Flame retardants are in many products in your home. They are also known as PBDEs or polymobrimated diphenyl ethers. They are known carcinogens. There were only 2,620 deaths in America in 2006 as a result of home fires. There are 300 million citizens in America. The Government agencies and the companies who make these chemicals will have you believe that 300 million persons should touch and ingest vapors from PBDEs daily, nightly on the infinitessimal chance that they may slow but not prevent a fire. The quantities of these accumulate in your body far beyond the permitted PPB (parts per billion) and their synergies with other chemicals dancing around your home are completely unknown, untested.

PBDEs are in your mattresses, furniture, curtains. They also saturate aircrafts. In fact, you sleep on them every night.

A lovely woman from New York was just expressing her concern about her 5 month old child. She asked me what she could do to help lower her child’s toxicity. I did not hesitate to warn her that flame retardants are in her child’s mattress and to seek an organic cover (not a “wrinkle-free” one–a euphemism for formaldehyde). I also let her know about the bisphenol A in all plastic baby bottles which leech into the breast milk she expresses and pours into these bottles. We even touched on the rocket fuel that is in most breast milk. There was a distinct quiet on the phone. I’ve heard this pause before. I felt bad I to break the news to her; but I felt good I could assist. I am just a filmmaker.

I wear my petty-scientist role reluctantly. Sometimes the messenger gets “shot”. It is now my lot in life. In this case, the woman accepted my information well, trusting it was well-founded and sincere. This fuels me to forge ahead daily.

One of the biggest factors in North America’s declining health is our belief system. We believe what we see advertised. We trust what we see on the shelves. We trust that our governments are actively protecting us. We trust what companies tell us, reading from one song sheet. We trust because we are trustworthy and fashion others after our own values. When  our belief system is challenged we are offended. No one wants to learn that they are naive or have been had. Not even I. So we easily fall prey to lawyers, lobbyists and corporate spinners representing manufacturers of ascent who confirm that we are safe and all evidence to the contrary is nonsense, insupportable scientifically. These types of responses followed global warming, well detailed in Inconvenient Truth. Is global warming a lie or an exaggeration? No. This is not a case of the tail wagging the dog as the powerful will have you believe. Do not find respite in this type of argument. Try to avoid an emotional response–the makers of CO2 know you relish to hear that the status quo is good.

In 2008, you must be courageous and find the truth yourself. In the film “287″ we will present a watershed of scientific studies, reports from acclaimed scientific leaders and physicians. You will hear from citizens and witness the damage to our children as well as all citizens of the world. A few of you will walk away in denial, claiming it is propaganda. Most of you will be wise, question, consult, investigate and take charge of your lives. You will seek the truth. Some of you will demand it pro-actively. Some of you will transform your lives 360. As long as you are rowing in the right direction, you and your family’s health will begin to improve.

I say these things with no untoward purpose other than to help my brethren. And all those who are participating in the production of this film–our crew, our talent, our contributors, our supporters–feel no less emotion and commitment to bringing this story to everyone.

The Province of Ontario in Canada crowned its Liberal leader, Dalton McGuinty, for a second term yesterday. Environmental Defence, a Canadian NGO, completed a test of the three leading candidates’ blood for poisons & toxins. McGuinty’s blood was reported as having the lowest number of toxins while John Tory of the Conservative party had the highest. Tory should not challenge the health care system with grandiose “two-tier” and private health ideas–he may need substantive free health care himself soon.

A little levity in a heavy topic.

A 15 year study conducted by the National Cancer Institute reports that women who work at home are at 54% higher risk of death from cancer than those who work away from home. The report indicated that this was due to higher exposure to household chemicals.

It also reports that breast cancer has increased by 26% since 1982 and that quotidien use of detergents, household cleaners and pesticides are the probable cause.

When the ingredients listed on products generalize or simply offer no information, that’s when you should move on. Buy products that offer complete ingredient information AND which state that fact–do not assume all is shown unless it says so. Then you can take the products  home and check each ingredient for toxicity on the internet in many reliable grassroots organization databases . It is safe to say that if the manufacturers don’t tell you, they don’t want you to know. The industry secret reason is nonsense since most labs have the ability to reverse engineer almost any compound.

