Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
—ARTHUR ASHE
“Ever since I caught the lead, I’ve been messed up in the head. I can’t control my anger or feelings,” David confided to a reporter.* “I could have been better than I am.”1
David, who is now twenty-one, was severely poisoned as a child in his Milwaukee home. He suffered chronic poisoning over several years, although as little as a single chip of lead paint might have landed him in the hospital where doctors were able to save his life, but not all his intellect.
The outlook is bleak for some lead-poisoned children, but there is hope for many. I was pleasantly surprised to learn from lawyers like Evan K. Thalenberg and Thomas Yost of Baltimore that the cognitive skills and school performance of some poisoned children they represented have improved dramatically. Some have even gone on to attend college after winning settlements that provided them funds enough to afford counseling and educational support.
However, most people profoundly affected by environmental poisoning do not have such resources. This makes preventing poisoning extremely important. Children—and adults—need protection from lead, mercury, arsenic, industrial chemicals, pesticides, air pollution, and even from environmentally related diseases that can impair the brain.
The only known national solution is to eradicate harmful, underregulated poisons from residential housing, schools, water, food, and fence-line communities, and many scientists and activists have been working for decades to achieve just this.
A rollback of large-scale U.S. poisoning requires more than their knowledge and dedication, however. It also requires political solutions. A healthy environment—breathable air, potable water, food and game that are not imbued with heavy metals, homes that are not permeated with intellect-robbing industrial poisons, soil without deadly pesticides—is not something individuals and communities can create without the force of law and government support.
To be sure, protecting the brains of exposed Americans means banishing, not reducing, the sea of dangerous pollution in which they have been forced to live, study, and work. Ending pollution means forcing powerful industries to act against their financial interests and this cannot be accomplished by individuals. It is the responsibility of our government, including the EPA and the public health professionals that advise them, to eradicate untested, underregulated poisons from residential housing, schools, and fence-line industries.
The requisite legislation and regulation can be enacted only by a strong, active EPA that is dedicated to protecting Americans, not industry. We need to update regulations to account for the latest scientific findings about, for example, the special vulnerability of young brains to minute exposures. And we need to enforce them. Only this will create a safe environment for all, not only for the wealthy and powerful.
This critical work cannot wait for more research that demonstrates the harms that pollution is wreaking in communities of color. More than enough evidence has been amassed for us to act. Our nation must embrace the precautionary principle so that protection of the citizenry takes precedence over amassing “enough” research to satisfy the polluters and their scientists.
If future research exonerates a restricted or banned chemical, it always can be restored to use; but it is much harder—if not impossible—to restore the millions of IQ points lost to the effects of chemicals presumed to be safe.
Poisoned communities can be restored to health, too. Despite a long history of industrial malfeasance and governmental apathy (and worse), there is hope. Solutions exist for the problem of environmental poisoning, and some communities of color have found them by uniting.
We would do well to realize that this is a marathon, not a sprint. The greatest chance of success depends upon enlisting the support of researchers who have shown themselves committed to the intellectual health of communities of color and on forging partnerships with other environmental groups. Although mainstream environmental groups have long focused on preserving nature, conservation, and recreational issues, their acknowledgment that the planet needs protectors, not exploiters, means that they and poisoned communities of color have much in common. Working together they have already achieved some successes.
Yet, while we await environmental sanity, there are steps that individuals can take to fight for a less toxic environment and higher intelligence, and I discuss many of these here.
Pre-K enrichment programs like Head Start have been demonstrated to improve the academic performance of children. Other forms of prekindergarten or pre-K enrichment also help children practice and improve verbal and reasoning skills that are invaluable in the classroom and that boost IQ and standardized test scores. Free pre-K programs should be mandatory nationwide as one way to level the academic playing field from the beginning. Until they are available everywhere, find one for the children in your life at the Head Start website, where you can check your child’s eligibility and apply (https://www.benefits.gov/benefits/benefit-details/1928).
Unfortunately, many children face their highest risks of environmental poisoning in what should be the safest of all venues: at school. A 2001 study by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice entitled “Kids at Risk—Toxic Schools: Creating Safe Learning Zones” revealed that more than 600,000 mostly poor and minority-group students in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and California were attending nearly twelve hundred public schools located within half a mile of a federal Superfund-or state-identified contaminated site.2 Contact the EPA if you are concerned that your child’s school may be one of them.
In large cities like New York and small communities like Anniston, schools as well as homes have been found to have harbored noxious, brain-damaging chemicals and heavy metals like lead. Because children spend so much time in schools, such environments require attention and immediate detoxification.
Unfortunately, you cannot always rely upon the school administrators to assume leadership. In New York City, school administrations hid their schools’ lead contamination by deliberately misleading investigators and workers who were sent to test school lead levels.3 If you ask for information about contamination issues in your child’s school and do not receive answers, be prepared to persist and to go higher.
The EPA offers information about attaining a lead-free school at https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/lead-drinking-water-schools-and-childcare-facilities.
There is power in numbers, so try to recruit other parents in your search for answers and solutions. Start at the EPA. Its guide to training testing and its “Guide for Community Partners,” a blueprint for organizing, can be downloaded from https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi?Dockey=P1004WLH.txt. (See also Chapter 7 for a complete list of practical steps to help you organize for the environmental health of your community.)
