THIRTEEN: THE SLOW DEATH BY RUBBER DUCK TOP TEN
Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
—MARK TWAIN
DIET BOOKS ARE DIFFERENT from detox books in one very important respect: following the advice of the former yields obvious results, whereas doing so for the latter may not. If you try a diet and you don’t see the pounds coming off, chances are you won’t continue. But there’s no such built-in quality control with the welter of detox articles and books out there, which provide often conflicting prescriptions for potions and pills and odd foods, often claiming to be “100% GUARANTEED!” to eliminate toxins from your body. Who’s to know whether or not these recommendations will really work? It would be nice if you could buy a “Tox-o-Meter” from your local pharmacy, put it under your tongue and get a simple read out of the various poisons in your body. Alas, this is not possible.
That’s where this book comes in. Through much trial and error, pricey self-testing and numerous uncomfortable situations, we have done your homework for you. You can’t paralyze yourself into inaction worrying about all the 80,000 or so chemicals that are in circulation today. So we’ve tried to focus on the ones that exhibit the following two characteristics: (1) The best scientific evidence points to them as harmful to human health and (2) Recent science, and our self-tests, shows that you can measurably reduce their levels in your body if you do certain things.
We’ve summarized our various experimental results in table 9 in this chapter. As you can see, if you do a few ordinary, daily things a little differently, you can dramatically reduce levels of certain pollutants in your body—sometimes very quickly.
This final chapter provides what we hope is a useful summary of the ways you can reduce those toxins. We’ve boiled down the voluminous amounts of information in this book to create an easy-to-read list that you can tear out and stick on your refrigerator. It’s the Slow Death by Rubber Duck Top Ten list on this page of this book.
Read it, follow its advice…and you’ll get a whole lot of toxins out of your body in no time flat.
Table 9: Magnitude of toxic changes we achieved through experimentation.
| Experiment | Changes in Chemical Levels |
Introduction Levels of BPA and BPS after handling cash register receipts (Rick, Bruce, Sarah and Muhannad) |
BPA levels up by 42 times (see Figure 2) BPS levels up by 115 times (see Figure 2) |
Chapter 1 Levels of phthalates and parabens after using green and not-so-green personal-care products (Jessa and Ray) Levels of phthalates after using common personal-care products (Rick) |
MEP levels up by 22 times (see Figure 3) MEP levels down by 10 times on average*1 when using conventional products (see Figure 4) Methyl paraben levels down by 77 times on average* when using conventional products (see Figure 4) |
Chapter 4 Levels of mercury after eating tuna (Bruce) |
Mercury levels up by 2.5 times (see Figure 6) |
Chapter 5 Levels of triclosan after using common personal-care products (Rick) |
Triclosan levels up by 2,907 times (see Figure 7) |
Chapter 7 Levels of BPA after using BPA-containing containers and food (Rick) |
BPA levels up by 7 times (see Figure 8) |
Chapter 8 Levels of organophosphate pesticides after eating organic food (nine children) |
Levels down by 3 times on average (see Figure 10) |
Chapter 9 Levels of heavy metals during chelation (Bruce) |
Levels of removal from body up between 4 and 23 times (see Figure 11) |
Chapter 10 Levels of BPA and phthalates (MEP and MBP) during use of sauna (Bruce) |
BPA released in sweat in all 5 weeks (see Figure 13) MEP and MBP released in sweat in all 5 weeks (see Figures 14 and 15) |
Chapter 11 Levels of VOCs after sitting in new car (Rick) |
Levels up between 1.2 and 5 times (see Figure 17) |
NBC experiment**2 Levels of BPA and triclosan after ceasing the use of common personal-care products (Andrea Canning) |
BPA levels down by 88 times Triclosan levels down by 99 times |
*1Increases and decreases were calculated by dividing the peak level by the trough level. The numbers documented here are the average of Ray’s and Jessa’s respective changes in chemical levels
**2 In late 2012, during the writing of Toxin Toxout, we did an experiment with reporter Andrea Canning for NBC’s Dateline that looked at BPA, triclosan and phthalate levels. The experiment, similar to our experiment with Jessa and Ray in chapter 1 of this book, consisted of three phases: a washout, then heavy use of conventional products, followed by another washout where products containing those chemicals were avoided. The results above are from the BPA and triclosan experimentation. The segment aired on Dateline March 24, 2013.
