TIME's "The Perils of Plastic"

After a get away to Florida to visit friends and family for almost 2 weeks - I am on my way home (can you hear my sigh of relief?). I arrived at the airport early so I browsed the stores and my eye caught Steve Jobs staring at me from the cover of TIME Magazine and the words "Inside Steve's Pad" (I'm dying to try the iPad).


When I was trying to decide if it was worthy of buying, I noticed across the top "Environmental Special: The Perils of Plastic". Yup, I had to buy it...



Our government is catching on, finally, after a recent biomonitoring survey by the CDC. The survey found traces of 212 environmental chemicals in Americans, including toxic ones too many to list here as I'm typing this entry on my iPhone, on the plane (will not publish till we land and I can turn off airplane mode).

I'm thrilled to see this article in TIME. I know some people are rolling their eyes about this controversal topic... But to me, it all makes sense and a bunch of nay-sayers are starting to back pedal, including the FDA. Wonder why obesity, diabetes, autism, AD/HD, and auto-immune disorders are on the rise? They could be linked to plastics, specifically BPA (which is found in more than just your water bottles, try soda cans and canned foods) and phthalates (in cosmetics to IV bags). The scary part is that babies are already born with chemicals in their systems and then their bodies act like sponges mainly because they eat and drink more relative to their body weight.

I don't believe in the methodology that, "Chemicals are deemed safe until the EPA can prove that they are dangerous". Especially since the EPA has limited information from industry and like everything else, has limited funds and a bunch of red tape which makes the process take years.

I could go on and on about this... If you are interested in reading this article, email me (click envelope on the right side of this page) and I will email it to you once I scan it. Also, I have a bunch of other resources I've collected over the past couple of years that I could share, like a guide to the numbered plastics (what's in them, which are safest, etc.).

Check it out, but really I think it's only a matter of time until it's in front of everyone's faces. America seems to finally be catching on! The sad part is that the government, the way the regulation system works, fails to protect us. From the article, it sounds like proposals for regulation reform are coming soon. However, implementing change will take years. Reading this at least makes me think that maybe all these petitions I'm signing and letters to legislation are being read...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone