Teflon Poisoning, Tip of the Pollution Iceberg
 Pre-polluted children moving toward an autoimmune nightmare

In the January 28^th issue of Human Reproduction, released online, Chunyuan Fei and her coworkers at the University of California, Los Angeles report that 'higher maternal PFOA and PFOS (chemicals released from Teflon) levels measured in early pregnancy were found to be associated with longer time to pregnancy.'   Indeed, the proportion of women defined as experiencing infertility means it took them more than a year of trying to become pregnant  These woman had higher perfluorinated pollutants in their blood compared to those who had no conception problems.

EPA Charges DuPont with Withholding Tests that Show Risk to Humans from PFOA in Products (a Teflon Perfluoriated Pollutant)
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) charges that DuPont failed to provide immediate notification of tests showing 'substantial risk of injury to human health', including birth defects and liver damage.    PFOA, a chemical found in products ranging from pots and pans to clothing and stain repellents (Scotchgard), to food packaging and cosmetics, and a component of Teflon production, poses developmental and reproductive risks to humans, according to a risk assessment from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Exposure Levels of PFOA in Children
Current PFOA exposures in children may be well above safe levels, and some children have high enough blood levels of PFOA to cause serious toxicity in laboratory studies.
Some of the effects of these chemicals:
Children's health and development problems.   Risks of liver, pancreatic, testicular and mammary gland tumors.  Altered endocrine system including decreased levels of reproductive hormones, disrupted thyroid hormone regulation.  Damaged and weakened immune system. 

PFOA affects the body's endocrine system
Already, the C8 study indicated that PFOA is associated with significant dose dependent effects on the endocrine system, including decreased levels of reproductive hormones; weakened immune response, detected as decreased levels of disease-fighting blood proteins; and increased levels of uric acid, a bodily waste linked to hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. PFOA is also associated with higher levels of cholesterol, another predictor of chronic health problems.

ABC's 20/20
A year and a half ago an airing of ABC's 20/20 with representatives from an organization called the Environmental Working Group demonstrated how a Teflon-coated pan can easily reach a temperature of 500 degrees while cooking bacon.   And at around 680 degrees the pan will begin to emit toxic gases. When inhaled, the gases may cause a reaction with symptoms that are typical of the flu, including a rise in body temperature, chills, headache, etc.

DuPont has said that the temperatures needed to release the fumes cannot be reached during normal cooking.   As the Environmental Working Group showed 20/20 in the kitchen demonstration, however, a pan can reach that temperature in just a few minutes.

'At 554 degrees Fahrenheit,' said Houlihan, 'studies show ultrafine particles start coming off the pan.   These are tiny little particles that can embed deeply into the lungs.'

The hotter the pan gets, the more chemicals are released. 'At 680, toxic gases can begin to come off of heated Teflon,' Houlihan said.   It also turns out that, DuPont has known about the 'Teflon flu' for years.

Environmental Lottery Nightmare, More of the Iceberg Exposed
Everyone, knows that your chances of winning a lottery are next to zero.   For instance, the odds of winning the New York lottery's first prize of $26 million dollars are 1 in 175 million.   Think of this, what if the odds were 1 in 100?   You would convert everything you had into cash then beg, borrow and steal every dollar you could get your hands on to buy lottery tickets for that lottery, wouldn't you?    Well there is another game of chance with the odds of 1 in 100 that I guarantee you; you do not want to win.   That is the chance of 1 in 100 that your wife or daughter could give birth to a son with Hypospadias.    And the chances improve every year; when I first heard of this defect 2 years ago the odds were 1 in 300. 

Hypospadias is a male birth defect that affects roughly 1 in 100 boys where the opening of the urethra is not at the tip of the penis.   The opening can be anywhere along the shaft, within the scrotum or even in the perineum.   The child may have ambiguous genitelia making accurate sex determination difficult and cause serious psychological problems later.   Severe hypospadias can be associated with a number of other problems, including undecided testis, enlarged prostate, stone formation and infertility.    Hypospadias is linked to exposure during the first trimester of pregnancy to certain environmental toxicants, mainly those that mimic hormones called Phthalates.   These chemicals are used in a wide variety of products including plastics, detergents and personal care products, such as deodorants, fragrances, nail polish and hairspray. These chemicals of course affect hormones.

In 2005, researchers from the Environmental Working Group found something very frightening: a cocktail of 287 pollutants ' PFOA's, pesticides, dioxins, flame retardants -- in the fetal-cord blood of newborn infants from around the country.

