Mata Air Bali

In September of 2007, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program in Norway released some startling news.

The group found that twice as many girls as boys were being born in some Arctic villages, and that across much of Greenland, Canada, and Russia, a disproportionately high number of female births were occurring. In Sarnia, ON, home of one of the most extensive petrochemical complexes in the world, an unexpectedly large number of girls was also being born, according to Canadian census data. Nearby, a First Nation community had half as many boys as girls.

The accumulation of toxins such as PCBs, flame-retardants, and other artificial chemicals used in electronic equipment has been blamed for the shift in birthrates. These endocrine disruptors are carried by the weather to the Arctic, where they gather in the water and the food chain and concentrate in the bloodstreams of largely meat- and fish-eating communities. Studies of mothers' blood indicated high levels of human hormone mimickers, leading researchers to conclude that man-made chemicals had triggered changes in the sex of unborn children in the first three weeks of gestation.

The Arctic birthrates, while exceptional, are not isolated. Across the globe, the gender balance of the human race appears to be changing. Historically, the number of male births has been slightly higher than the number of female births.

But a 2007 study by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is one of 27 Institutes and Centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH),which is a component of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The Director of the NIEHS is Dr. David A. Schwartz. found that in Japan and the US, there were 250,000 fewer boys than would have been expected had the birth/gender ratio from 1970 remained unchanged.

The exact cause of this shift is unclear. What scientists do know is that estrogen mimickers and endocrine disruptors found in our drinking water supply can have profound effects on humans, interfering with the synthesis, secretion, binding, and action of natural hormones. They affect reproduction, development, and behavior in humans, and can decrease fertility, skew the gender ratio toward female, and feminize genetic males.

While North Americans can still boast of having the cleanest drinking water on the planet, big problems have developed with our water supply--and they're not the old concerns about microorganisms or waterborne diseases. This new breed of contaminants is of our own making.

Plastics, Pesticides, and Pills

An Associated Press study released in March of 2008 finds trace amounts of estrogen, as well as more than 50 prescription drugs, in the water sources of 41 million people. The AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas, from Detroit and Louisville to Southern California and Northern New Jersey. Although most of the levels of the contaminants meet current drinking water guidelines, studies have shown that mutations and sex organ changes in animals still occur at levels far below those limits.

How do these hormones and chemicals enter our water supplies?

Chemicals leaching from plastic are a major source of estrogen compounds in the water supply. Bisphenol A (BPA), a known endocrine disruptor, is a central component in polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, and over six billion pounds of it are produced in the US each year. This chemical has been used for decades in the lining of food cans, plastics, baby bottles, and dental fillings.

(Please Note: The Mata Air Bali Water Purifier does not contain BPA nor volitile phthalate esters. It is made from high grade polyester resin and glass.)

 
When plastic is (improperly) discarded, it doesn't biodegrade; rather, it photodegrades, which means it breaks down under sunlight. When plastic containing BPA photodegrades, it eventually releases estrogen mimickers that can leach into the water supply. When combined with chlorine used to purify municipal water, harmful estrogen-mimicking organic chlorides are also formed. Phthalates, or phthalate esters, are a group of chemical compounds that are mainly used as plasticizers (substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility). They are chiefly used to turn polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from a hard plastic into a flexible plastic, also endocrine disruptors, are another widely used toxic chemical, used primarily to soften otherwise hard plastics. Canada, the US, and several countries in Europe and Asia have already initiated bans on phthalates and BPA, but both chemicals continue to circulate in municipal water supplies.

Dr. Fred Vom Saal, a biologist at the University of Missouri, is an outspoken opponent of the use of BPA. Based on more than three decades of research on the chemical, Vom Saal warns that "putting female sex hormones into a male's body is a really bad idea. You'll see lower sperm levels, male breast development, and changes in fat distribution. In females, you'll observe damaged egg cells, repeated miscarriage, and genetic abnormalities in the embryos."

Other side effects of BPA exposure include obesity, diabetes, early-onset puberty, prostate and breast cancer, hyperactivity, hormonal disruption, neurological damage, ADHD Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder characterized by distractibility, hyperactivity, impulsive behaviors, and the inability to remain focused on tasks or, and autism. Vom Saal adds that the use of plastic is so widespread that BPA levels sufficient to cause these health problems are present in municipal water supplies in every city in America.

