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Children at Risk

"We are in an epidemic of environmentally mediated disease among American kids today. Rates of asthma, childhood cancers, birth defects and developmental disorders have exponentially increased, and it can't be explained by changes in the human genome. So what has changed? All the chemicals we're being exposed to."

Dr. Leo Trasande, Assistant Director of the
Center for Children's Health and the Environment at the
Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York City




 
What could be more pure, more innocent that a new born baby? Here lays a child, a new life, starting off fresh on Planet Earth, and we want only the best for them, and for every chance to be given to them.

We keep them out of harm’s way as best we can. After all, they are dependent on us for their very lives. We nurture them, we teach them, give them guidance, we love and care for them.

If only we knew that we are contributors of dangerous, toxic chemicals that are building up in their little, undeveloped bodies, even before they are born. Some experts say that not a single child is born today, free of chemicals.

That statement is frightening; somehow the most frightening of anything I have found in my research.

I know and appreciate that no one wants to hear any of this. We would ALL want to deny that our innocent babies are being harmed. But the facts do not lie; therefore, we must acknowledge them, and make simple changes to do what we can to ensure the safety of our little ones.


“It is human nature to avoid acknowledgment of practices that may have been conducted innocently for years, but now appear responsible for contributing to neurological harm to our children. However, continued avoidance of the evidence will only allow the problem to continue, with obvious negative consequences upon our children, school systems and society as a whole."

Richard W. Pressinger (M. Ed.)
Project Supervisor - Professor Kofi Marfo (Ph.D.),
Special Education Department,
University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.

So How Do Newborns Have Chemicals in Their Bloodstream?

Newborn babies have not ingested, breathed the air, or absorbed through their skin, yet they are born with dangerous chemicals showing up in their bodies. Tests on placenta blood have proven this.

These chemicals are being passed down through their mothers. These are not drug addicted mothers. They are everyday, well meaning, parents, trusting that the products sold to them by reputable manufacturers are safe.

They have no idea that by using the products that are on our shelves at the local market, in our homes, and being used by everyone they know, may be doing harm to their unborn babies and children. Fault can not be laid at the feet of the unsuspecting parents.

 

What Are Some of the Everyday Things Affecting Our Children’s Health?

Here are some things that many experts say may be affecting the long term health of our kids:

1 Some plastic children's toys (and not just the ones you have heard about in the news lately). Culprit – phthalates – a softening agent to make the toys more flexible.
2. Baby bottles – containing the hormone disrupting chemical, bisphenol-A (BPA) – see newspaper article below.
3. Furniture – flame retardants – antimony (arsenic) and boric acid (roach killer) are poisonous components of flame retardants, say nothing of PBDEs. Babies crib mattresses and other baby furniture are treated with flame retardants, as are most other pieces of furniture in our homes.
4. Clothing – flame retardants in baby clothing.
5. Chemicals from everyday products, such as personal care products and household cleaning products.

 


“Report Likely to Raise Alarm About Safety of Baby Bottles”

“Montreal – A study to be made public this morning on health risks posed by some of the most popular baby bottles sold in Canada is expected to add another ominous chime to the steady chorus of alarm bells sounded recently by researchers about bisphenol-A.
The hormone-disrupting chemical also called BPA., is used in most plastic baby bottles, some reusable sports bottles, resins used to line food cans and plastic food and drink containers.
Today, Environment Defense, a Canadian environmental group based in Toronto, is releasing a study looking at how much of this chemical leaches out of the most popular brands of baby bottles under real-life conditions.
Researchers have linked BPA exposure to a host of health problems, including obesity, breast and prostate cancer, Type 2 diabetes, behavioral problems, early onset of puberty, fertility problems and miscarriages. – CNS

Times Colonist Newspaper
February 7, 2008

  

Since this article was written, Canada has outlawed the use of BPA in baby bottles - the first country iin the world to do so.
This is a landmark move. But BPA is only the tip of the iceberg. Our everyday products are so full of synthetic chemicals, and the resistance to exposing them is significant.

Corporations can use these chemicals to make products work effectively (sure they do, no doubt - but at what cost?). They are cheap, available, and slick can be slicker, colors can be made brighter - wow - what you can do with synthetic chemicals. They have become such a part of our everyday fabric that we use them with gay abandon and most of us do not even realize anything could be wrong.

After all, many of the companies are household names - they have been around longer than many of us have lived. We EXPECT slick, effective products. Today, the desire of people to 'look good and smell good', is unprecedented. The cosmetics/personal care industry is bug business, with countless millions of dollars being poured into the seductive advertising, eye pleasing packaging, irresistible scents, silky, sophisticated lotions.

The marketing is phenomenal amd deliberate.

 


"We look good, we smell good, and we've just exposed ourselves to over 200 chemicals through our personal care products per day"

U.S. News and World Report

  

Chemically based personal care products and household cleaners, to name a few, are affecting the health of us and our children

There Is No Glass Bubble

We can’t keep our children in a glass bubble, nor should we even want to. We cannot control every environmental detriment in the world. But within our own homes we can safeguard in many ways.

We can and should protect our children as best we can. Simply making changes in the products we use in our homes will take us a long way toward giving that protection both to our children and ourselves.

Check out our certified organic crib mattresses, organic bedding and clothing.


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