The Good Human » toxic

The Environmental Impact Of Discarded Cigarettes.

david — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:30:02 +0000

Dear EarthTalk: Has anyone ever studied the environmental impact of discarded cigarettes? I’m constantly appalled at the number of drivers I see pitching their butts out their car windows.

It’s true that littered cigarette butts are a public nuisance, and not just for aesthetic reasons. The filters on cigarettes—four fifths of all cigarettes have them—are made of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic that is very slow to degrade in the environment. A typical cigarette butt can take anywhere from 18 months to 10 years to decompose, depending on environmental conditions.

But beyond the plastic, these filters—which are on cigarettes in the first place to absorb contaminants to prevent them from going into the lungs—contain trace amounts of toxins like cadmium, arsenic and lead. Thus when smokers discard their butts improperly—out the car window or off the end of a pier or onto the sidewalk below—they are essentially tossing these substances willy-nilly into the environment.

Studies done by Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and even the tobacco industry itself show that these contaminants can get into soils and waterways, harm or kill living organisms and generally degrade surrounding ecosystems.

While individual discarded cigarette butts may be small, they add up to a huge problem. Some 5.5 trillion cigarettes are consumed worldwide each year. The non-profit Keep America Beautiful reports that cigarette butts constitute as much as one-third of all litter nationwide when measured by the number of discarded items, not volume. According to the Ocean Conservancy, a non-profit that advocates for stronger protection of marine ecosystems, cigarette butts are the most commonly littered item found on America’s salt and fresh water beaches according to feedback received by hundreds of thousands of volunteers taking part in the group’s annual Coastal Clean-up event.

While the tobacco industry may have its hands full just trying to stay afloat in the maelstrom of ongoing bad publicity, critics say it should be doing more to prevent cigarette butt litter. “Just as beverage manufacturers contribute to anti-litter campaigns, and have invested in public education on litter issues, so too should the tobacco industry,” says Kathleen Register, founder and executive director of Clean Virginia Waterways, a non-profit that has spearheaded the fight against cigarette butt litter in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. She adds that cigarette manufacturers “need to take an active and responsible role in educating smokers about this issue and devote resources to the cleanup of cigarette litter.”

Register suggests a number of strategies including putting anti-litter messages on all cigarette packaging and advertisements, distributing small, free portable ashtrays, and placing and maintaining outdoor ashtrays in areas where smokers congregate. She also suggests putting an extra tax on cigarette sales, with proceeds going toward anti-litter education efforts and to defray the costs of cleaning up butts. “Picking up littered cigarette butts costs schools, businesses and park agencies money,” she says. “By taxing smokers for anti-litter educational efforts, some of the costs of cleaning up cigarette butts will shift onto smokers.” One way or another, Register hopes, smokers will learn that the Earth is not one giant ashtray.

CONTACTS: CDC, www.cdc.gov; Clean Virginia Waterways, www.longwood.edu/cleanva.

SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php. EarthTalk is now a book! Details and order information at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalkbook.

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The Environmental Impact Of Discarded Cigarettes.

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Is Your Cookware Causing High Molybdenum Levels In Your Blood?

david — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:31:37 +0000

Dear EarthTalk: I recently had a tissue mineral analysis indicating that my levels of the nutritional element, molybdenum, were off the chart. I believe this may be leaching from my stainless steel cookware. Is this element toxic to my body?

Having trace amounts of molybdenum in our bloodstreams is not only normal but beneficial. The element piggybacks onto bacteria to help us metabolize proteins and grow new cells, and also helps keep our vertebrae and tooth enamel strong. But too much of it can indeed be toxic.

Health care practitioners worry more about miners exposed to molybdenum dust on a daily basis than they do about everyday folks with occasional and incidental exposure via cookware and ingested foods. Few if any cases of acute toxicity in humans have been documented, though animal studies have shown that ingesting small but frequent amounts can lead to diarrhea, growth retardation, infertility, low birth weight and even gout. It has also been shown to negatively affect the lungs, kidneys and liver.

But most of us need not fear, as the amount of molybdenum we get naturally from eating foods like green beans, eggs, sunflower seeds, wheat flour, lentils and cereal grain is not enough to cause any severe health reactions, and, again, is an important building block component of our diets. In fact, a deficiency of molybdenum in one stretch of northern China—where the element does not occur naturally in the region’s soils—has been linked to a higher-than-normal rate of esophageal cancer.

Additional amounts of molybdenum could be getting into your foods from stainless steel cookware, but manufacturers insist that if their products are not dinged and pocked from overuse or abused with abrasive brushes or detergents during clean-up they shouldn’t leach much of anything into the food cooking inside.

