Yesterday we looked considered the importance of the recent journal article in the Environmental Health Perspective, Environmental Chemicals in Pregnant Women. Today I’d like to explore the second lesson learned from this article – all products are eco-products.
Lesson 2: All products are eco-products.
This study reminds me of the study I helped design and launch with the Environmental Working Group in 2005, where we found an average of 200 industrial chemicals already in babies at the moment of birth. Environmental chemicals weren’t just polluting air, soil, and water “out there” somewhere; they were polluting the innermost sanctum of the womb.
The distinction between a product’s impact on the “environment” and on us is, in the long run, irrelevant. We are part of the environment.
All products and their manufacture have environmental consequences. We make eco-choices every time we buy. The question is whether we are selecting better environmental impact or worse environmental impact. Our choices add up. And matter.
Read More in this Series:
Lesson 1: It’s a peak behind the curtain.
Lesson 2: All products are eco-products.
Lesson 3: Public policy changes your body.
Lesson 4: Your choices do matter
Lesson 5: A green solution. Leafy green.
Woodruff, TJ, Zota, AR, and Schwartz JM. Environmental Chemicals in Pregnant Women in the US: NHANES 2003-2004 Environmental Health Perspectives 2011. Online 14 Jan doi:10.1289/ehp.1002727
