CNN reports that the President’s Cancer Panel concluded that exposure to cancer risks is widespread and underestimated, especially for children. Many people are unaware of common cancer causing chemicals such as formaldehyde, benzene, and radon.

According to the Panel’s report, 80,000 chemicals are used in the U.S but only about 200 of them have been tested for safety. The rest are unregulated. Bisphenol-A (BPA), for instance, is found in food can liners, plastic bottles (including baby bottles), food wraps, and other containers even though exposure to BPA has been linked to cancer and several other diseases. Children are especially vulnerable to such environmental toxins.

Formaldehyde is present in almost all homes. The tight seals that make our homes energy efficient trap pollutants indoors. Formaldehyde, a probable carcinogen, is used in plywood, furniture, carpet, and other home goods. Open doors and windows to air out your home periodically.

Benzene, a known carcinogen, comes from vehicle exhaust and industrial pollution. If you walk or jog outdoors, try to do so away from busy roads and in the early morning hours before the air is polluted.

Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer behind smoking. Radon is gas that seeps from some rock formations and can collect in homes. Invest in a radon detector for your home.

The report also makes the following recommendations to reduce cancer risk:

- Remove shoes before entering the home to avoid tracking in toxins like pesticides.

- Use a home water filter to remove toxins from tap water.

- Use stainless steel or glass bottles.

- Never microwave plastic containers. [Better yet: get rid of your microwave!]

- Eat organic meats and produce to minimize exposure to toxins like pesticides, genetically modified proteins, and antibiotics.

- Minimize consumption of charred and well-done meats [as well as processed deli meats].

- Minimize exposure to radiation from x-rays and other medical imaging technologies.

Note: While sunburns increase the risk of skin cancer, lack of healthy sun exposure lowers vitamin D levels and increases cancer risk. Have some fun in the sun this summer; it’s good for you!

Frank Caldario of Crestwood, IL, is just 30 years old, but he’s already had a gumball-size tumor removed from his kidney.

“I can’t help but wonder if what happened to me had something to do with the water,” he said. “It’s just unreal for someone my age to get that.”

Illinois released a report last week which found that toxic chemicals in Crestwood’s drinking water could have contributed to Crestwood’s cancer cluster, or elevated cancer rates. The community of approximately 11,000 shows higher than average rates for kidney cancer, lung cancer, and gastrointestinal cancer.

Why was this community drinking toxic water? Last year the Chicago Tribune revealed that the community’s water supply came from a “secret” taiinted well. Unbelievable!

For years, residents of Crestwood were told that they were drinking treated water from Lake Michigan, when they were really drinkign water from a polluted well! Property values in the village have dropped since last year’s revelation, and citizens are worried about their health.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: You just can’t trust government authorities to provide your family with safe water. You have to take matters into your own hands and invest in a home water filter.

As more people realize that filtered tap water is healthier and much cheaper than bottled water, the home water filter industry continues to grow. The Wall Street Journal published an article about the industry on Wednesday, and it mentioned the fact that the Aquasana shower filter is now a best-seller nationwide. Shower filters are important because chlorinated water can produce carcinogens which can be inhaled in a steamy shower. By removing chlorine and other contaminants from water, shower filters also produce softer skin and hair.

“The economic downturn has whetted consumers’ appetite for tap water,” explains the article. “According to a Gallup poll released last year, pollution of drinking water is Americans’ No. 1 environmental concern. Many express worries about the risk of diseases, including cancer, that can be associated with contaminants such as arsenic, chlorine and pharmaceuticals sometimes found in drinking water.”

The EPA claims that tap water is safe, but the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found evidence which suggests otherwise. The EWG discovered 202 unregulated chemicals in tap water samples, including pharmaceuticals, hormone disruptors, perchlorate (a rocket fuel ingredient) and MTBE (a gasoline additive). The EPA does not even test for these chemicals. Jane Houlihan of the EWG explains, “In almost every case, the utilities comply with federal standards, but that doesn’t ensure that the water is safe to drink.”

Invest in a whole house water filter to purify your drinking water and shower water.

In January, citizens of Fremont, Ohio, were warned for the third time in less than six months that their drinking water contained high concentrations of nitrate.

Nitrate (NO3) is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. It’s found naturally in the environment, and it’s harmless in small amounts. However, when large amounts of nitrates from agricultural operations and waste dumps contaminate drinking water, they make the water dangerous. In the body, nitrate is converted to nitrite, which can reduce oxygen supplies to organs like the brain. This is especially dangerous for infants. Nitrate levels of 10 mg/l or higher can cause methemoglobinemia, or “blue baby syndrome,” in which the ability to utilize oxygen is reduced.