The Most Important “To Do” List of Your Life
Managing what we absorb, breathe, eat and drink is the first line of defence against toxins like phthalates, parabens, pesticides and volatile organic compounds. Once chemicals are in our body, Bruce has some clear ideas on the detox methods that work and those that are modern-day snake oil. Ultimately, of course, we need to get synthetic toxins out of our economy and our world, but in the meantime, these ten simple steps (summarized in the Slow Death by Rubber Duck Top Ten list) will lead to a healthier life for all.
Use natural personal-care products that don’t contain chemicals such as phthalates or parabens.
In a study published in 2012, Shanna Swan investigated associations between women’s reported use of various personal-care products and phthalate metabolite levels in their urine, tested within twenty-four hours of the women’s interviews (see chapter 1).1 Swan found that concentrations of MEP (the primary metabolite of diethyl phthalate) in women increased with the number of products used. Swan also found, more generally, that women’s more frequent use of these products, particularly perfumes and fragranced products, was associated with higher urinary concentrations of multiple phthalate metabolites.
Here are some important tips and tools—and actions to carry out—to reduce toxic chemicals in your personal-care products:
Less is less. Limit your use of personal-care products whenever possible.
Use natural and/or organic cosmetics and personal-care products.
Check out the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG’s) Skin Deep database for information and safety scores of your products (it includes the scores of natural and organic products).
Whenever possible, avoid personal-care products with complicated chemical names on the labels (especially products with “fragrance” or “parfum” in the ingredients list).
Avoid problem products such as chemical hair straighteners.
Avoid antibacterial products, especially the ones that list triclosan on their labels. Instead, wash your hands regularly and vigorously.
Eat more organic food to avoid pesticides.
We really are what we eat. In chapter 8 Rick saw how effective an organic diet is in lowering the levels of pesticides in the bodies of young children. And why should we all avoid those pesticides in the first place? Pesticide exposure has been linked to some very serious negative health effects. Here are just some of them: general developmental problems and cognitive deficits in children, endocrine disruption, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, low birth weight, reproductive problems, asthma, risk of obesity and diabetes and infertility.2 And a 2017 study in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association showed that women seeking to get pregnant could significantly improve their chances by eating conventional produce with fewer pesticide residues or, better yet, eating organic.3 In simple terms, an organic diet can lower your body pesticide levels. Here’s what you can do to reduce the pesticides in your life:
Eat seasonal local and organic produce whenever you can.
Choose conventional produce that are lowest in pesticides (usually those with thick skins, such as onions, corn, pineapple and avocados).
Wash your produce well before eating it.
Be proud of your chemical-free lawn, yard and neighbourhood.
Drink the water from your tap! And lots of it!
We can lower our toxic burden by controlling what we eat, but what about the real “staff of life”—the water that we drink? On average, we are made up of two-thirds water by weight. Add to that the critical role that water plays in our bodily detox mechanisms, and we’d better be sure that we safeguard our drinking water. Water is vital to detoxification—personal and ecological.
Public health officials and municipal governments everywhere work together to rigorously test our tap water supplies for hundreds of potential chemical contaminants. And they do it every day. If that doesn’t give you enough assurance, you can install an affordable and effective filter in your home. Plenty of them are available. Revisit that handy table 8 in chapter 12, comparing some common in-house filters. For many of the chemicals we’re concerned about, activated carbon filters are the best bet, and they’re affordable. It’s a lot easier to install a point-of-use tap filter or to refill that countertop filter than to keep lugging flats of individual-sized water bottles from the grocery store, and it’s a whole lot better for the environment and you. So drink up and detox: six glasses of liquid a day for women and nine glasses a day for men (that includes all liquids).
Use natural fibres and green products like low-VOC paints in your homes and avoid products that might off-gas.
With so many of us spending so much time indoors and with so many smelly, off-gassing products surrounding us, indoor air quality has become an area of growing environmental and human health concern. As mentioned in chapter 11, the average person in an industrialized country now spends over 90 percent of their life indoors, including about 5 percent in enclosed vehicles.4 With that in mind, air quality inside is more important than it is outside.
In terms of reducing your exposure to off-gassing chemicals in road vehicles, toxic chemicals like benzene, phthalates and flame retardants are an issue, as Rick discovered. But manufacturers are starting to get rid of them. Ask the car company you’re dealing with what they’re doing to reduce the “new car smell.”
