by Linda Chaé

Synthetic chemicals are impacting our children’s health!

Every parent worries about all the things that might go wrong during pregnancy which could affect the health and wellbeing of their newborn child. After childbirth, we also do everything to guard against the tragedies of ADD, Learning Disabilities or debilitating diseases. We trust the medical community and companies who make products for our children…BUT…they are letting us down.

An associate became very alarmed after watching ‘Kids and Chemicals’, a PBS report by Bill Moyers which featured Dr. Philip Landrigan from Mount Sinai. He was discussing the impact of chemicals on children’s health. He and other scientists have concluded many of these lead to chronic diseases, including asthma, developmental disabilities and cancer. Variations of some of the same petroleum-based chemicals are found in the very baby products that we have trusted for generations.

Harmful chemicals are in nearly every baby product!

Many of the synthetic chemicals found in nearly every baby product are directly linked to allergies, immunotoxicity, cancer, developmental toxicity, brain and nervous system effects at low doses, etc. And where is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? Well, they don’t regulate topical baby products. It’s no wonder the incidence of ADD and Learning Disabilities is growing at an alarming rate. The recently passed California Safe Cosmetics Act is a bold attempt to ban many of these harmful chemical ingredients.

You probably don’t know about the toxic impact of some of these ingredients unless you read Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) or scientific studies. And since manufacturers have used these synthetic ingredients for so many years, they have too much invested to tell us the products may be harmful to our children. These companies and their products are positioned as trust worthy. They even give gift baskets of their products while you are in the hospital (also a place you are supposed to trust). What a paradox!

Make informed choices for your children.
As informed parents, you can make effective, healthy choices for your children. We recommend you avoid products with the following ingredients at all cost:

• Propylene glycol: may contribute to central nervous system depression (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services)
• All products containing parabens (methyl, propyl, butyl, ethyl): xeno-estrogens; found in breast cancer tumors; developmental/reproductive toxicity (Brunel University; Journal of Applied Toxicology; ewg.org)
• Quaternium: allergies/immunotoxicity, formaldehyde donor (Environmental Working Group - ewg.org)
• Fragrance: causes neurotoxicity; allergies (Environmental Health Network; ewg.org)
• PEG: potential carcinogen and hormone disruptor due to presence of dioxin (Congressional Subcommittee Testimony by Asst. Surgeon General)

We sincerely want the very best for our babies and children. They represent our future, so we must protect them. Stay informed so you can make intelligent choices.