Drop Dead Healthy

Five Toxins I Now Avoid

Even if you lived in a hazmat suit in Antarctica and ate only organic lentils grown in boiled water in your hydroponic garden, you’d still encounter plenty of toxins. Like God and Duane Reade drugstores, toxins are everywhere.

The question is, which suspected toxins will do real damage and which ones can we safely ignore? It’s a headache-inducing puzzle.

The perfectly rational person must weigh four factors:

• The strength of the evidence that the suspected toxin harms our bodies at the doses you’re consuming

• The strength of the evidence that the suspected toxin harms the environment

• How time-consuming it is to replace the suspected toxin with a less chemical-heavy alternative

• How much money it costs to replace the suspected toxin with a less chemical-heavy alternative.

Obviously, there are no black-and-white answers. It’s one big gray area, and the shades of gray are forever shifting.

By way of illustration, I’m listing the five habits I’ve changed since Project Health. Remember, this is just my list, based on my research and my biases. It’s not meant to be definitive.

Organic food

When I can, I try to buy organic food, despite its annoying price tag. Especially when it comes to the “Dirty Dozen”—the most pesticide-heavy fruits identified by the Environmental Working Group. As of 2011, these were apples, celery, strawberries, peaches, spinach, nectarines (imported), grapes (imported), bell peppers, potatoes, blueberries (domestic), lettuce, kale, collard greens. More at http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/.

Fish

I think mercury poisoning from fish is, as Homeland Security says, a credible threat—especially when it comes to my kids. Bagels and lox are now a once-a-month treat for them. I’ve cut my fish consumption down to twice a week and I follow the recommendations from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, which can be found at http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_recommendations.aspx?c=ln.

One of their key points is to avoid fish high on the food chain (marlin, swordfish, tilefish).

Plastics

As the father of three young kids, I went on a ruthless bisphenol A hunt. BPA is a compound found in plastic that might cause, as Time magazine puts it, “brain and behavioral effects in young children.” It’s found in some clear plastic bottles and containers.

You can check the recycling code on the bottom of your plasticware. Toss anything with the code three, six, or seven—these have BPA. (Just remember this poem: “Four, five, one and two/All the rest are bad for you.”)

Also, with plastics, I try to avoid phthalates, a compound that increases plastic’s flexibility. Some yet to be-conclusive evidence shows it might be an endocrine disrupter. Plastic shower curtains usually have phthalates, so I replaced ours with a cotton one.

Soaps and toothpaste

Triclosan is a controversial antibacterial chemical. Some say it’s an endocrine disruptor and carcinogen (the FDA’s investigation is ongoing). To avoid triclosan, I no longer buy antibacterial soaps, just plain soap. And I converted our family to Tom’s of Maine toothpaste.

Cookware

Nonstick cookware usually contains perfluorinated chemicals, which are possible hormone disrupters. I switched the family to stainless steel pots and pans.

And then I cross my fingers.

Sources: The Body Toxic by Nena Baker, Slow Death by Rubber Duck by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, the FDA, EPA, the Environmental Working Group, the American Council on Science and Health, Time magazine