I’ve been thinking of writing a post on “chemicals to avoid” in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but the Environmental Working Group beat me to it!  I am glad they did, because no one does it better than they do.  This amazing organization not only does its own health research, but goes up against some HUGE corporations as well as our own government in order to let the truth be known and to protect us all from harmful chemicals and toxins.  They are a true watchdog and we owe a lot to them.

The EWG is probably best known for creating the popular and widely used Dirty Dozen list of the most pesticide-contaminated produce (they update the list annually).  To promote Breast Cancer Awareness, the EWG has partnered with Keep a Breast to publish a “New Dirty Dozen” list of endocrine-disrupting chemicals to avoid, and how to avoid them.  Listen up, men!  This list isn’t just for women!  Many of the chemicals called out in this list affect males in BIG ways.  Read it!

This guide is a quick and comprehensive read.  Please, please, please read it, forward it to all your friends and family and file it away.  The more often we all educate ourselves and keep these issues at the front of our minds, the more likely we are to make wise decisions when shopping for anything, be it a vegetable, lipstick, or a new sofa.

There is no end to the tricks that endocrine disruptors can play on our bodies: increasing production of certain hormones; decreasing production of others; imitating hormones; turning one hormone into another; interfering with hormone signaling; telling cells to die prematurely; competing with essential nutrients; binding to essential hormones; accumulating in organs that produce hormones. – Environmental Working Group

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