Take for instance  a common, seemingly pedestrian household cleaner in a can :

It states in fineprint, “If swallowed call a Poison Control Center or a doctor immediately.”

It list a derivative of sodium hypochlorite which is highly carcinogenic and registered as highly toxic. It also mentions on its list without specificity “Anionic surfactants” (anions are negatively charged ions) for which there are several. The really interesting ingredient is “Quality control agents”; frankly, this term should be unacceptable to a consumer–it is an insult to the public’s intelligence. It also lists “perfume” and “color” again without specificity; there are likely irritants within and perhaps further carcinogens.

Interestingly, its creator’s Manufacturer Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) does not address its carcinogenicity. Upon further digging and not shown on its label, I found that it also contains crystalline silica, an eye, skin and lung irritant, listed by the National Institute of Environmental Health Science as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen”.

Ingredient labels must be transparent–not a ride ’round and ’round the mulberry bush. Do not fall on its legacy “your mother used it” or “its been a leading brand for decades”. This meaning is emotional and not in your best interest. Honesty endures through the ages.

Manufacturers are not required by law to list all their ingredients on the label. It is truly a “buyer beware” era.

I wish to bring some clarity to the scientific meaning behind the word “toxin”. In fact, a toxin is of biological origin, a poisonous substance produced by a living organism, snakes, insects for example. It can be ”poison” on the other hand if a substance is of chemical nature–one that can cause damage on a molecular level to living organisms.

“287″ and the toxic body burden has everything to do with poisons and little if anything to do with toxins. Yet we use the kinder, gentler “toxins” in our daily lexicon–scientists including.

The producers of chemical substances will rarely if ever refer to their products as poisonous falling back on the dosage claim i.e. it is too small to be poisonous. The truth is most exceed the amount allowed in our bodies over several exposures (bioaccumulation) and remain there awaiting to exact their fate; this is called chronic poisoning. There is a legal definition to the word poison–it differs to the scientific one.

We must allow ourselves to use the word “poison”–even if it is too alarmist. We would not be incorrect by scientific standards.

Autism is a word–a created disease. But is it a disease or a response to something else?

Here are some critical facts you must commit to memory and may provide a rudder in solving this mystery.

• Thimerosal, which includes 50% methylmercury, was first used in 1931 by Eli Lilly as a preservative in vaccinations
• In that same year (1931) the first child, Virginia, was diagnosed with Autism.
• Thimerosal caused death in Eli Lilly’s 1929 laboratory tests’ of animals. 
• In 1981, 4 out of every 10,000 children were diagnosed with Autism.
• In 1996, 34 out of every 10,000 were diagnosed with Autism (that’s about 1 in 330 or so).
• now in 2007, 1 in 150 are being reported.
• In 1999, Thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccinations. (However, Sanofi Pasteur continue its use in flu shots among others.)

Even if the class action suits that have been launched parents against their users fail, the facts leave us perplexed, incredulous. It is strange how we look for the cause of Autism–it is just a word. The symptoms are caused by something, perhaps someone, but not nature.

Is the sudden rise in ADHD (an acronym), leukemia and brain tumors in children related to toxic chemical intake of one sort or another? Or their synergies? This is all in the same kettle of fish.

Indeed the movie “287″ is about our environmental health, particular our personal environments; but, it is a moral issue over anything else. Corporations and their enablers must end their use of synthetic chemicals in the production of their products. There are clearly natural, safer alternatives–and too much evidence historically, medically and scientifically that synthetic chemicals are putting our health in jeopardy.

Government agencies are their enablers since they invariably continue to allow the now estimated 100,000 synthetic chemicals into our lives effectively unchecked. The FDA in US has reviewed only up to 15% (this is probably too high) of these. Many synthetic chemicals in use in N.A. are banned elsewhere in the world. Their synergies, how these chemicals interact when they cross paths in our kitchen, our garage or even our liver–remains 100% unchecked. This is the most frightening monster in the closet.

