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.

Many parents assume that our current government regulations do a pretty good job of protecting our children from exposures to unhealthy chemicals – not realizing that the current law from the 1970’s is now as ridiculous and out-of-date as a polyester leisure suit. Of the more than 80,000 synthetic chemicals now on the market in the US, the EPA has only been able to require safety testing on about 200. This needs to change, and leaders across the political spectrum are calling for action.

On January 21, 2010 a broad coalition called Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families has released a powerful, readable report called The Health Case for Reforming the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Yes, they make a strong health case (at least one percent of all disease comes from environmental exposures, and 10 percent of diabetes, and up to 30 percent of now-epidemic conditions like asthma). But beyond this they (Or I guess “we”. both DrGreene.com and Healthy Child Healthy World are part of this coalition) make a powerful economic case. Chemical policy reform should save us at least $5 billion in health care costs each and every year.

Whether you care about preventing cancer, learning disabilities, ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, reproductive and fertility problems, or asthma — or just saving our society billions of dollars – read the report, share the report, join the movement.

“In simplest terms, real reform will lead to more healthy babies, fewer women with breast cancer, a return to normal fertility patterns, and a lower number of people with Alzheimer’s disease. This is the promise of TSCA reform.”

From 1973 to 1999, childhood cancers increased by 26 percent, making cancer the greatest health threat to children. Currently, one in a 100 8-year-old children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers, and the number might be as high as 1 in 58 for boys, according to a phone survey in the journal, Pediatrics. According to Robyn O’Brien, author of The Unhealthy Truth, one out of every three U.S. kids currently suffers from allergies, asthma, ADHD, or autism—our children’s bodies are clearly under assault. But why?

In yesterday’s article I mentioned how, as one concerned father, I set out to try to find out the dangers that are children are facing and how I learned about something called endocrine disruption, or the disruption of the hormones that control everything from mood to gene expression.

As I was researching my fact-based novel, one of the things I discovered was that since World War Two, approximately 80,000 chemicals have been invented, and thousands of these have been produced in excess of millions of pounds per year. Only a small percentage of these chemicals have ever been tested to discover their effects on animals and humans. (If you want to discover how the chemical industry undermined government regulation, watch Bill Moyers brave and brilliant documentary, Trade Secrets.)

We feed these chemicals to our children through the chemicals on the food they eat, in the water they drink, in the lotions we put on their skin, in the products that they touch, and even in the air they breath. A recent study of fetal cord blood—the blood a child is born with before they take their first breath—found 413 chemicals and on average more than 200 different chemicals per child.

Many endocrine disrupting chemicals are plastics. You may have heard of the chemical Bisphenol A, or BPA, which is a plasticizer that has been used to make plastic bottles (including baby bottles), to coat children’s teeth so they don’t get cavities, and to line canned food. In lab animals (we can not do controlled studies on people for obvious reasons), BPA has been shown to impair brain development, cause down syndrome, cause breast cancer, prostate cancer, low sperm count, and even obesity.

Obesity? Have a look at this picture. The mouse on the left is a normal mouse; the one on the right was exposed to tiny amounts of BPA during its gestation. Could exposure to this chemical, seven billion pounds of which is produced and put into our environment every year, play a role in the epidemic in adult and childhood obesity that is spreading around the world?

Why don’t you know about this? Well, let’s just say there are lots of people who don’t want you to know about this and have worked hard to obscure the facts. On Sunday, May 31, 2009, the Washington Post broke the story that manufacturers of packaging for beverages and foods, including some of their customers, like Coca-Cola, were trying to defend the use of BPA and use “scare tactics” to make sure that the chemical was not banned. I couldn’t believe it. It was as if some of the villains from my novel had come to life. But if I had my characters try to recruit a pregnant woman to discuss the benefits of BPA—as they industry execs apparently did—no one would have believed it.

Out of shortsighted economic interests, also known as greed, we are conducting an unprecedented experiment on the health of our children.

Tomorrow, we will look at how what’s happening to our children is happening to the whole planet, and the next day why some children get sick and other’s don’t. Then we’ll discover the silver lining and what can turn this around. Finally, on Friday, we look at what you can do to try to keep your family safe.

For more information about endocrine disruption, the research mentioned in this blog post, and about Doug’s fact-based eco-thriller, Eye of the Whale, please visit www.DouglasCarltonAbrams.com.

