Free Range Children

I am so excited for these kids' futures.

Toxic Baby

I just watched a really interesting, eye-opening TED Talk about chemical exposure in-utero. Penelope Jagessar Chaffer, film maker of "Toxic Baby" aka coolest pregnant woman ever, and scientist Tyrone Hayes, who is most notably a frog expert, talk about the effects of atrazine in particular and other frequently encountered chemicals in general on the developing fetus. Apparently, most of these chemicals pass freely through the placenta (and breastmilk) and can affect not just the fetus but also future generations:



I don't think anyone would argue against limiting chemical exposure during pregnancy and lactation. The problem is, and I have always felt this, that it is damn near impossible to gather all the relevant information necessary to inform our decisions AND that information is slow forthcoming.

Which chemicals do we stay away from?

Fortunately, most of us have heard by now of the effects of and warnings against BPA and a lot of manufacturers are taking care to exclude that from their products. But in an effort to produce BPA-free stuff they may very well be introducing a new, worse chemical into our daily use and we have nothing to do but wait and see, as it will take time before the adverse population effects of that bubble up to the surface. Scary!