Tag: chemicals

Exposure to Common Fungicide causes Neurological Problems Across Four Generations

(NaturalNews – L.J. Devon) To better understand mental disorders and neurological problems, scientists are beginning to take a closer look at the study of epigenetics and the endocrine-disrupting chemicals affecting DNA. This kind of study goes beyond just the study of genetics, which looks solely at changes in DNA sequence between generations. Epigenetics investigates the changes in gene expression caused by chemical reactions where certain base pairs in DNA or RNA are “turned off” or “turned on” again. For example, epigenetics looks into the process by which a cell uses genetic code to assemble beneficial proteins. In this field of study, there is a keen eye placed on the environmental reasons why gene expressions change, why DNA can be chemically silenced. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals, so prevalent today in consumer and agricultural products, can affect how cells function in the body. By altering hormone levels, these chemicals may change the way a person reacts to stress or anxiety.

Fungicide exposure increases anxiety throughout four generations as gene expression changes

New research from the University of Texas at Austin (UT) and Washington State University shows how a common fungicide used on fruits and vegetables, vinclozolin, disrupts healthy endocrine system function throughout four generations. In the study, provoked female rats experienced increased stress hormones, anxiety and neurological problems, because their great grandparent’s were exposed to the fungicide vinclozolin. Fourth-generation rats became more anxious under stress simply because their great grandparents were exposed to the fungicide. The study showed how the fungicide caused changes in gene expression — not changes in genetic sequence — all the way into the fourth generation.

“These results should concern us all because we have been exposed to endocrine disrupting chemicals for decades and we all go through natural challenges in life,” said David Crews, Professor of Zoology and Psychology at UT. “Those challenges are now being perceived differently because of this ancestral exposure to environmental contamination.”

It was the combination of stress during the animal’s adolescence and their ancestral exposure to the fungicide that caused hormonal imbalances and changes in behavior. The female rats showed dramatically higher levels of stress hormone corticosterone, and increased anxiety and nervous behaviors. Interestingly, the effect was only measured in the brains of female rats. The changes in stress hormones are also associated with brain degeneration for both learning and memory into old age.

The effect was witnessed when researchers confined adolescent rats to soft, warm cylinders for six hour a day for three weeks. When the female rat’s brain function, behavior and gene expression were measured in adulthood, the researchers could see how gene expression had changed. The fungicide played a huge role in causing neurological problems throughout four generations!

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals play a huge role in modern day anxiety

In the 21st century, there are more comforts than there were generations ago, yet the emerging population seems to be more discontent than ever before — more stressed, more people taking anxiety pills and more people taking psychoactive medication for depression. Could it be that the rise of neurological dysfunction and depression in the 21st century is due to changes in gene expression caused by endocrine-disrupting chemicals like fungicides?

Why has depression and anxiety increased in an era of comforts? Why were the men and women of generations ago roughing it but were not labeled clinically depressed or anxious? Is modern day anxiety caused by the bombardment of endocrine-disrupting chemicals? 

Sources for this article include:
http://cns.utexas.edu
http://science.naturalnews.com

Beware of Chemicals in Your Feminine Care Products

(DrFrankLipman – Britta Aragon) Some products have a sort of “halo” around them. We just expect they’ll be made in such a way that we can feel comfortable using them on a daily basis.

Most women consider feminine care products to be in this category. They come near some of the most intimate and fragile parts of our bodies, so surely they’re made of safe ingredients, right?

According to a recent report from Women’s Voices for the Earth (WVE), not necessarily. Here’s more, and why you’ll want to be cautious about which products you choose in the future.

What the Report Says

Called “Chem Fatale,” the report notes that some feminine care products—including tampons, pads, douches, wipes, and sprays—may contain potentially toxic chemicals that have been linked with health problems. 

A 2002 study, for example, found small but detectable levels of dioxins (potential carcinogens) in tampons and other sanitary products. Many feminine care products have heavy fragrances, which are made up of unknown chemicals. Feminine wipes can also contain a number of preservatives, including parabens and quaternium-15, that can be irritating to skin and increase risk of contact dermatitis.

Women are often in the dark when it comes to the ingredients in these products, however, because of current regulations. Pads and tampons, for instance, are considered “medical devices,” which means companies don’t have to disclose any of the ingredients they use in them. Other feminine care products, like sprays and wipes, are regulated as personal care products, which means companies can keep fragrance ingredients secret, as well.

Studies included in the report show:

  • Dioxins, furans, and pesticide residues—which have been linked to cancer, reproductive harm, and hormone disruption—were detected in tampons.
  • Many feminine care products contained formaldehyde-releasing preservatives. Formaldehyde is an expected human carcinogen.
  • Though the FDA considers common chemicals in feminine washes to be safe “for external use only,” it is likely some internal vaginal exposure will occur from regular use.
  • Anti-itch creams commonly contain chemicals that may cause allergic reactions or skin irritations. 

