toxic sign pesticides
Flickr photo by Colin Gregory PalmerI didn't read the President's Cancer Panel report, but they did at Harrison Patch and are scaring the crap out of me with their findings that children are most vulnerable to the effects of environmental toxins and the correlation to the rise in childhood cancers.

This article used disturbing, but sadly accurate, language in calling newborns "pre-polluted" because straight out of the womb, unhealthy levels of toxins that can cause cancer and other diseases are found in babies. The study outlined dangers in rural areas as well as industrial -- so you really can't win trying to move into the fresh country air.

Reading this article makes my stomach hurt and I know I'm going to wake up in the middle of the night and start obsessing about what's in my cabinets and in my air. Our recycling bin will be full by tonight.

Most frustrating, even as Canada has outlawed BPAs and many bottle and sippy cup manufacturers have removed BPAs, our government still hasn't taken steps to ban these disease-causing toxins. Who's holding up that legislation, I wonder? Harrison Patch points a finger:

"Yet in 2008, the FDA ruled that BPA is safe even for infants. Based on selected studies, some of which were industry-sponsored, and what is alleged to have been undue influence by industry lobbyists. The FDA's safety assessment was rejected by a March 2009 consortium of international experts from academia, government, and industry as incomplete and unreliable because it failed to consider all of the scientific work relating to BPA."

We can't clean up the air, but we can clean out our cabinets and check our mattresses, cosmetics, and anything else that soaks into our skin and bloodstream. Because obviously, no one else is going to do it for us.