Children Pre-polluted
It is morally wrong that kids are born pre-polluted with hundreds of toxic chemicals.   It is the worst kind of violation of human rights, I know it, and you know it.   Shouldn't Congress know it??    We think so.   (At end of this article find a website that will send your message to Congress letting them know how you feel)

Autoimmune Soup Anyone
Scientific arrogance has led us down the wrong path we better stop and take a close look at what is happening.   This month 150 new chemicals (that is 7 each day) will be added to the 85,000 which are a major cause of disease.   They will be added to industry with no oversight control at all, zero.   Did you think that there was a United States Government watch dog system keeping you and your family safe from chemical harm, sorry it's a paper tiger.   The U.S. government has no adequate chemical regulation policy, therefore companies are allowed to manufacture and use chemicals without ever establishing their safety.

Because of the many chemicals in farming and industry, the methods science uses for detecting chemicals in our environment have improved.   There is increased pressure and interest by the public and their representative groups to understand the dangers these types of toxic, polluting chemicals pose.    In response, more scientists and toxicologists are identifying what are called 'emerging chemicals of concern,' or ECCs.   Of the thousands of chemicals in use about 400 resist breaking down in the environment and are known to accumulate in fish and wildlife.   When a chemical accumulates in fish and wild life, that is the clue that it will accumulate in us as well.   Researchers estimate that of this 400, only 4 percent are routinely analyzed and about 75 percent have not been studied.   Emerging Chemicals of Concern, www.dtsc.ca.gov

The Autoimmune Disease Epidemic
What disease born of toxicity and pollution can be triggered just by taking aspirin or any medication, or by starting a new exercise routine, stretching unused muscles, even too much stress, a car accident or giving birth?   Latest research says the answer is an autoimmune disease and there are plenty of them to go around.   There are approximately 80 to 100 autoimmune diseases with another 40 still waiting for a name.   It's like popcorn popping up faster as it heats till you can hardly keep up with all of them and there are some real monsters in this popcorn.   For those who have one, get ready because many people with an autoimmune disease generally get another.   Statistically about 25 percent of patients with autoimmune diseases have a tendency to develop additional autoimmune disorders

Women, Chemical Endocrine Disruptors and Autoimmune Diseases
Recent studies have shown that some of these chemicals can act as endocrine disruptors, disrupting normal hormone function.   These dangerous chemicals can produce effects at parts per billion or parts per trillion levels.  Also, effects of some ECCs can be transgenerational.   Transgenerational means when animals are exposed in utero, effects are transmitted not only to the offspring, but are inherited for many generations thereafter, from exposures to the grandmother or the great-grandmother animal.  In addition, scientists are worried about the effects from exposures to mixtures of these ECCs and/or other chemicals.

It is possible that endocrine disruptors that mimic estrogenic activity may be involved in the increased incidence of autoimmune diseases such as SLE (Ahmed, 2000).   It has been widely noted that females have stronger immune capabilities (particularly B-cell'mediated immunity) than males, as evidenced by their better immune responses to a variety of self-antigens and non-self-antigens. This phenomenon of gender-based immune capability is largely attributed to the effects of sex hormones (Ahmed, Penhale, and Talal, 1985; Grossman, 1984; Homo-Delarche et al., 1991).  

Etiologic factor in the development of autoimmune diseases. ...
toxsci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/81/1/139

Here is what this basically means; that women because of their stronger immune capabilities are more sensitive to chemical endocrine disruptors and so develop autoimmune diseases more easily then men.   For reasons we do not understand, about 75 percent of autoimmune diseases occur in women, most frequently during the childbearing years.  Hormones are thought to play a role, because some autoimmune illnesses occur more frequently after menopause, others suddenly improve during pregnancy, with flare-ups occurring after delivery, while still others will get worse during pregnancy.

From the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Michigan National Bank Building, 15475 Granot Ave, Detroit, MI 48205, (313) 371-8600.

Men, Chemical Endocrine Disruptors and Autoimmune Diseases
Autoimmune diseases that develop in men tend to be more severe.   Women with
multiple sclerosis begin to show symptoms earlier than do men with the disease.   At the same time, the disease seems to progress faster in men than in women.   Women tend to develop lupus during their childbearing years while men are affected much later in life.

A study by Dr. Michelle Petri from Johns Hopkins University tried to address the differences in men and women lupus patients by comparing the clinical and laboratory features of a group of 41 males and 545 females.   She found that men had an increased frequency of seizures, immune-mediated anemia, and lupus anticoagulant (which may lead to clotting problems), but a lower frequency of Sjogren's disease.   Her study suggests that men may have more severe disease than women.

Medical drug-induced lupus erythematosus (DILE) tends to occur more frequently in men illustrating the role of environmental triggers in the development of lupus.   DILE is commonly associated with hydralazine, procainamide, and isoniazid, and is more common in men because the disorders for which some of these medications are used (e.g., high blood pressure, irregular heart rhythms) are diagnosed more often in men.

