12 Dangerous Chemicals in Everyday Products

Are you one of those nut-freak when it comes to the healthiness of your body and your loved ones? You check the degree of toxicity in stuffs you buy because you just don’t wanna risk it. You check several times before you buy something because you’re afraid that the product might not give you and your family the best health standard.

You might also encourage your family to do the same. That’s not enough. You feed your family with fresh meats and vegetables, as well as the best fruits you could possibly find in market. You are also working out regularly. And, oh. Add ‘drinking 8 glass of water’ to the list.

You think that you are doing the best thing you could possibly do for your family, and you could not be more right. However, you must also be careful because there might be something that gets out of your grasp and control. All of those efforts to keep your family healthy might be expose to failure because there is something more that you must also consider.

There are everyday products that you are using and these products are dangerous. Yep, you heard me right. There are everyday products that contains hidden dangerous chemicals and you might not know it before. However, fear no more; because we can find it out right now.

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1. BPA (Bisphenol A)

Bisphenol A is a chemical compound with the formula C15H16O2 and has 228.29 g.mol molar mass. Bisphenol A is a chemical that has been used in plastic industry since the year of 1960s. You can find BPA in polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. You can find polycarbonate plastics inside the products like water bottle and several other customer goods. It is also often used in products that contains food and beverage. Epoxy resins is usually being used in the inside of metal products. You can find this particular compound in the inside of water bottle, dental sealants and water supply lines.

Bisphenol A is considered a risky chemical because when you are exposed to it, it could lead to possible health effects on brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children. Further research even suggest that BPA could eventually cause increased blood pressure.

If you are concerned about the effects of BPA into you and your family, you could consider these options :

Cut back on plastic container – even when you really have to use it, make sure that you are not putting it in heat/microwave. Putting plastic container with BPA in it could leads to the break of BPA and exposed the consumer.
Use free BPA products – If the container has label, you can try to find products that are free from BPA.
Use alternatives – use porcelain container if possible.

2. Dioxin

Dioxin is chemically compound matter that is persistent environmental pollutant (PEP). Dioxins can be found throughout the entire human live and usually it spreading out in the tissue of animals. We can find dioxin in meat, daily products, fish and sell fish (mainly dairy products). Dioxin is considered highly toxic. Through several studies, it has been found that the exposure of dioxins could cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones, and also cause cancer. The best way to avoid this particular chemical is by doing vegan diet.

Because of the omnipotence of this particular chemical compound, many people who eats non-vegan diet is having risk of being exposed to it. However, there is a conscious effort from the government to have strict regulation regarding this matter, making diary products industry strictly examined before released to the public.

There is no way of dioxin to get out of man’s body. However, one dioxin comes to woman’s body, it could get out through 2 ways : placenta and breastfeeding. This is why breastfeeding for non-vegan mother is fairly risky.

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3. Atrazine

Atrazine is chemical compound that is used as herbicide. More than 73 million pound of is is applied on golf course, and many amount it is spreading around throughout the grass field. Studies shown that this chemical is a gender-bending chemical; Meaning that it can turn male fish into female fish. They are also having effects on other animal such as alligator, turtles, and even human. In human body, atrazine could cause several dangerous effects such as disturbed sexual development in young man (leading to micro penis), ovarian cancer, tyroid cancer, lowered energy metabolism, and lowered infertility.

If we want to avoid atrazine from our lives, we can consume organic products and make sure that we are purchasing water or products that are atrazine-free. We can find out about these products.

4. Phthalate

Phthalate or phthalate esters are esters of phthalic acid and usually, this chemical is used as plasticizers. This substances is used to make plastics more elastic and easy to use. If you are looking at plastics that are flexible and forms something you want to, you might be looking at a material with phthalate in it. The using of phthalate is ubiquitous. It may have been manufactured there in your child’s toys, your cosmetics, cleaning products, personal care products (deodorant, fragrance, lotions) or squeeze-able plastics such as balloon.

The effects of exposure on phthalate consider fairly dangerous, as it can triggers some serious disease like breast cancer, endocrine disruption, birth defects, metabolic interference, asthma, even attention deficit disorder (ADD). It is fairly difficult to differentiate a product that is using phthalates because usually it is not listed there. However, nowadays, as the public awareness increasses regarding this issue, people are starting to make phthalates movement that is basically encouraging the elimination of the using of this product as much as possible.

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5. Mercury

Mercury is a toxic metal and usually it is evaporates through the air because of the burning of coals. Mercury can actually damage pancreatic system in human body as well as woman’s reproductive process. In pregnant woman, exposure to this particular chemical element is dangerous because it can leads to several disturbance.

We can avoid this chemical element by avoiding eating seafood because it is associated with mercury (fish shell is one natural occurrence of mercury element). However, EWG recommends that if we really want to continue our consumption on sea products, salmon and trouts are our best free-mercury bet.

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6. Arsenic

This chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 51 is consider poison because it can cause skin cancer, bladder cancer, and lung cancer. It can also cause high blood pressure and suppression of the immune system. Its natural occurrence is in volcanic ash, weathering of minerals and ores, and mineralized groundwater.

We can also find arsenic in food, water, soil, and air. It is absorbed by all plants, but usually more concentrated in leafy vegetables, rice, apple and grape juice, as well as seafood. Another additional exposure is through inhalation of atmospheric gasses and dust. If we want to limit our exposure to arsenic, we can try to consume filtered water.

You may also read: Chemicals in Water Supply

7. Lead

Lead is a chemical element with atom number 82 and symbol Pl (from latin Plumbum). It is a heavy metal with density that is dangerous for babies and children. It is a cumulative poison, meaning that when you are expose to it, there is no clear indication to state the clear limit for its exposure. It is always accumulating in your body and eventually leads to various damage it is capable to generate.

When people are exposed to lead, there are several risks that are exposed by it. It attacks the nervous system in human body and considered to be one effective harmful chemical. Lead have countless uses, from the using of cosmetic, make stained glass, leaded crystal, fishing sinkers, radiation shields, bullets, scuba, weights, ballasts, statues and roofing. It has certain sweet taste in it and makes it attractive to children and animal.