If your children suffer from allergies, asthma, ADHD, hypersensitivity, cancer, diabetes, or a compromised immune system, then feel empowered and know that there are organization like greenschools, who can help you protect you children and others children while at school.

We have helped numerous schools move to green cleaning programs, reduce toxins at school, and improve wellness policies.

Quick Tips:

• Contact a non-profit organization or government agency that can help.
• Organize a team of key individuals that can affect school policy and change.
• Implement a green cleaning program
• Train all staff and custodial crews on environmental health, products, policies, and best practices.
• Get the word out!
• Involve students, teachers, administration, parents, community members, local politicians, local businesses, and anyone with a vested interest in the school and the greater community.

Please let us know how we can help you, and your school, provide a greener and healthier learning environment.

Your voice is important to us.

Let us know what some of the biggest issues you are running into in your school regarding environmental health. Also, please let us know what grade level is concerned and what state you are from so we can better serve your needs.

Please contact me, Robin Organ, Executive Director of greeneshcools, at info@projectgreenschools.org

Website: http://www.projectgreenschools.org/

Together, we can make The Green Difference!

According to a groundbreaking new study, preschoolers with gas appliances in their homes scored lower on cognitive tests and were more likely to have ADHD than their peers. Researchers visited the homes of 482 babies in the first twelve weeks of life to count gas appliances in the homes and to install a device to measure average nitrogen dioxide levels in the kitchen over a two week period. Nitrogen dioxide is an odorless gas that can be released from cooking on a gas stove. Later, when the children were four years old, researchers performed detailed testing of their intelligence and behavior. They found a direct relationship between the number of gas appliances (especially unvented gas appliances), the level of nitrogen dioxide in the indoor air, and the odds of having ADHD (especially the inability to pay attention). They also found slightly lower scores on cognitive tests (especially on tests of verbal intelligence and on executive function). These associations remained even after adjusting for other potential factors such as breastfeeding, smoking or drinking during pregnancy, educational level, or income.

Some Kids Are at Higher Risk

The researchers also took DNA samples from the babies, looking for a gene related to the ability to detoxify certain environmental pollutants (the glutathione gene GSTP1). The antioxidant it produces can help to prevent damage from nitrogen dioxide and many other compounds. About half of the children were genetically less able to deal with exposures such as this. The associations in the study were much stronger for those children.

As an example, with children who had two gas appliances (e.g., a gas stove and a gas fireplace) and the protective form of the gene, they just have a typical chance of having ADHD and they score an average of only 2 points lower on general intelligence tests than their peers without any gas appliances. However, children without the protective gene but with the same exposure were almost seven times more likely to have ADHD by age 4 and scored about 10 points lower on intelligence tests than their peers: about 0.5 points lower for every 1 ppb of nitrogen dioxide that had built up in their indoor air. The gene made a big difference. So did the amount of nitrogen dioxide.

A Caution About this Study: Preliminary But Plausible

This appears to be the first major study of indoor air pollution and brain function. It’s important, but far too soon to draw firm conclusions. Moreover, the study was done in Europe, where there are countless differences from here in the homes and lifestyles. Even if the study were repeated here, and similar results found, this would only show an association between these things – not necessarily that one causes the other.

Nevertheless, there is a growing body of evidence linking outdoor air pollution with brain development. And there is strong evidence that for most homes indoor air pollution is worse than outdoor air pollution. And we do know that nitrogen dioxide causes cell damage and provokes an inflammatory response. Keeping indoor air clean seems wise, whether or not we have gas appliances.

Five Simple Things I Recommend (Including Spiders)

• I don’t recommend rushing out to change your appliances.
• I do recommend being sure your gas stove (and other gas appliances) have a fan and vent to outside of your home.
• Use your fan and vent when cooking with gas.
• Consider a spider plant in the kitchen! Senior research scientists from NASA tested the ability of spider plants to remove nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants linked to gas appliances from indoor air. They found that a single spider plant potted in a one gallon container could remove >99 percent of the nitrogen dioxide that had built up — within just six hours. I suggest one in every room where gas is burned. You may want two if the room is larger than 800 cubic feet (10 feet by 10 feet with 8 foot ceilings). This is an inexpensive, green insurance policy. Other plants may work just as well, but this is the only one I know that has been carefully tested for removing nitrogen dioxide.
• Bring fresh air into your home. Open windows when you get a chance – especially in the kitchen and especially at times of day when your impact on heating or cooling bills is low.
• Make fruits, vegetables, or whole grains a part of every meal. The antioxidants in the food we eat are an important part of our bodies’ ability to prevent and repair damage, including this kind of damage – but most of them don’t last for more than several hours at a time.

