Our Chemical Report Card

The National Geographic recently paid $15,000 to have one reporter tested for internal toxins. The Pollution Within, October 2006 reported that he tested positive for 165 of 320 chemicals including DDT, PCBs, lead, mercury, and dioxins, substances that have been banned or restricted in the US for decades. They also found new pesticides and plastic ingredients, along with chemicals found in fragrances, on the surface of non-stick fry pans and those used to make water-resistant and fire-safe fabrics.

Until recently, no one measured levels of chemical exposure in the American population. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began testing as scientists suspect that man-made chemicals are linked to very significant increases in the rates of autism, cancer, leukemia and other diseases. Scientists have to know the exposure rates before they can measure the health impact. In fact some of Duncan’s tests were done in Canada as no US laboratory was appropriately equipped.

The article states that “Duncan can go toe-to-toe with a Midwestern cornfield for pesticide variety-16 of 28 tested for were found. Don’t try to set him on fire either, as his blood is rich in BDE-47, a common fire retardant…”

As a child, he played in a dump that was later declared an EPA superfund site. He grew up near a river lined with factories making agricultural chemicals, soap and cars, and nearby fields were sprayed with DDT and other pesticides. There was mercury in the fish he ate and he drank water contaminated with PCBs. The PDBE flame retardants responsible for the most worrisome of his results came from treated fabrics he wore and the upholstery he sat on.

In toxicology, dose is everything, and many of Duncan’s results were no higher than the CDC mean levels for Americans. But he was tested for only 320 of the 80,000+ chemicals the EPA estimates are in common use in the US. He is currently healthy but at this point no one knows with certainty what levels are safe or what the long term effects might be.

While the National Geographic report makes it clear that we can’t escape the chemicals in our food, air or water, the article doesn’t specify what could or should be done about the chemicals that build up in our body!

Here’s what we recommend. Equip your home with a high quality air purifier (not a passive filter) to eliminate VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) off gassing from the materials in your home. Drink filtered ozonated water and shower in filtered water that is chlorine free. Finally, adopt a nutritional cleansing diet to help your body eliminate toxins.

We cannot give you our chemical report cards as the cost of testing is prohibitive, but we know that we feel better, look better, sleep better and experience fewer aches, pains and allergies once we a adopted a lifestyle designed to disrupt the disease cycle.

Don’t sit passively waiting for the disease process to consume you and destroy your quality of life. Disrupt your own disease cycle by taking control of your personal environment.