Chemicals in our Bodies

I was just perusing through articles over at Ode Magazine, and I came across an article submitted by a reader that I thought was a very straightforward summary of the "scary" chemicals found everywhere in our environment. The author talks about wanting to protect his baby from these chemicals and the steps he and his family are taking to do so (avoiding products with sodium laureth and laurel sulfate, etc.)  These chemicals are in the lotions and shampoos we put on our bodies, in our detergents, and in our food. 

This summer I read Not Just A Pretty Face, an expose on the beauty industry by Stacy Malkan that I highly recommend.  I was completely shocked to learn about the dangers and hazards found in most cosmetics, and the US government's lacking regulations. You can learn more at her site, and you can also go to  www.cosmeticsdatabase.com to look up the ingredients and health concerns of the products you use.

I believe that we can make a difference in our own lives and those of others with the choices we make everyday.  I don't believe that buying things is the answer to many of our environmental concerns, but I will do my best to support those companies whose products I can trust are non-harmful to my body and who are working to create better, more sustainable business models.

(Edit: Mike, the author of the article at Ode Magazine, has also created a site for skin care information at www.myskinbetter.com and has his own line of non harmful products at Emily Skin Soothers.)

(Photo by Jeramy Lim, shared under a creative commons license.)

Comments

[Mike Arsenault]

HI Rebekah--
Thanks for the link. I appreciate it. It's good to see your blog spreading the message and helping your readers to become more informed.
I am a fan of Malkan's book too and my company Emily Skin Soothers is a signer of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics---they have rated all of our products thus far a zero on a scale of 0-10 for low to high risk.
Since writing that article on Ode I also went on to post a whole website: www.myskinbetter.com that is full of free, self-care information on how to care for your skin naturally. After learning all I could to help my daughter with her skin problems, I thought I should share what I learned with a wider audience. Hope it helps some of your readers. Thanks so much. Sincerely,

Mike Arsenault
Emily Skin Soothers, Inc
www.emilyskinsoothers.com
www.myskinbetter.com

[Becca Olstad]

Hey Mike!

I'm so glad to hear about all of the great work you're doing!

Best,
Becca

[Lois Barber]

Hi Becca,

Thanks for this post. My teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, says, "If you want to take care of the environment, take care of the environmentalist." We have to start with ourselves as a way to take care of the planet. We need to be mindful of what we put on or take into our bodies. Thanks for the links, the book suggestion, and for making it easy for all of us to learn more about this important issue.

[Ajlouny]

It's becoming more and more evident that the products that are available to us in our world today has toxic content. This comes to mind when I hear of the outrageous statistics of the different cancers that effects so many people in our society. It's got to be what we expose our bodies to on a daily basis over time.