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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

17 Nov - Quick Notes

Streets of San FranciscoImage by Frank Kehren via Flickr

The Poisoning of America's Water Supplies

Albuquerque, Fresno, and San Francisco are examples of cities that have water that is sufficiently contaminated so as to pose serious potential health risks to pregnant women, infants, children, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems, according to Dr. David Ozonoff [ii]. What we find in these waters are contaminants that occur with surprising regularity, regardless of location, such as chlorination by-products, lead, and coliform bacteria. Other contaminants, such as Teflon and rocket fuel occur less frequently but pose major health concerns. If we include the fact that fluoride is actually poisonous we have water that is slowly killing some Americans and depressing the health of almost everyone who drinks and showers in it.


Obsession with killing microorganisms is dangerous for humans and planet

Commonly used chemicals aren't safe for human health and the environment. What's more, they don't even work better than plain soap and water. The two most popular antimicrobial compounds, triclosan and triclocarban, are now a billion dollar a year industry and are found in a host of personal care products. Triclosan is added to plastic containers, toys and even clothing, too. First patented in l964 to kill germs before surgical procedures, the compound was pushed on consumers in the l980s when antimicrobials were hyped through massive marketing campaigns for "anti-germ" hand soaps. By 2001, a whopping 76 percent of all liquid soaps contained the chemical.

The trouble is, Halden pointed out in a press statement, these chemicals persist in the environment and in your body. Levels of triclosan in humans have soared by about 50 percent since 2004, according to newly updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And both triclosan and triclocarban are present in 60 percent of all rivers and streams nationwide.

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