Boyd
Composition II
Gray
April 25, 2013
Boyd
Research Essay
Gray
April 25, 2013
Toxins at Home Imagine every item you come in contact with daily: from food, clothing, shampoo and conditioner, or even your computer. These items are part of everyone’s everyday life. Yet, everyday people ingest, absorb, or inhale chemicals or toxins found in these items. Many precautions and groups have been formed to protect the environment and human health such as the FDA, NCI, CDC, EPA, WEEEE, etc. So, most blindly believe everything we eat, use, or surround ourselves with daily has to be safe. Many assume that everything consumers purchase has been tested to prove that it is not harmful, and that if it was the government would interfere to prevent its sale; but that is not the case. The Environmental Protection Agency has only been able to make boundaries on only a few chemicals; they lack the power to outlaw many dangerous carcinogens. Even the tiniest exposure to these contaminants can have an awful outcome on our wellbeing. While the U.S. generates or imports an estimated 42 billion pounds of industrial chemicals per day (AAWRE), it is practically impossible to avoid these substances and thedevastating effects they have on our health. Our world appears completely safe looking upon the precautions and companies made to protect our health. Yet a quick hunt on any search engine shows that not only is our environment suffering, but also its citizens. An even more extensive search explains the good intentions behind these harmful chemicals, but it is now understood that they have been wearing on our health all this time. Many unanswered health issues of the day (obesity, diabetes, autism, and attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder) could potentially have chemical associations (ATSDR). Dr. Bruce Lanphear, director of the Cincinnati Children 's Environmental Health Center, stated, "It 's not the environment that 's contaminated so much. It 's
Cited: “AAWRE Diplomates Discuss Future of Stormwater.” 3 August 2010. Mar. 5, 2013. <http://www.aawre.org/stormwater.cfm>. Bernstein, Peter J. “Detroit’s Chemical Warfare.” Allen Community College 4 Sept. 1997. 1 March 2013 <http:// dell-cx.allencc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c9f6da04-2480- Danna, Jim. Puristat. Mar. 4, 2013. <http://www.puristat.com/standardamericandiet/ processedfoods.aspx>. Goffman, Ethan. “E-Waste Not.”Environmental Magazine Sept. 2011: 46 Jake, Rachel “National Cancer Institute.” National Cancer Institute 5 Aug. 2009. 1 March 2013. <http://www. Walsh, Brian. “The Perils of Plastic.”EBSCOhost 4 Dec. 2010. 29 Feb. 2013. <http://dell- cx.allencc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=5>.