It’s been impossible to avoid the perpetual hubbub over what we put inside of ourselves (e.g. the alleged health hazards of eating wheat). But according to two of our country’s top environmental thinkers, Bruce Lourie and Rick Smith, we’ve got even more work cut out for us. In their new book, Toxin Toxout, Lourie and Smith reveal in detail how we have been — and continue to be — exposed to scores of toxic chemicals that riddle commercial products, all of which wreak havoc on our health over time. Here, Lourie gives us a primer on the issue.
Bruce, have I basically been a living storage vessel for toxicity since the day I was born?
Absolutely. You know, even before you were born. Yep. Unfortunately.
Oh my God. Please elaborate.
Well, we live in a world where there are roughly 80,000 synthetic chemicals in commerce. So the challenge for all of us is that we really can’t avoid [being exposed to] these chemicals. And they’re in everything—from our soaps and body lotions and shampoos … [there are chemicals] sprayed all over our electronic equipment and lining our frying pans, you name it.… We’re using these products and we’re exposing ourselves to the chemicals and they end up in our bodies. It’s not so much that pollution is out there; pollution is in us. You have anywhere from 50 to 200 different synthetic chemicals in an umbilical chord, meaning that those are basically going right into the fetus.
How long has this been an issue?
Most of these chemicals were developed during the Second World War, and some of them post–Second World War, so for the most part, these chemicals were brought on to the market between the early 1950s and late 1970s. So we’re just now starting to see the first generation growing up with these chemicals in their bodies.… We sort of like to think that we’re using fewer chemicals [today], but we’re actually using way more than we ever used to. There’s way more plastic, there’s way more waste, and I think it’s going to be even more exaggerated when you look at kids born in the 1990s and 2000s and beyond.
Any health concerns we should be wary of?
There’s everything from thyroid problems to ADHD and asthma and, obviously cancer. But these childhood epidemics that we see lately? You know, [they] really weren’t around before. Kids with peanut allergies, for instance. I’m 50, and we didn’t have peanut allergies when I was growing up. Now my kids can’t take peanut butter sandwiches to school.
What’s your take on detox diets?
Well, if you’re consuming crap 11 and a half months a year, it’s not all going to suddenly leave your body with two weeks of eating broccoli from a blender. I think these things make people feel good, and they’re not detoxing. There’s no real information or evidence that these cleanses are removing toxic chemicals from your body. But, the idea that you could be drinking a lot of water, eating a lot less meat and consuming less dairy products, all of these are the right things to be doing to help our bodies naturally enhance their natural detoxification systems.
