Why Organic: Body Burden and Cosmetics?

It sounds fancy and cool, slightly on the hippie side to be Organic and Natural. For some, organic and natural lifestyle is exotic, extravagant, for some excessive, for some - good excuse to be skeptically sarcastic. Today, scientists and government agencies are discovering that some of these chemicals are toxic. Just think of it. The "father" of DDT received a Nobel prize in 1948 and now days this compound considered at the time "our future" is outlawed in all developed countries!. If you think the organic and natural lifestyle is not for you, you are overlooking very important health issues. These dangerous chemicals are everywhere. Who wants to be sick, pay huge amount of money to doctors, pharmacies and hospitals? Not me! Better be safe than sorry, don't you think so?

You may find interesting to know that more and more studies detect the presence of toxic chemicals in babies through the umbilical cord blood. The results are alarming because they show that before we are even born, synthetic chemicals and heavy metals of all kinds are building up in our body.

Body Burden: the Pollution in people

You may or may not be part of the more than 36% of the American population (and still growing!) who understands the pollution problem and the importance of eating natural and organic. However, do you know which chemicals you put on your skin and your hair or in your mouth? Have you read the ingredient list?
Two recent studies in the US led by a prominent medical school in New York and by a major government health agency analyzed the presence of hundreds of chemicals and pollutants coming from everyday products in the blood and urine of volunteers. All subjects have healthy lives and none worked with chemicals. Yet, each person tested contained an average of 91 compounds, most of which did not exist 75 years ago. No wonder your grandparents did not care about it.

Where do these toxic chemicals come from? Everywhere! Computer, toys, T-shirts, shoes, perfume, nail polish. An expecting mother passes these toxic chemicals to her developing fetus through the placenta. A well known and often quoted world expert in toxicology says: " The fetus is the weak link when it comes to exposure to hazardous substances"¹

The persistence of chemicals in people's body is now called Body Burden. Some chemicals or their breakdown products (metabolites) stay in your body only for a short while, and get excreted rapidly. But others don't break down and persist in our bodies forever. That's the ones you should worry about. For example, chlorinated pesticides such as DDT can remain in body for 50 years. No one would care unless it was discovered that DDT is a hormone disruptor, which may be responsible for sterility and pregnancy issues. Which sadly is the truth. And it's not the only hazardous chemical which quietly resides in your body, slowly accumulating. Even though DDT is not produced in developed countries for the last 30 years, yet you find DDT in some personal care products which contain lanolin.

Shocking? Yes! And this is just the beginning, you've just opened the Pandora's box.

But you can now take action and protect yourself and your family by paying attention to what chemicals you are exposed in your everyday life. From water containers to laundry detergents, food and personal care products. There are specific ways to lower and even eliminate your Body Burden. This should give you a good head start for a long and healthy life.
Watch out for the next edition of Nature Purity Blog, because we'll tell you more.

References and resources

¹ Dr Vyvyan Howard is a world expert in toxicology and the Head of Research in the Developmental Toxico-Pathology Research Group at the University of Liverpool, UK. Greenpeace

For more information about DDT and other toxic chemicals, visit
www.ourstolenfuture.org
http://ewg.org/issues/siteindex/issues.php?issueid=5004
http://www.safecosmetics.org
body burden information page

You can read the full article at on our website where you an also find organic and natural personal care products