You cannot eliminate all sources of toxic exposure, but there are steps you can take to reduce and minimize exposures to environmental poisons within your home.
Air quality. If you live in an area plagued by heavy industrial emissions, the air quality in your home is not completely under your control, but you can improve it. If you can afford to, keep your doors and windows closed and use your air conditioner to minimize emissions, at least during high-traffic hours. Some energy companies and cities have home-energy rebate programs to assist with bills.
Vermin control. Cockroaches and dust mites worsen asthma; rodents carry pathogens that may encourage hypertension, which is linked to lowered cognition. To remove them, hire a professional exterminator and follow his advice to keep these unhealthy visitors at bay. If you rent, check your municipal codes or with the local housing authority or Legal Aid to determine your rights as a renter. Usually it is the landlord’s responsibility to ensure vermin-free housing, so she must pay for extermination.
Vacuuming. Use a HEPA vacuum often to minimize your family’s exposure to tracked-in toxic substances, dust mites, cockroach parts, and other vermin.
Cleaning supplies. Many cleaners contain volatile toxic chemicals such as halogenated hydrocarbons that harm the lungs and present neurotoxic threats that harm the brain. Others, such as bleach and ammonia, or bleach and various acids, become poisonous when mixed together. Read labels, and whenever possible, choose cleaners that do not contain a long list of chemicals—many are hydrocarbons or poisons that are readily absorbed through the skin.
Diluted bleach (which should always be handled with care), simple detergents, and ammonia can be used, separately, for many household cleaning jobs and are far more economical than complex specialized cleaners. But always use gloves and handle bleach carefully, because it can cause a lot of damage if it’s splashed on the body or if it gets in the mouth or eyes.
All cleaning products should be stored in locked, child-safe cabinets: a bad taste will not deter toddlers from sampling these poisons.
Many people use essential oils in cleaning, but these are sometimes toxic as well. Some should not be used by pregnant women, and they can be expensive. For a useful description of low-toxicity cleaning options, see Less Toxic Living: How to Reduce Your Everyday Exposure to Toxic Chemicals—An Introduction for Families, by Kirsten McCulloch.4
Paper masks. Use paper masks during periods of highest exposure to poor air quality. This might include outdoor activities near toxics-spewing factories, riding the subway in an area of substandard air quality, or outdoor tasks that may heighten your exposure to polluted soil, air, or other pollution “hot spots.” Recall the story from Chapter 3 of Shirley Carter, who donned a paper mask to mow her toxics-soaked lawn. City dwellers should emulate commuters in heavily polluted Asian cities who are frequently seen wearing masks on public transportation. Studies show they indeed offer some protection against not only pollutants but also some communicable diseases like the flu and colds.
Shoes. Lead, industrial chemicals, animal dander, pesticides, chemical dust, pathogens, and a wide assortment of uninvited visitors can hitch a ride into your home on the soles of your shoes. Consider leaving your shoes at the door and going shoeless inside, or trading your shoes for flip-flops when you enter. And ask your guests to do the same. But avoid walking barefoot outside, where you can absorb pollutants through your skin and pick up parasites, including hookworms, which have been demonstrated to sap intelligence and are making a resurgence in parts of the United States.
Between polluted bodies of water, corroded external and indoor pipes, and even the overuse of corrective chemicals like chlorine, few of us can be certain that the water we drink in our homes is free of dangerous contaminants. We need only remember that the people of Flint were repeatedly assured that their water was safe while their brains were being assaulted by high levels of lead to realize that we should be vigilant.
There are many options to protect yourself from waterborne contaminants, but none is foolproof and very few counteract every kind of toxic exposure.
Bottled water. Bottled water is relatively safe, although it is an expensive and inconvenient solution, especially for a family. The expense incurred goes beyond the financial outlay. The energy required and pollution generated by its processing, bottling, transportation, and disposal makes bottled water an environmentally questionable option.
Furthermore, the plastic bottles that contain the water may not be perfectly safe, but there is a way to check. You may have noticed numbers and symbols on plastic containers; these can tell you whether the bottle that holds your water contains chemicals that are known to be or suspected of being toxic.
Look for triangular recycling signs on the bottle. If the triangle contains the number 1 and the letters PET or PETE (for polyethylene terephthalate), it means the plastic does not contain BPA, which is good. But PET is a form of phthalate, which should be avoided whenever possible. Do not re-use such bottles because the chemicals can eventually leach into water and food.
Bottles with the number 2 inside the triangular recycling symbol and the letters HDPE (high-density polyethylene) are a better choice because they contain no BPA, phthalates, or any other known toxic chemical.5
Water filters. There are many types of water filters, from $20 pitcher filters to $1,500 systems that are permanently installed in your home plumbing. The various models use everything from activated charcoal to ultraviolet (UV) light to remove pathogens, parasites, heavy metals, and chemicals. But few, if any, filters remove all of these or remove them completely.
If your household includes infants or pregnant women, seriously consider using a water filter. As noted in Chapter 4, young children drink about four times as much as adults relative to their weight, and the young, especially fetuses, are much more sensitive to toxic pollutants than adults.
What kind of water filter should you invest in? That depends on the contaminants you wish to remove, your budget, and how much space you have.
