Endocrine Disruptors

[peaches]

 

http://www.greenfacts.org/en/endocrine-dis...-disruptors.htm

 

http://www.womentowomen.com/detoxification...disruptors.aspx

 

The most common endocrine disruptor chemicals

 

While we realize that the alphabet-and-number soup of all these chemicals can be quite confusing, even for those of us with a science background, we thought we would list some of the major offenders. Please feel free to skip this section if you prefer not to dwell on the negative. We include it because we believe information is power.

 

* Bisphenol?A: A synthetic substance widely used to make polycarbonated plastics found in food and drink containers, the lining of tin cans, toys, baby bottles, dental sealants, flame retardants, and plastic wraps. This chemical easily leaches out into food and water.

 

* Phthalates: Synthetic substances added to plastics to make them softer, more flexible and resilient. They also extend staying power. They are found in IV tubing, vinyl flooring, glues, inks, pesticides, detergents, plastic bags, food packaging, children?s toys, shower curtains, soaps, shampoos, perfumes, hair spray and nail polish. For more information, please refer to our article on holistic skincare.

 

* Parabens: Compounds used as preservatives in thousands of cosmetic, food and pharmaceutical products.

 

* PBDE?s (polybrominated diphenyl ethers): Found in flame retardants used on furniture, curtains, mattresses, carpets, television and computer castings. Categorized as a persistent organic pollutant (POP), this substance is stored in animal fats and thus found in dairy products, meat, fish, and human breast milk, and has been banned in several countries. It has also been detected in house dust.

 

* PCB?s (polychlorinated biphenyls): Another group of highly toxic synthetic chemical compounds found on the list of POP?s, once used widely as insulation fluid in electrical transformers, lubricating oil in pipelines, and components of plastics and mixed with adhesives, paper, inks, paints and dyes. Since 1976 PCB?s have been banned in new products, but they are highly stable compounds that degrade very slowly, and these chemicals still persist.

 

* Dioxin: Dioxin is a general name applied to a group of hundreds of chemicals that are highly persistent in the environment. The most toxic compound is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, or TCDD. Dioxin is formed as an unintentional by-product of many industrial processes involving chlorine such as waste incineration, chemical and pesticide manufacturing, and pulp and paper bleaching. Small molecules are diffused into the atmosphere, then land on soil, where they are eaten by soil microbes. From there they pass up the food chain into meat, fish, and dairy products and breast milk. We absorb 90% of the dioxin in our bodies through food sources, though you won?t find it listed on any label. Levels have been decreasing since the 1990?s with environmental measures, but it is still probably the most prevalent toxic chemical in our environment.

 

* Pesticides and herbicides: In particular, atrazine, simazine, and heptachlor and other organophosphates and organochlorines have been found to be toxic to the nervous system and to show damaging reproductive (e.g., decreasing sperm motility) and developmental effects.

 

* Heavy metals: Cadmium and arsenic are two heavy metals in widespread use whose endocrine disrupting mechanisms of action have been described. Mercury and lead are also implicated, and more studies are underway on heavy metals.

 

 

Very interesting.

[fatnsassy]

I did a lot of research on toxins a few years ago. On a daily basis, we deal with over 150 chemicals that our grandparents were never exposed to. It's everywhere around us! Our homes are filled with chemicals! Carpet, vinyl flooring, and varnish on wood flooring or cabinets/furniture.... they all have and release chemicals.

 

I decided which chemicals I thought I could reasonably try to eliminate from my every day use. The others, I just have to live with. I think the only way to get away from them is to live in a house with dirt floors or at least natural wood with no finish. All hand made, along with hand made clothes made with home spun cotton that's not dyed or chemically treated in any way. No fabric softener, only home made detergent (it still involves chemicals), no body wash or shampoo that smells good. We need to eat foods only grown in our gardens, and eat meat that we raise to make sure there are no steroids in it! That also means milking our own cows and having our own chickens. The list goes on and on. Our modern world that makes everything so nice for us is also poisoning us. I don't see where we have much choice in the matter. On some things, we do, but not everything is feasible for everyone.

 

I agree, I think the chemicals have caused a lot of the disease and conditions we see today. Some of us are more sensitive to these chemicals than others.

[peaches]

I did a lot of research on toxins a few years ago. On a daily basis, we deal with over 150 chemicals that our grandparents were never exposed to. It's everywhere around us! Our homes are filled with chemicals! Carpet, vinyl flooring, and varnish on wood flooring or cabinets/furniture.... they all have and release chemicals.

 

I decided which chemicals I thought I could reasonably try to eliminate from my every day use. The others, I just have to live with. I think the only way to get away from them is to live in a house with dirt floors or at least natural wood with no finish. All hand made, along with hand made clothes made with home spun cotton that's not dyed or chemically treated in any way. No fabric softener, only home made detergent (it still involves chemicals), no body wash or shampoo that smells good. We need to eat foods only grown in our gardens, and eat meat that we raise to make sure there are no steroids in it! That also means milking our own cows and having our own chickens. The list goes on and on. Our modern world that makes everything so nice for us is also poisoning us. I don't see where we have much choice in the matter. On some things, we do, but not everything is feasible for everyone.

 

I agree, I think the chemicals have caused a lot of the disease and conditions we see today. Some of us are more sensitive to these chemicals than others.

 

Come on Gracie, walking on dirt floors and milking cows sounds fun

 

You would think that our ever changing environment would concern endocrinologist enough to be open to ALL possibilities!

[OregonChick]

Several of these chemicals were band by the European Union. I wish the USA would do the same for us.

 

I went on paraban-free-craze a few years ago. There are many products out there that say "no parabans". sometimes you can make your own products or switch to natural ingredients (switch to coconut oil for lotion).