Rocket Fuel in Drinking Water...Biocides in the Soil!
Well, unless you are from a different planet (I sometimes feel that I am, but back to the topic at hand) you most likely are aware of a Global Movement to help the environment. For years we have trashed it...thrown it out like a bad prom dress, but guess what? That taffeta number is showing up again all over the place! And worse than leg warmers or stretch pants! Okay, so I'm speaking figuratively, but the truth is that there are so many toxins out there today...toxins that are affecting your health, your children's health, and the heath of future generations. It's time to stop polluting our world and to stop others from doing it too! (I find that it is harder to stop the folks who are knowingly trashing our planet, because greed and money seem to always go hand in hand, don't they?). I will step down off of my soap box to expand a bit...
You are probably pretty well versed on the issue with plastics (#s 1, 2, 4, & 5 are the safest; avoid purchasing products with any other label), hormones in dairy and meat/poultry, and global warming, but what about rocket fuel in your water and biocides in your soil?
Perchlorate is an oxidizer in rocket fuel. It occurs naturally in the environment, but is also manufactured for things like rocket fuel, fireworks, and the airbags in your car. And while "they" often tell us there is a quantity of any chemical/toxin that "poses no threat" to humans, I rarely believe it. Perchlorate has been found in water sources near areas that manufacture it, but also in other areas.
Why get on the band wagon of keeping water sources clean? Because perchlorate is absorbed by your thyroid. A proper functioning thyroid gland is necessary for healthy development in children. If you still have a baby on infant formula, you may want to think twice about ignoring the toxins your baby is ingesting. Perchlorate has been found in infant formula, and then when you mix it with water that also contains perchlorate...now you've got "unsafe" levels of it in your baby's body. Read more about it at the Environmental Working Group and judge for yourself.
Biocides are a funny thing. I recently learned about them when my son's doctor and I were exploring what antibiotic might work for him. Nothing touches my child's body or is ingested by him unless I know what is in it. For a boy with two auto-immune disorders, we don't take foreign substances lightly...and by foreign, I don't mean from another country! (Although, that is an issue too for medicines....generic medicines are often made in China. Did you know that? Does that make you wonder what's in them?)
Anyhow, biocides are chemicals designed to kill a living organism, usually in a selective way. For example, ever use RoundUp for your weeds? That is a biocide. Chlorine? Another biocide...think about where you might find that...your local swimming pool or even your drinking water. Good stuff, yum! In all seriousness, I do not take these chemicals lightly.
So why are biocides on my mind? First, because of the pesticides and herbicides we use to sterilize our lawns and gardens. (We shouldn't be using them, by the way. Mother Nature has a wonderful process of selecting the fittest for survival...she doesn't need us destroying all the important microbes, insects, and such that are necessary for a healthy food web). Second, because biocides are used in antibiotics, which you might need to take one day. And third, because as I have found with most all chemicals created by man, there always seems to be A DARK SIDE - a side that negatively affects all of us, whether we are aware of it or not.
Now, I am not a scientist nor an expert on biocides, but it seems to me that we can reduce our use of them in many areas of our life so that the ones that are absolutely necessary will actually work and that scientists don't have to keep inventing new ones because pathogens are outsmarting the old biocides and no longer working. Like antibiotics and hand cleaners, we can go overboard and use something too much. Clearly.
This is a new topic for me, so I will continue to explore it, because as a parent and an educator, I am very, very concerned about the health and well-being of my child and the children with whom I work. They deserve better than what we have been giving them...they deserve a healthy, clean planet...and a future.
You are probably pretty well versed on the issue with plastics (#s 1, 2, 4, & 5 are the safest; avoid purchasing products with any other label), hormones in dairy and meat/poultry, and global warming, but what about rocket fuel in your water and biocides in your soil?
Perchlorate is an oxidizer in rocket fuel. It occurs naturally in the environment, but is also manufactured for things like rocket fuel, fireworks, and the airbags in your car. And while "they" often tell us there is a quantity of any chemical/toxin that "poses no threat" to humans, I rarely believe it. Perchlorate has been found in water sources near areas that manufacture it, but also in other areas.