As in the case of cars, there’s some bad news about the buildings people spend so much time in, and some good news. First the bad: chemicals like flame retardants and phthalates are getting into the dust that gathers in our homes and offices, and they’ve been linked to some serious health outcomes like asthma and increased allergenicity.5 On the upside: you can take preventive steps to reduce your exposure:
Open your windows and get outside!
Incorporate furniture and textiles made from natural fibres into your life, avoid furniture made from polyurethane foam, and reupholster your old furniture whenever it begins to rip.
Clean and dust interior surfaces frequently (especially those that come in contact with food) and use a vacuum cleaner with a hepa filter (a type of high-efficiency air filter, usually made from randomly arranged fibreglass—they’re designed to capture ultra-fine particles).
Look for furniture and electronics retailers who carry products that are free of toxic flame retardants.
Avoid vinyl products.
Use green building materials, like low-VOC paint, when possible.
When buying or renting a home or office, choose leed-certified premises when possible.
Eat more vegetables and less meat to avoid toxin-grabbing animal fat.
Toxic chemicals are like a bad rash—they keep coming back, and they appear where you least expect or want them. This is the case for toxins like DDT and PCBs, chemicals that were banned as many as forty years ago. Some of the newer toxic chemicals on the market today—flame retardants and commonly used pesticides—also bioaccumulate. These toxins, transported by air and water, are lipophilic (fat-loving), so they find their way into the fat cells of wildlife like fish and move up the food chain into humans.
What’s the solution to avoiding these persistently pesky chemicals in the food chain? Well, it’s not all that different from what doctors and nutritionists (and many mothers) already recommend: eat your veggies and stay away from fatty foods!
Sweat more—toxic chemicals like BPA and phthalates leave your body through your sweat.
When researching his chapters, Bruce learned first-hand about the sheer volume of resources (useful or otherwise) that exist on the topic of diet- and exercise-based detox routines. Do check out some of the resources we recommend at the end of the book. Saunas have been used for spiritual and therapeutic reasons alike, across cultures, for hundreds and hundreds of years. The sauna detox experiment Bruce undertook was a novel design. And though it wasn’t possible to show before-and-after body concentrations, the experiment demonstrated unmistakably that synthetic chemicals like BPA are removed through sweating—one of our body’s most basic natural detox methods.
Exercise!
Though the science of detox is in its infancy, some methods do clearly work—as evidenced by the research of Stephen Genuis.6 But some methods don’t work. The effectiveness of a given detox method often depends on the toxic chemical in question. Some of the common ones that we’ve mentioned in this book (phthalates and parabens, for instance) are metabolized and excreted quickly through the body’s natural mechanisms, whereas others find their way into fat cells and therefore bioaccumulate. To help get rid of these lipophilic chemicals, do plenty of exercise. This breaks down the fat cells, releasing the stored toxins and allowing them to be excreted via lung exhalation and sweat.7
In one recent example, a study carried out at the University of Montreal evaluated the impact of physical exertion on human exposure to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) toluene and n-hexane. The researchers subjected the test subjects to toluene and n-hexane in equal amounts and found that breathing from physical exercise, higher concentrations of toluene and n-hexane levels were being exhaled from the lungs.8
Avoid wacky quick-fix detoxes and optimize your body’s natural detox mechanisms by adopting a detox lifestyle.
Since we know that chemicals are entering our bodies on a daily basis, shouldn’t we make sure that they’re leaving our bodies on a daily basis? And shouldn’t we train our bodies to be in the best possible condition to do this? Ridding your body of pollutants you can’t actively avoid requires a certain lifestyle approach that, frankly, may take a bit of effort. Recall that myth-busting table 7 from chapter 9 about the effectiveness of various detox treatments? As Bruce explored the depths of the detox industry, he debunked some of the phony detox techniques that are being peddled on the market today. He also learned that to succeed in eliminating toxic chemicals, we have to overthrow the notion of quick-fix, fad-based diets and cleanses. Focus instead on our healthy detox lifestyle recommendations.
Buy less and buy green.
