Pesticides

How Damaging are GMO’s

We are fighting a battle right now to keep real food around. Organic, unprocessed non-GMO food.  It doesn’t matter what side of the political fence you stand on we are all human and we all require real food to function properly.  There is a fight on both sides over How Damaging are GMO'swhether or not GMO’s should be labeled. Personally, I won’t purchase anything with a GMO label and will only buy organic fruits, vegetables and meat. I want those labels. I want the ability to choose what I purchase.

Why is this a big deal? GMO’s have never shown safety studies. The few studies that have been done have included poor effects on gut bacteria. Gut bacteria are a huge part of our health and have a connection to keeping our brain healthy. GMO’s have also shown tumors, premature death, allergic reactions, kidney and liver damage. Several studies involved animals and the results were not positive.

Nutrition is another huge factor. Although most of us enjoy eating, we also require eating for nutrition and overall health. A 2012 nutritional analysis of GM versus non-GM corn (http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/04/30/monsanto-gmo-corn.aspx)  showed huge discrepancies in nutritional value of GMO food vs not. Non-GM corn contains 437 times more calcium, 56 times more magnesium, and 7 times more manganese than GM corn. GM corn was also found to contain 13 ppm of glyphosate, a pesticide so toxic that it may be carcinogenic in the parts-per-trillion range, compared to zero in non-GM corn. Sadly this info has been enough to give up my favorite summertime corn on the cob several years ago.  Finding organic corn on the cob doesn’t seem to be an option anymore.

Pesticides come into play here as well. The use of GMO crops has caused an increase in the use of pesticides. Keep in mind you can “wash off” some of the pesticides. You cannot wash off GMO’s. The best way to avoid them is to eat whole, clean foods.

Another huge problem? We know we need bees for our food supply to flourish and continue to exist.  Unfortunately, gmo crops and pesticides are causing the die off of species of bees (as well as butterflies and birds) Our bee population (honey bees) is down 1/3 since 2006.

I know it isn’t easy-or cheap to find and feed the whole family fresh organic food. In many stores I can’t even find the option of organic fruit. Convenience is a factor, but not one I will compromise. We need to demand better for our kids. Always read your labels and know what’s in your products.

How Damaging are GMO's

 

Toxins in Tampons

This one blew my mind a little, mostly because I overlooked it for so long.  We know over 90% of our cotton is genetically modified so Toxins in Tampons  it can withstand being doused in glyphosate. (A known carcinogenic weed killer). We know everything you put on or in your body ends up in your bloodstream. So why do we not discuss tampons?

I am aware organic cotton has its benefits and my kids sleep on organic cotton sheets. They wear a lot of organic cotton clothing, partly due to my fond addiction to Hanna Anderson clothing. We own plenty that is not organic and I do not worry about it. Then again, clothing is not being inserted INTO your body. The vaginal membrane has shown to be more absorptive of medicine and other materials than any other part of the body. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15385078

Are all ingredients disclosed?

Tampons are considered a “medical device” which means all ingredients do not need to be entirely disclosed.  The word fragrance itself can contain any number of over 3,400 chemicals, many of which are toxic. Although the bleaching process has changed over the years and dioxin are said not to be a factor-in recent studies they have been found in more than half of the tampons/sanitary napkins tested. So why worry about Dioxin? It is a toxic chlorine compound linked to cancer.

Some studies conducted to decide if these ingredients are safe most are paid for by the companies themselves. Information to consider. In addition the consensus is that in small amounts these ingredients are deemed to pose no health risk. Unfortunately for woman, they tampons for several days a month for many years.

Toxins are cumulative in the body.  It is likely very true that using non organic tampons one month or year is not going to destroy your health. However the average woman menstruates for 30-40 years.   That is an estimated 12,000 tampons. Since we have not been using the same pesticides for 40 years we have no way of obtaining a study on the safety of non-organic tampons over a lifetime.  The FDA currently has no plans to fund any studies on the safety of tampons.

Solutions?

This is one item that has been swapped out for organic in my house.  This post has been written a few months waiting to be used. Recently I stumbled upon a new company called Lola. I watched their intro video and loved that they are a company started by two women looking to share a better product-much like The Chemical Free Me is. You can subscribe and even personalize what size tampons you want in your box each month. You can easily skip months or set it for every other month. You can add liners of the size you need as well.  All organic cotton-nothing else! Brilliant!

Read their about us below and visit their website and find yourself a safer set of feminine products –while supporting a small business.  https://www.mylola.com

We met in the summer 2014, introduced by friends who had a hunch we’d hit it off. They were right. Jordana was in grad school, working on the early concept that would become LOLA, while Alex was at a tech startup. After a drink or two, Jordana asked Alex, “Have you ever wondered what’s in a tampon?” Turns out, she hadn’t.

That small question sparked a big idea – could we create an organic tampon and a brand that was completely transparent with customers about the ingredients in its products? After all, if we care about the ingredients in everything from our food to our face cream, why should our feminine care be any different?

Toxins in Tampons