3 Chemicals That Are Making You Sick
Practical ways to avoid Neurotoxicants
The chemicals and germs that we encounter daily can have disastrous effects on our health. Infectious diseases are bouncing back to new levels of virulence after decades of largely being pushed back by advances in vaccines, antibiotics and other treatments. Industrial and agricultural chemicals are often found to be harmful only after having been in widespread use for years. For example, a 2014 report conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health and published in Lancet Neurology found that a growing number of chemicals are linked to brain disorders in children. The report found new evidence about six newly recognized neurotoxicants that have negative health effects on children: manganese, chlorpyrifos and DDT (pesticides), tetrachloroethylene (a solvent), and the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (flame retardants). The report’s authors warn that many more chemicals likely remain unidentified as neurotoxicants. Of course, these chemicals were harmful all along but are only now understood to be so. How many more chemicals that we encounter daily are harming our health? To me the answer is to minimize contact with these chemicals as much as possible.
Washing our hands frequently with soap and water and avoiding touching our eyes, nose and mouth where these invisible threats can actually enter our bodies creates a create a clean zone around our bodies so that nothing gets in. This powerful “first line of defense” is one of the best ways to protect ourselves from getting sick. In fact, simple hand washing can prevent about 30% of diarrhea-related illnesses and about 20% of respiratory infections (such as colds).
Taking things one step further, there is a very simple habit you can create that will eliminate an enormous amount of pathogens, pesticides, and heavy metals from entering your living space: simply take off your shoes when you step inside your house.
The bottom of your shoes have several hundred times more bacteria than your toilet seat!
What do you do to protect yourself and your family from these hidden chemical threats?