What You Don’t See

Each breath we take deepens the link between the environment and our bodies. Sometimes air pollution feels like it’s beyond our control. There’s more evidence all the time, though, that the most important air quality is in our own homes – especially for young children. Here we can make a difference, and it can be easy, inexpensive, and refreshing.

Morales, E, J Julvez, M Torrent, R de Cid, M Guxens, M Bustamante, N Kunzli and Sunyer. Association of early-life exposure to household gas appliances and indoor nitrogen dioxide with cognition and attention behavior in preschoolers. American Journal of Epidemiology 2009. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwp067
Wolverton, B.C., R.C. McDonald, and H.H. Mesick. Foliage plants for the indoorremoval of the primary combustion gases carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. J. Miss.Acad. Sci. 1985, 30:1-8.

Students I speak with observe that school food is often either unappetizing (overcooked cafeteria veggies) or unhealthy. Tasty junk food at school has become a magnet for kids across the nation, encouraging nutrition choices that hurt kids now, and build unhealthy habits for the long run.

Thankfully, a growing wave of school boards is starting to tackle the issue, one school district at a time. A quick phone call to your school board could help tip them into action.

But even when action is taken, there is usually a lag of a year or more before the menu actually changes. The Organic Lunchbox is something simple you can do in the meantime to provide your children delicious food that gives them energy for today and builds healthy, vibrant bodies for tomorrow. I’m encouraging parents everywhere to give their children at least one serving of organic food every day this year. Here’s why, then how:

Background

Toxic chemicals are toxic.

We know that pesticides and other chemicals (such as mercury) that can contaminate our food supply cause serious health problems if the exposures to these chemicals are high enough. These problems include cancers (such as brain cancer, breast cancer, and childhood leukemia), behavior problems, ADHD, learning disabilities, genital abnormalities, and reproductive problems.

We know that the very problems that can be caused by these environmental chemicals are increasing in our society and in our children. We know that childhood brain cancer and leukemia have each increased by more than 50 percent since 1975. We know that autism diagnoses have increased 10 times since the 1980’s.

We know that children have higher exposures to pesticides and other chemicals than do adults, and that even at the same exposures, they are at higher risk.

We’ve known from several good studies that pesticides and toxic chemicals aren’t just in the environment – but get into our developing children’s bodies. Some kids have high levels and others quite low. What’s different between these kids? Is there anything simple and practical that parents can do to lower their own children’s risks? A provocative study was published in October 2002 in the Environmental Health Perspectives, the journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH. Here, children were divided into two groups: those who ate mostly conventional foods and those who ate mostly organic foods. All urine for 24 hours was collected from each child. Children who ate conventional diets had mean pesticide concentrations in their urine 9 times higher than the children who ate organic! Their levels indicated that they had exceeded safe exposure levels set by the EPA and were at increased risk to their health. By contrast, those children who ate organic foods were well within the EPA levels deemed to cause negligible risk. Feeding children organic foods is something simple and practical parents can do right now to protect their children and help them build healthy bodies.

The Organic Lunchbox

I recommend that children get a variety of healthy foods. Together, the foods below would make an ideal lunch, loaded with body-building vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other important nutrients (perhaps some that haven’t even been discovered yet). I’m asking parents to include at least one of these items every day. Even adding one of these a day could make a big difference for our children and our environment:

A Serving of Organic Fruit

• This might be an organic apple, organic grapes, or a bag of organic cherries from the local farmers’ market. Thankfully, organic produce is available at more and more grocery stores as well. And the more that people ask for organic produce, the more available it will be. There are so many types of delicious fruit! My kids love kiwi bowls. Take a kiwi, cut it in half, and scoop out the yummy treasure using the thick skin as a bowl.

