CONVENIENT, "SAFE" AND DEADLY
An Excerpt
Chapter 1: Chemical Injury Illnesses
Chemically Dependent Society
In this book, we will examine the association between our chemical lifestyle and our health. I'm sure we all agree that we have become a chemically dependent society. Many aspects of our lifestyle are completely dependent on synthetic chemicals.
For example, computers and our technology age are very dependent on plastic. For each person, that dependency varies according to lifestyle choices. For example, some women love strong perfume, other women don’t wear any perfume; some homes have wall to wall carpeting, others have none; some people think pesticides are terrific and use them a lot, and others avoid pesticides at all costs.
We all make different lifestyle choices; therefore the combination of chemicals we are all exposed to will be different for each of us. Yet, it is impossible for any of us to go from birth to death, without experiencing a vast array of exposures to a wide variety of synthetic chemicals.
Some synthetic chemicals are chemically identical to those which are produced naturally. Consequently, we are continuously bombarded with chemical exposure, either natural or synthetic. Therefore, we need to look closely at this chemical bombardment and seriously ask ourselves some questions:
1) Are there any negative health affects from these lifestyle choices?
2) Is there any possible way that my choices are making me ill, or any member of my family ill, or anyone else ill?
Our Body: A Chemical Manufacturing Plant
We know that our body is basically a chemical manufacturing plant. The ability of the systems of our body to function normally relies on our body’s ability to manufacture and process a wide variety of chemicals. Hormones, enzymes, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, sugars, proteins, fats, etc. are all chemicals. Even water is a chemical compound (H2O—di-hydrogen oxide). The body has its own built-in systems to keep all chemical interactions in perfect balance. The body’s ability to maintain life and health is dependent on the body’s ability to manufacture and process chemicals and to keep the different systems of the body working in balance. When the balance is thrown off, health problems arise.
So, what kinds of health problems might arise? We need to remind ourselves that this chemically dependent lifestyle increased drastically after World War II. Some chemical compounds were initially developed as nerve agents to help in winning a war; then when the war was over, they began finding other uses for these chemicals.
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The thinking was that if it took a large dose to kill, a very tiny dose should not cause any problem. This thinking was based on the principle that the dose makes the poison. A large dose is poisonous; but a small dose is harmless.
New Emerging Illnesses
Now several generations have been raised on this hypothesis. What we find is a new group of illnesses
beginning to emerge that challenge that claim.
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