Each of the following 5 toxics are now on the EPA’s Chemicals of Concern list and, as you will read, for good reason.

BPA – Bisphenol A: BPA is used in lightweight, almost unbreakable plastics and in epoxy resins. According to the CNN report, it’s in water bottles, baby bottles, reusable food containers, plastic tableware, infant feeding cups, linings of infant formula cans and other cans, jar lids, CDs, electrical and electronic equipment, dental sealants.

Phthalates: Used to soften plastics and bind chemicals, phthalates are used in shampoos, conditioners, body sprays, hair sprays, perfumes, colognes, soap, nail polish, shower curtains, medical tubing, IV bags, vinyl flooring and wall coverings, food packaging and coatings on time-release drugs. Other specific uses worth mentioning are children’s soft vinyl toys and the waterproof plastic coverings on most crib mattresses. The use of three types of phthalates was recently banned in some children’s products – but not all children’s products, and not all phthalates. The phthalates that weren’t banned are still being investigated. Naturepedic’s crib mattresses, by the way, contain no phthalates. We figured out how to make our mattresses waterproof without them.

PFOA – Perfluorooctanoic acid (also called C8): Used to make Teflon and “thousands” of other nonstick, stain-repellant and water-repellent products. PFOA is in products that fit that description – cookware, waterproof breathable clothing, furniture and carpets – and can be produced by a breakdown of these products. Also used in many industrial settings.

Formaldehyde: Used in glues and adhesives, glue-type resins in pressed wood products like particleboard, plywood, paneling, fiberboard, and durable-press fabrics like drapes. Although not mentioned in the CNN show, formaldehyde is also in just about every article of clothing, bed linens and other fabrics labeled permanent-press, wrinkle-resistant, easy-care, and so on.

PBDEs – Polybrominated diphenyl ethers: Chemicals used as flame retardants. They’re in televisions, computers and wire insulation, and furniture foam – by which is meant, polyurethane foam, the very same foam that is used in most mattresses, including the crib mattresses slept on my most children in America. More than 124 million pounds of PBDEs are produced annually worldwide and they do not break down easily, so these chemicals are ubiquitous. In addition to the direct exposure in our furniture, wiring and electronics, we are also exposed through our food and water. Babies even get them from mom’s breast milk.

More data about these chemicals, the health problems they can cause, and how you can avoid them and/or prevent exposure to them is on the CNN Health site. Read 5 toxics that are everywhere: Protect yourself for details.

Also, the original two-part broadcast, Toxic America, is also available online. You can watch it at http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2010/toxic.america. The links to the show are on the right of the page.

The toxic chemical situation in America sounds bad, and it is bad. But you can protect yourself and your children. It’s not even that difficult, and it’s well worth it.

The resource is a chart on the website of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX). TEDX is a non-profit organization that studies the effects of low-dose exposure to endocrine disruptors, chemicals that effect fetal development and human health. These chemicals include, but are not limited to, bisphenol A (BPA), dioxin, and phthalates.

The chart is called Critical Windows of Development. It lists the various systems, organs and so on within the body and shows the stages of development during each weeks and trimesters in the womb. On the upper right of the chart, it shows checkboxes for ‘All Chemicals’, ‘Bisphenol A’, ‘Dioxin’, and ‘Phthalates’. Check ‘Phthalates’, for example, and red lines appear on the chart that show you which systems they affect, and at what period of pregnancy.

There are also little triangles on the chart that provide the names of studies that support the information.

One thing is clear: If we want to give our kids the best chance at being healthy as children and throughout their lives, expectant Mothers need to be free of these chemicals.

Pass this on to anyone you know who is pregnant, or may be in the future, so they can start doing something about it now.

What do they do about it? Eliminate the chemicals from their lives as much as possible. Many of our blog posts show you how to do that, and Debra Lynn Dadd’s book Home Safe Home has a wealth of information on what chemicals are in what products and suggestions on healthy alternatives. But, basically, just go organic, go toxin-free.

