~ Robert Paul Smith
JB: Speaking of which, in the course of writing this book, you did a detox with your daughter. Why did you do it and what did you find out?
FW: I was interested in exploring the issue of early puberty, which is an epidemic in the US, and it's something to be concerned about because, among other things, it's a risk factor for breast cancer. A number of hormone-altering chemicals are being examined for their possible influence on this, so I decided to test my 7-year-old daughter for some of the suspects. Then we tried to see if we could change her levels by doing some basic things, like not drinking canned soda or using perfumed personal care products or nail polish, etc., and we did see a difference. So it was pretty illuminating in terms of how easily our body responds to the environment around us.
JB: Based on what you discovered through this detox experiment, have you moved to the country and given up your car? Are there changes that you've introduced to your family life because of what you learned?
FW: Well, among the things I learned is that there's only so much you can do, and not many of us are willing to move into a tree house and sleep on a horse hair mattress. What we really need, as moms and families, is for our government to do its job: to test commercial chemicals for safety, and then to regulate the ones that pose risks. We can't all be expected to read every label and understand the chemistry of every additive. We have enough to do! I was happy to see that chemical regulations in the country have gotten a little tougher with updated legislation, so I hope that trend toward better oversight continues.
JB: How's the EPA been doing in that regard? I know that a few chemicals have been eventually banned. Are there fewer chemical floating around these days than in yesteryear? If not, why not? According to your book, there are many many chemicals out there that are totally unregulated.
FW: Yeah, our government has done a pretty lame job overall, especially compared to the EU, which generally operates under a guilty-until-proven-safe scenario. Here, we just dump the chemicals into the world and then do some studies in the private sector if someone gets concerned. But last year, the Toxic Substances Control Act was reformed, with better testing required. The chemical industry continues to push back, so stay tuned.
JB: With a brand-new, anti-regulation administration and Congress, it's hard to be too optimistic on that front at least for the next four years.
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