Yesterday I attended the Greening our Children luncheon in support of the Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center. I learned that there are about 80,000 toxic chemicals on the market. Roughly 4% of these are chemicals whose production exceeds 1 million pounds per year, and less than 20% of these have been tested for their possible toxicity to children.For more information on this topic, check out: http://www.mountsinai.org/static_files/MSMC/Files/Patient%20Care/Children/Childrens%20Environmental%20Health%20Center/Fact%20Sheet%20-%20Simple%20Steps%20Recap.pdf).
It’s a fact that we are seeing increasing rates of allergies, asthma, learning disabilities, autism and obesity in children. Increasing research is showing that these are caused by the prevalence of chemicals in our food, our health and beauty products, and our cleaning products. For instance: pesticides used on fruits and vegetables can cause learning disabilities or brain damage; phtalates, which are used in plastics and health and beauty products, have been shown to be hormone disruptors that may affect reproduction and may cause allergies in children; or formaledehyde, which is used in cleaning and cosmetic products, is a known carcinogen. One would think that the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) would regulate these chemicals. However, the FDA doesn’t test these products unless they make us sick and this is a very hard thing to prove. The Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center has a long list of chemicals that are harmful to us. To learn more about these and other chemicals in our environment, check out: http://www.mountsinai.org/patient-care/service-areas/children/areas-of-care/childrens-environmental-health-center/childrens-disease-and-the-environment/environmental-toxins).
Whether it’s pesticides, phtalates, formaldehyde, or any of the other 80,000 toxic chemicals in our environment, food and health and beauty products, each of these chemicals poses serious threats to our children’s health as well as our own health. Therefore, we need to be ever more mindful of keeping these products out of our homes, off our plates and our bodies.
Rachel Khanna is a Chef and Certified Health Counselor. She resides with her husband and four daughters in Greenwich. Visit her website at: www.liveeatcookhealthy.com.