First find out what issues your water is known to have, bearing in mind that both the water that enters your home and your household pipes may be sources of contamination.
You can do this by checking the Environmental Protection Agency’s water-quality reports for your city at epa.gov/safewater. These are updated every July. But if you use well water or if your house was built before 1986 when lead-free plumbing was mandated, you should have your water tested.6 Call your local health department to ask for a free test kit (the EPA website on the previous page lists local laboratories), or call the EPA Safe Drinking Water hotline at 800-426-4791. If the lead levels are below 150 ppb, a water filter can remove them. If they are higher, ask the EPA or your local health department for guidance.
Once you know what contaminants threaten your water, decide whether you want a point-of-use (POU) filter, which can be used in a pitcher or installed on the spigot, or a point-of-entry (POE) filter attached to your home plumbing where the water enters your home.
Bear in mind that installing a POE system will filter the water entering your home but will not remove pollutants emanating from your own plumbing, so unless your home was built after 1986, lead or other toxic substances can leach from your pipes into your water. Also, even if you do not have lead plumbing, lead can enter your water from other sources, such as the solder on pipes.
If you rent, you probably want a portable system because POE systems are expensive.
No matter which type you choose, change filters at least as often as the manufacturers’ directions indicate in order to keep them effective and to prevent the growth of bacteria and mold.
Following are the most common types of filters:
• Carbon filters are filled with carbon-based material like charcoal or burnt bamboo or coconut. These materials are “activated” to increase their ability to adsorb contaminants. They remove chlorine, pesticides, and petrochemicals, but do not remove all lead and fluorine unless they incorporate a filter impregnated with “KDF filters,” granules that are composed of a half-zinc, half-copper alloy.
• KDF filters include zinc-copper granules that remove heavy metals, ions, bacteria, algae, and fungi. They do not remove pesticides and parasites. If they get clogged, they can release pollutants back into your water. So they need to be backwashed with hot water. These filters are most useful when paired with the carbon filter.
• Ion-exchange filters use a variety of resins to remove heavy metals, nitrates, and fluoride. They do not remove sediment, pesticides, microbes, or chlorine. Bacteria may grow on them, which seems to defeat one purpose of a water filter.
• Reverse osmosis filters are complicated, expensive, built-in filtration systems that remove pesticides, fluoride, petrochemicals, chlorine, asbestos, nitrates, heavy metals, and radium. Some people avoid them because they worry that the resulting water is slightly acidic, but this is the normal pH of most natural water sources and is not dangerous to health.
• Sediment filters are made from a wide variety of materials that remove sand, rust, clay, and dirt particles. They are often used with carbon filters in order to keep them from clogging too quickly and often.
• UV sterilizers are the same type used in home aquariums. They are not filters, but instead use ultraviolet light to kill pathogens and algae. However, most treated water already contains chlorine, which also kills these pathogens. This makes UV systems redundant for most people.
Once you have decided upon the type of water filter you want, look at independent quality ratings. Not only will they tell you which filters performed well in tests, but these ratings also give valuable information about product recalls and other issues.
For example, in the late 1990s, when I worked as an editor at a national consumer magazine, I discovered that some water filters actually leached lead into the water they “purified”! Save yourself such unpleasant surprises by checking sites like Consumer Reports (www.consumerreports.org/products/water-filter/ratings-overview), Good Housekeeping (www.goodhousekeeping.com/health-products/g684/water-filters), or Reviews.com (www.reviews.com/water-filter).
Fluorine. Many filters remove fluorine, which raises the question of whether you want the fluorine removed from your water. Fluorine is used to prevent tooth decay, the incidence of which has continued to fall since it was first added to U.S. water. But approximately fifty studies worldwide, including several observational studies, have found an association between small fluorine exposures and lower-than-average IQ. This has caused some researchers to fear that fluorine can harm the developing brain in fetuses and the very young, but the question is hotly debated. Recent large studies in China and Mexico have found an association between lower IQ and prenatal fluoride exposures. In Mexico, pregnant women who had higher levels of fluoride in their urine, and presumably delivered to their fetuses, gave birth to children who had lower IQ scores when tested between four and twelve years of age than women with lower levels of urinary fluoride. As the researchers themselves point out, such observational studies can demonstrate a possible association but not cause and effect. Most U.S. researchers I consulted, like pediatric dentist Donald Chi, professor of oral health sciences at the University of Washington, see no poisoning risk from the levels in U.S. water sources.7 More precise studies, perhaps longitudinal ones, must be done to better characterize fluoride’s possible cognitive harms and provide parents more useful answers.8
A movement to ban water fluoridation in the wake of the new studies cited above is under way over the objections of the EPA and American Dental Association. In April 2017, the anti-fluoridation group Fluoridation Action Network along with allied medical and dental groups filed a lawsuit in California seeking to ban water fluoridation. The EPA responded by asking the federal court to dismiss the suit, but in December 2017 a federal judge refused to do so.9
Even if fluoride’s effect on IQ is supported by well-conducted future studies, a general ban may not be nuanced enough. Depending on what future studies reveal, perhaps a fluoride ban should focus more narrowly on fetuses and newborns. It is possible the small amounts of fluorine found in fluoridated American water are harmful to the brains of fetuses and the very young but perfectly safe for older children or adults. And because the fetus does not have teeth that fluoride can protect, there may be no advantage to this earliest fluoride exposure. Health experts will need more research data before they can tell us the logical steps to take.