As consumers we need to protect ourselves and our families by making informed choices—since it appears that many corporations have little concern for our health. Fortunately, however, there’s also a growing trend among small and big businesses to do better by us. Johnson & Johnson has voluntarily phased out the use of formaldehyde-releasing preservatives in their baby shampoo sold in Canada, the U.S., China, Australia and Indonesia. In September 2013, Procter & Gamble announced that phthalates and triclosan would be eliminated from its products by 2014 and Walmart U.S. said in 2016 that it would “push” suppliers to “remove or restrict” the use of eight hazardous chemicals in household cleaning, personal-care and beauty items.9 All this was a direct response to calls for action from consumers (many of them readers of the first edition of Slow Death by Rubber Duck) and groups like the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and Environmental Defence Canada.
Things have changed. While doing some research for a media story in New York, we popped into a local grocery store to purchase some BPA microwaveable food containers. Much to our amazement (and dismay, in terms of the experiment we were preparing), we couldn’t find any. All the brand-name plastic containers were now BPA-free. This is a clear signal that, despite the whining from chemical companies, the days are numbered for many synthetic toxins, thanks to active and vocal consumers like you.
These may appear to be small steps, but they are a big reminder that consumers have the power to demand healthier products and win.
As we, individually, become more adept at the Slow Death by Rubber Duck Top Ten list, we must also recognize that these same steps need to be applied to society as a whole: we have to get our collective act together to create a greener, less toxic economy.
In our role as consumers, we’re doing a pretty good job of just that—consuming, and creating more waste per day than ever before. Garbage, in itself, is not a problem, but too much of it is toxic, and we make and consume way too much. We need more—way more—initiatives like IKEA‘S recent announcement that it’s looking to replace all its polystyrene packaging with material made from mushroom waste. People like Terry Collins, John Warner and Janine Benyus are leaders in green chemistry, and they’re working to make materials and designs available for the stuff we already create. Software programmes are being developed to better predict the toxicity of chemicals so we can avoid using any that will harm human health, and chemists are looking into shifting away from petroleum-based chemical manufacturing. But does this mean that we’re just learning to make more stuff in a less harmful way? Green chemistry may be gaining ground, but it solves only part of the problem.
Support politicians who believe in a greener economy and organizations that work for a cleaner environment.
Consumers have power, and when we make different choices, we can encourage change in the products that are available. But it’s only by mobilizing our power as consumers and also as citizens that we can create a modern green economy. If we think of ourselves only as consumers, we’ll end up as part of the problem. We don’t need more consumers; we need active citizens, as Annie Leonard reminded us.
To meet the challenges of detoxing our economy, citizens will need to be informed and engaged. We also need governments that will put public health ahead of corporate profits. Governments decide which chemicals can be sold, where our garbage ends up and what levels of toxins will be allowed in our food, water and air. That’s why we need to elect politicians who understand the importance of keeping toxic chemicals out of our lives. We all respond to economic signals, and we need governments to develop effective pricing policies that capture the full cost of pollution, including the pollution of our bodies by toxic chemicals.
Start Somewhere
Is all of the above a perfect recipe for being toxin-free? Of course not. But by following these guidelines, you’ll make a huge difference in creating a cleaner, healthier lifestyle. It’s the most reliable, evidence-based prescription that we know of to get chemicals out of your environment and your body. Scientists have observed that some of us are more susceptible to the effects of toxic chemicals than others. But how do we know? Well, this issue is similar to the smoking debate.
Rick’s beloved grandmother Marjorie Braive could have been a poster girl for the tobacco industry. She smoked at least a pack a day of Du Maurier Regulars dating back to the 1930s. In the early 1970s she had a mastectomy but then carried on, undeterred, to the ripe old age of eighty-five. One of Rick’s enduring childhood memories is of her swimming off the dock of their Adirondack cottage, a floppy-brimmed straw sunhat on her head and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. Her family sprinkled a few cigarettes on top of her coffin to carry her through to the afterlife.
On the other hand, how many of us know of people whose lives were clearly cut short by the effects of smoking? Rick’s grandfather on his father’s side, a heavy smoker, dropped dead of a massive heart attack in his mid-forties.
The effects of pollution are similar. Some of us remain relatively unaffected by toxic synthetic chemicals. Others can be damaged even by apparently minor exposure. All of us benefit when exposure to cigarette smoke is reduced, and the same is true of exposure to synthetic chemicals.
The key is to start. Start somewhere.
Now rip out this page, stick it on your refrigerator and get going!