A Womb of One's Own - Toxic Pregnancy

A Womb of One's Own

The womb is not free of toxic pollution.

This week, the Washington Toxics Coalition released a study that should raise the ire of pregnant women like me. Their findings in a nutshell: developing fetuses spend their first nine months in an environment that exposes them to a range known toxic chemicals. That environment? Their mothers’ bodies. That means my body.

The first-of-its kind study analyzed blood and urine samples from nine women in Washington, Oregon, and California during their second trimester of pregnancy, to test for 23 chemicals from five chemical groups. Their bodies were found to be contaminated with 13 of the 23 chemicals. “These chemicals can cause reproductive problems and cancer, disrupt hormonal systems such as the thyroid, and can impair brain development,” the study states.

So, why is my response ire and not panic? I guess I’m over the panic. During my pregnancy, I’ve been reading a lot about the toxics in my body and their potential effects on the fetus (and I'll be writing a lot more about this stuff in this blog series). I realize it’s too late for panic. Contrary to popular belief, my womb is not entirely my own.

I’m with the woman from this Seattle Post Globe story, Kim Radtke, who’s just plain angry. Like me, she made all the right personal decisions about her health and her pregnancy—she eats organic foods, she’s been meticulous about the products she uses, she's a midwife who's very conscious about healthy choices. Naturally, she was dismayed to learn she rated worst among the West Coast women tested for a particular class of chemicals: perfluorinated compounds. They’re used to make Teflon pans, clothing, furniture, and food packaging such as pizza boxes and fast-food containers. “That really kills me as a mom,” Radtke told the Post Globe. “I took the best care I could possible, yet this was beyond my control.”

Every woman tested was found to have been exposed to bisphenol A, delivered in such things as the lining of food cans. Each woman’s body carried two to four “Teflon chemicals”-- PFCs. All had detectable levels of mercury, known to harm brain development. And every woman was exposed to at least four phthalates, a class of chemicals that includes plasticizers and fragrance carriers found in ordinary items such as vinyl shower curtains and scented shampoos.

As the study points out, “the developing fetus is exquisitely vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals,” as it possesses “only a small proportion of the adult’s ability to detoxify foreign chemicals” while it “develops at a breakneck pace in the womb.”

The research project, by Washington Toxics Coalition staff scientist Erika Shreder, was conducted to spur legislators in Washington State and Washington, DC, to continue to rein in harmful chemicals in consumer products--and at the very least demand responsible labeling and disclosure by manufacturers. As the Post Globe reports, Washington State Rep. Mary Lou
Dickerson, D-Seattle, says she will push for passage of the Safe Baby
Bottle Act, which she introduced last year. (Yes, there are harmful chemicals in baby bottles--of all things!) It passed the House, but not Senate. It would prohibit Bisphenol A in baby bottles, children's food containers and sports water bottles. (The bill doesn’t extend to the Bisphenol A in the linings of canned foods.)

These are baby steps toward wombs that aren’t tainted with chemicals--and toward healthier moms and babies. But this is exactly the kind of policy where moms and moms-to-be should direct their energy—whether it’s panic- or anger-driven...or something else.

This piece originally appeared on Sightline Daily.

Image Credit: Mahalie via Flickr, Creative Commons License.

from the WorldChanging Team, 20 Nov 09

by Anna Fahey

From http://www.worldchanging.com/

As author Peter Carey pointed out decades ago in Bliss (an excellent book and great movie), if you explain to people that more than half of what they breathe, eat and touch every day is toxic and killing them, most won’t believe you. Back when Bliss was written only ‘stupid hippies’ (like me) believed what is now obvious to anyone left with half a brain and a quarter of a reasonable attention span.

Over the years, many people have asked me why I left a big comfortable house and a promising career in the big smoke to live in a little shack in a remote rainforest. Many wonder why I’ve been a vegetarian for decades, why I don’t drink (fluoridated) town water, eat tinned or heavily processed foods, use Teflon or aluminium utensils, mobile phones, plastics – the list goes on and on -  or trust anything that comes from the labs of chemical companies, including pharmaceuticals, doctors’ advice, biocides, fertilisers or munitions.

Wonder no more. By now you must surely know better than to trust the heartless con artist gangsters who call themselves businessmen and the political flunkies they control with the money or the gun – bribes or threats. If you don’t see the obvious truth then I’m sorry, but it’s way past time to wake up. To the corporate elite - and every suit wearing arse-licker with (in)vested interests and pretensions to climb their delusional ladder of acquisitiveness - you’re an easily replaceable cog in a poisonous machine that’s destroying the Earth in the name of nothing at all.

And if you believe in democracy, vote for the only people who really care about you, your children and the planet – the Greens!  Every other party is trapped in the dumb, outdated boss versus worker paradigm and is partying heartily at your expense, believing they have a place reserved in some lifeboat or other, whether it be a safe bunker or a dream of a slice of pie in the sky. They’ll remain deluded and venal until the end of (their) days, but you’ll be left carrying the toxin impregnated can.

Together we can create a far better millennium than the last stupid feudal age whose vestiges still cling to us all. Explore alternatives and live the dream, not the lie. Turn on. Tune in. OPT OUT!

See you there.

- R.A.

See The Ringwood Agreements

and see More Chemical Info

Extra Image - http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/images/migrated/MultimediaFiles/Live/Image/7221.jpg

For further enlightenment see –

The Her(m)etic Hermit - http://hermetic.blog.com

The New Illuminati

(These sites have been locked by Today.com and this author no longer has access to his own blogs - Enlightenment Today

Imagine Nation – Artwork & Images )

The Prince of Centraxis (WARNING - unsuitable for the faint of heart, religious dogmatists, uptight prudes or minor mentalities)

This material is published under Creative Commons Copyright – reproduction for non-profit use is permitted & encouraged, if you give attribution to the work & author - and please include a (preferably active) link to the original along with this notice. Feel free to make non-commercial hard (printed) or software copies or mirror sites - you never know how long something will stay glued to the web – but remember attribution! If you like what you see, please send a tiny donation or leave a comment – and thanks for reading this far…

From the New Illuminati – http://newilluminati.blog-city.com

tags: chemicals  pollution  chemical  toxins  foetal  damage  alternative  lifestyle  perfluorinated  compounds  turn  on  tune  in  opt  out  pregnancy  pregnant  phthalates  mercury  toxic  

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit