Fluoride is a huge topic of debate around the country in regards to city water supplies.  There really should be no debate on this, because the extensive body of scientific research on the subject shows very clearly that fluoride is a neurotoxin and a carcinogen.  Dr. Paul Connett’s book The Case Against Fluoride offers a compelling argument against the use of fluoride in humans and contains hundreds of scientific references.

Most fluoride used in water supplies is derived from mineral mining waste and is in an extremely toxic form.  Fluoride has no natural role in the human body and the evidence shows it actually causes diseased teeth (dental fluorosis) rather than protecting them from decay when taken internally.  Topical fluoride is helpful in reducing decay, but there is a risk of swallowing it.  Fluoride can cause neurological toxicity, and there are thousands of calls to poison control centers every year due to children eating toothpaste.  It says right on the tube it should not be swallowed – so why include it in a product to be put in your child’s mouth?   Use a fluoride-free product.

Another important source of fluoride is mass-produced beverages made using city water.  Non-organic juices such as grape and others have extremely high amounts because sodium fluoride is used as a pesticide on the fruit (fluoride kills things you see).  Tea also contains high levels of fluoride, with black tea having far more than green or white tea.  It is very important to drink only organic teas and other beverages to avoid fluoride.

Fluoride is used in laboratory experiments to turn normal human cells into cancer cells, and a study out of Harvard showed that higher fluoride consumption caused a seven-fold increased risk of bone cancers in boys (Bassin, 2001).  Fluoride accumulates in the pineal gland and may affect melatonin production and sleep regulation.  Fluoride accumulates in bones to a great extent and can increase fracture risk.

Taking iodine supplements may help displace and clear fluoride, but this is not proven.  Perfluorinated compounds, or “PFC’s”, are used on non-stick pans and cookware.  These fluoride-containing chemicals leach into your foods and can cause thyroid problems and other hormonal disruption.  The only effective way to remove PFC’s is to use the prescription gastrointestinal resin “cholestyramine” in between meals, which binds the PFC’s excreted in bile and carries them out in the stool.

The popular flame-retardants called PCB’s (polychlorinated biphenyls) were banned in the 1970’s because of all the health problems they were found to cause for humans and wildlife.  They were replaced by PBDE’s (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), which were never studied for human safety.  Now that we have used PBDE’s for several decades we realize they are extremely toxic as well.  PBDE’s appear to cause problems with thyroid function and other hormonal effects.  Certain PBDE’s appear to cause serious neurotoxicity in young children (Costa, L – Neurotoxicology – Jan, 2011).

Flame retardant chemicals (PBDE’s mostly) are found in very high levels in children’s mattresses, in the pajamas and other clothing.  Cover mattresses with vinyl covers and thick sheets.  You can opt for tight-fitting pajamas for children that don’t have flame retardant; and washing clothing with fabric softeners removes some of the PBDE’s each time.  Furniture and carpets also contain these chemicals, and house dust therefore contains large amounts.  Don’t let your kids eat on the furniture or carpet.  Dusting should be done with a damp cloth, so as to pick up the chemicals without spreading them into the air again.

If you check out the EPA website it states the top three most concerning environmental toxins are Lead, Mercury and Arsenic.  These metals are everywhere in our modern industrialized world, and they are present to some extent in all of us.  The fetus is at particularly high risk, because it concentrates metals dramatically compared to the mother’s blood concentration.  There is evidence that toxic metals contribute to neurodevelopmental problems, autism, cancers, and diseases of numerous organ systems.

Arsenic is found in the ground water regionally, and therefore in well water.  Arsenic is fed to mass-produced chicken in the U.S., because it causes them to gain weight rapidly (in the form of fat).  It causes obesity and diabetes in humans as well.  We are told that form of arsenic is not harmful to humans, but after it is ingested and assimilated by the chicken it does in fact become the toxic type.  Eating only organic chicken is a very good idea.  Pressure-treated wood, used in construction of porches, decks and playground equipment, contains a large amount of arsenic.  One should not let their children eat on this type of wood, where they may drop their food on it.

Mercury is one of the most toxic substances on the planet, and particularly accumulates in the developing brain.  Mercury is found in old thermometers and also in those new compact fluorescent light bulbs.  The most common exposure to mercury is fish.  Most predatory ocean fish now contain toxic amounts of mercury, and you can look up tables for mercury content of specific species.  Wild Pacific salmon (not Atlantic) is still safe, especially Alaskan salmon.  It is not at all safe to eat farmed salmon however, because of incredibly high levels of PCB’s.  It is a good idea to not let your children eat tuna, swordfish, tilefish, mackerel, grouper, halibut or many other fish.

