With a little common sense we can do much better than that—conscious awareness is the key. We need to stop burying our heads in the sand. Armed with knowledge and the awareness that we can stand up and take responsibility for our own health (instead of popping pills for quick fixes or having doctors just “cut it out”), we can live much more vibrant healthy lives.
Cutting Down our Exposure
Actively making an effort to reduce our exposure to carcinogens can make all the difference in the world. We need to do it not only for our health, but also for the health of the planet. It’s not always easy. It takes some thought and effort to do because harmful chemicals are everywhere: from the preservatives and pesticides we consume to even the shampoos we use; from the fire-retardant sprayed upholstery we touch to the Styrofoam containers that leach out into our food. Each one of us is absorbing enormous amounts of toxic chemicals on a daily basis—146 chemical ingredients from personal care products alone during the course of an average day. The more chemicals we can cut down our exposure to, the better.
Contrary to popular belief, the FDA doesn’t require safety data on ingredients used in personal care products, and over a third contain ingredients classified by the government as possibly causing cancer. If you ever took a look at the Material Safety Sheets for some of the most popular brands, you would be completely flabbergasted! Not surprisingly, this scourge of toxins is really starting to show up in our health statistics. For instance, just since 1994 when rbGH (growth hormone given to cows to increase milk production), was introduced into our nation’s dairy supply (other nations have banned it by the way!), lymphatic cancer has increased 2,000 percent—that’s right 2,000 percent! This is statistical evidence revealed by the U.S. Census Bureau. These figures may start making you wish you really could just bury your head in the sand—well, don’t—because at the end of this article you’ll find a list of some easy ways to help keep you from becoming one of the statistics!
