Breast cancer prevention means controlling the environmental toxins running rampant in your home.

Manufacturers love to say that their products only use trace amounts of dangerous chemicals, often known or suspected carcinogens. But the problem is these “trace” chemicals add up in a woman’s system. This is especially true because the industrial era has brought so many chemicals into our lives in places that we might never have suspected.

Carcinogens hide in personal care products, furniture, building supplies, and cleaning products to name just a handful. But there are a number of steps that you can take to detox your home of many of these chemicals.

One of the biggest changes holistic health nutritionist and breast cancer survivor Kristina Sampson’s made in her life is switching to cleaning with vodka. That’s right, this health guru couldn’t believe what she found in so many of the household cleaning products we use without even thinking. Today, Sampson heads to the liquor store for her cleaning fix because she’s found that the cheapest vodka in the store is one of the best natural disinfectants on the market.

But that’s just the beginning. With the help of Sampson and tons of research, we’ve uncovered a crazy list of chemicals that all women should avoid where possible.

81 Toxic Breast Cancer Prevention Culprits Hiding in Your Home

Endocrine Disruptors

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that mimic estrogen in the body, and they are found in everyday products. They disrupt the body’s endocrine system (a bodily system made up of glands and hormones) from sending the correct signals. This group of chemicals include parabens, phthalates, triclosan, and triclocarbon. Of 40 women tested, parabens were found in 99 percent of their breast tumors, according to Sampson. These ingredients are used because they are chemically very stable which is good for manufacturing but bad for your body. Since the chemicals can’t break down, they stay in your system. Avoid them by reading labels. Also, avoid anti-bacterial products that likely contain triclosan. Here are a number of places they hide.

1. Shampoo

2. Conditioner

3. Body lotion

4. Face lotion

5. Anti-aging creams

6. Toothpaste

7. Socks

8. Foundation

9. Shaving cream

10. Anti-perspirants

11. Deodorants

12. Makeup remover

13. Spray gel

14. Facial wash

15. Eye cream

Fragrance

Many products that contain endocrine disruptors also contain another scary culprit, fragrance. When you see the word fragrance, you may picture fields of lavender or sunflowers–a subtle natural fragrance that makes all of your favorite products that much more appealing. Not so fast. Fragrances are one of the most dangerous chemicals in everyday products. Here’s why: Fragrances are protected by intellectual property and that means that manufacturers don’t have to tell you the source of the fragrance. Basically, it’s a ridiculous loophole that allows companies to hide what could be hundreds of chemical additives. Fragrance are a means of hiding endocrine disruptors, allergens, and neurotoxins in products. And they’re everywhere including almost all of the products listed above. Avoid fragrance by choosing fragrance-free products or fragrance that comes from natural sources which are listed. Here are some places you’ll find fragrance.

16. Soap

17. Body wash

18. Lipstick

19. Lip gloss

20. All purpose cleaner

21. Perfume

22. Body spray

23. Pet shampoo

24. Hand soap

25. Scented candles

26. Diffusers

27. Facial masks

28. Massage oil

29. Dryer sheets

30. Laundry soap

BPA

While BPA is also an endocrine disruptor, it gets a separate category because it’s found in another category of household products. BPA is an industrial chemical that has been used in plastics and resins.

31. Canned foods

32. Baby toys

33. Baby bottles

34. Plastic #7, polycarbonate

35. Compact discs

36. DVDs

37. Protective eyewear

38. Sales receipts

39. Sippy cups

40. Cell phones

41. Laptops

42. Tablets

43. PDAs

44. Computer gaming units

45. Game consoles

Benzene

Benzene is a colorless or light colored liquid that’s very flammable. Benzene is one of the top chemicals used for industrial purposes in the U.S. It’s also a chemical linked to breast cancer.

46. Tobacco smoke

47. Glue

48. Paints

49. Furniture waxes

50. Detergents

51. Gasoline

52. Solvents

1,3-Butadiene

This chemical is found in many of the mammary tumors of rodents. It’s an air pollutant and a human carcinogen. The pollutant had a greater impact on younger female rodents than on older.

53. Latex gloves

54. Spray sunscreens

55. Carpet

56. Adhesives

57. Rubber

58. Tires

Lead

Lead is a naturally occurring substance that’s found in the Earth’s crust. It’s an element, so it can’t be broken down into smaller pieces. Researchers have found that lead is a substance that causes cancer to grow. Although more research needs to be done to know definitively, it’s good practice to avoid this known neurotoxin whenever possible.

59. Drinking water

60. Soil

61. Ceramics

62. Bullets

63. Batteries

64. Pipes

Mercury

Methylmercury can disrupt the hormone regulated cellular process. Higher accumulations have also been found in cancerous breast biopsies of women than in women without cancer. Mercury is also known to impact the central nervous system. Those exposed to too much, can suffer from a wide array of symptoms including sleep disturbance, headaches, fatigue, memory and concentration problems, and neuropathy.