This recommendation may seem inconsistent with my recommendation that we embrace the precautionary principle by erring on the side of banning industrial chemicals until their safety has been demonstrated. However, fluoride is a special case: unlike the noxious industrial chemicals in question, fluoride conveys demonstrated health benefits—except in fetuses and neonates who have no teeth to protect.
Meanwhile, you still must make a decision for yourself and your family, bearing in mind that children of color have more dental issues on average than other children (partly because Medicaid policies limit access to quality dental care).
You should seek advice on this question from your child’s doctor and dentist. If you decide to avoid fluoride altogether, make sure you buy a water filter that will remove it, and give your young child training toothpaste, which does not contain fluoride.
If you decide that you want fluoride’s dental benefits but worry that your filter may have removed it, ask your doctor about using naturally fluoridated salt such as Himalayan salt or the fluoridated salt sold in parts of Europe. Bear in mind that dentists recommend that children use only a pea-size amount of toothpaste; more is unhealthy and increases their exposure to fluoride, possibly causing dental fluorosis—discoloration of the tooth enamel.10
As described in Chapter 4, getting safe, adequate nutrition while avoiding brain-draining contaminants like mercury is especially challenging for pregnant women, but it can be done.
Multivitamins. Women who may become pregnant can give their babies the best, poison-free start by enriching their dietary habits now, before they conceive. Start by conferring with your doctor, because the advice in this chapter is general and does not apply to any one individual’s medical needs and condition—only a doctor can provide specific advice for you. If your doctor agrees that a daily multivitamin will provide the nutrients you and your baby need, this is what you should take, although you should also ask whether to take additional folic acid to prevent neural-tube problems and choline supplements to prevent alcohol from damaging your baby’s brain. You should also consider adding fish or other sources of omega-3 oil to your diet. If your doctor agrees, two 6-ounce servings of (low-mercury) fish weekly (see “Seafood Safety” below) will boost brain health for you and your unborn baby.
Breastfeeding. Consider breastfeeding, which, as explained in Chapter 4, conveys many benefits for a child’s brain as well as body. But if you live in a fence-line community or other toxics-ridden area, be sure to ask your doctor specifically about whether you should change your diet or whether it is safe to breastfeed at all, because some poisons can taint breast milk. In addition to your pediatrician, organizations like La Leche League International can advise you about breastfeeding. Breastfeeding confers so many advantages to a baby’s physical health and mental acuity that it is sometimes advisable even if a poison can enter breast milk. In Chapter 4, I explained that the future IQ of breastfed babies was higher than normal despite the effects of the mercury in their breast milk. In 1993, breastfeeding researchers followed the cognitive development of breastfed children and reported in Early Human Development that even though they received more contaminants through breast milk than bottle-fed children, the breastfed scored significantly higher on the Bayley and McCarthy mental and psychomotor development tests (at all time points from two years through five years) and had higher English grades on report cards from grade three or higher.11
Alcohol. To protect any future offspring from alcohol-caused brain damage, it is safest to abstain from alcohol completely if you could become pregnant, especially in light of the rate of underdiagnosed fetal alcohol brain damage in African American, First Nations, and Hispanic infants. Recent studies have questioned the purported health benefits of a daily serving of alcohol, and many experts now think that abstaining may be healthier than moderate consumption.12 But if you choose to drink, no more than a single daily serving is best—and daily serving is the key: decades of studies show that this is not the same thing as seven drinks on Saturday night. If there is a possibility you could become pregnant, ask your doctor whether she advises avoiding alcohol completely or whether limiting yourself to a single drink daily is sufficient.
Baby food. As Chapter 4 revealed, many baby food products, even organic ones, test positive for lead and arsenic, including 80 percent of infant formulas. And that’s not the only brain-damaging contaminate they may contain.13 Consider making your own baby food. If you buy commercial baby food, research it first to see what brands and types are safest. The Clean Label Project, which is supported by grants, donations, and its certification program, is a good resource.
Fruits and vegetables. Wash and peel fruits and vegetables to minimize pesticide residue that can bioaccumulate and cause cognition problems in children.
Processed foods. Worried that the chemicals listed on a label could compromise your children’s brain development? Choose minimally processed foods to avoid adulterants that could affect your family’s health, and avoid overprocessed food. Using minimally processed foods also allows you to control the ingredients of the food you prepare.
Preservatives. Avoid most preservatives. This is trickier than it sounds, because not every preservative is harmful: some preservatives are necessary to protect your health by keeping microbes at bay. For example, buying peanut butter without any preservatives can be risky because harmful molds called aflatoxins that can cause liver cancer and delayed development in children can grow in peanut butter. But preservative chemicals can cause health problems, so the wisest course is to use as many unprocessed foods as possible and therefore avoid the need for many preservatives. It is also good to understand what the common preservatives are and whether they can pose hazards.
To do this, you don’t have to become a chemist, but you do have to know where to look for information. Your doctor may be able to help or to recommend a nutritionist or dietician who can. The habit of reading food labels is a good one to adopt, because all preservatives added to food must be declared on the label’s ingredients list.
