Justice Mullay
Don’t Drink the Tap Water
Everyday, Americans and people all over the world encounter toxic chemicals as a part of daily routine. People wake up, wash hair with shampoo containing parabens, brush teeth with sodium fluoride and triclosan, and use deodorant with aluminum. A quick breakfast is eaten; bagel or toast both containing Azodicarbonamide, a flour bleaching agent also used to make shoes, (Gillam) On the bagel there is cream cheese or butter for the toast with added hormones and antibiotics that were given to the cow whose milk is used. On the daily commute a person generally purchases more gas for their vehicle, while fueling many top off the tank inhaling the fumes of the estimated 150 chemicals refined into crude oil. (Wisconsin Department of Health Services). Later at work or school people sit and their chemically cleaned desk perhaps with Lysol and its benzalkonium chloride, which is deadly to fish and birds and slightly harmful to mammals. (The United States Pharmacopeial Convention) At lunch most meals contain an animal protein still contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls improperly dumped over fifty years ago, (EPA). The produce for lunch may contain some lingering pesticides or fertilizer. In the afternoon the bathroom is used where triclosan from the anti-bacterial soap is lathered on hands. (EPA) At the end of the work day walking outside car exhaust and pollutants from any nearby factory are inhaled. Back at home now dinner is eaten completing the daily average intake of 7 to 9 grams of aluminum. (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) The glass of tap water consumed with the meal contained fluoride and perhaps some heavy metals from the old pipes. Before bed more toothpaste is...
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...B’s are the Great Lakes, Fox River, and Mississippi River. (Clear Water Action Council)
The year 1968 in Kyushu, Japan , around one thousand and three hundred people were diagnosed with a new disease called Yusho due to PCB fluids in a rice bran oil; around 15,000 are predicted to have been affected. The disease started with chloracne which consists of severe blackheads and cysts on the skin. (Umeda)These symptoms progressed to tumors, failing vision, changes in endocrine system, and increased rates of liver cancer and lung cancer. Approximately 50 deaths were caused by this disease. In the next decade the rates of liver and lung cancer increased within the area of Kyushu, Japan nine times the average. From PCB exposure around 400,000 chickens were killed. (Clear Water Action Council)
Polychlorinated Biphenyls have many known adverse effects on humans and animals.
Enstad uses her essay, “Toxicity and the Consuming Subject,” to express overconsumption and its correlation with toxins in our environment. She explains that everyday goods are produced to meet continually climbing demands for goods and it’s this over consumption that leads to cheap production and removal of these goods. Enstad says that airplanes, carpets, circuit boards and many other common good contain unsafe amounts of the chemical PBDES (polybrominated diphenyl ethers). Excess of this unsafe chemical in common goods is proven unhealthy. Regardless of the health aspect, the chemical is there because of cheap production. Human overconsumption leads to increased demand for these goods and businesses seek the cheapest producing methods to maximize profit. Enstad’s proof of overconsumption in our modern world “lies in the pudding.” Her factual based studies show the detrimental affects to overconsumption as a whole. Rebecca and Marc illustrate the detrimental affects to overconsumption on a personal level. Their constant addiction to consuming is their own “toxin” infecting them and corrupting them. They continually “consume” and their overconsumption leads them to
In 1966, Monsanto managers discovered that fish submerged in that creek turned belly-up within 10 seconds, spurting blood and shedding skin as if dunked into boiling water. They told no one. In 1969, they found fish in another creek with 7,500 times the legal PCB levels. They decided "there is little object in going to expensive extremes in limiting discharges." In 1975, a company study found that PCBs caused tumors in rats. They ordered its conclusion changed from "slightly tumorigenic" to "does not appear to be carcinogenic."
No one really knows the long-term effects of these substances, individually or in unpredictable combination, either on human health or on the health of the ecosystems upon which we, and all life, depend. The chemicals are not the same as the ones Carson indicted in Silent Spring, yet they are produced, sold, and used on an unsuspecting public by the same interconnected complex of profit-driven companies and government authorities. Carson’s words in her “Fable for Tomorrow” still apply, as if we lived in the future that she imagined: “No witchcraft, no enemy action” had produced our “stricken world. The people had done it themselves” (Carson, 1962,
EPA. (2009, December 29). Retrieved January 15, 2011, from Toxicity and Exposure Assessment for Children's Health: http://www.epa.gov/teach/
... in inhabitants living close to smelters and arsenical chemical factories. Citizens who live near waste sites with arsenic may have an increased risk of lung cancer as well.
Conversations often turn into arguments when the topic of bottled water versus tap water comes up. Many say that tap water is simply unsafe while others argue that the chemicals in the plastic bottles release toxic or harmful substances into our bodies as well as the environment. However, some humans consume water from public water systems, personal wells, or even bottled water; whichever is most convenient for each particular lifestyle. Some of many reasons why tap water is the more logical choice are that it is cost-effective, suitable for the environment, and healthier for human consumption.
