal on brain development — also stressed that consumption of “everyday” amounts of fish with higher mercury levels can be damaging to the health of children and the developing fetus in a pregnant woman.

The good news is, if one knows their source for fish (or uses quality fish oil) and chooses organic, the issues of toxicants and fish fraud can be avoided or mitigated for mom and baby.

What about our Air?

By now you are probably convinced, we are living in a toxic world!

I listened to a recent podcast from The Natural Nurse and Dr. Z. In it, Dr. Zamperion interviewed Alexandra Allred whose child was adversely affected by environmental exposure in TX.

I encourage you to listen, as this show provides education into the nature of the problem and brainstorms some solutions (link below).

The show’s summary reads:

Ambassador: ALEXANDRA ALLRED”. Alexandra is a former U.S. Olympic bobsledder, and the first woman in the history of the sport to be named U.S. National Champion and Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Olympic Committee, while pregnant.  Allred has been featured on ESPN, HBO Sports, Sports Illustrated, and countless book, magazine and newspaper profiles. An accomplished author, Allred is a wife and mother of four. DAMAGED GOODS is a story about the struggles of a family caught in the environmental and political quagmire of living in an extremely ‘toxic town.’  In 2005, Allred was instrumental in bringing Erin Brokovich to her hometown of Midlothian, Texas, the “Cement Capital of Texas.” Allred joined the environmental group, Downwinders at Risk, testified before the EPA and members of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives., traveling frequently to Washington D.C. She also joined forces with Earthjustice. In 2008 USA Today released new findings: the elementary school that Allred’s child attended was named in the upper one percentile of the most toxic elementary schools in the United States! Still, there is no action to change the situation. Today Allred routinely travels to Washington, D.C. to meet with Senators, speak before the United States Environmental Protection Agency and lobby on the Hill.

CONTACT: http://www.alexandrapoweallred.com
Read more: http://prn.fm/2012/11/13/natural-nurse-dr-clean-air-ambassador-alexandra-allred-111312/#ixzz2E121OTio. Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

I hope you can now see that what we allow into our child’s environment via mouth and breath is a vital component in long-term health. These chemicals affect cellular receptors, transmission, and signaling that determines not just brain function, but whole body resiliency

NOW, what can we do?  

Click here to visit Saratoga.com to find out.

References:

Rosen, L. Integrative Pediatrics: The Future Is Now. Alternative Therapies. September/October 2009, VOL. 15, NO. 5. Accessed through Modern Health Practitioner on 11/5/12. http://www.modernhcp.com/PDFS/ALTTHERSEPT09.pdf

Natural Awakenings magazine. January 2011. UB Clinics at the University of Bridgeport. http://www.enaturalawakenings.com/FAIR/January-2011/UB-Clinics-at-the-University-of-Bridgeport/

The Natural Nurse and Dr. Z – Clean Air Ambassador: Alexandra Allred – 11/13/12. Progressive Radio (Gary Null). Read more: http://prn.fm/2012/11/13/natural-nurse-dr-clean-air-ambassador-alexandra-allred-111312/#ixzz2CWjR3XP4

Hyman, M. Detox Made Safe and Simple. Drhyman.com. November 15, 2012. http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/11/15/detox-made-safe-and-simple/

Bock, K. Recognizing Neurotoxicity and Immunotoxicity within the Functional Medicine Model. IFM. Detox Advanced Practice Module. Phoenix, AZ. December 9, 2011.

Alice A. Kuo, MD, PhD, Ruth A. Etzel, MD, PhD, Lance A. Chilton, MD, Camille Watson, MS, Peter A. Gorski, MD, MPA. Primary Care Pediatrics and Public Health: Meeting the Needs of Today’s Children. Am J Public Health. 12/02/2012;2(12):e17-e23. Reprinted on Medscape: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/774785?src=mp

Prickle, J. Body Burden: The Pollution in New Borns. Environmental Working Group. http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/petition_cdc_20050721.php

Krupnick, El.  Chemicals In Fast Fashion Revealed in Greenpeace’s ‘Toxic Threads: The Big Fashion Stitch-Up’ . Huffington Post.  November 20, 2012. http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001kRmLGPkBWagDSgCTo8x6UiwCfwj_-P_SqyDDckk5gxWYCISSbuhuDIxt0twRppat6IdAHeOCQV5Gbb7iEddpQ79oc4mq39V0L_mP_Biwe2QMO6D6bMqwJssvmHMjOesmq10XgMOyB27TGt0_QmTYcOBukSETwVPrFmpCl5J2vcyPOAVLDa5ZpZoAzrffSL5BnWJFHrcYKfYOPj_uzLtrr2CWUGhT-uzHHjKp-Jj8f9k=

Panyakapo M, Soontornchai S, Paopuree P. Cancer risk assessment from exposure to trihalomethanes in tap water and swimming pool water (abstract). J Environ Sci (China). 2008;20(3):372-8. PMID:  18595407

Health Day. Tap-Water Chemical May Be Linked to Food Allergy:Pesticide-treated fruits, vegetables may also harbor the compound, researchers say. 12/3/12. http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=671165

Dominique Mosbergen. Mercury In Fish More Dangerous Than Believed; Scientists Urge For Effective Treaty Ahead Of UN Talks (Report). Huffington Post. 12/4/12. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/04/mercury-in-fish-study-more-dangerous-treaty-un-talks_n_2238923.html

Weatherby, C. Fish Fraud Marches On. VitalChoice Newsletter. December 14, 2012.  http://www.vitalchoice.com/shop/pc/articlesView.asp?id=1966&utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Fish+Fraud+Marches+On&utm_content=12%2F14%2F2012&utm_campaign=Fishy+FRAUD+%E2%9C%AF+Order+GIFTS+NOW+%E2%9C%AF+FREE+Bonuses+thru+Dec.+19+%E2%9C%AF+Chef+Video%3A+Shrimp-Avocado+Parfait+%E2%9C%AF+MORE

Egeston, C. Synergistic Effects of Toxins. Metametrix Blog. 12/4/12. http://www.metametrixinstitute.org/post/2012/12/04/Synergistic-Effects-of-Toxins.aspx?utm_source=December+2012%2C+Vol+7%2C+Issue+12&utm_campaign=December+2012+e-newsletter&utm_medium=email