Protect Your Children from Harmful Food
and Water
Excerpted from The Household Detective: Protecting
Your Children from Toxins at Home, by Jan
Williams Children's
Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC)
(book is available here
with membership)
What You Can Do About Food
Shop at organic grocery stores or local organic
co-ops. Some large organic chains include
Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Nature's Northwest,
Fresh Fields, and Bread and Circus. Also,
conventional stores are increasingly carrying
organic products. If your store doesn't carry
organic products, let them know that you want
them to.
· Join
Community Supported Agriculture, or similar
groups, which will supply you with organic
produce in exchange for buying a share of
their farm.
· Take
part in an organic community garden in your
neighborhood.
· Buy
seasonal, local produce, such as can be found
at farmer's markets and local co-ops.
· Even
better, grow your own food using organic sustainable
techniques.
· Beware
of perfect looking produce. It often requires
the use of pesticides to make something look
so aesthetically pleasing.
· Thoroughly
wash and peel your produce, especially if
it is waxed and dyed. Discard outer leaves
of lettuce.
· This
reduces but does not completely remove pesticides.
· Don't
pick wild berries from public roads where
pesticides are often sprayed.
· Eat
foods which are low in fat and trim the fat
from meat, fish, and poultry - many toxics
are stored in fat cells.
· Beware
of meat low down in the food chain and meat
from filter feeders, i.e. swordfish and shark
or oysters and mussels - toxics accumulate
in these organisms.
What You Can Do About Baby
Food
Perhaps most frightening to many parents
is the thought that pesticides might be in
their infant's food. Unfortunately, many baby
foods do contain pesticides. There are lots
of safe alternatives though.
· Buy
organic baby foods. Earth's Best baby food
is available in many large grocery store chains.
Organic grocery stores and co-ops usually
have a couple of different options, including
Organic Baby.
· Make
your own baby food using organic produce.
Remember to take into account the quality
of your water source.
· Some
manufacturers such as H. J. Heinz will no
longer use produce with residues from chemicals
not yet reviewed for their safety by the EPA.
· Write
your baby food company and ask them to use
organic produce.
· Tell
your grocer you want them to carry organic
baby foods.
What You Can Do About Water
· Find
out what is in your water. Ask your public
water distributor. Most of us get our water
from a public distributor. They are required
by law to give you information on what is
in your drinking water. In fact, beginning
in 1999, they will be required to send out
this information to everyone living in their
water district.
· Ask
the Environmental Protection Agency or your
local public health department. Many people
use well water. If you do, you may be able
to get information on what is in your water
from either the EPA or a local public health
office.
· Get
it tested yourself. If you still can't get
the information you need, hire someone to
do a water test for you. You need different
types of tests for different types of water
pollution. One convenient option is to get
your water tested by mail.
· If
your water isn't up to your standards, use
filtration systems. More economical long-term
than bottled water, using filtering systems
guarantees a level of control over what you
are drinking that the other options do not.
There are many different types of filters
in a wide price range. Each type of filtration
device has a different specialty. Depending
on the results of your water test, use one
of the following:
· Activated
Carbon System - removes organic chemicals,
and chlorine. It also makes water taste better.
It doesn't help with lead or nitrate.
· Distillation
System - good at removing heavy metals, but
is bad at removing small organic compounds.
· Reverse
Osmosis System - removes metals, fluoride,
nitrates, radium, and lead, but not all organics.
· Hybrid
System - uses a combination of the above techniques
for more comprehensive filtration.
· Consider
drinking bottled water. Unfortunately, there
are no regulations on bottled water so you
don't really know what you are drinking. Some
companies are really just using tap water.
For a guide to the best and worst brands,
begin with Consumer Reports (January 1987)
or contact the National Sanitation Foundation.
· Protect
your watershed. By using less toxic alternatives
you are keeping toxics from entering our groundwater.
Household toxics that are thrown in the garbage
will often leak out of landfills when it rains.
Most everything we use ends up in the water
system one way or another. Then, the polluted
water makes its way back into our houses again.
Protect your kids and other people's kids
too by not using pesticides, toxic cleaners,
etc. Tell other people about how their behavior
affects the quality of water entering your
house.
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Use
the information provided on this site as an
educational resource for determining your
options and making your own informed choices.
It is not intended as medical advice or to
diagnose, prescribe, or treat any specific
illness.