Another little push for eating organic

I was happy to see Nicholas Kristof's appearance on the Colbert Report last night and the interest in his cause that it hopefully will generate. He was discussing endocrine disruptors - the estrogens that we are exposed to constantly from things like pesticides, plastic softening chemicals, and even residual hormones from medications and birth control pills that are flushed out of our bodies with our urine and then end up in our drinking water again after it is treated. Basically these estrogens are having a very negative effect on our bodies, the most concerning of which involves genital deformation that can make men sterile and is becoming increasingly and worryingly common. You can read more here and here if you're super interested.

In 2002 I watched a video about this in my environmental science class. We were discussing all of the stuff that is just making national news now - how the bulk of the amphibian population in the U.S. is affected - many frogs and other animals like alligators have severe genital deformations from the amount of pesticides and chemical waste in the swamps they live in. We discussed how this was directly related to the rising number of transgendered and sterile humans. This has been discussed seriously in the scientific community since at least 1996, but we still have absolutely no regulations from the EPA on any single one of the chemicals that are causing these problems. The EPA is trying to study and regulate these chemicals, but they have little support right now. I don't understand why people don't listen to or care about this kind of thing, but if you can't get into the bigger picture, at least do what you can to take care of yourself - every little bit counts.

Buy organic products whenever you can. Whenever you can afford to try to switch over the plastic food containers you have to stainless, glass, or at least phtalate free plastic. Don't take medications that you don't actually need - ask your doctor about how necessary certain prescriptions really are, doctors work with the pharmaceutical companies to sell more drugs, and they contribute many more problems than just disrupting your endocrine system when they show up again in your drinking water. Don't use pesticides in your yard - there are plenty of organic ways to garden and care for your lawn that are often better than the non-organic ones. And most importantly - learn about and understand what you are buying, whether you are eating it, sleeping on it, wearing it or whatever. Ignorance is not bliss.

xoxo

me