Read your OpEdNews it's good for your brain and other organs

As a regular reader of OpEdNews you might recall seeing this call to end fluoridation by the Executive Director of the Fluoride Action Network:

End Fluoridation, say 600 Physicians, Dentists, Scientists, and Environmentalists by Paul Connett PhD.I knew about the fluoridated water health risks six months ago, by listening to Dr. Layna Berman's radio show,

Your Own Health and Fitness, which I listen to by way of free podcast on KPFA. In fact a lot of excellent content (for left-leaning liberal news junkies like myself) is available there. May I recommend other KPFA podcasts: Guns and Butter, Democracy Now!, Free Speech Radio News, and CounterSpin.Anyway, back to fluoridated water. From the Fluride Action Network - PROFESSIONALS' STATEMENT CALLING FOR AN END TO WATER FLUORIDATION:

Of special note among the animal studies is one in which rats fed water containing 1 ppm fluoride had an increased uptake of aluminum into the brain, with formation of beta-amyloid plaques, which is a classic marker of Alzheimer's disease pathology in humans.

If your water comes from a municipal water supply, chances are some small percentage of people in your community of family and friends may be affected by fluoride in your water. Also don't count on bottled water or other bottled beverages to be free of fluoride, as many corporate bottlers fill their beverage containers using municipally supplied water.

On another cheerful note, the American market place is literally washed with chemicals that are seldom tested for biological activity or effects. I recently read (sorry I don't recall the source) that more than 600,000 synthetic compounds have been developed in laboratories for different applications, but that less than 1 percent have ever been tested for effects on biological systems, carcinogenicity, allergenic responses, or other effects on human physiology let alone ecological or environmental toxicology. We need a precautionary principle that slows the introduction of new chemicals into our environment without some regime of testing regardless of whether the compound is to be applied externally, taken internally, or just used to create products that we come into contact with on a daily basis.

The Environmental Working Group provides a rich resource cataloging the chemicals that are finding their ways inside our bodies. Check out: http://www.bodyburden.org/ and please reduce your exposure to synthetic chemicals as a precaution against unknown biological activity for your own good health.

by Tim Riley (7 articles, 5 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 130 comments) on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 at 3:02:23 AM
 

Tip of the Iceberg

Toothpaste is just the tip of an enormous iceberg when it comes to hazardous chemicals that are found in vitually every mainstream product that is ingenested into the human body.

Want to be further shocked? Look at the list of ingredients on the containers of every canned, bottled or otherwise pre-packaged food item in your kitchen cupboards. Then read the list of ingredients on your shampoo, anti-perspirant, hair dye, tanning lotion,  and cosmetics.

The very places where we expect to nourish and pamper ourselves - our kitchens and bathrooms - have become repositories of toxic chemicals that end up causing us harm in the long run.

Then they tell you that no one knows what causes cancer or any of these horrible diseases, but if we keep donating more money, a "cure" will eventually be found. 

by Bill Cain (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 287 comments) on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 at 9:27:44 AM