Everyday companies dump tons of pollution into our oceans. You may think, as I used to, “The oceans are so large, I’m sure it’s so diluted that it doesn’t make THAT big a difference.” I was wrong. Did you know that the Polar Bear is suffering from the contamination in our oceans? Even though he’s way out in the middle of nowhere, few if any factories, few if any cars, scientists tell us that polar bears are one of the animals suffering the most due to pollution. And it’s because of his diet of ocean fish, who are swimming around in toxic waters.
Chemicals like PCBs don’t just dilute and go away:
“PCB’s have been used since 1929 as insulating fluids in transformers and capacitors, as hydraulic oils, lubricants, softeners, heat exchange fluids, additives in plastics, casting oils etc.,and are still in use today. Most of the PCB’s were produced during the period 1950 to 1983. Total world production has been estimated to be more than 1 million metric tonnes.
PCB’s were first detected in environmental samples in 1966 (S.Jensen,1966). Subsequent research has shown PCB’s to be ubiquitously present, both in human beings and the environment. This is due to their persistence in the environment, their ability to be distributed over large distances (even to areas where they have never been produced or used), their potential for bioaccumulation in organisms and biomagnification in the foodchain.Their harmful effects to man and the environment are well documented in a number of reviews (WHO,1976; IARC,1978; OECD,1982; Lorenz & Neumeier,1983; Kimbrough,1987; IARC,1987; DFG,1988; ATSDR,1989;WHO,1989; WHO,1993; ATSDR,1996;).” http://www.chem.unep.ch/pops/POPs_Inc/proceedings/slovenia/neumeier2.html
How my lunch inspired this post
Since my daughter’s diagnosis of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), we have made numerous changes in our diets for the better. Because of the training I am now receiving through Shaklee, I know there’s mercury in tuna, but I had a craving so I bought one pack while grocery shopping yesterday, and as a single mom, it’s a budget friendly item. Today in a pinch for a quick meal, wanting a quick source of protein (I was out of my protein shakes –EGAD!), I reached for the tuna.
So, I’m looking at the packaging and it says in a red heart on the top right, “Natural Source of Omega-3”. Well this is true, but it’s also an unnatural source of MERCURY. Tuna are swimming around in these polluted oceans as well. I have now permanently lost my taste for tuna, until I can find out how to get it without the toxins – how about you?
So here’s my soapbox: People are TRYING TO MAKE GOOD CHOICES FOR THEIR HEALTH, but lack on information makes them vulnerable. In fact, children are especially at risk for mercury poisoning from eating tuna. I guess that could be more frightening if it was something more kids were begging for, like macaroni n’ cheese. The fact remains, however, that a mother who is just learning that nutrition can make a big difference in her child’s health might be encouraging him / her to eat tuna, thinking it’s full of Omega-3s and better for him / her than baloney. Now baloney has it’s own issues, that’s a story for another post. My point is that the mothers is trying to give her child what advertising has told her is a good source of Omega-3s, but advertising left out the mercury and PCB contamination. Moms, you cannot believe the adveritising you see on TV!! It’s usually only half truths.
So What About The Fish Oil You’re Taking For Your Heart or Arthritis?
The same reason the polar bear is suffering, the same reason your tuna is contaminated, is the same reason you should be concerned about what brand of fish oil you consume. In fact, a handful of companies have been sued because of the contamination of the fish oil they were selling the unassuming public. Again, people trying to make good decisions and good choices about what they put in their bodies, trying to do things the natural way, but because they only know half the story, they end of doing as much harm as good. This makes me CRAZY!
This is also one of the reasons I’m so passionate about Shaklee. Their distillation process takes longer and costs more, but when they’re through, they have pharmaceutical grade fish oil, with no lead, mercury, arsenic, or PCBs in it – GUARANTEED. In fact, as far as I know as a lay person, it’s the only company that can say that AND back it up with scientific documentation to prove it. Shaklee’s standards are higher than the FDA’s, which I have mentioned in other articles.
So, A Few Extra Chemicals Won’t Hurt Me That Much Will It?
As a culture, as a nation, we are swimming in a cess pool of toxins and don’t even know it. In fact, most people I know are not only oblivious to it, but apathetic about it. To be honest, until every member of my own family was diagnosed with life-changing and life-threatening illnesses, I was the same way. Recently, I read the following paragraph in a book entitled The Toxic Sandbox, by Libby McDonald, who became interested in all this information herself when her son was diagnosed with lead poisoning:
“In 2004 the Red Cross decided to take a look at umbilical cord blood and figure out what chemicals were pumped across the placenta to our children in the womb, the most vulnerable time of their development. By analyzing the cord blood of ten newborns, the researchers learned that the babies in utero had an average of two hundred industrial chemicals and pollutants running through their veins. In total 287 toxins were identified in the ten babies tested, pollutants that are found in pesticides, stain repellents, flame retardents, waste from coal-burning power plants, gasoline and garbage. Of these chemicals 180 are known to cause cancer, 217 are poisonous to the brain and nervous system, and 208 have been linked to birth defects in animal studies.”
If a baby, supposedly and hopefully safe in it’s mother’s womb has been exposed to this many toxins, how about the rest of us? I can’t remember where I read this, so remember you’re reading an article by a lay person and concerned mother, but I read if we were only exposed to one toxic chemical at a time, that’s really not so bad, as our bodies have been so amazingly designed by God, we can handle one relatively okay. However, by adding just ONE MORE TOXIN to the mix in our environment, the negative effects are multiplied exponentially. It makes me think of a friend of mine who was cleaning her bathroom. As long as she was using only one type of cleaner at the time and had the fan on or a window open, she might have difficulty breathing, but in a few moments seemed to recover. The minute she used a 2nd cleaning product containing bleach, and the chemicals from the two products combined, she was breathing a toxic gas that sent her to the emergency room. 90% of the carcinogenic chemicals we are exposing our families to everyday are in our cleaning baskets. (You might want to check out Shaklee’s non-toxic cleaners, but again, that’s a story for another post.)
Still not alarmed yet?
Well, consider this. Today’s generation of children are expected to live a lifespan 17 YEARS shorter than their parents, and researchers believe it has everything to do with their diets. See an earlier article I wrote on this recently. Our children are suffering from ADD/ADHD, Autism, Type 2 Diabetes, Asthma and Cancer at alarming rates. Just because you don’t realize the more immediate effects of these toxins on your body as they occur, you need to know that over time, the long-term exposure to toxins in our environment has a devastating effect on our long-term health, and even shortens lives.
Will you remain oblivious or apathetic after reading this? Determine to make one small change in your diet every few weeks. Over time, these small changes for the better will have very big results, even disease-preventing results. Need a suggestion as to where to start? Eliminate soda from your diet, both regular and diet sodas. Drink water instead! Don’t think that I don’t know that you just gasped in amazement! It took me and my daughter six months to stop craving the stuff, but once we broke our addiction to it, we have never looked back. You can do it!
I will write another article soon about detoxification. Your liver is filtering much of this stuff for you, and there are ways to help clean your liver and eliminate some of these toxins from your system. Keep in mind that when your body doesn’t know what to do with a toxin, it will stuff it in a fat cell. More to come!
Stay tuned.
Healthy By Design 
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