This is what I'm feeling...
Is it too much to ask that the food we feed ourselves be free of ANY amount of toxic compounds? Have we really gotten to the point where we have to convince ourselves that a little bit is okay? Really? REALLY?
I'm sitting here late at night looking at my canister of Nestle hot cocoa... one of my only non-organic vices (that is just for me) and I can't help but wonder "what the fuck is in this?!" Nestle had melamine in their formula. Hot cocoa is made from milk products. It doesn't take a huge leap there. And it just fucking disgusts me.
Why can't anything be completely safe? Seriously? Why the fuck can't my goddamn kids' food and toys and shampoo just be safe? Why do I have to have a full time career as an investigative reporter to try and eliminate toxic (factually, admittedly, toxic) compounds from their stuff?
And still it isn't enough. It's never enough. I can't be thorough enough.
And some people might say "give it up". "You can't protect them from everything."
Don't you think I fucking know that?
I certainly can't protect them from everything. Shit I can't even protect my kids from their own bodies!
Don't you think we should be able to keep our kids from being poisoned (even a little bit) everyday of their lives? Who even knows what the result of all of this will be? How much of a little bit of poison is okay when there's a little bit in EVERYTHING.
Don't you think we should be able to keep our kids from being poisoned (even a little bit) everyday of their lives? Who even knows what the result of all of this will be? How much of a little bit of poison is okay when there's a little bit in EVERYTHING.
17 comments:
Somewhat tangentially, I have a hard time with these things.
It is tacitly acknowledged that my line of work is very likely to give me cancer. I work with so many chemicals on a frequent basis.
I'm coming to terms with this. Its one of the reasons I try to be very careful in the rest of my life. I can't NOT spraypaint you know?
BUT! Just yesterday there was a strong burning plastic smell. I went and told the facilities manager. He says "unless you can tell me more I can't help you.
Today the smell was even worse, I get him to come, we decide that the smell is probably comming off the very oldschool lightbulbs I just switched in some ancient overheads. (Which he won't put a ticket in to replace because I have all of one extra set of bulbs IN THE WORLD and it's too soon...)
So there's a plastic smelling burning residue on my lamps and he says to 'just deal with it'
AAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH
I'm ALREADY asthmatic.
Ok, that was very long and rant-y. Its just all a part of this disregard for ourselves and eachother that sometimes drives me crazy.
I don't understand how corporate greed (because what else could be the reason for this stuff?) becomes first and foremost over human safety in anyone's mind. I just don't get it.
It pisses me off too!!
This is exactly, precisely how I feel. It's just too much. Like there isn't enough stressful stuff to worry about with kids. gah
I'm disgusted, too. This kind of stuff makes me question what's in everything.
Damn it, I can't make everything from scratch!
And did you know that bush relaxed regulations so that toys that have bpa and phalathates that are supposed to be off the shelves by Feb 1 can be on the shelves as long as they were MADE before Feb 1. URGH!
And re: formula, another reason I am glad I can breast feed. Nate never got formula and I am hoping Lincoln will never need it to.
I'm completely boycotting Nestle...
It is overwhelming when you feel like you can't eat, you can't use products, you can't drink the water, and you can't protect yourself or anyone else from all the additives and toxins that are in the world. There's just no way you can keep up with it all.
You would think more people would get pissed off about things like this.
The formula story (saw it last week) was very very upsetting. I'm having trouble producing enough milk, and the pediatrician won't give me the prescription to boost my supply (it isn't FDA approved and apparently has some scary but rare side effects). We're giving Lucia an Enfamil brand formula, and I'm very worried it has melamine. But I can't -- and don't trust -- the information that's out there about what formulas have it and which ones don't. I'm taking boatloads of Fenugreek and Mother's Milk Plus today to try to boost production.
It is exhausting. I don't know how once you (collectively) know about these things, you can ignore them. We returned a really nice set of pots and pans because they were nonstick. We threw away the microwave popcorn my parents left here (so we don't get popcorn lung -- not that we like popcorn anyway). I gave away TONS of formula that ironically our kickass lactation consultant gave us, because it was in little BPA bottles. I have an ultimate crib sheet, which everyone says is the greatest thing in the world but it has phthalates, so it's out. It's hard to think of everything. :(
Elizabeth,
"So there's a plastic smelling burning residue on my lamps and he says to 'just deal with it'"
Yeah that kind of stuff would piss me off.
I didn't know you had asthma.
Angie,
Interesting about the toys!
Kat,
Me too!!! I'm pissed that they haven't even made a statement.
Geri,
"You would think more people would get pissed off about things like this."
I'm really surprised that this isn't getting (at least) the same kind of reaction that the contaminated dog food got.
Heather,
Oh dear God what is "popcorn lung"!?!?!!!
Heather,
I've only got Organic (Newman's Own) microwave popcorn. Do you know if this has it in it? It says in the ingredients:
Organic popcorn, Organic Palm oil, Natural Butter Flavor (contains milk), Salt , Annatto, Vitamin E
NO mention of diacetyl. Is that listed in the other's that have it?
Okay I found out the Newman's own is safe (ish). It does not add it in... but it is naturally occurring in a small amount in actual butter.. as of fall 2007 they were working to remove it altogether.
While I do agree with you that it would be great to know that there was nothing BAD in what we're eating, even if we're not making organic choices etc. They shouldn't put poison in it right?
HOWEVER, I've sort of started thinking about how modern and really unnatural idea that is. For example, I'd think "wouldn't it be great if I could eat only my own garden food?" But even there, assuming I use fertilizer, even something as simple as compost or manure, I'm introducing all these scary and potentially dangerous bacteria and stuff myself. So wash it with tap water, no scary soaps or whatever, but the tap water has chlorine, so I could use some sort of filtered water, but a lot of that is filtered with Ozone, which is poisonous in large quantities. Basically I'm saying that there is no way to win. I think the strange, sterile processing plants and whatever is sort of the opposite of organic farm raised products. Do you know what I mean?
This sort of stemmed from house cleaning and keeping bugs out of my house, when I thought about how strange and unnatural that was.
Randi,
Yes I do know what you mean I've thought about the manure thing myself this morning. I'm actually not a clean freak so I'm not looking for sterile. I just don't want them to use a known toxic compound in the manufacturing of otherwise non toxic food. It can be done without it (and legally was supposed to be).
Obviously we have a longer life span than our ancestors and I agree that there is no way to avoid some type of contamination be it chemical... or biologically derived. But our children actually face a shorter life span than we do. So it seems somethings have gone too far.
Sorry it took me so long to get back here. Phew on the popcorn lung -- it was in the NY Times last year cause some dude used to eat it every day and put his face right up to the bag and inhaled. Also the workers at the plant where it's manufcatured were having health issues, apparently.
Oh, shit. I was about to freak out about the popcorn lung!!! LOL (We've been popping our corn on the stovetop this past year, but before that we ate years of microwave popcorn!).
Popcorn lung? I don't make popcorn that often (I don't actually have a microwave right now...)
But I'm appalled!
Also, yes, I have mild asthma, never been hospitalized, but breathing is not always easy.
I can't run for example. I have friends who are *ahem* larger than I am and they'll say "I ran four miles yesterday" And I can't even imagine that. I can't do 1/4 without gasping and stabbing pain.
Sigh.
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