DRAFT
About Safe For Humans
Safe For Humans aims to be a single source for information on toxins in consumer products, food, and building materials.
More than just a list of shopping recommendations, Safe For Humans is a repository for scientific studies on toxins, a portal to ongoing research and advocacy, a news feed for breaking stories, and a link to the most well researched consumer guides for safe and healthy products.
Safe For Humans hopes that by creating a place to research issues of concern and find breaking news, consumers will be able to form a more complete story about exposure to toxins in our everyday lives, and will be able to sort fact from fiction, rumor from reality.
Furthermore, as evidence mounts that our consumer system is not protecting our health from toxic chemicals, it is all the more important that the consumer’s voice be heard both politically and at the cash register. Visitors to Safe For Humans will be able to connect to organizations that are taking action on behalf of consumer health and green chemistry causes and, if interested, will be directed product reviews and healthy shopping guides.
About toxins in our society: a crisis in manufacturing
We are currently facing a crisis in manufacturing.
- Design. Problem: Modern and efficient products that we consumers have come to depend on, like cleaning supplies and computers, routinely rely on hazardous or untested chemicals and materials. Result: Through the use and disposal of these products, people and the environment are exposed to a barrage of toxins, that effect our health and that of our environment. These toxins often bio accumulate and can even mix to create new and more dangerous toxins.
- Waste. Problem: Much of our household waste, particularly e-waste, is now shipped overseas where the lack of regulations and oversight leads to crude and often illegal disposal and recycling. Result: Toxins buried, melted, or burned effect the the food and product supply chain in the heart of the overseas manufacturing sector. For example, pollution from the incineration and recycling of e-waste can contaminate farmlands and the food grown on them. These highly toxic metals recovered from e-waste recycling make their way back into our supply chain and into cheap imports like kids jewelry.
- Corruption. Problem: More and more we see products polluted with toxins because the manufacturer was looking for cost savings or shortcuts. Result: Melamine in milk products, toxic drywall, in short, a product stream that cannot be trusted.
- Power. Problem: Federal and state regulation regarding toxic substances is highly influenced by the chemical lobby. Furthermore, manufacturing regulations that mandate that chemicals be used in consumer products for "safety" (i.e. flame retardants) are lobbied for by the chemical manufacturers rather than consumer safety groups. Result: Chemicals used with abandon without sufficient consumer safety information
Whether toxins find their way into our consumer products by accident or by design it is clear that there is currently no structure that is effectively keeping us safe from toxic products. It is up to the consumer to know what we are buying.
The dose makes the poison
"All substances are poisons; there is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison…." Paracelsus (1493-1541)
This is a concept that is commonly referred to by toxicologists (link). Even, everyday substances like salt or water can become poisons to the body if ingested in extreme doses. Along these lines, toxicologists will often test chemicals to a particular level of threshold (link) to determine toxicity. At a lower level of exposure the substance would be deemed safe (mercury in tuna, for instance.) When applying this approach to human health and exposure to toxins, however, what is often ignored is the increasing build up of toxins in the environment and in our bodies (link.) A particular safe exposure level may not take into consideration the other pathways by which we may be exposed to a toxin. It also discounts the interactions between substances. Interactions, even between seemingly benign substances, can often lead to new and dangerous toxins (link.) Uncertain dose levels and unknown interactions are the reasons that consumers need to be vigilant to protect them selves from as much chemical exposure as possible. However, research into hormone-disruptors, such as BPA, reveals that negative impacts to human health can be possible at exceptionally low doses, fully upending the old yarn about the dose making the poison.
About me
My interest in this subject stems first, and foremost, from my desire to protect my family’s health from over exposure to toxic chemicals. However, having a background in product design/manufacturing and having studied environmental policy, I come to this subject with an awareness of the needs and compromises made by the manufacturing sector, as well as an understanding of the impacts their actions can have on the environment and human health. It is also from this background and my work at Columbia University that I realize it is vital to approach this subject with a scholar's eye. The reality is that headlines and hysteria often do little to to change people's habits or create a path to a more sustainable and healthy system. Most people I speak to about the dangers posed by everyday products feel overwhelmed by the information and inured to the avalanche of reports. My hope is that Safe For Humans can be a place where level heads can find information, make decisions, and take action that will benefit their families, our society, and the environment. Thanks for visiting.