Why get on the band wagon of keeping water sources clean? Because perchlorate is absorbed by your thyroid. A proper functioning thyroid gland is necessary for healthy development in children. If you still have a baby on infant formula, you may want to think twice about ignoring the toxins your baby is ingesting. Perchlorate has been found in infant formula, and then when you mix it with water that also contains perchlorate...now you've got "unsafe" levels of it in your baby's body. Read more about it at the Environmental Working Group and judge for yourself.
Biocides are a funny thing. I recently learned about them when my son's doctor and I were exploring what antibiotic might work for him. Nothing touches my child's body or is ingested by him unless I know what is in it. For a boy with two auto-immune disorders, we don't take foreign substances lightly...and by foreign, I don't mean from another country! (Although, that is an issue too for medicines....generic medicines are often made in China. Did you know that? Does that make you wonder what's in them?)
Anyhow, biocides are chemicals designed to kill a living organism, usually in a selective way. For example, ever use RoundUp for your weeds? That is a biocide. Chlorine? Another biocide...think about where you might find that...your local swimming pool or even your drinking water. Good stuff, yum! In all seriousness, I do not take these chemicals lightly.
So why are biocides on my mind? First, because of the pesticides and herbicides we use to sterilize our lawns and gardens. (We shouldn't be using them, by the way. Mother Nature has a wonderful process of selecting the fittest for survival...she doesn't need us destroying all the important microbes, insects, and such that are necessary for a healthy food web). Second, because biocides are used in antibiotics, which you might need to take one day. And third, because as I have found with most all chemicals created by man, there always seems to be A DARK SIDE - a side that negatively affects all of us, whether we are aware of it or not.
Now, I am not a scientist nor an expert on biocides, but it seems to me that we can reduce our use of them in many areas of our life so that the ones that are absolutely necessary will actually work and that scientists don't have to keep inventing new ones because pathogens are outsmarting the old biocides and no longer working. Like antibiotics and hand cleaners, we can go overboard and use something too much. Clearly.
This is a new topic for me, so I will continue to explore it, because as a parent and an educator, I am very, very concerned about the health and well-being of my child and the children with whom I work. They deserve better than what we have been giving them...they deserve a healthy, clean planet...and a future.
Labels: biocides, chlorine, herbicides, perchlorate, pesticides
posted by The Well-Rounded Child at
11:10 PM
2 Comments:
This is only mildly related, but what are our rights when neighbors are getting their houses sprayed professionally by a pesticide company once a month? I asked the man spraying not to spray their side of the yard that joins with ours, but it's not always the same person and I can't be sure to always see him when he comes. I know I could talk to them but sometimes I get tongue tied because I get so frustrated with people. How can they not know what they are doing is not good? Even the man who came to get rid of the rats around our house (midtown is so lovely) had to be told every single time that I didn't want him to spray for ants/termites etc. I just wanted the little rat trap. That's it. Every single time I had to again ask him not to spray. What a pain. Know of any companies who do good in this regard? By the way, I asked the man spraying why he wasn't wearing a mask. He said he never wears a mask. Unbelievable.
I don't know...I know there is a group here in Sacto that is trying to get the City to stop treating public places with herbicides and pesticides. I believe Councilman Rob Fong attends their meetings....I can't remember what the name of the group is. They would be a great one to join! I'll have to think about it for awhile.
I had a similar experience recently with the "pest" guy and our neighbors. He was spraying the section adjoining our yards and the wind was blowing. Ugg.
I don't know of a good pest company...they all have the same line of thinking and don't believe that what they use is dangerous or bad for the environment.
I used to use a wonderful company called State of the Earth. They sprayed microbes onto the soil to increase the health of the soil-food web. It was all natural, organic, amazing stuff! We have tons of earthworms now that we never used to have, and the soil isn't rock solid anymore. So sad that they went out of business...they were before their time.
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