I started writing this as a comment on Erron's blog where she was responding to some questions from Shaun about a previous article she wrote called What if it's Not. I started getting really wordy and ranty so I decided to just make this my post for today. I don't have kids of my own, but I work with many people who have children that have various issues, from Down Syndrome, Aspergers, life threatening allergies, etc. As a family we have often talked about the high numbers of people with MS in certain small farming areas. This has always made me wonder what the heck is going on?
Erron wrote about some of the theories out there of Autism. Personally I don't buy a lot of the deflection of just more diagnosis today. Yes, I am sure there is, but not to the extent we see in the numbers. I also don't buy a lot of the prenatal care stuff. I think women know much more about that today and take extreme care when they are pregnant. Of course there are exceptions to this, but really, women used to smoke, drink and do all kinds of things women don't do now while pregnant.
I think this is part of the point of Erron's article. Anyone, no matter how careful can have a child with some sort of issue. It isn't fair to blame the parents as they have done everything they can. Everyone should be alarmed that autism, severe allergies, behavior issues are on the rise.
My sister works in clinical trials at the Cross Cancer Institute and they see correlations between types of cancer and geographical area. Gathering comparative statistics requires different countries to participate in studies, this is not always easy. As an example, they are thinking that certain cancers are higher in the north because of the methods of cooking meat (open flame generating high levels of carcinogens). They see tons of intestinal types of cancers in countries like ours which could be because of pesticides and overly refined foods. The problem is we can't wait for science to agree and who knows what combination of things can do what.
I think we all have to continue to educate ourselves and use our common sense. Let's reduce our use of pesticides. It can't hurt, and it might help. So, maybe a few chemical companies will loose money along the way. So what! Our era of modernization keeps taking us further away from natural things. We over vaccinate because heaven forbid we get sick and develop some of our own immunities. We mass produce food and use high temperatures and chemicals to preserve and change the properties of the food, and the we spew by-products of these processes into our air, food and water systems.
Recently a number of communities got together and told the electrical company to bury their lines in the ground and not have them overhead near communities. Of course the debate starts about just what is the safe rate of radiation that people can be exposed to without harmful impacts. If the option is some or none, I say go with the none and bury the damn lines. What, it will cost the private company more money? O gee...let me see..."I don't care!" I am sure they will claw it back in my electrical bills anyway. But it will cost all of us much more when people end up in hospital with varying ailments. These are the kinds of statements we are constantly fed:
The EMF levels produced by the Heartland Project are expected to be well below the exposure guidelines established by the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) for public exposure (833 milligauss) and are well within the range of magnetic field levels that we are exposed to in our everyday lives. Neither Health Canada nor the World Health Organization has recommended that the general public need to take steps to limit everyday exposures to EMF.
Sure, that is comforting. In the office where I work, many of us are continually getting headaches and suffering allergy symptoms that we don't have when we are on vacation at home. But we are continually being told that "Air Quality" experts have said that the air is within safe guidelines. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it will kill me, but I think that dirty air ducts that never get cleaned, and air-tight buildings are highly efficient, but not the healthiest for people.
So in the end, the "Dollar" always wins. Especially in Alberta. Money talks, sick people walk. It is really high time that people start to ask questions, say no, that doesn't make sense and use your consumer dollar to make your point. This is the only way we can make actual change that will benefit ourselves and future generations.
Ok, I am putting my soap box away.....for now! ; >
I would be curious to see what the stats are from province to province and from area to area. You've got places like Sherwood Park that by the prevailing winds always get the emissions from the refineries. You CANNOT tell me that I’m safe and there are no problems with that. I don’t buy that and I know my mother when living in Sherwood Park when we were little kids had a report that came out stating that people in Sherwood Park had higher cancer rates than anyone in Alberta. The government quickly kyboshed that report in the newspaper and had retraction statements, etc… They covered it up.
ReplyDeleteSo I think where you live and the environment, food you eat, and Chemicals you’re exposed to are big factors into not just how our kids are, but how we as adults are. To be honest I’m quite worried about the effects Sherwood Park has had on me since I pretty much grew up there since I was 2 years old until 19, and then a few quick stints between 20 and 30. I know I’ve not had any major issues to date, I rarely get sick however it’s those unknowns like when you reproduce that some of that comes out I think. Maybe I’m a ½ mutant or something by living in Sherwood Park :)
Time will tell and all I can do in the meantime is watch what we put into our body, watch the chemicals we use to clean our place, and everything in-between. I know I don’t have to worry about the cleaning products we use, but I won’t get into that ;)
You are absolutely right. Women are way more careful while pregnant than they were decades ago, but more and more kids are being born with auto-immune system issues. Anyone who has a child in school will realize just how many kids there are with sever allergies. I am certain that it's entirely environmental. From the air we breathe to the food we eat to the water we drink, it's all full of chemicals. And don't get me started on genetically modified foods....
ReplyDeleteThere is even thinking by some that autism could be linked to auto-immune disorders...and therefore very closely linked to environmental problems.
Are we surprised kids are having these problems? We shouldn't be. Our office, as you mentioned, has the air quality within acceptable limits, yet has caused me to need to carry my nerd inhaler for my newly developed asthma-like breathing problems.
As Shaun has stated, we need to watch what we put into our own environments. But, so much of the problem is beyond our own homes. What we need to do is take it further and use our powers as voters and consumers to make sure we only support people, politicians, and companies that work towards positive environmental changes. Even if it is more inconvenient or expensive for us personally. That is the price we have to pay for those who don't make the effort.
Remember to consider these things next time you are at the ballot box (municipal elections are coming very soon) or the grocery store.