Our industrial food system is also to blame for the hormone-mimickers found in our drinking water. For example, the hormones pumped into industrially raised livestock often eventually find their way into municipal water supplies. According to a paper published in the July 2004 issue of Environmental Science & Technology, the US's 10 million cows and 43 million swine excrete excrete such as waste matter. The hormones are dispensed to the animals to promote growth and to artificially continue lactation. Industrially raised cattle, swine, and poultry are also delivered daily combinations of steroids and antibiotics.

Pesticides are another problem. In a 1997 Residue Monitoring Report, the FDA, (the Food and Drug Administration) determined that at least 53 carcinogenic pesticides are routinely applied to American food crops. Some of these, such as atrazine have been found to cause gender mutations in amphibians, includes frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and cecilians all capable of living on land or in water.

As the AP investigation finds, another major source of water contamination is all the pills we pop. The proportion of healthcare spending in North America devoted to prescription drugs, including estrogen-laced birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy Hormone Replacement Therapy Definition

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), has risen dramatically in recent decades. In the last five years, prescriptions grew by 12 percent. The human body can absorb only some of the medication, and the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. Discarded medicines often find their way there too.

The AP reports that sex hormones have been detected in San Francisco's drinking water, that the water in Northern New Jersey contains the mood-stabilizing carbamazepine, an anticonvulsant and analgesic used in the treatment of pain. Anti-anxiety medications have been found in a portion of Southern California tap water. In Philadelphia, 63 pharmaceuticals or by-products were found in the city's watersheds.

And it's not looking like the "answer to pollution is dilution" theory works. After being ingested, excreted, and flushed down the drain, these drugs are not being filtered out by water treatment facilities. What that means is that people could be getting a small dose of thousands of different drugs with every glass of drinking water. The resulting health implications are just beginning to be realized.

Dr. Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, DC, warns that "anyone drinking tap water in most American cities is essentially taking hormones with their glass of water; and specific populations, including children, people who are pregnant or those with a heart condition, should be especially concerned." She adds that "people should not be reassured by the miniscule min·is·cule 

Gender Benders

Scientific studies done on other species have confirmed that the consequences of too many hormone-mimickers in the water can be profound.

For example, the Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency allows atrazine levels of 3 parts per billion (ppb) in our drinking water. Yet University of California research shows that when tadpoles are exposed to atrazine levels of only 0.1 ppb, they develop extra testes.

Atrazine promotes the conversion of testosterone to estrogen, which explains why male frogs often developed both male and female sexual organs. Scientific studies have shown exposure to low levels of estrogen can cause not only hermaphroditic fish with male and female features. A US Geological Survey team report released in February of 2008 found more evidence of feminized fish. In the Potomac River, seven out of 13 male largemouth bass caught had female characteristics. Some of them were even producing eggs.

Early in 2008, after an exhaustive seven-year research effort, Canadian biologists proved that miniscule amounts of estrogen present in water could decimate wild fish populations downstream. The research, led by University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a Canadian university located in the province of New Brunswick. The university has two main campuses: the principal campus founded in 1785 in Fredericton and a smaller campus which was opened in Saint John in 1964. Professor Dr. Karen Kidd, confirmed that synthetic estrogen used in birth control pills can feminize male fish and cause them to produce female egg proteins.

What this means for humans is uncertain--but there is cause for concern. While men have a small amount of the "female" hormone estrogen, when these levels are elevated due to an outside source such as drinking water, it can lead to serious health consequences, including the onset of feminization feminization /fem·i·ni·za·tion/ (fem?i-ni-za´shun)
1. the normal development of primary and secondary sex characters in females.

2. the induction or development of female secondary sex characters in the male. .

Waste Not

Sewage wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers, or lakes, and the water we drink is cleansed again at treatment plants before it is piped to consumers.