The government labels many food preservatives GRAS, which means “generally recognized as safe.” It reasons that these chemicals have been used and monitored for long periods without serious concerns arising. But GRAS also means that they have not been specifically tested for human safety, so it is impossible to be sure they are safe, and especially whether they are safe for mental development, which the chemicals are not typically monitored for.
Here is a list of common GRAS preservatives and their purposes:
antimicrobial agents—these kill bacteria and stop the growth of mold on foods
antioxidants—these prevent the oxidation or spoilage of food and offer health benefits by reducing harmful free radicals in the body
benzoates—the salts of benzoic acid
butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)—a waxy solid used to preserve butter, lard, meats, and other foods (linked to some cancers)
butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)—similar in structure and function to BHA, but in powder form (linked to some cancers)
chelating agents—these prevent spoilage by bonding with the metal ions in certain foods
citric acid—found naturally in citrus fruits
disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)—used in food processing to bind manganese, cobalt, iron, or copper ions
nitrites—the salts of nitrous acid
polyphosphates—used as anti-browning agents in dips and washes for peeled fruits and vegetables14
propionates—the salts of propionic acid
sorbates—sorbic acid and its three mineral salts: potassium sorbate, calcium sorbate, and sodium sorbate
sulfites—a group of compounds containing charged molecules of sulfur compounded with oxygen, including sodium sulfite, sodium bisulfite, sodium metabisulfite, potassium bisulfite, and potassium metabisulfite
vitamin C (ascorbic acid)—a water-soluble vitamin and its salts, sodium ascorbate, calcium ascorbate, and potassium ascorbate
vitamin E (tocopherol)—a fat-soluble vitamin
Although they are on the GRAS list, questions have been raised about the safety of BHA and BHT, which have been linked to cancer. Sodium nitrite and nitrate, often used to preserve meats like bacon and sausage, are strongly suspected of causing cancer and should be avoided. So should cadmium: although it is on the GRAS list, it is also a toxic chemical.
Home canning. Canning, also called “preserving” or “putting up” food, is an economical way to preserve large quantities of garden fare and meats for storage by packing them into glass jars. When done correctly, this allows you to avoid both spoilage and artificial preservatives. Canning got many of our forebears through harsh winters and other times of scarcity.
But canning must be performed meticulously in order to avoid spoilage and fatal food poisoning. It is very dangerous if not performed correctly. While working in a poison center, I learned that most cases of the fatal food poisoning botulism arose from eating not restaurant or supermarket foods but improperly processed home-canned fare.
Normal cooking temperatures do not kill botulism or denature its toxin, so canned foods that harbor it are deadly. A mere drop of tainted food can kill. Botulism is not self-limited like many other types of food poisoning, and it can kill quickly. Even if a person is rushed to the hospital and given the “antidote”—botulism antitoxin—they cannot always be saved, especially if too much time has elapsed, and the antitoxin cannot undo damage that has already been done.
Because botulism is fatal, don’t take chances. Don’t trust the canning instructions in recipes and cookbooks, because they are not always sufficient to prevent botulism. Unless you are willing to commit to purchasing the right equipment and following the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) instructions15 exactly, find another way to save money and avoid preservatives in foods.
You can order the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, by calling 1-888-398-4636 or download it from http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html.
For more advice, contact your state or county extension service, which you can locate by clicking a link at https://www.cdc.gov/features/homecanning/index.html.
If you are unsure whether a food, either home-canned or commercially purchased, is safe, don’t take chances: Discard it. Better to lose a few dollars than a life. And don’t taste-test it! It takes only a drop of botulism-tainted food to kill.
If you have already eaten food and have concerns about its safety, call your local poison center. You should tape the number to your home’s telephone or refrigerator, especially if you have children. If you don’t know it, call the national poison control center, which can be reached at 1-800-222-1222: it is always open, seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day.
Seafood safety. Seafood is a common source of food poisoning, partly because it must be carefully prepared and stored to prevent microbial growth that can send a victim to bed or the bathroom for hours of unpleasant symptoms. But worse, as I discuss in Chapter 5, a few types of seafood poisoning seriously harm the brain, causing permanent short-term memory loss, confusion, and even death.
If you fish, avoid such brain-threatening illness by paying close attention to “red tide” warnings in the newspapers, online, or by calling your local extension service, which you can find at http://pickyourown.org/countyextensionagentoffices.htm. You can also go to the National Ocean Service at https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/ and search for “red tide.”
To avoid mercury poisoning, limit yourself to two or three servings of fish a week. Choose smaller fish of these types: light tuna (avoid white albacore tuna, which has a higher mercury content), salmon, tilapia, pollock, catfish, shrimp, and mackerel (pick smaller mackerel fish, which will have lower concentrations of mercury). Avoid shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish, which the FDA lists as having the highest levels of mercury. Avoid eating whale and dolphin at all costs; their mercury levels are extraordinarily high.16
Dollar-store fare. Buying food in dollar stores is an easy way to save money—unless your purchase is tainted by toxins, heavy metals, or other poisons that harm the brain. Be especially wary of imported candies and tinned meats. Lead and microbes can leach into them from their containers, and these dangers won’t be acknowledged on the label. Imported pottery, too, can have high levels of lead: such purchases might be better obtained from discount outlets that carry U.S.-regulated goods. Join with friends and neighbors to buy economically in bulk at a big-box store instead, where you are less likely to encounter unregulated foreign fare.
