ContamiNation My Quest to Survive in a Toxic World by McKay Jenkins
An investigation into the dangers of the chemicals present in our daily lives, along with practical advice for reducing these toxins in our bodies and homes, from acclaimed journalist McKay Jenkins.
Cancer factories: Toxic chemicals remain a well-documented, potentially lethal threat to workers thanks to a weak OSHA and lax standards, says #Texas investigative reporter in a new book. Senior Writer and Editor Lise Olsen interviewed the author. https://www.texasobserver.org/cancer-goodyear-dupont?utm_campaign=mastodon
Cancer factories: Toxic chemicals remain a well-documented, potentially lethal threat to workers thanks to a weak OSHA and lax standards, says #Texas investigative reporter in a new book. Senior Writer and Editor Lise Olsen interviewed the author. https://www.texasobserver.org/cancer-goodyear-dupont?utm_campaign=mastodon
Wool can be made without killing animals. I think we need to go back to using bamboo, wood and wool and less synthetics. But most of all, make furniture and rugs that last -- so generation after generation can use them!
Even after an install, a project’s furnishings and finishes can leach harmful chemicals into the air for years through a process called off-gassing. Here’s how you can combat it.
by Audrey Gray
"'Okay, I want to tell you about some things,' she recalls telling her client, going on to carefully explain the dangers inherent in both flooring choices—primarily the health impacts of chemical inhalants. Not only would these #chemicals flood a home during the installation of new #carpet or #vinyl planks, but they would continue to gradually leach into the air for years to come—a more subtle (but dangerous) process referred to as off-gassing. Thompson didn’t want her client’s family exposed to a vapor stew of chemicals every day, least of all in the yoga space, where the whole point was to breathe deeply while near the floor.
"She offered her client some carefully sourced options such as an all-wool carpet with a natural #rubber pad, and advocated for solid, #sustainably sourced wood downstairs instead of a composite of plastics. 'I thought she’d be excited,' Thompson says. 'But because of her beliefs about animal rights, I learned that wool wasn’t acceptable to her…and there were price point issues too. I thought, ‘Wow, this is a whole new level I hadn’t encountered.’”
"Welcome to what materials experts call 'one of the most complicated issues in health and wellness,' the murky and unregulated (at least in the U.S.—Europe is much stricter) relationships humans have with thousands of airborne #toxins emanating from our building materials, #furnishings, #CleaningProducts, #CarInteriors, #iPads, and even #candles.
"'Nobody’s telling you what is coming from all those vapors mixing in the air,' says Jillian Pritchard Cooke, the founder of Wellness Within Your Walls, an education consultancy focused on dramatically reducing the dangers of off-gassing in the built environment. 'It’s up to us to understand the individual effects each chemical can have on your #NervousSystem, your #lungs, and your cellular makeup. We need to be doing right by our clients.'
"Designers have, of course, been aware of the dangers of volatile organic compounds (#VOCs) for a long time, and have helped influence some wins in the marketplace, like the rising popularity of low- or no-VOC paints and the 2015 ban Home Depot and Lowe’s instituted in 2015 on toxic #phthalates (a class of industrial chemicals that help make plastic bendy) in flooring.
"But the problem endures, and unfortunately, many of the worst effects of VOCs—showing up in health conditions—accumulate over long periods of time.
"One of the best arguments for incorporating #vintage pieces in design, apart from saving space in landfills and decreasing carbon emissions, is that they are far safer from an off-gassing perspective. #Recycling building materials (for instance, saving the doors during a retrofit) helps too."
How do pesticides get into oysters?
Walking along estuaries in NSW, one finds that most oysters have been 'harvested' by very hungry people. And no, not by oystercatchers.
"Pesticide residue from farms and towns is ending up in fresh oysters. Most of the herbicides, insecticides and fungicides we found are used routinely by farmers, land managers and council workers."
Many of the chemicals being spread as sewage sludge are untested or can’t be assessed. That’s why I’m suing for answers, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
There’s a Big Problem With Your Car’s Tires
"Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency formally acknowledged the ecological damage wreaked by tire pollution. The agency announced that it would investigate the toxicity of 6PPD, a necessary step toward a potential ban on its widespread use in tire manufacturing. According to knowledgeable people I checked with, this is the first time that a federal agency has formally considered tires’ ecological harm. At long last, the U.S. is thinking beyond the tailpipe to examine hidden ways that cars befoul the planet."
>> https://slate.com/technology/2023/11/car-tires-6ppd-pollution-epa.html #tyres#cars#EVs#vehicles#machinery#pollution#water#air#toxins
"To heighten their colour, the rhizomes from which the spice [tumeric] is extracted are routinely dusted with lead chromate, a neurotoxin. The practice helps explain why South Asia has the highest rates of lead poisoning in the world.[...] Yet it turns out that with clever policies, enlightened leadership and astute messaging this blight can be greatly reduced. Bangladesh has shown how."
These people are DISGUSTING and suffering from a bizarre delusion; a urine-based "folie à deux". This is what happens when you abandon objectivity, and throw yourself into absurd internet lifestyles. It is not healthy or safe to consume #urine. Despite what these people believe, urine is not "one of the most nourishing liquids on Earth". It's simply not true. Urine contains all the #toxins your kidneys have filtered out, as well as #bacteria, and potentially #parasites.
You don’t need to use disinfectants every day. In fact, perhaps you shouldn’t due to their potential #health hazards.
Disinfection can help kill any remaining microbes where people have been actively ill, such as vomit on a surface or during certain disease outbreaks. But soap and water really do the trick for most sanitation needs on a regular basis.
As you rub cosmetic products onto your skin, breathe in their scents or use them to brush your teeth, the chemicals found within can travel throughout your body, targeting your endocrine, nervous and cardiovascular systems.
Endocrine disruptors, such as phthalates and PFAS, can mimic naturally produced hormones or block hormone receptors. And that’s hazardous to your #health – potentially interfering with #fertility, and fetal development.