Nitrate levels in the water of Fremont, OH, were found to be 11.3 mg/l, and officials issued an advisory and warned that infants under the age of 6 months should not be given tap water.

Symptoms of blue baby syndrome include blue skin (especially around the eyes and mouth), shortness of breath, weakness, dizziness, and headache. If you suspect methemoglobinemia, take the baby to the hospital immediately. If left untreated, blue baby syndrome may cause permanent brain damage or death.

Elevated levels of nitrates in drinking water have also been linked to thyroid problems, increased risk for birth defects, increased risk of diabetes, and increased mortality rates for several different types of cancer.

Protect your water from nitrate contamination by using home water filters.

Hey guys, this Top 10 list comes from the producers of the documentary film Tapped the Movie, a critical examination of the bottled water industry:

1. Write to your U.S. Senator now . . . Email your U.S. Senator to voice support for the proposed federal ban on BPA in food and drink containers.

2. Donate to the Breast Cancer Fund.

3. Skip bottled water and use your own unlined stainless steel water bottles. Carefully choose a stainless steel water bottle, and make sure it’s unlined — some metal water bottles contain a plastic liner that may contain BPA.

4. Limit canned foods and beverages. The epoxy liners of metal food and beverage cans most likely contain BPA. Especially avoid canned foods that are acidic (e.g., tomatoes, citrus products, and acidic beverages, like colas) and canned alcoholic beverages, since acids and alcohols can exacerbate the leaching of BPA.

5. Skip the water cooler. Those hard plastic jugs that many companies use to provide their employees and customers with “pure” water are usually made with BPA. Drink filtered tap water instead.

(You can also ask your employer to invest in an eco-friendly bottle-less water cooler for your office.) 

6. Store foods in glass. Just be sure to wash the lids, if made of plastic, by hand and not in the dishwasher.

(Glass bottles are also safer than plastic when it comes to storing beverages, especially acidic beverages like many juices.)

7. Use your own unlined stainless steel travel mug. Heat helps toxins from leach into your beverage. Instead of accepting a polystyrene “to-go” cup for your hot beverage purchases, use a unlined stainless steel travel mug.I use a good ol’ cast iron skillet along with stainless steel cookware!

8. Avoid Cooking in Non-Stick Pans and Eating Foods Packaged with Non-Stick Plastics. Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are carcinogenic chemicals that make materials stain and stick resistant and persist in our bodies long after the packaging from such products like microwave popcorn or pizza is disposed or the non-stick pan is put away.

 (I use a good ol’ cast iron skillet along with stainless steel cookware.)

9. Minimize hard plastics in your kitchen. Hard plastic stirring spoons, pancake flippers, blenders, plastic cutting boards, measuring cups, and colanders regularly come into contact with both food and heat. Replace these items with wooden, metal, or glass alternatives.

10. Join an advocacy group. Food & Water Watch and Environmental Working Group will keep you up-to-date with current research and legislation regarding plastics and food and water safety.

Thanks to the work of people like the folks who produced Tapped the Movie, the bottled water industry is losing ground. One popular bottled water company recently reported a 24 percent loss in annual revenue. Keep up the good work, people!

Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com recently wrote about what he calls the FDA’s “conspiracy of silence to avoid admitting that BPA is dangerous for human health.”

In the article, Adams points out that the FDA has ignored over 100 studies which show that BPA is dangerous. FDA conclusions about the safety of BPA are based on just two studies that were funded by the chemical industry.

“That’s how the FDA operates across the board,” Adams explains. “Ignore all the science you don’t like, and cherry-pick the science you want to believe, even if it’s all been funded by the chemical companies.”

Unfortunately, we Americans are bombarded by dangerous chemicals until they are proven to be dangerous. It seems like chemicals would be banned from use until they are proven safe. However, as Adams points out, such a position would drastically reduce profits for chemical companies.

Thanks to health advocates like Mike Adams, the BPA conspiracy won’t be able to continue for much longer. Too many regular folks are learning about the studies which show that BPA is a dangerous endocrine disruptor associated with cancer, diabetes, developmental problems, and other health problems.

BPA, or bisphenol-A, is a chemical that makes plastics more durable. It can be found in water bottles, baby bottles, aluminum food cans (in the lining), and other food containers, as well as other products like DVDs.

Kelly Wallace from CBS News recently showed that the BPA levels in her blood spiked to five times the average level after she ate a single sandwich made from canned tuna.

Consumer awareness about the dangers of BPA is creating change. For example, many baby bottle manufacturers have stopped using BPA in baby bottles. And many stores now offer BPA-free products.

