
Healing in a toxic world.
Environmental toxicity is absolutely everywhere. There are disturbing levels of man-made chemicals in wildlife, fish, waters, plants, even in the frozen Arctic. Household cleaning products, kitchenware, house insulations, carpet outgases, paints, solvents, insecticides, greases, lawn mower, gas water heater, heated car engine, gas dryer, wallboards, pressed wood, plywood, wallpaper, mattresses, pillows… You name it, and it has a toxic chemical. And it is not one or two toxic chemicals. Take for instance carpet emissions, which emanate over 200 volatile organic compounds which then overload your liver.
When some toxic chemicals are broken down by detox pathways on the liver, they become oxidized, and therefore more reactive and more toxic than the original toxin. These reactive compounds can trigger cancer or DNA changes before they are fully broken down. Toxics can get stored in your fat potentially for years if not permanently. Biopsy studies of fat deposits have found chemicals in 100% of those studied including things like styrene, dichlorobenzene, dioxins and PCBs – which are among the strongest causes of cancer known to man.
So it is not only the food we eat, it is the environmental medium we live in. While we can’t do much to avoid taking in thousands of pollutants every time we take a breath or every time we take shower for that matter, understanding how we got here is essential if we are to take some steps to recover our health and counteract the environmental impact on our genes. Let’s review an example of our toxic world so we can have an idea what we are up against and why switching to a diet that is the most physiological one for the bodies is the best option we have.
The Petrochemical Industry
I believe that much of the environmental science (and social sciences as well) is being held hostage by powerful interests vested in oil, petrochemicals, the auto industry, and other corporations that grow rich on polluting our commons—the air, water, and soil we all share freely. It is not in corporations’ best interest to have science educate society about the true risks—the threat to life on earth—posed by side effects of their businesses. So these corporations buy scientists, university professors and others, to spin counter stories, create public confusion, and stall unfavorable policy changes. “Whose truth are we talking about, your truth or my truth?” public relations specialist, John Scanlon, retorted to a reporter who had asked him whether he served his clients or the truth. Until science deals with its Achilles’ heel of advocacy science, it cannot meet society’s needs to protect life and we will continue to pollute our soil, air, and water, ourselves, and other life on this planet. Like lemmings, we are all racing towards the cliff. -Riki Ott, PhD. Sound Truth and Corporate Myth$: The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.[1]
Mainstream medicine doesn’t recognize diseases that are due to environmental toxicity of even very low levels of everyday chemicals. These ailments can manifest in a myriad of different ways including physical, mental or emotional symptoms. It is all too easy for a doctor to dismiss them as “all in your head”, when in reality most physicians are neither trained nor educated in environmental toxicity. Doctors tend to concentrate only on recent chemical exposures, and not on the toxic load we have accumulated throughout our lives. Medical treatment, which only hides the symptoms with drugs, is a totally incorrect approach. You don’t cover up chemical sensitivities, or add to them with chemicals in drugs. You must treat the root cause of the problem.
Or how ignorant it is to see a young woman with multiple chemical sensitivities as crazy for “making stuff up”? A young person, who is beating herself up because she can’t keep up with friends and feels like he is missing on life? Read more…




