How to Keep Your Children Safe From Environmental Toxins

July 6, 2009 by whymassagetherapy
Filed under Eco-Friendly Therapy

Health Canada is FINALLY getting on board with banning toxins in children’s toys – but is it too little or too late?

I am proud to be Canadian, I really am. I am so fortunate to live in a country where I have rights not only as a human being, but as a woman. Because I am so lucky to live where I do, I also have the option every day to make choices which are environmentally sustainable and responsible. I’m not perfect, but I do my best. It is for this reason that I am happy that Health Canada is finally doing something to prevent children from being exposed unnecessarily to even more toxins than they are already.

On the flip side, I am also very frustrated at the seeming inability of the masses, not just Canadians, to see how the chemical sludge in which we live affects our health. As an example, in the last 50 years, the incidence of breast cancer has increased in women from 1 in 50 to 1 in 8. Fertility rates are dropping, and the rate of boys being born is dropping as well – just watch the Canadian documentary “The Disappearing Male” if you really want to understand the impact of environmental toxins on human fertility.

The restriction on phthalates in children’s toys is a huge step forward, but my question is this: If Health Canada is acknowledging the potential danger of toxins in children’s toys, how can they ignore the danger of environmental toxins in everything else? And, how come big business and industry isn’t being held accountable for manufacturing them in the first place? Honestly, if our country has the technology to build the space arm, then surely we (as a species and nation) have the ability to find environmentally safe and sustainable alternatives to the products which have infiltrated our lives at every level and are quite probably responsible for many health issues. Just a thought.

For more information on the impact of environmental toxins on human health, there are a few really good books that have opened my eyes. Try reading Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things, written by Rick Smith, Executive Director of Environmental Defence. Another eye opener concerning the environmental and human cost of the oil industry in Canada Stupid to the Last Drop: How Alberta Is Bringing Environmental Armageddon to Canada (And Doesn’t Seem to Care).

I honestly feel that the more aware we are, the more power we have to affect change in our own lives; after all, even small changes every day can make a huge cumulative difference.

Live well!