When it comes to protecting the public from dangerous synthetic chemicals, your choices as a consumer are even more powerful than your choices as a voter. The political process is often slow and cumbersome, but when consumers demand change and speak through their consumer choices, change can occur rapidly.

Here’s how you can help to end the BPA conspiracy:

Stop buying canned food products. Eat fresh food; it’s better for you! You can also buy some products (like marinara sauce) in glass jars instead of cans lined with BPA.

Avoid food that comes in plastic containers. Again, whole foods are better than processed foods. Also, never microwave plastic containers.

Stop drinking bottled water. Plastic water bottles pollute your body and the environment. Instigate change by switching to reusable glass water bottles and stainless steel bottles. (By the Way, Mike Adams recently featured our glass water bottles in his 2010 New Year Health Product Guide!) Avoid aluminum water bottles because they are lined with plastic. For convenient, cost-effective access to healthy, safe water, invest in a home water filter and bottle your own water at home.

Choose glass baby bottles rather than plastic bottles. Even “BPA-free” may be contaminated, and BPA is not the only chemical in plastic. You can buy protective covers for glass baby bottles to keep the glass from breaking.

Replace conventional office water coolers with eco-friendly bottleless water coolers. Bottle-less water coolers provide a never-ending supply of healthy water. By switching to a bottleless office water cooler, you’ll save money and eliminate the need for regular deliveries of plastic water jugs.

On 08/30/2009, The Stamford Advocate reported that city tests showed that homes near a former landfill in Stamford, Connecticut have toxic pesticides in their well water.

Testing found two pesticides, dieldrin and chlordane, which have both been banned for years because of their toxicity. And the citizens of Stamford have been drinking them for years – unless they have home water purifiers.

One private well had levels of dieldrin 43 times higher than state safety standards; the same well had levels of chlordane four times the state limit. Chlordane can cause nervous system problems and increase the risk of cancer. Dieldrin can cause neurological, reproductive, and immunological problems.

Ruth Kwartin owns one of the homes where the well water tested above state limits for the pesticides. She has been drinking the well water for years, and she and her husband have both been stricken with cancer. Her husband died after he developed a rare tumor on his spinal cord. Kwartin is currently battling uterine cancer.

“This is an issue that needs to be addressed,” said another resident. “I shower in the water, I cook in the water, I make my daughter’s formula with it. It just blows my mind.”

According to The Telegraph, new research at the Harvard School of Public Health found that participants who drank from plastic water bottles showed a 69 percent increase of bisphenol-A (BPA) after just one week. This study proves that plastic containers release BPA into the water, which carries the toxic chemical into the body.

BPA is an endocrine disruptor, meaning that it throws off the natural balances of hormones. It actually mimics the hormone estrogen. BPA has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and possibly humans. It has also been linked to breast cancer, low sperm count, prostate cancer, birth defects, growth problems, ADHD, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.

Professor Richard Sharpe, one of Britain’s leading reproductive biologists, says that hormone disruptors are “feminizing” unborn boys and raising their risk of cancer and infertility later in life.

Have you ever wondered what goes into making plastic? A long list of cancer-causing petrochemicals!

To reduce your exposure to BPA, don’t drink or eat from plastic containers. If you want healthy water to go, you don’t have to buy expensive bottled water (because it’s certainly not good for you); instead, invest in a home water filter along with non-toxic glass water bottles.

Last month, PBS Frontline aired a new, enthralling documentary, Poisoned Waters, in which journalist Hendrick Smith asks, “What’s poisoning America’s waters?’

Smith’s discoveries are shocking. You can watch the full Poisoned Waters documentary online (for free) at pbs.org. There is also a Poisoned Waters website chock-full of valuable information.

If you don’t have time to watch the entire documentary, here are some highlights:

Three decades after the passage of the Clean Water Act, many of our waterways are still too polluted for fishing or swimming. Chemicals banned long ago continue to enter our drinking water, and new chemicals are so disruptive to life that male fish and frogs are becoming feminized and producing eggs. That’s just not right! Imagine what these chemicals are doing to our children. Poisoned Waters explores some sources of this persistent water pollution.

Chesapeake Bay, the country’s largest estuary, is like a canary in a coal mine, warning of environmental disasters which lie ahead. In Chesapeake Bay, it’s not uncommon to find frogs with six legs or male frogs with ovaries. Like most of American’s waterways, Chesapeake Bay is in trouble.

Agricultural Pollution and Dead Zones

Agriculture is the main source of water pollution for Chesapeake Bay. I’m not talking about mom and pop organic farmimg – I’m talking about industrial agricultural production that produces industrial waste.

