BE A WISE AND HEALTHY CONSUMER
Care of Waterways and use of significant riparian buffers:
Riparian forest buffers are areas of forested land adjacent to streams, rivers, marshes or shoreline that form the transition between land and water environments. Although riparian areas comprise only about 5 to 10 percent of the land in the watershed, they play an important role in maintaining the health of the Bay. Forests are the most effective type of riparian buffer available. Riparian forest buffers improve water quality while providing habitat for wildlife and fish. Riparian buffers are key to controlling non-point source pollution. They also:
1. Help maintain the integrity of stream channels and shorelines;
2. Reduce the impact of upland sources of pollution by trapping, filtering and converting sediments, nutrients and other chemicals; an
3. Supply food, cover and thermal protection to fish and other wildlife.
For complete article go to http://www.chesapeakebay.net/info/forestbuff.cfm
Safe Disposal of Old Medications - In September of 2005 there was an important meeting that dealt extensively with ECs and EDs. It was the Annual meeting of the Potomac River Basin Drinking Water Source Protection Partnership entitled “Emerging Contaminants and Water Supply” (www.potomacriver.org/water_quality/safewater.htm)
One presentation was Reducing Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water Sources by Dana M. Heriegel, JD . She highlighted two successful pilot recycling/return programs conducted out of EPA Region I and coordinated by the Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. According to her abstract one was a pilot program dealing with unwanted medications collection in Franklin County, Massachusetts and the other was a take-back event hosted by a local CVS Pharmacy in South Portland, Maine. She can be contact a heriegel.dana@epa.gov.
(Note: Safe disposal methods of old/unused medications is a developing subject with outdated practices still being advocated and followed. Consequently a web search will produce many articles still showing methods that are causing problems with water. We apologize for this confusion and suggest that you be careful when researching this subject.)
Antibacterial Soap:
According to an article in the Green Gazette section of the October/November 2006 issue of Mother Earth News you don't need Antibacterial Soap. The article of the same title notes that in 2005, "…a US Food and Drug administration (FDA) panel concluded that there is "no added benefit" from using antimicrobial products over plain soap and water and there's also toxicity to consider." For the complete article, CLICK HERE.
Wise consumer use of plastics:
According to an article in Co-op Americas' "Real Money" some types of plastics leach chemicals as we use them. Plastic bags that litter the landscape will kill animals that try to eat them, and they'll harm aquatic life when dropped into bodies of water. This article looks at the different types of plastic identified by their recycling numbers that go from #1to #7. They say that the ones that are of the most concern are 3, 6, & 7.
PVC or Polyvinyl Chloride (#3) - “PVC is often made with plasticizers such as phthalates, which can leach out of or evaporate from the finished products and have been shown to cause developmental and reproductive damage." Plasticizers and phthalates are considered endocrine disrupters. They add "Land filling PVC can cause the plastic's toxic additives to leach into groundwater."
Polystyrene (#6) "According to the EPA, short-term styrene exposure at levels above the Maximum Contaminant Level (used to set drinking-water standards) can cause nervous-system effects such as loss of concentration weakness, and nausea. Long-term exposure can cause liver and nerve damage and cancer."
Polycarbonates and others (#7) "Bisphenol-A (BPA is an endocrine disruptor that is used in making polycarbonates and can leach from them when they're used."
This article includes an excellent box showing the "Types of Plastic" and one listing "Resources." Most importantly, this article also delineates how to be a "Smart Plastic User." www.coopamerica.org/pubs/realmoney/articles/plastics.cfm
Be Aware Food Can Linings Leach Estrogens:
Xenoestrogens Released From Lacquer Coatings in Food Cans
from Environmental Health Perspectives 103, no.6 (1995)
We present data showing that some foods preserved in lacquer-coated cans and the liquid in them may acquire estrogenic activity. Hormonal activity was measured using the E-screen bioassay. The biological activity of vegetables packed in cans was a result of plastic monomers used in manufacturing the containers. The plastic monomer bisphenol-A, identified by mass spectrometry, was found as a contaminant not only in the liquid of the preserved vegetables but also in water autoclaved in the cans. The amount of bisphenol-A in the extracts accounted for all the hormonal activity measured. Although the presence of other xenoestrogens cannot be ruled out, it is apparent that all estrogenic activity in these cans was due to bisphenol-A leached from the lacquer coating. The use of plastic in food-packaging materials may require closer scrutiny to determine whether epoxy resins and polycarbonates contribute to human exposure to xenoestrogens.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1519121
Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce by the Environmental Working Group
Why Should You Care About Pesticides?
There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects. Because the toxic effects of pesticides are worrisome, not well understood, or in some cases completely unstudied, shoppers are wise to minimize exposure to pesticides whenever possible.
For the complete story and "guide" go to http://www.foodnews.org/.
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