Welcome to Accidentally Green’s first edition of Thought You’d Like to Know Fridays. Each Friday, I’ll cover a topic I think you just might like to know about. You’ll gain a better understanding of what’s lurking out there and what I’m talking about here on Accidentally Green.
Today I’d like to introduce the concept of a person’s body burden. From the time a person is conceived, a body burden starts building from all the toxins he or she is exposed to – both in and out of the womb. Once a child is born, the body burden greatly increases for the rest of his or her life. And, part of a nursing mother’s body burden is passed along to a child through breast milk. (Even with this fact, breast milk still is much healthier than formula, but I’ll discuss that in later posts.)
Part of a person’s body burden comes from POPs, or Persistent Organic Pollutants. POPs are found in the air, soil and water and leach to the food chain and water. POPs include:
- PBB (polybrominated biphenyl);
- PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ether), found in all flame retardants;
- PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl), part of 209 different chemicals;
- PCDD (polychlorinated dibenzodioxin), highly toxic dioxins found in seventy-five chemicals;
- PCDF (polychlorinated dibenzodifuran), highly toxic dioxins found in 135 chemicals;
- DDT (dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane), found in pesticides.
POPs aren’t the only chemicals to contribute to an individual’s body burden. A body burden also includes toxins like:
- Arsenic;
- Bisphenol-A (BPA);
- Cadmium;
- Lead;
- Mercury;
- Perchlorate (rocket fuel);
- PFCs (from products like Teflon, Scotchgard and Gore-Tex);
- Parabens;
- Phthalates;
- PVC.
I’ll discuss each of these nasty toxins in much more detail in upcoming Fridays. For now, be aware that what you use and consume accumulates in your body. Kind of scary, huh?
Sources
“Environmental Contaminants in Breast Milk: Persistent Organic Pollutants.” Krista Nickerson.
“Heavy Metals in Breast Milk; Implications for Toxicity.” C. Gundacker, B. Zödi. Reviews in Food and Nutrition Toxicity.
“Toxic Breast Milk?” Florence Williams. New York Times. Jan. 9, 2005.
Making Our Milk Safe.
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