You might know that Susan McGrath, my girlfriend, has been writing about endocrine disrupting compounds in the environment. She has a feature coming out in Audubon this spring but she has also started writing some short news-you-can-use pieces in AARP online. Here is a link: CLICK HERE
In the meantime CLICK HERE to go to the Cosmetic Safety Database to check out the produts that you are currently using. It may change what you decide to put in your hair and on your skin.
By the way, there are safe products out there but you can’t assume that your products are safe without checking them out.
Joel Horn
Excellent article. Thanks for posting Joel. I have a question for your girlfriend. If people stop using products with these nasty chemicals, do our bodies get rid of what’s already there?
Hey Fussbucket, the Girlfriend here.
I asked Erika Shreder, sr scientist at Washington Toxics Coalition and here’s what she says:
“The answer is – it depends on the chemical. BPA and phthalates both are relatively short-lived in our bodies, so reducing exposure has a quick result. Other chemicals, such as PCBs, PBDEs, PFCs, and mercury last longer in the body. So your burden would still diminish over time if you were somehow able to stop exposure, but over a much longer period of time.
The problem with both classes is that we basically can’t stop exposure as long as these chemicals are in products. Even the women in our study who were trying very hard to avoid exposures still had the chemicals in their bodies. So we really need policymakers to step up and ensure that only safe chemicals are used in products.”
Here’s a link to Erika’s latest study:
http://www.watoxics.org/publications/earliest-exposures
Thanks. It’s good to know that if you try to minimize your exposure to BPA and phthalates (could that word be any weirder?) that your body gets rid of them. But it’s still a grim story.