Lead is ubiquitous in our industrialized world.  The blood levels of lead in the public dropped dramatically when gasoline became unleaded, but there are many other sources.  The liners of boxed wine contain lead, as do gum wrappers.  Old houses may still possess leaded paint and pipes.  Children are exposed frequently through toys painted with lead-containing paints.  Toys from China contaminated with high levels of lead were in the news repeatedly in recent years, causing recalls.  Chinese factories responded by switching to cadmium-based paints; but cadmium is even more toxic and is known to cause cancer.

Avoidance of heavy metals can take some research and some work around the house.  Testing water supplies and toys is a good idea.  Toy companies are producing nontoxic items verified not to contain any toxic metals; you can seek those out.  It is hard to find light bulbs without mercury now, but if they break take great care when cleaning up.  Never let your dentist use mercury fillings.  Be aware of the arsenic sources like wood surfaces outdoors, and avoid fish and seafood with high metal content.  Educate yourself; start with the EPA websie.

Chelation therapy can remove metals from individuals with illness from high levels, and that can be done quite easily and safely.  Cilantro, garlic, and chlorella algae are foods that can help remove toxic metals from children.  N-Acetyl Cysteine is a simple amino acid that helps detoxify metals and chemicals.  Taking baths with a heaping dose of Epsom salts, as hot as the child can stand (so they sweat into the water), can help remove metals as well as many chemical toxins.  If you are worried your child has high levels of metals you can have a urine sample checked for “porphoryns”, or have a provoked urine metals test done using a chelating agent as a challenge.

There are many chemicals in our everyday environment now that either behave like hormones or drastically disrupt hormonal behavior in our bodies.  Plasticizers are chemicals added to plastic in order to make it less brittle, and many of them act like estrogen or affect other hormonal pathways once in our bodies.  Phthalates are chemicals added to lotions, cosmetics and other personal care products to make them smoother in terms of application or otherwise easier to work with; many of these chemicals disrupt hormone systems as well.

The best-known plasticizer chemical is bisphenol A, or BPA.  You can find plastic products all over now advertising themselves as “BPA-free”, but our government still has not banned BPA.  There is data showing the adverse health effects of BPA going back more than 70 years in the literature.  It acts like estrogen, causes weight gain and contributes to type 2 diabetes, also seems to stimulate certain cancers.  If you search Pubmed for “bisphenol A and cancer” you get more than 300 articles.

BPA has been in most plastic containers for beverages and also in almost all baby bottles for over forty years.  It has also found its way into food and beverage cans, dental composites for fillings and other items that may find their way into our bodies.  BPA is banned from baby bottles in Europe and Canada; and Canada officially labeled it a“toxic substance” in 2010.  Meanwhile, our own FDA states there is not enough “compelling evidence” to ban it from anything yet.

Some phthalates, found in plastics and personal care products, are known to interfere with testosterone production and have other hormone-disrupting effects as well.  Parabens are chemical preservatives placed in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and even foods.  Parabens have estrogenic activity and there is concern they may increase the development of breast cancers.  These chemicals will be in all of your personal care products unless you specifically look for products without them.  There is a website called Skin Deep where you can look up your products and see what toxins they hold.

The most recent review on this topic notes that bisphenol A, phthalates and persistent organic pollutants are detectable in children and people of all age groups and in all geographical areas of the US.  It notes that research shows BPA and phthalates have negative effects on fetal development and birth weight, have negative effects on male fetus reproductive tract development, and promote childhood obesity (Divall, S. – Epub Dec 4, 2012 – Current Opinions in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity).

The major sources of exposure to these chemicals are in foods, beverages, and personal care products such as lotions and cosmetics.  Everyone is exposed unless they take extreme measures to avoid them. Try to avoid consuming many things with a liquid component from plastic containers.  Choosing beverages in glass containers is the safest, also certain metal water bottles or child drink cups will be chemical-free.  Just make sure the metal bottles don’t have a thin plastic coating on the inside.  Look for containers that advertise as “BPA and phthalate free”.  Also, the “number” of a plastic is not relevant –they all contain plasticizers.

Avoidance of these substances is not complicated.  Use only plastics free of BPA and phthalates, or avoid plastics completely.  Look for child care products that claim to be free of parabens and phthalates.  Look your products up on Skin Deep or some other database, and make sure you are not exposing your child or yourself to potentially harmful chemicals.  Avoidance is the first and most important step in detoxification; and in our modern world it can be extremely difficult.

Parents are often torn between the perceived health benefits of eating an “organic” diet and the increased cost of organically grown or raised foods.  It is important to discuss the potential health effects of pesticides and herbicides, also fungicides, on our children.  This may make it seem more worthwhile to avoid these chemicals.  I will also discuss sources of exposure and options for avoidance.