Doug Doyle, senior engineer with the City of Vancouver Waterworks Department, says, "All municipal drinking water systems in North America follow the same American Water Works Association American Water Works Association (AWWA) is an international nonprofit professional organization dedicated to the improvement of drinking water quality and supply. It was founded in 1881 and, as of 2007, there are approximately 60,000 AWWA members world-wide. (

AWWA Australian Water and Wastewater Association ) standards." Conventional treatments do not remove many drug or chemicals residues, which is why these endocrine disruptors and hormone mimickers are still showing up in water supplies. Doyle explains that "chlorination chlorination Public health Addition of chlorinated compounds to drinking water as disinfectants. Cf Ozonation. remains the most common form of disinfection disinfection,
n the process of destroying pathogenic organisms or rendering them inert.

disinfection, full oral cavity,
n a procedure used to reduce active periodontal disease, usually completed within a certain short time frame. used, and while ultraviolet light or ozone can also be used, chlorine is favored due to its low cost, effectiveness, and relative safety." The problem is that while chlorine is effective at killing waterborne bacteria and microorganisms and neutralizing effluents, it doesn't eliminate other pharmaceutical chemicals or hormone compounds.

"More sophisticated technology like membrane filtration, activated charcoal/carbon systems, or reverse osmosis is required to do that," Doyle says. "But these energy-intensive and expensive systems are not routinely used in municipal systems." Researchers are looking to new cheaper catalysts and activators and nano-filtration as possible methods to remove these contaminants from wastewater in the future.

Complicating the current effort to remove hormones and chemicals from water supplies is a basic lack of data. Neither the AWWA standards nor the US Safe Drinking Water Act The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is a United States federal law passed by the U.S. Congress on December 16, 1974. It is the main federal law that ensures safe drinking water for Americans. , which regulates drinking water supplies, requires testing for pharmaceutical contaminants, which means that there is not even a clear understanding of the scope of the problem. Of the 62 major water providers contacted by the AP for its investigation, only 28 test for pharmaceuticals and hormones.

Adam Scow with California's Food and Water Watch says that the failure to measure and regulate chemicals in municipal water supplies leads to distrust of the government's ability to guarantee safe water: "When stories come out about problems with tap water, it also promotes the privatization of drinking water and the consumption of bottled water, while we should instead be pressuring government to upgrade existing systems."

The Clean-Up

Around the world, demand for fresh water is starting to outstrip supply. From Atlanta--a major city that relies on a relatively small water supply, the Chattahoochee River--to Las Vegas and Los Angeles which are facing diminishing precipitation due to climate change--communities are struggling with how to keep the taps running. "Water wars are already brewing or are even at the court level in most of the US," says Noah Hall, executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center. The diminishing water supplies make the chemical contamination of our water all the more aggravating. We need, as Hall says, to "take care of what we've got."

Some positive changes are underway. Many of the farming methods that pump unwanted drugs into water systems are facing renewed scrutiny, and organic farming is on the rise. Bans on BPA and plastics that leach phthalates are already in place in some countries. But if the contamination continues, and water laced with pharmaceuticals and estrogen chemicals continues to be consumed, our feminized populations may become Severely ill and "reproductively challenged."

Despite that threat, government agencies appear unconcerned with the risk. In April, Benjamin Grumbles, deputy administrator for water with the EPA, told a Senate subcommittee hearing that, "In the absence of reliable data indicating potential risks associated with pharmaceuticals in water at the very low levels at which they have been detected, it would be inappropriate to require monitoring and/or treatment that could carry significant cost, with no evidence of significant risk reduction based on currently available data."

Researchers and environmentalists disagree.

While the effects of most drugs and chemicals are immediate and don't remain in the body like heavy metals do, the effects of repeated exposure do add up. NRDC scientist Sass believes that "the effect of low-level exposure to these hormones may never be measurable, since the penetrance penetrance /pen·e·trance/ (pen´i-trins) the frequency with which a heritable trait is manifested by individuals carrying the principal gene or genes conditioning it.
pen·e·trance
n. must be very, high in order for epidemiologists to take notice, and it's also very likely that the effects in humans aren't easily detected as many of them are pre-birth.

"There is virtually no research being done on this kind of low-level exposure to pharmaceuticals and estrogen compounds," Sass says. "The only experiment we're doing is the one in the drinking water."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

What You Can Do to Keep Your Water Drug-Free

Step One: Prevent more contamination

* Stop flushing outdated or unused medication (including those for pets) down the drain. There are programs in place across North America to accept old pharmaceuticals: If your local pharmacy doesn't accept old medication, the EPA advises you contact your state and local waste management authorities. Also, consult your physician to determine which medications can be removed from your regimen.

