Slow death by rubber duck

[Pat Garaffa]

More profits at the expense of our health. 

I just watched an interview with a canadian activist.  He did the same experiment as the "Super Size Me" guy but he did it with plastic products instead of McDonalds food.  And just like that experiment, you can look at these findings and make your own choices. 

He drank from baby bottles, sippy cups and used plastic in the microwave among other things.   He monitored BPA levels in his blood and urine and the results were a bit scary.  

Of course, the super-duper plastic and chemical conglomerates attacked his findings.   Even the Wall Street Journal, in defense of these companies, jumped on board and blasted him.   Unfortunetely, his blood tests didn't lie so you be the judge.

It's worthy of a read.  

http://slowdeathbyrubberduck.com/

[Pat Garaffa]

Wall St. Journal Attacks on Slow Death by Rubber Duck Misguided
Authors offer debate challenge

The Wall St. Journal attacked parents' concerns over toxic chemicals in consumer products in a Saturday, January 30, lead editorial. Dismissing studies about the dangers of the hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in products such as baby bottles, the Journal editors said "In their book 'Slow Death by Rubber Duck,' Canadian activists Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie chronicle how they used the media to terrify soccer moms who then petitioned the government to ban BPA."

Authors Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie issued the following response Sunday:

"The Wall St. Journal insults the intelligence of concerned parents and scientists who know it is dangerous for children's health to use products such as baby bottles and sippy cups made from plastic containing BPA. Hundreds of recent studies have linked BPA to human ailments as varied as prostate and breast cancer and heart disease. In our tests, documented in the book, our BPA levels rose 7.5 times over 48 hours after eating and drinking from microwaveable BPA plastic containers. The chemical reached levels in our urine that many recent studies have found to have a biological effect. And infants, who are often exposed to BPA leaching from both the plastic in their baby bottles and the lining of infant formula cans, have far greater exposure to chemicals relative to their body weight and nutritional intake.

The Wall St. Journal is putting powerful vested interests above children's safety on toxic chemical issues. Its editorial rejects the basic purpose of scientific research saying 'Environmentalists hope that if researchers run more tests, they'll come up with more links...Thus, they ask for tests unto eternity.' In fact, it was the lack of studies that prompted us to use ourselves as lab rats. Our families would have certainly preferred it if studies had been conducted in modern laboratories, instead of us pioneering them in our homes.

 

We welcome the opportunity for dialogue and invite the Wall St. Journal editors and any of their friends in the chemical industry to have an honest on-air discussion about the safety of these chemicals for our children. We will even offer them a chair on stage throughout our book tour.

 

We agree, however, with the Wall St. Journal's comment that 'BPA is everywhere in our lives'. It was this frightening fact which inspired us to write the book."

 

[Thom_Worman]

I was totally expecting this to go in a totally different direction, like this

HD PREMIERE! The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon by Richard Gale	DQ

Warning: Graphic Language and Scenes.

[Joe Parente]

We're conducting numerous experiments on human health with all these chemicals, Pat. Here's just one of BPA's documented effects on people:
Bisphenol A - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Reproductive system and sexual behavior research

A series of studies made in 2009 found:

    * Mouse ovary anomalies from exposition as low as 1 µg/kg, concluded that BPA exposure causes long-term adverse reproductive and carcinogenic effects if exposure occurs during prenatal critical periods of differentiation.[67]
    * Neonatal exposure of as low as 50 µg/kg disrupts ovarian development in mice.[68][69][70]
    * Neonatal BPA exposition of as low as 50 µg/kg permanently alters the hypothalamic estrogen-dependent mechanisms that govern sexual behavior in the adult female rat.[71]
    * Prenatal exposure to BPA at levels of (10 μg/kg/day) affects behavioral sexual differentiation in male monkeys.[72]
    * In placental JEG3 cells in vitro BPA may reduce estrogen synthesis.[73]
    * BPA exposure disrupted the blood-testis barrier when administered to immature, but not to adult, rats.[74]
    * Exposure to BPA in the workplace could produce sexual dysfunction in male adult humans.[75]

A 2010 study with mice concluded that BPA exposure in utero leads to permanent epigenetic alterations in sensitivity to estrogen.[76]

But don't worry. There will be less and less of this stuff around in the future. It's not surprisingly made from oil.