Basically, pesticides are chemicals designed to kill insects; herbicides are chemicals designed to kill parasitic plants the impair crop yields; and fungicides are chemicals designed to kill parasitic fungi.  Does anyone think that chemicals designed to kill living things could be harmful to humans in some way?

Chlorinated pesticides and organophosphate pesticides are two very common varieties of these chemicals.  They are sprayed on food crops to keep insects from eating the plants and decreasing yield.  Pesticide content of fruits and vegetables varies greatly by variety, and lists can be found online mentioning which types of produce have the highest levels, and which have the lowest.

Early-life exposure to pesticides has been linked to ADHD, pervasive developmental disorder (i.e. mild autism) and poorer mental development in general.  Parental exposures have been linked to problems in the child including neurodevelopmental effects, cancer, physical birth defects, and even fetal death.  This means it is extremely important to avoid these toxins.  A recent published review article on this topic is “Pesticide exposure in children” by Roberts, et al. in Pediatrics; Dec. 2012; vol 130, issue 6.

A very common herbicide in foods, one used on numerous major crops in large amounts, is atrazine; another common herbicide is metolachlor.  A recent study of childhood cancers in association with herbicides found that atrazine itself increased the risk by 10%, metolachlor increased risk by 54%; and a combination of three common herbicides together was found to increase cancer risk in children by more than 750% (Thorpe, 2005).  This demonstrates a tremendous synergistic effect.

Fungicides like vinclozolin and others block testosterone receptors and cause hormone deficiency symptoms in males.  Exposure during fetal development and infancy could conceivably alter male sexual development.  Many pesticides and herbicides have hormonal effects as well.  These chemicals can therefore have diverse and potentially devastating physiological effects on children and into adulthood.

So, the obvious means of avoiding these chemicals is to eat only organic or wild foods.  Hopefully that sounds like a good idea and worthwhile expense at this point.  Organic food may be more expensive, but the health of our children is a top priority; and, if everyone bought only organic food they would stop producing nonorganic food.

What most don’t realize is that animal foods are the most important foods to buy organic.  Meat, eggs, butter, milk, ice cream, cheese have much higher pesticide content than fruits and vegetables.  This is because animals eating nonorganic feed for their entire lives will bio-accumulate these toxins to much higher levels.  It is extremely important to eat only wild fish and seafood as well, because the farmed varieties have extremely toxic levels of PCB’s in addition to other chemicals.

Every parent wants their child to be healthy.  One of the biggest barriers to this today is the fact they are born on planet Earth.  We humans have polluted this planet to such an extent that every baby born today almost certainly has more than one thousand (more likely many thousands) man-made chemicals in its body.  We have no idea what most of these chemicals can do to the developing fetus, much less what sort of combined effects they may exert in combination.

These chemicals include pesticides, solvents, herbicides, formaldehyde, fragrances, styrofoam (styrene), phthalates, flame retardants, plasticizers, PCB’s, PBDE’s, PFC’s and the list goes on.  Most parents and expectant parents are unaware of the problem and its potential for adverse health effects in themselves, much less in their baby or developing fetus.

Some awareness of this problem is reaching the public in recent years, but only as a series of isolated problems that can be easily dismissed as uncommon or of little importance by themselves.  One example of progress is recent research showing increased risk of ADHD with higher levels of organophosphate pesticides in their blood or urine.  The American Academy of Pediatrics recently stated publicly that because of this and other noted adverse effects of pesticides, we should try to make sure our children are not exposed to pesticides.  Agreed; but how do we do that?

The problem is much larger than pesticides, or any other single type or category of chemicals.  It is the mass of exposures taken together as a whole.  It is what we refer to as the “total load” phenomenon in environmental medicine.  We use the concept of a rain barrel to depict the diverse toxins going into us from our environment.  This includes man-made chemicals, naturally occurring toxins, heavy metals, electromagnetic radiation, excess sugar, psychological stress and everything else that is bad for us.  Eventually that rain barrel can overflow and manifest as some sort of chronic illness condition, or multiple apparent conditions.

This is one general cause behind the massive increases we are seeing in neurological and neuropsychiatric problems in our young children today.  Conditions like autism and related disorders have skyrocketed in incidence over the last generation, and will likely continue to rise.  ADHD and other conditions requiring special education are rising dramatically in our schools as well, and it’s not just because we are looking for them.  It seems that more children are having seizures, mood disorders and cancers; and the environment is a major cause of this collective epidemic.

The purpose or theme of my guest blog series is to alert parents and expectant parents to the presence of some of the more common and avoidable environmental toxins, to point out their sources, discuss their health effects, offer strategies for avoidance, discuss means of toxin elimination, and encourage readers to help move public policy more toward the interests of human health in this regard.