* For women on hormone replacement therapy or birth control pills, start looking at alternatives to these estrogen-based drugs. Health professionals agree there are often negative side effects to taking estrogen, and there are natural and alternative methods for both birth control and hormone replacement needs.

* Eat less meat and dairy, and eat only organic meat, poultry, and dairy products. Certified organic farming methods Organic farming methods combine scientific knowledge and modern technology with traditional farming practices based on thousands of years of agriculture. The distinguishing principle is an avoidance of synthetic inputs, such as manufactured fertilizers and pesticides, and for this
..... Click the link for more information. do not incorporate the use of hormones, antibiotics, or steroids.

* Reduce or eliminate the use of plastic in your home. Store food and water in glass or stainless steel containers. Choose soups and milk packaged in cardboard "brick" cartons, and if you must use plastic, choose items made with recycling # 2, 4, or 5 plastic only. Remember, cans are lined with plastic too, so choose fresh and local foods when you can.

* Avoid herbicides and pesticides around the house. Check the labels of your hair products, cosmetics, and skin creams and discontinue using those containing placenta, estrogen, estriol estriol /es·tri·ol/ (es´tre-ol) a relatively weak human estrogen (q.v.), being a metabolic product of estradiol and estrone found in high concentrations in urine, especially during pregnancy.
..... Click the link for more information., orestradiol.

Step Two: Filter out the contaminants

Once the source of contamination is eliminated, most of the pharmaceuticals and estrogen mimickers discovered in drinking water don't remain in the body for long. A simple carbon filter attached to your tap will be effective in filtering out the harmful contaminants, whether you use well water or a municipal water source. To further filter water, a reverse osmosis system is also recommended. Bottled water is not any safer as there are few EPA regulations governing bottled versus municipal water. Many bottled water plants use tap water as their source and plastic containers for their products.

Holly Pyhtila is a Vancouver, BC-based freelance writer.

____________________________________________________________________

Pharmaceutical Drug Contamination of Waterways Threatens Life on Our Planet
Published on 07-29-2010
http://blacklistednews.com
Source: Natural News

The President’s Cancer Panel (PCP) recently released its yearly report to the President outlining the status of cancer in America. This year’s report focuses primarily on environmental factors that contribute to cancer risk. According to the report, pharmaceutical drugs are a serious environmental pollutant, particularly in the way they continue to contaminate waterways across the country (and the world).

Many reports have recently appeared about pharmaceutical contamination of water supplies, rivers, lakes and other waterways, but spokespersons from the drug and chemical industries have denied that this pollution poses any risk whatsoever to the environment. But this report, issued directly from PCP, provides a stunning indictment of the dangers associated with pharmaceutical pollution.

The executive summary of the PCP report includes the following statements:

“[P]harmaceuticals have become a considerable source of environmental contamination. Drugs of all types enter the water supply when they are excreted or improperly disposed of; the health impact of long-term exposure to varying mixtures of these compounds is unknown.”

It’s important to note that PCP is required by law to assess the National Cancer Program and offer a truthful evaluation of the various things it finds to be responsible for causing cancer. The panel is a division of the National Cancer Institute itself, so its findings hold fairly considerable weight in the scientific world (or they should, if the reaction wasn’t so politicized).

The report itself is quite extensive, evaluating everything from the environmental and health impacts of drug and pesticide pollution to cell phone radiation and nuclear testing residue. But the section on pharmaceutical drugs is especially interesting when considering the fact that numerous reports have shown that drugs and drug residue that ends up in water supplies typically isn’t filtered out by municipal treatment plants.

No laws exist to protect the public from pharmaceuticals

Many chemicals are highly regulated because they are known to negatively affect human and environmental health. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is tasked with regulating exposure to these chemicals, but pharmaceuticals are not included in its regulatory scheme. Despite years of prodding by environmental scientists, the EPA has given very little attention to the dangers posed by widespread pharmaceutical contamination.

