Share & Voice: Worry about more than just your water bottles

In my previous share & voice I talked about Sharon Szukis, a herbalist, coming to talk to our class about supplements.  There is something else she talked about that I was completely unaware of that is really significant information, especially for women.  We talked about cosmetics.

The first thing you need to know is that everything you put on your skin, ends up being absorbed into your bloodstream.  This is in part because the skin receives 1/3 of the blood circulation throughout the body.  This is important information because I'd say most women use numerous products on their skin daily.  This includes things like lotion, shampoo and conditioner, body wash, shaving cream, face wash, lip balm, and concealers.  So what's in all those products you have to watch you for?  Paraben and Propylene glycol are both used as chemical preservatives and stabilizers and they are also products of petroleum.  The funny thing about petroleum is that when it enters a human body it mimics estrogen.  They are called xenoestrogen (xeno is a Greek prefix meaning foreign or strange).  In our culture today men and women already have way to much estrogen in their systems coming from animal products, breathing in car exhaust, the water we drink, and plastics leeching chemicals.  These xenoestrogens are the same thing we worry about with plastic water bottles and yet no one is telling us, "Stop putting on lotion."  Estrogen caused cancers (such as breast, colon, and prostate cancer) are at epidemic proportions in the U.S. and no doubt the rate will continue to rise.  Estrogen in men can also lower their sperm count which could account in part for why so many couples have trouble conceiving these days.  Although it was mostly in jest, Sharon said, "In the 70s, that was unheard of! Everybody was getting pregnant their first try!"

So of course when I got home from Sharon's talk I went through a bunch of my cosmetics and toiletries.  Sure enough I found Propylene glycol in almost all of them and at least 1 or 2 others in a list of synthetics to avoid she had handed out in class. Sharon mentioned that companies make products that don't include these harmful synthetics, but it's just more expensive.  She acknowledged that being college students on a budget we can't afford to throw out our whole stash of stuff to buy new, safer products.  She suggested instead to maybe choose one product that you use the most, or over the most surface area on your body, and when that one is gone spend the extra 2 or 3 bucks on an all natural product.

A few other things to think about that leech chemicals that you may be ingesting:

• cooking pans - if your pans have a Teflon coating (or any other kind of coating) and it gets scratched and you continue to use it, you're ingesting that. Don't put these pans in the dishwasher!
  
• Cooking at higher temperatures can leech toxins into your food.  Never cook on high!
• Never use plastic wrap to cover your food in the microwave. Invest in some wax paper!
• Just putting plastic containers in the microwave in general is bad.  It's just the same (if not worse) than leaving a plastic water bottle out in the sun and then drinking out of it. Use ceramic or glass in the microwave whenever possible!