Waking Up from a Chemical Stupor?

Every so often, the mainstream media will do a piece on environmental effects on fetal development. It is too scientific for many newspapers and doesn’t make for fuzzy morning television, so often it is a well done article tucked in the back. I always hope, when I see this news make the papers, that the general public will find it so astonishing that we let our corporations get away with crimes against us, they will wake up and make change.

Common Dreams, a wide news collective posted the LA Times article last week. It was fortifying as I return from vacation. I didn’t really stick to my diet while we were away, so I have a lot of detoxifying to do. I ate a good deal of fish this week which means my levels of mercury are probably up. I had the awful allergy attack, so I’ve got to rid my body of the junk from the inhaler. And we were without filtered water there, so I’m sure I took in some interesting stuff from the iron tasting well water. Here’s a picture from our trip.

This is not the first time we have heard these warnings. But the warnings don’t seem to be trickling down to mothers (who aren’t actively seeking this information.) What is alarming about the article, is that it is impossible for us to avoid the contaminants of which the scientists and medical doctors warn. I don’t choose the air I breathe. I can only modify the water I drink. I walked into a popular discount store the other day and was hit with a wall of plastic chemical smell that made my eyes burn. Every time a diesel truck spews it’s awful breath, I hold mine hoping not to take all that inside my lungs. Part of me would like to check into a camp somewhere far away from everything toxic so I can clean myself out and then conceive. Not exactly practical, but I have this desire to escape to a clean place. Worse though, is that there are no clean places left on the planet.

The issue is bigger than my body and my baby. Rarely anymore, does the collective weigh into our decisions. How often do you look at your purchases and recognize more than the price, to you? All the waste, the cheap labor, the energy it took to make it and then ship it are all costs to us as a community. The same holds true for the health of our kids. Eventually, those kids will grow up and be making the important decisions. How effective can they be in world leadership, innovation and productivity if they are fighting diabetes, mental illness or cancer?

This issue is really at the heart of this blog. Raising preconception health awareness is important to me. If I can’t completely avoid everything detrimental to my child and me, then I must take action to optimize the situation. So when I’m feeling like this is too daunting, I’ll come back to this article to revive my motivation.

Meanwhile, spread the word to those who don’t make it to the back of the newspaper, that scientists are recognizing that all our stuff is killing or harming our soon-to-be newborns.