65. CFL lightbulbs

66. Fish

67. Thermometers

68. Thermostats

69. Skin lightening creams

70. Antiques

71. Vaccines

72. Dental fillings

Pesticides

Household pesticides and pest killing poisons are often listed as human carcinogens. Dichlorvos, a common ingredient in household pesticides, for example is associated with mammary tumors in rats and mice. Another, glyphosate is linked to non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Avoid household pesticides as much as possible in your home. Use natural methods like predatory insects to protect your garden and household plants.

73. Roach sprays

74. Roach baits

75. Bath and kitchen disinfectants

76. Rodent poisons

77. Insect repellants

78. Weed killers

79. Products that kill mildew

80. Flea and tick soaks

81. Bleach

Don’t panic. Of course some of these chemicals are currently in your home. It’s nearly impossible to be free of all environmental toxins. But there are steps that you can take to start reducing the build up. Some, of course, are easier than others. Start buying natural makeup and personal care products free of the chemicals above. Clean with vodka, white vinegar, and baking soda rather than chemical cleaners. Choose natural materials like untreated wood and glass in your home instead of plastic. And lose the chemical pesticides.

Related on EcoSalon

Behind the Label: Avon’s Crusade Against Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer Prevention Tied to 102 Chemicals Besides BPA

Tis the Irony: Susan G. Komen Partners With Major Fracking Company 

Image: Wicker Paradise 

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America runs on coal. It creates half of our electricity. And the unclean technology producing this source may be killing our children, grandchildren and the future unborn, not to mention our natural environment.

Is the fed sensing the urgency to limit the damage from this source we depend upon?

Not according to three environmental groups looking for clean coal technology. They are planning to sue the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for being blatantly lax in limiting toxic discharges from power plants that threaten the health of local communities exposed daily to the pollutants.

According to Planet Shifter, the federal government is 26 years behind setting restrictions on the discharges which contaminate ground and surface waters and threaten aquatic life. Apparently, the EPA should have limited coal ash discharges to meet its own requirements for annual environmental reviews.

Back in December when a coal ash spill occurred at the Tennessee Kingston Fossil Plant, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson promised to issue regulations by the end of the year for nearly 600 coal plants with on-site coal ash storage ponds or landfills.

But the three groups planning to sue: the Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Integrity Project argue “the EPA need to stop kicking the can down the road and set a date for the regulation.”

There is evidence that these coal plants discharge millions of pounds of toxic pollutants every year. According to the report, in  Kingston, alone, more than 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash spilled from a coal-ash holding pond last December when a earthen wall ruptured. The ash contains elevated levels of arsenic, selenium and lead, among other toxic substances.

In a 60 Minutes investigation on harmful waste by-products from coal, it was revealed that the tremendous amount we burn for electricity every year generates 130 million tons of waste. They even interviewed coal barons who have become rich off coal, who admitted being responsible for those smoke stacks that pump out 100-million tons of carbon dioxide every year.

Most of the waste emitted from power stations  is coal ash which is dangerous to humans and other living things. Environmental scientists tell us that the concentrations of mercury, arsenic, lead and other toxic metals are considerably higher in coal ash than in ordinary soil.

When properly disposed of  in dry, lined impoundments, coal ash is considered to be safe. But observers say it is often dumped into wet ponds (nearly 500 of them in the U.S.)  and in those cases the ash could pose health risks to the nearby communities.

Images: Tennessee Valley Authority, Earth Observatory, NASA

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Imagine the consequences of 20 years of nuclear waste dumping in the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea that surround the Italian Peninsula and its islands.

It’s an unfolding crisis that has the international community alarmed, including the fishing interests in Japan.

We’re talking about the coasts of 22 countries in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and a pending ecological and public health disaster which is being allegedly swept under the rug by the Italian government.

I only learned about it recently in a Counterpunch post on the nightmare, passed along to me by a devastated reader. Meantime, the disaster is also catching on in the mainstream media.

The post writer, Michael Leonardi, is a university educator who lives in Calabria with his wife and baby. He says after returning from a visit to the States, he was alarmed to learn that the Tyrrhenian Sea – which his daughter has been bathing in since birth – was intentionally poisoned with toxic waste.

“How shocked and dismayed we were to discover that government officials have known about it all along,” he shares. “And how enraged we are that a journalist has been killed, possibly for trying to reveal the truth about the disposal of waste by the international Ecomafia and their colluding government and corporate interests.”

The journalist described was Rai television reporter Ilaria Alpi. Leonardi says she was following the trail of arms and toxic garbage trafficking from Italy to Somalia in 1994 when she and her camera man, Miran Hrovatin, were gunned down and killed in Mogadishu.

