Polly Schlaff’s November 18th post at Reclaiming Our Families, republished yesterday by Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, was so moving that I decided to share it with you. Since you read Chezsven Blog, you are already aware that the environment today is jam-packed with toxins, a very different situation from the pre-war society my parents and Sven’s parents inhabited. All four passed away in their nineties, of natural causes, not cancer. Many of us will not be that fortunate. What chemicals? 80,000 strong, toxic chemicals are everywhere, unregulated. Take the supermarket shelf for instance, in this case, Wellfleet Marketplace will serve as a local example. I didn’t have time yesterday to turn over all these cleaning products and check the ingredients, but chances are many are hazardous to health. We have learned to live with chemicals in our air and water. (The Midwest even has glyphosate in rainwater now!) But we have choices and can choose to avoid them. Your dollar is your means of fighting back. Don't buy the nasty stuff.
A neighbor insists on Tide, although we both have septic systems and well water. Local well water, brought up from the ground, must contain some chemicals from her laundry rinse because the septic does not filter them out. Ecover and Seventh Generation are safer, both available at Wellfleet Marketplace.
Some people say Ecover and Seventh Generation are expensive at purchase. This may be so but shouldn’t we put health first?
Others say they add dryer sheets to the chemical cocktail that’s assaulting their body because the laundry smells fresher. Honestly, isn’t it wiser to cut the crappy chemicals out of our lives, since the government has not yet seen fit to do so yet?
Behind every toxic chemical stands a lobbyist. You can’t hear my fingers but I’m rubbing them together, the French way of indicating $$$.
The chemical industry even hires people to read blogs like mine. Imagine! They have that much extra money to spend. Oh, yes. They intend to keep toxic chemicals present in our lives. It's their livelihood.
I was amazed a couple weeks ago that a representative of that slippery stuff on modern flying pans zeroed in on this humble blog and commented that her company’s product was quite safe. Hel-lo?? We know better, don’t we? We have read Slow Death by Rubber Duck and other books on pollution.
It’s crucial that pressure be applied to legislators to let them know mothers and fathers across this mighty land of ours will no longer tolerate unregulated chemicals in the environment. Call your senator today and ask if he/she supports the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011, under consideration in Congress. Your children and grandchildren will thank you for speaking out on their behalf.
