Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Just Bad

Well, it will be dateline Greensboro for some time now so there is no need to keep that up. It is not easy going yet, and my routine is hard to etch out with all the cable and Internet calls to Timewarner - JUST when I think I have one thing off the to do list - up pops another. I was going to say more about the day, but I have lost too much time - my apologies. I think that blogging while taking classes is going to be easier than blogging while moving in!

Your Health Note: I think I have the upshot in regards to chemicals, whether they be bisphenol A from some plastics, the chemicals in our ink, emissions from industry or phthalates - they are ALL harmful. Research on the effects of some of these is underway now and results have made it to various journals and popular news sources. Of interest is the affect that the chemicals appear to have on hormones especially those of a reproductive nature. The irony is that a few years ago one of my professors had us read a newspaper article on phthalates and at that time it showed changes in frogs. Today I read a similar story about frogs. However, scientists are now concerned that girls are in puberty sooner, possibly due to obesity but also from the changes in estrogen production, possibly linked to chemical exposure. Similarly there have been changes in male babies, such as having testicles that do not descend as they should. The research continues and will include regular blood work of some thousands of volunteers. Those volunteers may have health outcomes and if a pattern emerges with similar blood work, we may have more conclusive evidence.

Still, whether it is chemicals in food wrappers or cans, mercury and cadmium in the soil, air and water, or BPA from bottles, the less exposure the better. Of course, industry representatives will minimize the science and that is a matter of financial survival for them. However, they CAN change and it might be better if they do so before our fifteen year old girls have breast cancer and our twenty something boys are impotent.

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