A Serving of Organic Veggies

• This might be a bag of small carrots from Earthbound Farms. Some kids like veggies (and even fruit) better if they are sent with a dip. A variety of dressings or yogurts can make tasty dips. Ants on a log are a perennial favorite (raisons on a peanut butter- or cream cheese- filled celery stick). My kids sometimes enjoy fresh sugar snap peas to munch, or English peas to shell and pop into the mouth – we get them both at the farmers’ market. Or you might get veggies in as a snack food, such as Just Veggies, or in a drink (such as carrot orange or carrot berry juice).

A Serving of Organic Whole Grains

• The easiest way to get this in is as a bread, a cereal, or a cracker. I like breads from Rudi’s Organic Bakery. The French Meadow Bakery also makes some delicious organic breads. A simple sandwich can be a convenient centerpiece to a great lunch. Keep in mind, though, that not all lunches need a centerpiece. A hunk of bread along with the other items in the lunchbox can make a perfect lunch without a ‘main dish’.

An Organic Calcium Source

• Two out of three kids in the U.S. do not get enough calcium in their diets! School-age children need at least 800 mg daily through age 8, and 1300 mg daily from age 9 to 13. A glass of milk has about 300 mg; a serving of yogurt about 400 mg; a slice of cheese might have about 200 mg. Those who don’t get calcium at lunch are unlikely to meet their daily needs. Lunch might include a serving of Stonyfield Farm organic yogurt – in a cup, as a fun Squeezer, or as an organic drinkable yogurt. Organic cheese is another good option. For kids who don’t do dairy, there are many other calcium options, including green vegetables, or even calcium enriched juices.

An Organic Source of Lean Protein

• You may have already provided your child with protein by giving them yogurt or a simple sandwich with Organic cheese. If there is not another protein source in the lunchbox yet, consider a hardboiled egg (perhaps an organic egg high in DHA), organic beans, or a sandwich with lean organic meats.

They DON’T Need: added sugars (especially high fructose corn syrups), added fats (especially partially hydrogenated fats), lots of artificial colors and other chemicals, or foods grown with pesticides, antibiotics, or hormones.

The Evil Twin

Let’s compare the commonsense, tasty lunch above with a popular prepackaged combination lunch-in-a-box, the kinds some kids fight over in the grocery store aisles. The one in front of me contains hot dogs, with cola to drink, and candy for dessert.

The Organic Fruit? None

• There is no fruit at all. 0% of the daily requirement for vitamin C (among many others).

The Organic Vegetable? None

• There is no vegetable, unless you count the catsup. 0% of the recommended servings of vegetables. Less than 2% of the recommended daily amount of vitamin A.

The Organic Whole Grain? None

• There is no whole grain. Only highly processed, nutritionally depleted white bread, with insufficient fiber.

The Organic Calcium Source?

• There is a small amount of calcium, but not close to the amount needed at lunch to meet the day’s requirements – it leaves them needing to catch up.

The Lean Protein Source?

• No lean protein source here. The saturated fats are artery-clogging and fattening even to kids. What protein there is comes from mechanically separated turkey and pork treated with sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, and nitrites. We know nothing about how the animals were raised.

It Also Contains: caffeine, chemical preservatives such as potassium sorbate and calcium proprionate, artificial chemical flavors, artificial chemical colors, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, added sugar, dextrose, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup – about 12 teaspoons of sugars, and more saturated fatthan anyone should eat at a meal.

All of the vitamins or minerals whose levels are disclosed on the package are quite low. It would take 10 of these meals to give a day’s supply of calcium or iron, 50 meals to get a day’s supply of vitamin A, and you would never get enough vitamin C – no matter how many of these you ate. Ten of these meals would supply almost 5000 calories, almost 200 gm of fat, and 8500 mg of sodium. This is part of what we mean by empty calories.

This may seem like an unfair comparison, but children eat food like this evil twin every day – food that they purchase at school, or pack along with them. The number one food kids eat? French Fries!

The Lunchbox Challenge

Let this be the year where you give your child at least one serving of organic food a day. The Organic Lunchbox is one great option. If packing lunch doesn’t work well for your family, consider starting the day right with a serving of organic food for breakfast. The research is clear that whether and what a child eats at breakfast makes a difference in learning, behavior, and test scores all morning long.

Isn’t it great that choosing healthy delicious food can make a real difference for our children today – and in years to come when they have walked out their childhoods, out of our homes, out of our reach, but never out of our hearts!