. Smoking is the leading cause of death by cancer. 1 out of every 5 deaths occurring in America is due to its cancerous effects. The Center for Disease Control estimates that over 46 million Americans smoke cigarettes daily. The International Agency for Research on Cancer is a world health organization that identifies causes of cancer. Through the use of patterns and lab results they can classify certain elements as carcinogens. A carcinogen can be defined as any substance or toxin that is known to produce cancer. There are more than 6000 of these cancer producing toxins found within cigarettes. Arsenic, Benzene, and Vinyl chloride are just a few of the most harmful carcinogens used by tobacco companies. Vinyl chloride is a basic component in manufacturing plastic. Excessive exposure to vinyl chloride has been proven to be pre-cancerous ultimately manifesting into full blown malignant cancer. The most notable effect of vinyl chloride is the cause of...
American society has grown so accustomed to receiving their food right away and in large quantities. Only in the past few decades has factory farming come into existence that has made consuming food a non guilt-free action. What originally was a hamburger with slaughtered cow meat is now slaughtered cow meat that’s filled with harmful chemicals. Not only that, the corn that that cow was fed with is also filled with chemicals to make them grow at a faster rate to get that hamburger on a dinner plate as quickly as possible. Bryan Walsh, a staff writer for Time Magazine specializing in environmental issues discusses in his article “America’s Food Crisis” how our food is not only bad for us but dangerous as well. The word dangerous could apply to many different things though. Our food is dangerous to the consumer, the workers and farmers, the animals and the environment. Walsh gives examples of each of these in his article that leads back to the main point of how dangerous the food we are consuming every day really is. He goes into detail on each of them but focuses his information on the consumer.
...ls and many more that chemically produce. Reducing or control the amount of the usage should be the best way to reduce the cancer risk. Nowadays, the usage of stainless steel, glass or BPA-free containers become more popular because it will reduce exposure the chemical in plastic to leach into water thus reduce the risk of cancer. These are some of the precaution and prevention recommended to society to apply in our daily life in order to reduce the risk of cancer.
An example is the Aspartame found in diet soda. Focusing on diet soda, it is shown that it is linked to even more diseases and causes more side effects than regular soda. Furthermore, “Numerous studies over the past several years have reported links between diet soda and weight gain, diabetes, heart problems, and other health issues. Most recently, headlines sounded alarms about a higher chance of dementia and stroke among diet soda drinkers” (Is Drinking…). The aspartame that is used in the diet soda is the main culprit for diet sodas effects. In fact, “Aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious, including seizures and death” (Aspartame…). Aspartame is a man-made chemical that is made up of aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. With, aspartic acid making up 40%, phenylalanine making up 50%, and methanol making up 10%. Taking in consideration the phenylalanine in diet soda,” Excessive levels of phenylalanine in the brain can cause the levels of serotonin in the brain to decrease, leading to emotional disorders such as depression” (Aspartame…). With the methanol, that is found in aspartame, it “…breaks down into formaldehyde in the body. Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin… With a recommended limit of consumption of 7.8 mg/day. A one-liter (approx. 1 quart) aspartame-sweetened beverage contains about 56 mg of methanol. Heavy users of aspartame-containing products consume as much as 250 mg of methanol daily or 32 times the EPA limit” (Aspartame…). The effects of methanol are caused by the formaldehyde. “Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen, causes retinal damage, interferes with DNA replication and causes birth defects” (Aspartame…). Overall it is shown that the aspartame that is found in diet soda is linked to a number of diseases
The poisons that we are introducing into our environment is causing us a new slew of health problems. We once had to worry about things such as the bubonic plague, but now, we have to worry about what Rachel refers to as “environmental disease” (p.169).
Plastic pollution negatively affects America’s future. The origin of this environmental pollution is caused by the excessive lack of ethics that human beings have. Many times, people throw garbage on the streets, seas, etc. Not knowing that this will be severely altered the environment, and planet earth conditions. Environmental pollution is found in many places such as plastic products, cleaning products, food, animals, personal care products, and the most dangerous in the environment where the oxygen we breathe and share with other living beings (Eriksen 2013).
In 1999, nearly 1,000 children younger than 15 years of age drowned in the United States. It is surprising to many parents that young children tend not to splash or make noise when they get into trouble in the water and thus usually drown silently. An adult should always be watching young children playing, swimming, or bathing in water.
These are just some of the substitutes for harmful chemicals in the house. At least when you clean you house you don’t have to worry about hurting your child or yourself if you use the alternatives.
Water is one of the most essential non-renewable natural resources on the Earth. Technically, an un-hydrated human being can live no more than three days. In the United States, people consume water mainly from tap water and bottle water. However, the consumption between these two sources is not even but lean to one side heavily. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, people consume from 240 to over 10000 times more per gallon for bottled water than they usually do for tap water. (NRDC) In addition, according to a survey from US National Library of Medicines, only 17% of the participants prefer to drink tap water exclusively.(US National Library) Compared to the bottled water which is shining like a superstar, tap water is like a diligent worker in the shade, unpopular but useful. The extremely unbalance of bottled water consumption implies that a commonly hold conception exists: bottle water is superior to tap water. In fact, scientific evidence proves that tap water is nothing different than bottle water. More importantly, the excessive consumption of bottled water is an irrational use of resources and creates severe environmental issues.