Again as with women, hormones play a role in the disease and so chemicals that mimic hormones the endocrine disruptors could be a factor.   Some studies have noted lower levels of a specific androgen, testosterone, in some men with lupus.   Men with lupus, however, are in no way less masculine than men without lupus, and sexual activity, potency, and fertility in men with lupus does not differ from men without lupus.

Why is there an Autoimmune Epidemic?
How could there not be an autoimmune epidemic?   That question makes more sense.   We are breaking every natural law and dirtying up our own nest as we go.   We think we can do anything to this planet and ourselves with no repercussions, no dept to be paid.   I remember when I was a little boy in the early 1950's it was announced on TV that it is going to be a throw away world with the new plastics coming out.   Well, we have just about thrown the world away.    

You only have to look around you to see the obvious human problems.   America is now the fattest country in the world with 75% of its people fat and 20% of them obese.   We eat for entertainment with barely a thought about what happens after we eat that meal.   I read in the news yesterday that the military is having a difficult time finding anyone physically qualified because so many applicants are too overweight.   There is no genetic mystery as to why there is an autoimmune epidemic and everyone is fat.   We are swimming in chemical pollution and eating trash; that is the answer no one wants to look at.   We better clean up ourselves and the environment pretty quick before Mother Nature swats us like a fly.   

Some Simple Naturopathic Answers to Get Started on the Human Problem
More raw produce every day; I am talking 70% of your diet or more.  
Start every morning with a fruit smoothie; see my article 'Make this Energy Packed, Healing Fruit Smoothie your Everyday Morning Drink'.

Cleanse and detox 4 times a year with the change of the seasons, see my article 'Seasonal Cleansing and Detoxing' for instructions 

Water, if you are sick, take your body weight divide by 2, drink that many ounces of distilled water each day.   Distilled water acts as a vacuum drawing toxins as it moves through your body.

If you are overweight read my article 'Are You Gaining Weight Because of Nutritional Debt?'

Do you exercise at least 3 times per week? The lymph system plays a large part in our total immune system.   There are 45 pints of lymph (3 times more than blood) that move throughout the body.   Breathing and movement are two ways that lymph is moved, as it does not have a heart.   For breathing, go to my site; go to 'Programs' then to Yoga.   Study this breath, 'Kapalabhati' is an incredibly energizing breath it will strengthen your lungs relax your heart and nervous system and oxygenate every cell of your brain and body.  

Through these simple techniques you can move away from the sick life style that is making everyone fat and sick.   They will give your body the ability to start. 

Summation

Before poison air sensing equipment was developed birds were used to alert humans to the presence of toxic poisonous air.   This very sad story has something to say to everyone.

In December 2002 a family lost more than 55 birds and 2 dogs after a defective nonstick pan on their stove overheated when the water burned off.   'As I walked into the kitchen, I saw the pan that was smoldering. The pan had been full of water and the burner turned off, but a short circuit had turned it on even though the handle/ indicator said it was off. I then noticed a sun conure flying by dropping to the ground, also, immediately dead.'

'The next few hours are the hardest I will probably ever go through. One by one the birds were dying. Agonizing, screaming... we opened up everything in the house. It was snowing and freezing. I placed fans everywhere to exhaust the fumes. (I lost 2 Boston terrier puppies from pneumonia 2 days later)... We did our best to hold each and every one of the macaws as they were dying, I didn't want them to be alone in their pain. In my mind will always be etched my husband  holding Caleb, the Camelot Macaw, and Max, a Nanday tucked under his shirt, as I went down the steps to pull DeeDee, a 50+ Blue and Gold and hold her as she was screeching her last breaths away.... My husband sounded so vulnerable as he screamed out, 'Oh God, Not DeeDee.'

I am sorry but I wanted to shock and create some discomfort for you so you will understand how bad things are; not to make you paranoid, just educated and a little angry.   When enough people are educated and feeling a little angry, things will change very quickly.   Those people who place more value on money than they do on the welfare of human beings will become frightened, and when they do, they will change things immediately; you are more powerful then you think.   This happened in England a few years back regarding genetically modified products and within one week all manufacturers changed out of fear.

Pandora

Finally she could stand it no longer. One day when everyone was out she crept up to the box, took the huge key, fitted it carefully into the lock and turned it.   She lifted the lid to peep in but before she realized it the room was filled with terrible things: disease, despair, malice, greed, old age, death, hatred, violence, cruelty and war.   She slammed the lid down and turned the key again...keeping only the spirit of hope inside.

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Babies are born pre-polluted with 300 industrial chemicals in their bodies when they ... Previous post: Toxic Tub - Are Your Children Bathing in Chemicals? ...
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