“Feminine care products are not just your average cosmetics,” says Alexandra Scranton, WVE’s director of science and research and author of the report, “because they are used on an exceptionally sensitive and absorbent part of a woman’s body. Greater scrutiny, oversight and research are badly needed to assure the safety of these ingredients for women’s health.” 

How to Protect Yourself

The WVE is asking a number of big manufacturers to disclose ingredients used in their feminine care products, and to remove all toxic chemicals linked to women’s health problems.

Meanwhile, you can take steps to protect yourself from exposure:

  • Read labels and avoid the chemicals listed here.
  • Look for conscientious brands that disclose all ingredients, including those used in fragrances—better yet, choose fragrance-free.
  • Eliminate products that may be unnecessary to a healthy vagina.
  • Choose chlorine-free bleached or unbleached cotton tampons and pads (read more about toxins in tampons here).
  • If you experience a reaction from a feminine care product, call the company and tell them, and report the experience to the FDA at: www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/default.htm. 

For more on the WVE Chem Fatale report, see their website at: www.womensvoices.org/issues/chem-fatale. 

Spicy Shocker: You Will Not Believe What’s in Conventional Spices

(DrFrankLipman – Andrea Donsky) Last year I was invited to an editor’s summit in New Mexico hosted by Heel Inc. While out for dinner one night, I was sitting next to two people I had just met hours earlier, Suzy and Sam Cohen (Suzy is America’s Pharmacist and a best selling author and Sam is her amazing husband, a chiropractor and president of her company). The waiter took our orders, and when my meal arrived I reached into my purse and pulled out a tiny salt shaker that I carry around with me because I refuse to eat bleached white table salt. My salt shaker had high quality, air-dried sea salt which contained 75+ minerals. When I looked over at Suzy, she had a huge smile on her face, and not a moment later, pulled out her own tiny salt shaker that contained the same salt as mine! As you can imagine, we became instant friends.

Although salt is technically not a spice, but rather a mineral, it’s still something we add to food to improve its taste. I’m very picky about the salt and spices I add to my food. Like salt, spices are used to provide and enhance flavor in the food we eat. Many of us use spices in place of salt to reduce our salt intake. I learned a long time ago that spices were at the top of the list of foods we should choose to eat organic because of their high concentration of pesticides. However, as if pesticides weren’t enough of a reason to buy organic spices, I recently learned that there are others reasons to buy organic spices as well.

According to Thomas Fricke, co-founder and president of ForesTrade, an organic spice company in Brattleboro, Vermont, “Virtually all conventional spices sold in the United States are fumigated [sterilized] with hazardous chemicals that are banned in Europe.”

Why am I not surprised?!

Sterilizing Spices with Toxic Chemicals and Radiation

When spices come in from the fields to be dried, they can be contaminated with all sorts of junk, like insects, mold, yeasts, and pathogens like salmonella. It’s for this reason that conventional spice producers choose to sterilize their spices with toxic chemicals. One particularly scary sterilizing agent used is called ethylene oxide, a gas that can leave behind a residue that’s carcinogenic.

And then there’s irradiation, which was approved for use on spices in 1983. This is another method for killing bacteria and food borne illnesses like salmonella. Foods are irradiated by being passed through a radiation chamber on a conveyor belt. The spices actually pass through a radiation beam. Spices are currently regulated by the FDA for the highest allowable radiation amounts of any food.

Because harmful chemicals and irradiation are not allowed to be used for certified organic products, organic spice companies, on the other hand, use steam to sterilize their spices rather than toxic chemicals or radiation.

Yet another reason to choose organic over conventional.

Fillers, Preservatives, and GMOS

Conventional spices can also include fillers so they end up being far more than just the initial dried spice that you thought you were getting. It’s cheaper to use less spice and more cheap fillers like GMO corn. Here are some of the fillers in conventional spices:

  • Artificial colors
  • Artificial flavors
  • Anti-caking agents that keep them from clumping together.

Read More on Artificial Colors.

How to Buy Healthy Spices

  • Buy organic whenever possible to avoid irradiation (which is banned in USDA certified organic foods) as well as pesticides and chemical sterilizing agents.Buy spices as you need them as they lose their zing after a certain period of time so buying them in smaller amounts enables you to use them up before they go bland.
  • Buy spices in smaller amounts.I personally prefer to buy the spices I use on a regular basis in bulk (like oregano, rosemary, and basil), and the ones I don’t use as often, or haven’t yet experimented with, in smaller amounts (so I’m not left with a huge amount if I don’t end up using much of them).