Of all the elements used to make stainless steel, molybdenum is one of the most able to tolerate high heat without expanding, softening or otherwise breaking down. That’s largely why it is approved for use in food-grade products by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Incidentally, its heat tolerance is also why it is used in the making of missiles, aircraft, rifle barrels, light bulb filaments and furnace components.

While it is unlikely that the amount of molybdenum in a normal human diet is enough to cause severe health reactions, no one would fault someone with reason for concern to take precautions. For starters, if you do have too much molybdenum in your systems, add some tungsten (sodium tungstate) into your diet, which naturally reduces the concentration of molybdenum in human tissues.

With regard to cookware, switching away from stainless steel might be a good idea for anyone with high molybdenum levels in their bloodstreams. No cookware is perfect, but cast iron and anodized aluminum seem to be the top choices today for cooks concerned about leaching elements. While cast iron is known to leach some iron into food, iron deficiencies were far less common before World War II when most of our grandparents cooked with it. And anodized aluminum is an ideal non-stick, acid- and scratch- resistant surface which locks-in aluminum that could otherwise leach into food.

CONTACTS: International Molybdenum Association, www.imoa.info.

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Is Your Cookware Causing High Molybdenum Levels In Your Blood?

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What Is BHT (BUTYLATED HYDROXYTOLUENE) And Why You Should Avoid It.

david — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:30:08 +0000

It’s that time again – time to discuss yet another toxic chemical/ingredient in our food and skin care products! Butylated Hydroxytoluene, or BHT, is an anti-oxidant which reacts with oxygen free radicals to slow down the autoxidation rate of ingredients in a product that can cause changes in the taste or color. As such, it is primarily used to prevent fats in foods from becoming rancid – but it is also used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, jet fuels, rubber, petroleum products, electrical transformer oil, and embalming fluid. Yummy! Sure sounds like something that should definitely be in our food, right? Turns out this additive, used in all the above, has a lovely MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) that says the following:

Do NOT let this chemical enter the environment.
Combustible.
Ingestion causes Abdominal pain. Confusion. Dizziness. Nausea. Vomiting.
The substance may have effects on the liver.
The substance is harmful to aquatic organisms.

Makes it look even more appetizing to have in our food and in our cosmetics! The Cosmetics Database rates BHT as having a “high hazard to high hazard depending on product usage” and says it has been shown to be linked to cancer, developmental toxicity, allergies, neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, biochemical or cellular level changes. So what kinds of products, other than our food (it is FDA approved for use in food), can BHT be found in? How about a short list as a primer for you to check out:

BUMBLE AND BUMBLE DEHYDRATION THERAPY COMPLEX
Neutrogena Sunblock Stick, SPF 60+
Avon ANEW ULTIMATE Skin Transforming Cream
K-Y Touch Massage 2-in-1 Warming Body Massage & Personal Lubricant
CVS Beauty Bars Sensitive Skin
Dove Beauty Bar Soap, Sensitive Skin
PRESCRIPTIVES BROWSHAPING PENCIL
Neutrogena Skin Smoothing Body Lotion

Pretty popular products, right? And who wants to use a product or eat a food that has ingredients also used in jet fuels and embalming fluid? Before you buy a product, I highly suggest you check out lists like the one I referenced to see exactly what you are buying.

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What Is BHT (BUTYLATED HYDROXYTOLUENE) And Why You Should Avoid It.

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What Are Methylparabens And Why You Should Avoid Them.

david — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:30:05 +0000

In my continuing series of toxic ingredients and/or chemicals found in our food and skincare products, this time around I wanted to talk about methylparabens. Methylparaben is from the paraben family of chemicals, and is pretty commonly used as a preservative in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and food. It is readily and completely absorbed directly through the skin and the gastrointestinal tract, meaning it has absolutely no problem getting into your system via any means. For this reason, among others, it is actually banned in the U.K. for use in all fragrances – but not here in the U.S.. Various studies have shown methylparabens to disrupt our endocrine system, and the Environmental Working Group gives it a score of 8 for a High Hazard ingredient. According to them, methylparabens are linked to cancer, immunotoxicity, and organ system toxicity. Not very safe stuff! So what products are methylparabens found in? The list is gigantic, and some of the biggest names in the cosmetics industry are included:

Revlon
Aveda
Avon
L’Oreal
Estée Lauder
Murad
Pantene
St. Ives
Etc.

Like I said, the list goes on and on, so you might be hard pressed to find products that DON’T have methylparabens in them. However, if you can do it, it is best to avoid these parabens altogether – the risk isn’t worth it to me when there are safer alternatives available. Keep your eyes open to those ingredient lists!

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What Are Methylparabens And Why You Should Avoid Them.

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