According to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study conducted back in 2002, antidepressants, blood pressure and diabetes medications, anticonvulsants, oral contraceptives, hormone replacement therapy drugs, chemotherapy drugs, antibiotics, heart medications and even codeine are all showing up in the water supplies of American cities. This study was the first national-scale evaluation of pharmaceutical drug contamination in streams, and roughly 80 percent of the streams tested were found to be contaminated as well.

In 2008, an AP investigation found that at least 46 million Americans are drinking water contaminated with trace amounts of pharmaceuticals. Even though every city tested has its water treated and “purified” prior to being delivered to the public, trace amounts of pharmaceutical drugs are making their way through to the tap. (Since not all major metropolitan areas were tested, the number of people affected is likely far higher than what was reported by AP.)

In spite of all this, water quality reports don’t disclose the levels of pharmaceuticals found in tap water. Since the EPA and FDA have failed to establish any proper guidelines for drug contamination in water, most people have no idea that their water contains a dangerous cocktail of prescription medications.

Hospitals, consumers and drug companies are all responsible

None of this is surprising if you consider that unused and expired drugs cannot be legally returned to the pharmacies where they were purchased. Many people just flush them down the toilet because the drug labels actually encourage patients to dispose of them this way (and they probably don’t know what else to do with them).

People who take prescription and over-the-counter drugs will excrete them as well, contributing to the drug overload being found at wastewater treatment plants. (Drugs are not necessarily “broken down” by your digestive system.)

It is also regular protocol for hospitals to flush millions of pounds of unused medications every year, a practice that contributes significantly to water contamination.

And let’s not forget the drug companies that dump large amounts of their own pharmaceuticals into water supplies. The same AP investigation found that more than 270 million pounds of pharmaceutical compound residue is dumped every year into waterways nationwide, many of which serve as drinking water for millions of people.

The U.S. isn’t the only place where Big Pharma is dumping its waste, either. In 2009, researchers found that India’s rivers are full of dangerous pharmaceuticals, too.

One Indian river where 90 different pharmaceutical companies dump their waste tested positive for over 21 active drug ingredients. In one river alone, there was enough ciprofloxacin (a strong antibiotic) being dumped every day by drug companies to treat 90,000 people! (And scientists detected this in water that was supposedly purified by the drug companies before being released into the environment).

The drug contamination levels found in India’s rivers were 150 times the detected levels found in the U.S. These findings prove that drug companies couldn’t care less how much drug residue they dump in water as long as they can get away with it. They don’t even believe that pharmaceutical contamination is a threat to the environment.

“Based on what we now know, I would say we find there’s little or no risk from pharmaceuticals in the environment to human health,” explained microbiologist Thomas White, a consultant for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, in a Dallas Morning News article about the AP investigation. This is similar to BP’s CEO saying, after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, that the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico was “tiny” compared to how big the ocean is.

Studies show drug residue cocktails actually do cause harm

Though the chemical and drug industries deny any danger from exposure to drug residue in the water, science (and common sense) says otherwise.

A 2006 study conducted by researchers from the University of Insubria in Italy simulated drug-tainted water by creating a low-level mixture of various drug residues and testing it on embryonic cells. They discovered that, even at low doses, the drug residues actually stopped cells from reproducing.

Even though current water contamination levels are measured in parts per million or parts per billion, there is no way to know just how much exposure people are actually experiencing. People drink contaminated water, shower in contaminated water and cook with contaminated water, so it’s illogical to suggest that there’s no harm being caused by widespread exposure, even at “low” doses, especially when the exposure is a combination of dozens of different drugs that have never been tested in combination.

People are not the only beings that are affected by pharmaceutical contamination, either. The world’s aquatic ecosystems (and the plants and animals that belong to them) are all being negatively impacted.

Drugs are being found in fish

According to an MSNBC report back in 2009, all kinds of drugs are being found in the bodies of fish near major U.S. cities. Researchers found drugs for high cholesterol, allergies, high blood pressure, bipolar disorder and depression in the livers and tissue of fish.

Researchers are in agreement that aquatic species of all types are being harmed by continuous exposure to water contaminated with pharmaceuticals. Even though wastewater is treated in the U.S. before entering waterways, most treatment facilities do not have the proper filtering technology to remove dangerous drug residues from wastewater before it gets dumped.