Agricultural pollution causes “dead zones” in waterways. The pollution, consisting primarily of animal waste and chemical fertilizers, contains high levels of chemicals like nitrogen and phosphorus. When these chemicals wash into streams that lead to Chesapeake Bay, they cause an algae boom in the bay (because the algae feeds off these waste products). However, when the algae begin to die off, the decomposition process sucks up all the oxygen in the water. The result: Nothing that requires oxygen can live; this includes crabs, oysters, clams, fish, etc. Dead zones.

Dead zones account for 40% of Chesapeake Bay. And there’s a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico that’s the size of Massachusetts! Sadly, dead zones are popping up in waterways all over the world.

Endocrine Disruptors and Intersex

Don’t be surprised if you see hundreds of fish floating belly-up in the water. Looking for the cause behind massive fish kills, researchers discovered something very interesting about the male bass fish in the Potomac: they were producing eggs in their testes. Again, that’s just not right!

Endocrine disruptors are causing intersex among fish and amphibians. Unfortunately, these chemicals are everywhere in our environment – in personal care products, cleaning products, lawn care products, rubber products, plastic products, etc. Most endocrine disruptors are petroleum-based chemicals that were developed during or since World War II. (The oil industry has devastated our planet like no other!)

Endocrine disruptors mimic natural hormones in the body. That’s why they caused the feminization of male fish in the Potomac. These chemicals not only disrupt estrogen and testosterone levels, but they also disrupt thyroid function, reproductive function, and immune system function.

In fact, nobody really knows how much damage these chemicals are causing – because the even EPA doesn’t know how to measure, much less regulate, many of these new chemicals . . . but scientists do know that they are extremely powerful at infinitesimally small quantities. It doesn’t take much poison to cause a male fish to start producing caviar.

“The long-term, slow-motion risk is already being spelled out in epidemiologic data, studies – large population studies,” says Dr. Robert Lawrence of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

“There are 5 million people being exposed to endocrine disruptors just in the Mid-Atlantic region, and yet we don’t know precisely how many of them are going to develop premature breast cancer, going to have problems with reproduction, going to have all kinds of congenital anomalies of the male genitalia, things that are happening at a broad low level so that they don’t raise the alarm in the general public.”

Again, the EPA does not regulate these chemicals because they don’t even know how to measure many of them. Water treatment is not intended to remove these chemicals, and tests show that about 2/3 of them are still in drinking water after the treatment process.

Are you worried yet? You should be! But there’s no reason to panic. You can make sure that your family has safe water by investing in a home water filter.

PCBs and Storm Water Runoff

On the other side of the country, Puget Sound off the coast of Seattle faces its own environmental catastrophe.

PCBs, cancer-causing chemicals which are so toxic that congress banned them decades ago, are still flowing into Puget Sound. The carcinogens can be found in the local salmon, whales, and yes, humans, too – even mothers’ milk. Sadly, little ones are more susceptible to the dangers of PCBs.

PCBs are still entering the Puget Sound because they’re still in the environment, even though they were banned in the 1970s. Scientists refer to them as “legacy pollutants.” (Some legacy, huh?)

In many cases, PCBs are in industrial equipment and building materials; as the materials erode, storm water runoff carries these chemicals from industrial areas to streams and rivers that lead to Puget Sound.

Overdevelopment plays a big role in storm water runoff pollution. When the natural earth gets covered by pavement and concrete, the water cannot seep into the ground. Storm water runs along these man-made surfaces, picking up all the pollutants in its path. Then it carries these pollutants into waterways. To solve the problem of water pollution, we’ll have to address some fundamental flaws in our culture. We must control the pace of development and leave room for nature.

We don’t have much time to act, and yet it seems like we’re a long way from a lasting solution. Until then, if I were you, I wouldn’t eat the fish from any rivers downstream from American cities.

The New York Times reports on a study which shows that chemicals used in plastics may be linked to childhood obesity.

The long-term health study found that obese children have higher levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals called phtalates, which are found in plastic products; oh yes, phthalates cause cancer, too. Other research has confirmed that endocrine disruptor chemicals in plastic, like phthalates and Bisphenol A (BPA), cause mice to become more obese.

A Kanasas Department of Health and Environment study found that 46 out of 80 bottled water samples contain phthalates. These toxic chemicals leach out of the plastic bottles into the water.

When plastic bottles are thrown away (at a rate of about 30 million per day in the U.S.), they end up in landfills, where they leach hormone-disrupting chemicals into the ground water. Ironically, the bottled water industry is polluting our tap water. (Or perhaps it’s not so ironic?)

If you want non-toxic water free from chemicals that will affect your hormones (and those of your children), then you need a home water filter, and you need to store your water in glass water bottles rather than plastic bottles.