“Many here believe, including the Mafia pentito, Franceso Fonti, that she was killed because she learned too much about the collusion between the Mafia and Italian military,” argues a bold Leonardi.

So how is the dumping engineered by the bad guys?

Leonardi says dozens of ships with the radioactive and toxic cargoes have been intentionally sunk by organized crime syndicates.

Leonardi says epidemic levels of cancerous tumors and thyroid problems have occurred in the area and along the coasts of the Mediterranean – where fishermen make a living by selling their catch throughout Italian and on the international market.

The public outcry is heating up as Greenpeace and the Italian environmental organization Legambiente work to bring the disaster to the surface. CNN reported on the scuttled hips, as well, last week. The report says it is believed between 32 and 41 of the ships sunk in international waters between Italy, Greece and Spain.

Lending credence to the sinking, testimony by Franceso Fonti, who admitted his role in helping to sink three ships in the fishing waters, including the Cunsky.

Last week a robot sub was sent down off the coast of Centraro to shoot photos of the ship thought to be the Cunsky. The images document the presence of drums like those used to transport and store radioactive and toxic wastes. The hope is that the barrels are still in tact but no one knows for certain what they contain.

“Traces of Mercury and Cesnium 137 have recently been found near the town of Amantea in Calabria further south of Cetraro by about 50 kilimeters,” explains Leonardi. “Amantea is considered a “hot spot” for tumors and ground temperature around the contamination area is six degrees warmer than normal.

“The population is demanding the truth and government action,” he says, adding international cooperation is needed.

Images: enigmachck1, Wiki, Wiki

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Wondering how much fish is safe to eat? I recommend following the government recommendations; not the bogus calculations from The Center for Consumer Freedom. I was first clued into the Center for Consumer Freedom’s fish and mercury calculator by Food & Water Watch’s Blog.

The Center for Consumer Freedom bills itself as an organization promoting personal responsibility and free choice in consumption habits, but it is best known for opposing government smoking bans in public places and was, in fact, started with seed money from Phillip Morris. More recently, the center has fought nutrition labeling requirements on restaurant menus. I’m all for free choice, but to make a fully-informed free choice, consumers need information and transparency.

Users of the calculator have only to enter their weight and usual portion size of different kinds of fish they consume and the calculator spits out the amount of fish the user can safely eat per week, in pounds, before being in danger from mercury poisoning. According to Food & Water Watch, the calculations are bogus. The calculator in question ignores the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) uncertainty factor that accounts for variations in sensitivity to mercury in the population.

This is a real concern. Safety margins are a good thing. You see, I actually know someone who was diagnosed with mercury poisoning from eating fish. In general, she ate a tuna sandwich several days of the week and sushi fairly often. She certainly didn’t eat the pounds and pounds of fish that the How Much Fish Calculator says a person of her size can eat without becoming sick. (Here’s an article from Mother Jones about a woman who became sick from eating canned tuna, which many people think should carry a warning label.)

Maybe these two people were more sensitive to mercury than others and that’s why they became sick, but that’s precisely why the EPA uses the reference dose it does – to take into account sensitive populations. The EPA explains it thus: “In general, the RfD is an estimate (with uncertainty spanning perhaps an order of magnitude) of a daily exposure to the human population (including sensitive subgroups) that is likely to be without an appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime.”

Far worse, I think, is the Center for Consumer Freedom’s lack of warning for pregnant women. Children are particularly susceptible to nervous system damage while their brains and nervous systems are still developing. According to the EPA in its studies on mercury, “the nervous system is considered to be the most sensitive target organ.” Naturally lower weight individuals (and fetuses) are in greater danger of accumulating dangerous levels of mercury.

According to the EPA, “Investigators have found that the placenta is not a barrier to the transfer of methylmercury from the mother to the developing fetus. Typically, a strong correlation exists between maternal-blood mercury concentrations and fetal-blood mercury concentrations, as shown by cord-blood. Overall, data from these studies indicate that cord-blood mercury is higher than maternal blood mercury.” Not only does the calculator not account for pregnant mothers, but The Center for Consumer Freedom encourages pregnant women to eat lots of fish for smarter children!

With recent news on NPR of a Federal study showing widespread mercury contamination throughout the nation’s streams, it behooves consumers to err on the side of caution when eating fish.

Not sure if you’re getting too much mercury with your Omega-3’s? See the actual government recommendations on fish consumption. Personally, I’d add tuna to that list, both canned and fresh, unless you know that it came from a small, young species of tuna. All large, longer-lived species at the top of the food chain tend to bio-accumulate toxins in their flesh as they age.

Image: rubberslippersinitaly

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

The post Mercury in Seafood: How Do You Know How Much Fish You Can Safely Eat? appeared first on EcoSalon.

