Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Do you want 1,4-dioxane in your personal care products?

This is an eye-opening article.  Especially when you read that "concerns about exposures at key points in development (such as pregnancy, infancy and puberty) are cause for concern."  AND, that you won't see 1,4-dioxane on the label.  Does that make you angry?  Please read the entire article and be sure to share it.

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics : 1,4-dioxane

I personally prefer these safe & natural baby products.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

9 Tips for Cancer Prevention


This is an excellent article and one that should be copied and posted on the refrigerator.  It should also be shared with everyone you know.

When you read that "Four of every 10 Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes, and two of every 10 will die from it"  this should raise some eyebrows and motivate all of us to take action.

 Cancer Prevention Tips Environmental Working Group

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

More BPA Woes

Early-life exposure to BPA may affect testis function in adulthood

ScienceDaily (2010-06-22) -- Exposure to environmental levels of the industrial chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, in the womb and early life may cause long-lasting harm to testicular function, according to a new study conducted in animals. ... > read full article

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

BPA Blues

This is an excellent review of some of the latest studies on BPA and their results.  Dr. Chaney makes a good case for a preventative appraoch to health management.

By Dr. Stephen Chaney, PhD

You've heard the saying "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" - and sometimes we don't really know what we are preventing until after the fact.


Toxic chemicals such as BPA are a case in point!  Bisphenol A or BPA is a chemical additive that has been added to clear plastic bottles for years, but we are just now starting to learn how toxic it is.

Recent studies have suggested that BPA increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes and liver disease...
...and the news keeps getting worse!

One recent study showed that BPA prevents the formation of nerve connections in the portion of the brain that controls formation of memories and control of moods (Leranth et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 105:14187-191, 2008) - in short that BPA may negatively affect brain function.

That had been previously shown in mice, but what makes this study so concerning was that the authors demonstrated the same effect in monkeys - and at doses that the EPA considers to be "safe" for humans.

The second study in the August 14, 2008 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives showed that BPA suppresses a hormone called adiponectin which is responsible for maintaining normal weight and preventing the development of metabolic syndrome - a precursor to diabetes.

Those data suggest that BPA may increase the risk of both obesity and diabetes.

All of these potential health consequences of BPA exposure are especially concerning in light of a recent study showing that 90% of the US population has BPA in their urine.

So does that mean that it is too late - that there is nothing that we can do to prevent the damage caused by an environmental toxin that we were all exposed to but did not know about until recently?

The answer is no.

As I pointed out in a previous "Health Tips From the Professor" (Bad Effects Of Additives In Plastics, archived at: http://www.socialmarketingconnection.com ) those of you who have been taking a preventative approach and making sure that you had plenty of folic acid and genistein (a phytonutrient found in soy protein) in your diet may have protected yourself from the bad effects of BPA.

So, my word of advice to all of you is follow a holistic approach to health that includes weight control, exercise, good diet and supplementation.

It will help protect you from the dangers that you know about and the ones that you don't.

To Your Health!

Dr. Stephen G Chaney