How Toxic Is Your World?

We live in a world that is literally awash with a concoction of untested chemicals. They are in your soaps, detergents, cleaning products, furniture, cars, trains, planes, till receipts, plastics, paints, carpets, clothes, cosmetics, drinking water and food….and this is not by any means an exhaustive list! Not only have 80,000 chemicals been released into the environment since the end of the Second World War, the majority of them have never been thoroughly tested with respect to their potential effect on human health. We are only now just beginning to see the results of this ‘experiment’ that all of us (and there are no international boundaries involved) are unwittingly involved in.

Some of these chemicals have been classified as endocrine disruptors, meaning that they interfere with the intricate balance of hormones in both humans and wildlife, potentially leading to developmental and reproductive problems. In particular there is concern over the ever increasing  number of hormone related disorders in both humans and wildlife and the results of recent scientific research that links specific endocrine disruptive chemicals to the continued rise in specific health conditions, including  adverse pregnancy outcomes, thyroid disease, hormonally driven cancers, early puberty, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The United Nations and the World Health Organisation have jointly published a report (http://tinyurl.com/mktulcx) that identifies these potential problems and calls for more research to understand the link between the chemicals in our environment and specific health conditions with the aim of reducing the ever burgeoning burden on our already strained healthcare systems.

The good news is that you can dramatically reduce the total toxic load that you are exposed to, by making sensible lifestyle choices when it comes to what you eat, drink, wear and use. I will be regularly discussing the merits of specific toxin reducing lifestyle strategies that you can implement into your lives, so that you are in the best possible position to be able to positively impact not only your own well being, but that of those around you and the planet as a whole.