Many fish are experiencing reproductive problems as a result of exposure, as is explained in the following report:
(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23504633/)

Beyond having their sperm damaged, some fish are actually changing sexes. Males are becoming females and females are becoming males as a result of drug exposure in the water. Other water creatures are experiencing things like organ failure and the inability to grow. It makes a reasonable person ask “How long until these effects start to hit humans?”

Or have they already?

“We have no reason to think that this is a unique situation. We find pretty much anywhere we look, these compounds are ubiquitous,” explained Erik Orsak, an environmental contaminants specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in response to the findings.

And it’s not just near American cities where fish are turning up with all kinds of drugs in their bodies. As of 2008, more than 100 different pharmaceutical compounds have been detected around the world, affecting fish and wildlife everywhere. These are chemicals that simply do not belong in our environment. And yet they are there, dumped into our waters by the pharmaceutical industry and its hospitals, pharmacies and consumers.

Why we need more research on the toxicity of pharmaceutical contaminants

Many animal studies have been or are being conducted on pharmaceutical exposure, and they are indicating that these drugs are causing widespread harm. But very few official human trials have been conducted, prompting many to push for increased efforts.

If drug residue is building up in animals and wildlife, then of course it’s building up in humans as well, posing the risk of significant harm. Reproductive failure, thyroid dysfunction, cancer, osteoporosis — all of these diseases and more may be caused, at least in part, by prolonged exposure to low levels of all sorts of drugs in the water supply.

Many states pushing for drug waste legislation

Because the truth about drug contamination in water is no longer a secret, many states have begun enacting legislation to regulate drug disposal. Last August, Illinois passed the Safe Pharmaceuticals Disposal Act, which restricts hospitals from flushing drugs down the drain.

California has a similar law in place, and New York is working on one as well, according to a recent report:
(http://www.westfaironline.com/hudso…)

The same report indicates that there have been five bills introduced to regulate drugs at the federal level.

While this addresses the hospital waste problem, there’s still the human and drug company waste problems. No matter how you look at it, pharmaceutical drugs are going to continue making their way into the water supplies because they will pass through the bodies of consumers first!

Drug companies must be held responsible for their wastewater

Since it’s already been revealed that drug companies are failing to properly treat their wastewater before dumping it into rivers (even though they claim to be treating it), U.S. regulatory agencies need to step up and correct the problem. Regular monitoring of wastewater contaminant levels is the only way to halt the chemical contamination of waterways.

And if U.S. companies are polluting water supplies in other countries (such as India), they should be held accountable for their actions. There’s no excuse for U.S. companies to pollute anywhere in the world just because they’re operating outside domestic borders.

Wastewater treatment plants should be retrofitted

State and local legislators would do well to put forth their own legislation to upgrade wastewater treatment facilities so they can properly filter out pharmaceuticals (and dispose of them safely). Since there’s no way to stop human elimination of pharmaceuticals (apart from slowly educating the masses to stop swallowing dangerous pharmaceuticals), municipalities need to do their part to prevent these dangerous toxins from getting into water supplies in the first place.

Together, these measures would help to drastically reduce the amount of pharmaceutical waste entering our environment.

It’s the environment, stupid!

The careless disposal of toxic pharmaceuticals is proving to be highly destructive, despite reassurances by some that it’s not that big of a deal. The health of the planet and all of its amazing biodiversity is now threatened by the steady poisoning of toxic chemical pharmaceuticals.

And it’s not just pharmaceuticals, either. Chemical byproducts and waste from many different industries are polluting our environment at unprecedented rates. Mercury (from dental fillings), fluoride (dripped into the public water supply on purpose, if you can believe that!), and all sorts of other chemicals and heavy metals are showing up in food, water and the global environment.

Haven’t we poisoned our planet enough already?

Plants, animals and even humans can only take so much of this. That’s why we need to keep fighting against the corporations that are causing this harm and force them to stop destroying the world in which we hope to raise our children.

After all, if we keep poisoning the planet at this rate, there won’t be much left to offer future generations except a toxic stew of patent-protected chemicals that all the corporations pretend pose no problem at all.