The UltraMind Solution (20 page)

Most of us used a topical disinfectant called Mercurochrome (which was silently banned by the FDA in 1998 because it was no longer considered safe due to its mercury content) for all our wounds when we were young.

Mercury fillings or “silver” amalgams are still used in dentistry (except in most European countries, where they are banned, and
in Canada, where use is highly discouraged). Though highly controversial, the American Dental Association continues to support their safety and use.

If mercury in fillings is stable and does not influence human health, why do autopsy studies show the level of mercury in tissues (especially the brain) directly correlates to the number of fillings in the mouth?
³¹
And why are dental fillings considered toxic waste (whose disposal the EPA regulates) when removed from your body (
www.epa.gov/mercury/healthcare.htm
)? Why are they banned or restricted in Canada, Germany, and Sweden? And why do studies show that the mercury migrates right through the teeth into the bloodstream?
³²

Let me reiterate this:
mercury is the second-most toxic substance known to human biology after plutonium.

Do not
underestimate what ingesting this poison, from medications, dental “silver” fillings, large marine fish like tuna or shark, or even environmental exposure can do to your body. Twenty-five percent of New Yorkers have toxic blood levels of mercury from eating too much sushi and 15 percent of American women of childbearing age have toxic levels of mercury in their blood.
³³
That means that 15 percent of the 4 million children born in the U.S.A. each year or 600,000 children are exposed to toxic levels of mercury in the womb.
³⁴

This is a serious health concern. Mercury will wreak havoc on your body and your brain.

We are exposed to astounding amounts of brain pollution. More than 80,000 chemicals have been introduced into our society since 1900, yet only 550 have been tested for safety (
www.epa.gov/iriswebp/iris/stand-al.htm
). According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), about 2.5 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are released yearly by large industrial facilities.

Most toxicity studies (and remember there are only studies on 550 chemicals or 0.6 percent of the total amount of toxins floating around in our environment) look at only one compound at a time.
³⁵
But we are exposed to hundreds of different toxins, most of which can affect brain function. There are few studies done on the combined effects of this toxic exposure on the brain.

In fact, a recent government survey (“National Report on Human Exposure
to Environmental Chemicals,” issued in July 2005,
www.cdc/gov/exposurereport/
) found an average of 148 chemicals in our bodies, and those were only the ones they tested.

We are exposed to hazardous wastes, emissions from local waste incinerators, solvents, heavy metals, ground-water pollutants including industrial heavy metal waste products such as arsenic, common materials such as phthalates (plasticizers found in all plastic bottles), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (flame retardants).

A recent study of umbilical cord blood found 287 toxic chemicals, 217 of which are toxic to the brain and nervous system. And this is what infants are exposed to even before they take their first breath.
³⁶

And then there are the toxins found in our foods and homes (like certain cleaning agents or pest controls), all of which add to the total toxic load on our bodies.

We live in a sea of toxins. See chapter 10 for more details. For now, let’s look at some of the more common toxic agents you are likely exposed to.

More than 3,500 different chemicals can be added to our food and more than 3,000 are in our homes.
³⁷
Every one of them is legal, and you will be exposed to some or all of them, depending on how you live.

The average American consumes literally pounds of hormones, antibiotics, food chemicals, additives, artificial sweeteners, and MSG each year. Each one of these toxic chemicals has been shown to harm the brain.

The average person consumes a gallon of neurotoxic pesticides and herbicides each year by eating conventionally grown fruits and vegetables.
³⁸
(And that’s with people eating much less than the eight to ten servings they should be eating!) Remember, pesticides work
because
they are neurotoxic to pests—they attack their nervous system.

When children are exposed to toxic chemicals and pesticides, the stakes are higher. They are exposed to a higher relative dose of these toxins due to their low body weight, and their developing brains are more sensitive to insult.

One study showed children who regularly ate nonorganic foods purchased in an average grocery store had high levels of pesticides in their urine, while those who strictly ate organic food had almost none.
³⁹
Other studies link early pesticide exposure to autism
⁴⁰
and other neurobehavioral problems in children.
⁴¹

A recent study in
Lancet
⁴²
clearly showed that food additives make children hyperactive. They took about three hundred normal children and split them into two groups. Each group was given an identical-looking colored drink. One was naturally colored and the other contained sodium benzoate and many other colors and additives.

The children who drank the tainted drink were all much more hyperactive. There is no benefit or role for these compounds in our diet, and much evidence of harm. They benefit the food industry by improving shelf life, taste, and “attractiveness.” But they should not be in our food supply, period. Come eat the neon blue food!

These compounds (and the total load of all the other toxins we are exposed to) create changes in mood, aggressive behavior, depression, problems with attention and focus, sleep problems, reduced intellectual performance, and memory loss.

It isn’t just consuming one red candy, blue cupcake, or the few drops of pesticide sprayed on our pint of strawberries once in a while. It is the consistent, repetitive, cumulative presence of these chemicals in our lives.

The evidence of harm is in. Do we need more to act?

The basis for a decision should not even be the evidence of harm (though we have more than enough); it should be the clear evidence of the absence of harm and complete safety. This is called the
precautionary principle,
otherwise known as better safe than sorry.

But we are living human guinea pigs, and our children are the most sensitive.

Why else would we be seeing epidemics of autism, mood disorders, and ADHD in children over the last thirty years?

In our everyday life we are exposed to and absorb many toxic chemicals into our bodies, especially VOCs, or volatile organic compounds.
⁴³
These toxins seep out of our furniture made with formaldehyde and our sofas made with fire retardants and are in many regular household cleaning products. It is in the stuff we use to wash our dishes with, clean our tables with, wash our toilet bowls with, and clean our clothes in.

One of the “green” or environmental movement’s biggest assets is that it is actually cheaper to create environments and buildings that support health, rather than those that make us sick. Eliminating these toxic chemicals from our homes and workplaces is not only environmentally more sustainable, it is economically more sustainable.

In fact, Kaiser Permanente, a large health maintenance organization in California, has gone green, declaring that all its buildings and building materials from now on will be environmentally sustainable. They project spending $24 billion by 2014 on new and existing buildings to create these environmentally sustainable and health-promoting facilities. And, they say, it will be cheaper than regular construction.

According to Mike Hrast, construction supervisor at the Modesto, California, Kaiser facility (still under construction at this writing), the company will save a minimum of $238,000 by implementing green standards just at this one facility.

Eventually we will get to a place in our society where environmental safety and sustainability will be “built into” our homes and workplaces. In the meantime, do an inventory of all the chemicals you are exposed to at work and at home and make a clean sweep.

Toxic chemicals have a clear impact on behavior and brain function, both short and long term.
⁴⁴
Reduce or avoid your exposure to them. I recommend a book called
Green Housekeeping
by Ellen Sandbeck as a resource to cleaning up your home environment.