[MPWG] Fwd:[EWG] TEDX: Pulling it all together

Tue Sep 21 16:37:31 CDT 2010

I pass this on for those of us who love not only our two and 4 legged beings
but all of Nature as well.
We all need to know about endocrine disrupting chemicals and the work of Dr.
Theo Colborn.
Marguerite

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: TEDX <tedxlist at endocrinedisruption.org>
Date: Tue, Sep 21, 2010 at 4:43 PM
Subject: [EWG] TEDX: Pulling it all together
To: Environmental Work Group of Central New York <
environmental_work_group_of_central_new_york at lists.riseup.net>

Dear friends of TEDX,

>From the beginning, TEDX has had a singular purpose: to compile and
disseminate scientific evidence on the health and environmental problems
associated with low-dose exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).
To many people, however, our work on the chemicals used during natural gas
operations and our work on prenatal exposure to EDCs has seemed like a
two-headed monster (at least from the point of view of industry!) Now, we
have a one-page statement that pulls it all together: *The Fossil Fuel
Connection*. Click here to download the pdf and please share this with your
colleagues! http://www.endocrinedisruption.com/endocrine.fossilfuel.php

In addition, our manuscript *Natural Gas Operations from a Public Health
Perspective* has been accepted for publication in the *International Journal
of Human and Ecological Risk Assessment*, a peer-reviewed scientific
journal. The paper illustrates the urgent need for full disclosure of
chemicals used during natural gas operations.Click here to download the
manuscript. http://www.endocrinedisruption.com/chemicals.introduction.php

>From all of us at TEDX, thank you for your continued interest in our work.

*The Fossil Fuel Connection*

Extracting, processing, and burning fossil fuels (natural gas, oil and coal)
introduces huge volumes of harmful chemicals

into our environment. These chemicals, and the tens of thousands of chemical
products synthesized from them, are now

present in every environment on earth, including the womb. Extremely low
concentrations of many chemicals can

damage the endocrine system of our bodies by interfering with the intricate,
delicate network of natural chemical

interactions critical to healthy development and normal function.

* *

** * **

Fossil fuels come out of the ground contaminated with toxic byproducts. Both
the fuel and the byproducts are used to

create such things as plastics, pesticides, flame retardants, and
fragrances. These chemical products are now present in

our homes, schools and work places, in toys, clothing, cosmetics,
sunscreens, electronics, furniture, cleaning products,

lawn care products, food packaging, automobiles, building materials, and
more. As tests have been refined to detect

very low chemical concentrations, they have been found in our air, our soil
and our water, as well as in every human

being ever tested. They have even been measured in the umbilical cord blood
of newborn babies.

Studies of wildlife and laboratory animals show that very low concentrations
of chemicals administered during critical

periods of development can change how an organism is constructed and
functions throughout its life. When encountered

prenatally (through the placenta in mammals) they can alter development in
ways that affect not only the offspring but

future generations of that offspring, leaving them susceptible to a whole
host of health problems. These include changes

in the central nervous system that could result in autism, attention-deficit
hyperactivity disorder, Parkinson’s and

Alzheimer’s diseases; reproductive system effects such as infertility, male
birth defects, endometriosis, cancers of the

breast, prostate and testicles; and metabolic disorders such as diabetes and
obesity.

Even worse, government standards for chemical safety are deeply flawed. For
the relatively few chemicals for which

safety standards exist, acceptable levels of exposure are based on research
in which high doses of chemicals were

administered and then repeatedly lowered until no damaging effects were
detected. What toxicologists failed to

recognize, however, was that lowering the concentrations of the chemicals
even further, (below seemingly ‘safe’ levels),

to the level at which hormones operate, (in parts-per-billion or even
parts-per-trillion, more comparable to what we

encounter every day), can introduce a whole new set of damaging effects. We
simply cannot continue to assume that

very low levels of harmful chemicals are safe.

Fossil-fuel derived chemicals also produce pollution at every stage they are
handled - extraction, refinement, processing,

production, distribution and waste disposal. Of recent concern is the
extraction of natural gas using a process called

hydrofracking in which millions of gallons of water are mixed with sand and
chemicals, then injected into the earth in

order to help the gas rise to the surface. Pollution of our air, water and
soil is created when gasses rise from the well pad

and from waste evaporation ponds, when liquids are injected underground,
spilled, or incompletely processed in waste

facilities, and when sludge and other toxic solids are farmed into soil. In
addition, lights, roads and truck traffic disturb

wildlife and nearby communities.

Finding solutions to these problems requires that we galvanize all our
effort toward alternative sources of energy

(including shifting enormous government subsidies away from fossil fuels),
while simultaneously reducing our

consumption of and exposure to products that contain harmful chemicals and
demanding safer alternatives. Our ability to

produce healthy, intelligent individuals who can create a clean and safe
world depends on it. ◘

Please visit our wiki at http://oneonta-region.wikispot.org/

-- 
May Peace Prevail on Earth and In Our Hearts

-- 

Marguerite Uhlmann-Bower
226 Kelso Rd. / Sanders Lane
East Meredith, NY 13757
(607) 278-9635
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/mpwg_lists.plantconservation.org/attachments/20100921/0187b0fd/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------

Please visit our wiki at http://oneonta-region.wikispot.org/ 