Iodized salt. Because iodine deficiency remains the greatest global cause of mental retardation, buy only iodized salt, and avoid sea salt unless it is infused with iodine, because processing removes its natural iodine. If you adopt a low-salt diet for health reasons, ask your doctor to recommend alternative sources of iodine. Some European salt and Himalayan salt contains fluoride, additional amounts of which should be avoided by pregnant women and very small children. Water in the United States is already fluoridated, and more than fifty studies suggest that additional fluoride may cause an IQ drop in the very young.
Supplements. Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994 define dietary supplements as products other than tobacco that supplement the diet, such as vitamins, minerals, herbs, botanical products, and amino acids.
In addition to iodine, some nutritional supplements and vitamins are known to improve cognition. Some can also improve the cognition of unborn children when taken by their mothers. Folic acid prevents neural malformations like spina bifida; vitamin D prevents bone disorders and a slew of other conditions, and it is especially important for dark-skinned people, who are more likely than others to suffer a vitamin D deficiency. Evidence suggests that other supplements are worth investing in: choline may help to prevent both fetal alcohol disorders and Alzheimer’s disease, for example.
If you are one of the 16 percent of Americans who use both alternative therapies and conventional medicine,17 you must involve your doctor. In 1993, David Eisenberg published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine (that was later confirmed by his subsequent studies) revealing that most—three of every four people—who use alternative medicine hide this fact from their doctors.18 For the sake of your and your family’s health, don’t be one of them.
Some herbs and supplements that don’t harm adults can devastate an unborn child’s brain. Moreover, if your doctor doesn’t know what you are taking, her prescriptions and recommendations may be working at cross purposes with the alternative agents, robbing them of their potency. Or your alternative treatments and your doctors’ prescriptions may potentiate each other, dangerously heightening the effect of your medications. If your doctor absolutely rejects the use of alternative medicine and refuses to advise you about it, consider finding a doctor who is more alternative-friendly.
It is true that we would be better off if we could obtain all our needed vitamins from food rather than from pills, but eating enough of the right foods to obtain all these daily nutrients is not easy: it would probably be a full-time job, and quite expensive. The right supplements provide convenient nutritional insurance.
However, be careful in choosing nutritional supplements. They are very loosely regulated, tested only after they are suspected of harming someone, and their advertised claims do not always match up with the clinical reality. Some supplements contain lead or even prescription medications that are not listed on the ingredients label. Also, the people who distribute and sell them can be dangerously naïve about pharmacology, which has caused some serious injuries when the wrong configuration of a nutritional chemical was sold. The clerk in the health food store who persuades you that a supplement will help alleviate your child’s lead-poisoning symptoms cannot help you if it sends your child to the hospital instead.
Here are just a few of the most common supplements that have caused problems after being sold with medical claims. Many are sold under several names and this list is far from exhaustive, so the fact that a product does not appear here does not mean it is safe.
Aconite is traditionally known as wolf’s bane, and is derived from a genus of plants that have long been used to address inflammation, joint pain, or gout. But aconite can also harbor poisonous chemicals. In fact, it is responsible for most cases of severe herbal poisoning in Hong Kong.19
Caffeine powder addresses weight loss, increased energy, and athletic performance but it is dangerously potent: one teaspoon equals 28 cups of coffee, according to the FDA, which has banned some brands after two users died from caffeine overdose in 2014. (A safe dose for most adults is 200 mg, or one-sixteenth of a teaspoon.)20
Chaparral is made from a Californian shrub and addresses weight loss, inflammation, colds, rashes, and infections but is harmful to the liver and can cause hepatitis.21
Coltsfoot is an herb that addresses coughs, sore throats, laryngitis, and asthma. But it contains alkaloids that cause tumors and was banned by the German government after an infant died because her mother had consumed coltsfoot tea during pregnancy.22 The ban was amended to allow the sale of a variety developed without any alkaloids.
Comfrey is an herb used to alleviate heavy periods, stomach problems, and chest pain, but it was banned for internal use in the United States because it causes liver damage and is unsafe for use by pregnant women.23
Germander is used for weight loss, fever, arthritis, gout, heart failure, and stomach problems, but it also causes liver damage when used often. More than 45 people were sickened by it in France, and one died.24
Greater celadine, a member of the poppy family, is used to treat stomachaches, pain, and cancer, but it is toxic even at moderate doses and can cause fainting, convulsions, and paralysis.25
Green tea extract powder addresses weight loss but it can also dangerously elevate heart rate and blood pressure and injure the liver.
Kava reduces anxiety but also raises the risks of Parkinson’s disease and paradoxically, of depression.
Lobelia addresses respiratory problems and is used as a smoking-cessation aid but the risks of nausea, diarrhea, rapid heartbeat, seizures, coma and, possibly, death make it too dangerous to use.
Mä huang, also known as ephedra or “Mormon tea,” has caused seizures, psychosis, myocardial infarction, cardiac arrhythmia, stroke, and death when given in high doses or for long periods. It has been used as a stimulant to enhance athletic performance, but the FDA banned it from supplements in 2004 after several athletes’ deaths were linked to it.26
Methylsynephrine is a stimulant favored by those who want to increase energy, lose weight, and gain greater athletic stamina. But these come with the risks of heart-rhythm abnormalities that can lead to cardiac arrest.