We love our cats and dogs, and we owe it to them to keep them healthy. After all, mercury in fish is just as bad for Whiskers as it is for you! Green pet care may cost a little more up front, but it’s certainly less expensive than future vet bills for sick pets.

Here are some tips to keep your pets healthy:

Don’t buy foods with the chemical preservatives BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin.

Switch your cat’s diet around so they don’t get too much mercury exposure from fish.

Bypass the by-products. Choose ingredients that are organic and free-range.

Don’t use insecticides on your lawn. They’re poisonous to you, but even more so to your furry friends.

Flea collars are toxic. Instead, vacuum often, bathe your pet, and look for safer flea repellents.

Don’t buy pet shampoo. There’s no regulation of chemical ingredients for pet products. Use a mild baby shampoo instead.

And most of all, love your pet and be kind! They depend on your for their care and will be thankful if you treat them as well as you treat yourself.

Source: Pets for the Environment

Image: Mirko Macari

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Our national innocence regarding the safety of our food supply is fast eroding. From salmonella in tomatoes and peanut butter, to E. coli in spinach, how can we trust that the food we eat is safe and the government we pay taxes to is paying attention?

Two recent examples: Last fall, Mother Jones broke the story that canned tuna contains dangerous levels of mercury and that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) knew this when it left canned tuna off the seafood advisories it released in 2001. This week, two studies are out showing that nearly one-third of popular food and drink products listing High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as the first or second ingredient contain mercury.

So much for that standby childhood lunch of a tuna sandwich and a soda – children are especially susceptible to mercury poisoning.

In the case of mercury contamination of HFCS, Grist reports that the FDA has known about it since 2005 and that the information was finally revealed when a researcher left the agency and published her work in one of the studies just released.

The Corn Refiners Association, conveniently located in Washington D.C. near Capitol Hill, released a statement about one of the studies saying, “This study appears to be based on outdated information of dubious significance.” And while it’s true that not all HFCS is produced using the chemical processes that cause mercury contamination, much of it still is.

In addition to its prior knowledge of the mercury contamination in HFCS, the FDA has done its part in helping HFCS become the ubiquitous ingredient it is. In 1983, the FDA formally listed high fructose corn syrup as safe for use in food. That decision was reaffirmed in 1996 and in 2008, when the agency classified HFCS as a “natural” product.

Despite the FDA’s friendly stance, HFCS had a publicity problem long before the sweetener was found to be contaminated with mercury. Nutritionists have linked the pervasive ingredient to obesity and other health problems.

To counter bad publicity, The Corn Refiners Association launched an approximately $30 million public relations and advertising campaign last summer to convince consumers that HFCS was safe and as natural as sugar. Full page newspaper ads and television commercials ran in the nation’s most prominent media outlets. The blogosphere, including Ecosalon, was not convinced.

In the case of canned tuna, the FDA released an updated advisory in 2003 listing chunk light canned tuna as a “low mercury” seafood. Though the agency didn’t require this information to appear in stores or on tuna cans, the mild warning caused a minor drop in sales. The industry responded by launching a major $25 million campaign touting tuna’s Omega-3 fatty acid content and other health benefits.

Faced with the knowledge that our government agencies are more interested in protecting industry profits than protecting our health, what are we to do?

Trust your instincts. If a cheap, highly subsidized and highly processed ingredient suddenly shows up in a lot of different foods, be suspicious.

If the government drafts an advisory warning the public about contamination of a commodity product (like tuna) but pointedly avoids warning the public about branded versions of that commodity (canned tuna) be suspicious. Tangled red tape is a warning sign.

Be wary of major advertising campaigns by industry groups. You can bet if X industry trade group is spending millions of dollars trying to convince you that a particular product or ingredient is good for you, it probably isn’t.

Speak up.
Tell the new administration in Washington that you want the government to put your health before the health of agribusiness balance sheets.

Image: tsuacctnt

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Mysteriously, autism rates in California have gone up 700% in the past 15 years. Theories abound. Some claim the explosion in cases is because doctors are more aware and are therefore diagnosing more children; but that doesn’t account for such a huge spike. Others insist it’s vaccines containing thimerosal that are to blame; but thimerosal (a mercury compound used as a preservative) was phased out in 1999 and autism continues to skyrocket. Environmentalists have long argued that it must be due to environmental factors.

A new study confirms this.

Flame retardants, mercury, pesticides, phthalates, flea shampoos, even chemicals in antibacterial soaps have been linked to autism if the mother had significant exposure to any of these during her pregnancy. Any and all of these substances can disrupt neurological development in fetuses and infants. What’s disturbing is how common most of these chemicals are – and when one’s environment includes more than one, as is the case for most of us, imagine the consequences.

Further studies are needed, but if you still haven’t greened your cosmetics, cleaning supplies and other household goods, now is the time to do so. No harm can come from switching to more natural products, but plenty of harm may come if collectively we don’t.

Image: Dianna

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