[Pat Garaffa]

The guy was also talking about frying pans.  He said that stainless steel and cast iron were ok.  He talked about the non-stick surfaces and said if you put an empty pan on the stove, and heat it on high, there are enough fumes to kill a parakeet in the same room. 

The "canary in a coal mine" theory proves true.  The fumes are there and we just don't smell them.  But if it's enough to kill a small bird; what effect will it have on us over time?   And what about the plastic spatula that I favor over metal? 

Ugh!  I dont want to think about it anymore. 

 

[Joe Parente]

I use cast iron pans, they work well. And I've had less sticking problems with them than the so-called "non-stick" crap.

All you have to do with cast iron is "season" it with oil and it becomes so non-stick that I take off burnt on cheese with some hot water and a brush. It makes me wonder what other "modern improvements" the corporations have shoved down our throats when the traditional ways were often just as good if not better?

 

[Pat Garaffa]

I saw this last week.  Can't do a damn thing anymore - including getting a drink of water.

I guess this chemical controls johnson reduction and now we have other chemicals to control johnson enhancement.  At best we "break even."

* * * * *

Tap water contaminant 'castrates' frogs

Updated 3/1/2010 9:24 PM

By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY

An herbicide that contaminates the tap water
consumed by millions of Americans has been found
to produce gender-bending effects in male frogs,
"chemically castrating" some and turning others into
females, a study shows.

Frogs in the experiment were exposed to amounts of
the weedkiller atrazine that are comparable to the
levels allowed in drinking water by the Environmental
Protection Agency, says lead researcher Tyrone Hayes
of the University of California-Berkeley.

The study was released Monday in the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences.

In Hayes' earlier studies, atrazine caused male frogs
to begin growing eggs in their testes. In this
experiment, 10% of the males exposed to atrazine —
one of the most commonly used herbicide in the
world — actually changed sex; some were able to
breed and lay eggs. Nearly all of the other males had
low testosterone and sperm levels, which made them
unable to reproduce, Hayes says.

The experiment can't tell scientists whether atrazine
affects humans in a similar way, Hayes says. But it
does raise new questions about the safety of atrazine,
which other studies have linked to human birth
defects, low birth weight, prematurity and low sperm
count.

The EPA said in October that it planned to reassess
atrazine's safety, including its cancer risk. The
European Union has banned the chemical.

About 75% of stream water samples and 40% of
groundwater samples contain atrazine, according to
the U.S. Geological Survey. The Natural Resources
Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group,
detected atrazine in 90% of tap water samples from
139 water systems. Inexpensive faucet-top water
 filters can remove the chemical, says Jennifer Sass, a
scientist with the group.

Several water systems in Illinois, where atrazine is
commonly used on corn and other crops, are suing
the chemical's manufacturers, asking them to pay the
cost of taking the herbicide out of drinking water.

The principal scientist for Syngenta Crop Protection,
the leading manufacturer of atrazine, says the
chemical is safe. Company-sponsored studies that
met rigorous EPA standards found atrazine has "no
effect on frog sexual development," Tim Pastoor says.

He criticized the new study and notes that Hayes
tested only one dose of atrazine. A stronger study
would have exposed frogs to several doses and noted
any trends, he says.

Given that atrazine has survived years of scrutiny by
the EPA, Pastoor says, he sees no reason to re-
examine atrazine's safety now. "As far as we're
concerned, it's unnecessary," he says.

Although scientists still have many questions about
atrazine, Sass says, the chemical should be phased
out as a precaution.

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