There’s no getting around it: this world can be a scary place, and as parents and caregivers, we do whatever we can to shield our children from harm. From proper sleeping positions in infancy to talking about safe sex, we are always striving to control for and eliminate threats to our kids’ health and well-being.
Some threats are harder to identify, though, and this is the problem that parents and caregivers face as we attempt to navigate a sea of toxic consumer products and choose which ones are safest for our kids.
The sad reality is that many of the clothes, baby gear, toys, and cosmetics available to us today are tainted with toxins. In fact, there are more than 80,000 chemicals in commerce in the US today, and of those, roughly 200 have even been tested for safety. Think of it as forced participation in a giant, uncontrolled science experiment conducted by the chemicals manufacturers (and their friends in the legislature).
The problem is that the laws in the US are currently tilted towards protecting corporate profits rather than protecting consumer health. I along with many others find this unacceptable, and we’re fighting to change it link. And as long as government regulations on chemicals remain weak and ineffective, the best I can do is to couple my activism with constant vigilance, and work to provide the healthiest possible environment for myself and my child.
I hope I’m not giving the impression that I’ve succeeded at every turn in this, because I haven’t. The truth is that I’m in an ongoing process of identifying and eliminating threats to my son’s health. Have there been times when I’ve felt I dropped the ball? You betcha there have!
The first “oh crap” moment that I experienced was shortly after my son was born. News reports started coming out about BPA in baby bottles, and how this endocrine-disrupting chemical could pose a serious threat to our bodies. The news reports said that BPA was most likely to leach out of the plastic under conditions of high heat, such as those found in a dishwasher or a boiling pot of water. I had to grapple with the fact that I had unknowingly exposed my son to this harmful chemical, since I had already boiled and sanitized his plastic baby bottles umpteen times during his precious life. Whoops!
My next horrifying realization occurred several years later when I started working at Clean Water Action. I remember reading campaign materials that folks had stuck up on the walls about flame retardant chemicals in kids’ pajamas. Apparently these toxins could lead to a host of devastating health problems including cancer, nervous system damage, and fertility problems. At that moment, I could recall multiple sets of pjs I had recently folded and put away in my son’s dresser that had the tag “flame resistant” on them, and I resolved to throw them away as soon as I got home.
It can be overwhelming to say the least when we stop to consider the harmful chemicals that we and our children are exposed to on a daily basis. We do the best we can, however, and that can mean going through years worth of lotions, perfumes, and powders to find which ones contain toxic ingredients. And once you have identified these hazards, how do you dispose of them? (Spoiler alert: I don’t have an easy answer to that question.) Here is what the process looked like for me: first, I wasted gallons of water rinsing out slimy lotion bottles, because it was important to me to recycle the plastic, only to realize it wasn’t working, and they weren’t getting clean that way and I was just washing the stuff down the drain, which is terrible, and I might as well have just thrown them away in the first place! At least by throwing them directly in the dumpster I could get it over with quickly, giving me less time to think about where those items are going to end up and I can still allow myself to feel pleased, in a self-centered sort of way, that I’ve lessened the toxic load in my home.
Having lived through my at times manic process of establishing a healthier home environment for my child, I now approach the subject with a greater sense of calm. I’m still not accepting things as they are, and never will. I won’t ever stop talking about the profound injustice of chemical manufacturers profiting off of the mass poisoning of our population. I will continue to demand stronger laws from my elected officials, because consumers deserve to be protected from exposure to harmful chemicals, and we have a right to know what’s in the products we buy. I won’t succumb to the rationalization that a little bit here and there probably won’t do me any harm, because that’s what they want us to think so we’ll keep buying their junk products! We all deserve so much better.
If this piece has left you wanting to know more about what products pose a threat to your kid’s health, and how to find safer alternatives, then this time I do have a good answer for you:
Check out this and other resources on the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families website.
If you possess the technology, then consider downloading this free app that walks you through simple, research-based tips on how to reduce your exposure to potentially harmful chemicals where you live and work.
And to stay up to date on the latest news and action alerts, be sure to follow the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow on Facebook and Twitter.