Pennyroyal oil alleviates breathing problems and aids digestion but is also tied to nerve damage, convulsions, and liver damage.
Red yeast rice is used to help lower high cholesterol and prevent heart disease but it is tied to hair loss and it can dangerously increase the effect of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.
Yohimbe is taken for everything from depression and weight control to erectile dysfunction. But it raises blood pressure, causes seizures and liver damage problems, and may cause panic attacks.27
“Natural” is not a synonym for “safe.” Alternative supplements, teas, and other nostrums are often embraced by people who believe that they are natural and therefore safer than a pill or medicine that has been artificially derived in a laboratory and manufactured in a factory.
But this is an illusion.
You don’t have to spend much time in a poison center or even in the wild to realize that remedies found in nature, like Nature herself, can be extremely powerful, and even deadly. Herbs and supplements can sicken and kill, especially when used or prepared inappropriately, in excessive dosages, or for a prolonged period of time. But even experts have fallen victim after underestimating the potency of natural remedies. In 2015, the British Medical Journal recounted how a “trained herbalist” in the UK collapsed and was brought to the hospital after she dosed herself with an herb to combat her insomnia. Doctors identified it as the potent poison belladonna, which is derived from a plant colloquially called deadly nightshade.28 In the early 1980s, a Russian mushroom expert died while visiting a Syracuse, New York, college after consuming a poisonous mushroom that closely resembled a benign edible species in the USSR. The herb Stephania tetrandra was used in Belgium in the early 1990s for weight loss. But in some cases another herb, Aristolochia fangchi, was mistakenly substituted, causing at least one hundred cases of renal failure.
Unlike pharmaceuticals, herbal and “natural” dosages are not standardized. And variations in soil quality, growing season, method of preparation, and even geographic location all cause large differences in a given medicinal plant’s potency, making it hard to know how much to take.
A survey of ginseng products found that some products were two hundred times more potent than others that were similarly named. A similar survey of an ephedra product found that some batches contained ten times more ingredients than others produced by the same company.
Furthermore, an analysis of 2,609 herbal samples found that 23.7 percent—almost one in four—were adulterated with pharmaceuticals. A parallel California study found that 7 percent contained undeclared pharmaceuticals.29
I’ve discussed the dangers of small doses of methylmercury, such as those derived from fish in the diet, that can have devastating effects on the nervous system and brain, lowering the IQs of many exposed people and injuring fetuses. But heavy metals like mercury cause concern elsewhere, too.
Thimerosol/mercury in vaccines. A form of mercury called thimerosol has been used as a preservative in some vaccines given to both children and adults. Although the Lancet study by Andrew Wakefield that claimed to find a connection between the preservative and autism was recalled (with its author discredited and struck off the British medical roll), many fear that thimerosol or even the vaccines themselves may cause autism in their children.
A thorough discussion of this issue would require far too much space to engage in here, but thimerosol has been removed from all but a very small handful of vaccines and is not currently used in any that are given to children. It poses no autism risk.
Mercury in batteries. Another common source of mercury is in the small, round, flat batteries, many the size of a penny or smaller, in devices like watches and hearing aids. Children and toddlers sometimes eat them, but so do adults. Some people accidentally ingest a watch battery while holding it in their mouth while changing the batteries: Don’t do this.
Older adults, especially those suffering from eyesight problems or dementia may mistake them for pills. Unfortunately, the ingestion sometimes is not discovered until symptoms set in and the victim begins vomiting, drooling, retching, and suffering from abdominal pain, rashes, dark stools, irritability, and fever.
This is a medical emergency: send the person to the hospital immediately. Do not “wait and see.” Bring the device that originally contained the battery so hospital staff can determine exactly what type of battery was consumed. Do not give the victim ipecac, salt solution, or anything else to induce vomiting: this can worsen the damage, possibly forcing a battery that has entered the stomach to become lodged in the esophagus where it can impede breathing.
There is also a battery ingestion hotline at 202-625-3333, which you can call if you need immediate help, or if circumstances prevent you from taking the person to get professional medical help. But do not call the hotline instead of taking the person to the hospital immediately. At the hospital, staff may wait and watch the progress of the battery through the system; they may retrieve it with the aid of an endoscope; or they may administer medication such as dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) or dimercaptopropane sulfonate (DMPS) n-acetyl penicillamine.
To prevent such exposures, securely tape the battery compartments on children’s toys and electronics shut. Store batteries in childproof containers if you have young children in the house, and lock them away if you have elderly people living with you—they can so easily mistake the batteries for pills.
Mercury amalgams. Many people worry that dental fillings made of an amalgam that can contain as much as 50 percent mercury may poison them or their children. Scientific reports on their safety vary. However, such studies have shown that the mercury in fillings may cross the placental barrier to harm an unborn child. Unfortunately, removing these fillings carries risks as well, exposing both the patient and the dentist to mercury vapor.