Colors, dyes, fragrances, additives, surfactants, emulsifiers, preservatives, pesticides–the list of synthetic chemicals under these guises is endless. Many are petroleum-based; all are irritants. The lion’s share of synthetic chemicals are carcinogens (cancer causing), endocrine distrupters (interfere with hormones), mutagens (causes genetic damage), neurotoxins (affects brain and nervous system). Some cause immediate reactions, occasionally leading to death. Others accumulate in our bodies until they supercede the allowed amount–this is the tipping point. Corporations wax poetic about dosage and parts-per-million (PPM) but always fail to talk about accumulation in our bodies. Consider the fact that these chemicals are in almost everything you use or come in contact with every day. Bioaccumulation may take place across several unrelated products too. It’s simply too much of a bad thing. Nature made has been losing ground to man made chemicals since 1906 when the US government launched the Pure Food and Drug Act leaving the burden to government to prove if a product was safe.

Getting synthetic chemicals out of our childrens’ bodies and our daily lives is a moral issue. Who among those who profiteer from them will be the first to announce a schedule to cease?

Will our governments give to those corporations who commit to safe solutions, tax breaks, “emission” credits, subsidies–or even give the fledgling, green corporations who are committed to the natural health cause some slack.

While governments play the economy card as a cause of inaction, it is human capital which drives the economy–not the 1% of shareholders who effectively control business. Men and women in blue collars in the plants are the first victims of synthetic chemicals poisoning because of their concentration in short periods of time. Case in point, the diacetyl used in microwave popcorn was found as chief cause of incurable pulmonary illness in its employees in a US court. The first lawsuit launched this year by a consumer, a heavy-user of microwave popcorn at home who has developed the same incurable pulmonary illness, is a sign of the times and proof of bioaccumulation. There was no warning on the popcorn packages. Likewise there are few if any warnings on most consumer products about the contents and their possible outcomes. Labels conceal ingredients especially under the “industry secret” guise. There are toxic hidden ingredients that are not considered part of the contents in their containers; yet, they are present. Bisphenol A (shown to have developmental toxicity, carcinogenic effects, and possible neurotoxicity)  used to line 85% of cans, also used in baby bottles and water bottles do not diclose this chemical on their labels. Phthalates “thallets” (a  plastic softener) are also present in plastic bottles; these too are not mentioned.

There truly is no one organization ensuring that we enjoy 100% safety from the effects of synthetic chemicals–only ”guidelines” which fuel lobbyists and PR persons with talking points. But there are authentic organizations like the EWG mitigating to have these removed. And the NRDC is not far off the apple tree.

The day may come when USA HMOs will use their citizens’ inadvertent absorption of synthetic chemicals as a reason to decline coverage in their ambiguous clauses–they have used lesser excuses.

Enough said. It is a moral imperative-not a moral dilemma.

“287″ is a no brainer as a personal epic that touches every man, woman and child on the planet. Our hope is that 287 will trigger people to reclaim their vitality and longevity.

We can’t wait to meet the gang at the Environmental Working Group, an amazing organization founded and headed by Ken Cook and Richard Wiles (Richard and Ken have accepted to be on our Advisory Board). Their work and successes at changing our toxic environment is impressive.

We will pick their brains and shoot some film for valuable, expert content. Now if we could only get them to wear their dancing shoes for a little drama.

To quote a passage by the David Suzuki Foundation:

Many Canadians will find it disturbing to learn that their country has fallen behind in protecting its citizens from environmental threats to their health.

While most developed countries have adopted national health and environment strategies, Canada has not.

Each year, millions of Canadians become ill or disabled after being exposed to environmental contaminants linked to asthma, gastrointestinal illness, poisonings, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, developmental disorders, birth defects, and reproductive problems. read more

This great environmental leader has launched a campaign to get the Canadian Government to protect citizens especially children from daily consumption of highly toxic substances.

We especially love his fifth solution “To promote environmental health on the international stage”. Enter 287 The Movie!

Here is Dr. Suzuki’s podcast: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/podcasts/DSF_podcast_23_2007-09-17.mp3

 

We’ve just launched this blog. Now everyone can join in on the conversation about our toxic body burden–and reversing this trend once in for all!