In fact, some experts think that the dental workers are at higher risk from such fillings than patients. Research on the question continues, so ask your dentist for guidance and possible answers.30
Workers besides those in the dental industry risk mercury exposure, too, especially those employed in coal-burning industries and in gold mining.31 In ancient Rome, criminals sentenced to work in quicksilver mines had a short life expectancy because of the toxicity of the mercury in the cinnabar they mined.
Some laboratory workers today risk exposure to the very dangerous compound dimethylmercury, which is so toxic that a drop spilled on the skin, even on a gloved hand, has caused death.32
Some governments have heavily regulated the use of mercury. The European Union, which has historically exported but not imported large amounts of mercury, has prohibited the export of mercury since March 2011. One stated reason is that although poisoning is uncommon in the EU, it is a problem in native Arctic communities, China, India, and in many developing countries.33
Lead. If you and your family are exposed to lead via tainted water, food, peeling indoor lead-based paint and dust, soil, or industrial emissions in your neighborhood, any effective, permanent solution must come from regulatory changes imposed upon the responsible industry or municipal government. But you are not powerless. You can take steps on your own, and banding together with neighbors and advocates will offer some further protection and hasten governmental responsibility.
To protect your child, first find out what year your housing (or your child’s daycare or school) was built. If it was built after 1978, that’s good news, because federal law has prohibited the use of lead-based interior paint in homes since that year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also have recommendations:
Children don’t spend all their time at home so be sure to tell babysitters, grandparents, and other caregivers not to allow your children near peeling paint, window jambs, or “chewable surfaces” painted with lead-based paint.
If your home was built before 1978, have it tested for lead. If the test is positive, move if at all possible. If you cannot move, consider boarding young children with a friend or relative while you find out how to remedy the situation. Contact your health department about your options and ask a lawyer how your landlord can be compelled to abate the lead.
In some cities like New York, tenants can notify their landlord directly if they see chipping paint. They can submit a complaint to the city’s 311 system, a public number that lets people report non-emergency issues. The city Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) will respond. To see what similar laws may apply in your community, contact your municipal housing department or the state EPA. To find information about laws, resources, and how to make complaints almost anywhere else in the nation (except tribal reservations), go to https://www.epa.gov/lead. For tribal matters, contact Environmental Protection in Indian Country at https://www.epa.gov/tribal.
Some cities provide an online database of lead-imbued housing that prospective renters can check. In the case of Baltimore, the Maryland Department of the Environment database at http://mde.maryland.gov/pages/index.aspx informs you whether a listed property is free of hazards like peeling, flaking lead paint and lead dust. Its website also details the state laws pertaining to lead poisoning, and a section that explains how to file a complaint. New York state maintains a similar site at https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/lead/programs_plans/index.htm.
Caregivers should regularly wash children’s hands and toys and monitor children as closely as possible to minimize their putting things in their mouths that may carry lead dust. They should also wet-mop floors and windowsills frequently, but these are only partial, temporary measures. Nothing fully protects your home’s occupants except full abatement of lead by a professional.
Children and pregnant women living in pre-1978 homes should not be present during renovation or lead-abatement activity that disturbs old paint. In New York City and some other areas, lead-based paint was banned before 1978, so older paint may be safe in certain places. If you have any doubts have it tested.
Home lead tests are not your best option. At about ten to twenty-five dollars each they are economical, but their complexity makes many brands difficult to use accurately. In some models, colors indicate the result, so that some do not work if you are color-blind.34
Instead consult your health department to conduct a test for lead in your home. Or find an EPA-certified lead testing professional—do not allow anyone without this certification to do the work—at epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovation.htm. If you own your home, government-insured loans may be available to help pay for this service that can cost hundreds of dollars.
Pesticides. A pesticide is any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest. All pesticides must be tested, registered, and carry a label approved by the EPA. Despite the agricultural community’s regular use of pesticides, homeowners are the number one users. Pests take many forms besides insects.
Categories of pesticides include:
algicides—including some pool chemicals
fungicides, miticides, larvicides, and more
germicides—bathroom disinfectants
herbicides—plant defoliants and desiccants
insecticides—insect attractants and repellents, flea collars for pets
mildewcides—contained in some cleaning products
rodenticides—rat and mouse killers
Understand the label warnings. “Caution” identifies the pesticides that are slightly toxic—the least harmful. “Warning” tells you it is more poisonous than a pesticide with a “Caution” label, but still carries moderate toxicity. Don’t assume that products lacking the skull-and-crossbones logo are nonpoisonous. “Danger” or “poison” on the label indicates that the pesticide is very poisonous, highly irritating, or toxic. Handle and store them carefully, following the label directions concerning safety equipment and protective gear. Call your poison center for instructions if anyone is exposed by oral, inhalation, or skin contact. Do not give ipecac or anything else to induce vomiting unless instructed to do so by your doctor or a poison center employee.
From children’s toys and furniture covered in illegal lead paint to water filters that leach lead to recalled household items that still appear on store shelves, checking the SaferProducts.gov website is a fast, reliable way to protect your family from hazardous or recalled items with a simple search. The site, managed by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission, also allows you to report hazardous items.
Even after following all this advice, your power to mitigate the harmful effects of environmental poisons is limited. Real safety for you, your family, and your community lies in ending, not moderating, toxic exposure, and this is a goal that requires joint effort. The next chapter shows how to organize your community against polluters.