And once your baby is born, make sure you continue your toxic-free life. Get the baby a safe crib and baby crib mattress, made with non-toxic materials, swaddle them in organic cotton, feed them organic food, get them glass baby bottles and diapers and toys that are not made of harmful plastics or other potentially harmful chemicals.

How much of a problem is childhood obesity? In the U.S., on average, 30% of children are overweight or obese. In some states the numbers are much higher. In Mississippi, for example, nearly half of the kids have a weight problem.

Not only can this be very hard on a child socially by interfering with relationships and self-esteem, it also increases the risk of heart disease, asthma, liver problems and diabetes. It’s really worth doing something about.

How do phthalates fit into the picture?

As we have covered in several other blog posts, check Phthalates Effect Hormonal Development in Little Girls and Increase Risk of Health Problems in Later Life for more info on what they can do to little girls, phthalates are endocrine disruptors, which means they affect the glands and hormones that regulate many bodily functions, including those relating to fat metabolism.

Several animal studies have shown mice to become obese when exposed to endocrine disruptors. But the new study on 400 girls aged 9 to 11 has now linked endocrine disruptors – specifically, phthalates – to obesity in humans.

To investigate the link, researchers measured the girls’ exposure to phthalates through urine testing. According Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, one of the lead researchers on the study and professor of pediatrics at New York’s Mount Sinai Medical Center, the girls with the highest exposure to phthalates were also the most overweight.

Dr. Landrigan told the New York Times that even though there is some recognition of the role chemicals play in childhood obesity, it is generally thought of as a ‘calories eaten vs. calories burned’ issue. Dr. Landrigran thinks the link to chemicals may be far more significant.

The evidence of the health consequences of chemicals in our everyday lives is mounting. Pesticides, fire-retardants, phthalates – they are everywhere. In some cases they’re used for convenience; in others we’re told they’re necessary to protect us.

At Naturepedic we don’t use those chemicals in our baby crib mattresses. But we meet and exceed government health and safety regulations. And there are hundreds of companies that do the same with their various products.

So … are the chemicals really necessary? In light of all the recent research, they are doing more harm than good. For the health of your children, check out Naturepedic toddler and baby crib mattresses – the kids spend a lot of time there so it’s a good place to start – then do what you can to get phthalates and other harmful chemicals out of the house!

Check out our New Mom's Guide to Choosing a Crib Mattress!

I was quite amazed to realize that the majority of people have so little information about the potential dangers of the chemicals found in crib mattresses and the toxic fumes they can emit into the air our babies breathe for 12 to 15 hours a day.

In fact, the chemicals used in most crib mattresses, including many of those labeled ‘organic’ or ‘natural,’ have been linked to so many illnesses and other conditions that even the President’s Cancer Panel – which is anything but ‘fringe’ – is jumping on the bandwagon to reduce our exposure. See President’s Cancer Panel Warns Against Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Life for information on the Panel’s latest annual report.

I thought it might be a good idea to write a blog listing the chemicals in crib mattresses and giving more information about each. But we actually have all that information on the What’s NOT in a Naturepedic Crib Mattress page of our website.

Many experts say you may be able to avoid cancer, ADD and ADHD, endocrine and hormonal problems, asthma and allergies, obesity, respiratory illness, and a host of other conditions if you have fewer chemicals in your life and in the life of your children.

This is vital information for parents. Please read it, and send a link to the page to your friends. And while you’re at it, also read What IS in a Naturepedic Baby Crib Mattress – and you’ll see the difference.

You can also download our excellent New Mom’s Guide to Crib Mattresses. It’s a quick and easy read, and probably answers every question you have.

It’s been known for some time that phthalates – used to soften PVC/vinyl so it can be used as a waterproof covering on crib mattresses – can affect hormonal development in little boys. In some cases, it affects their behavior, and the physical damage can be so severe it can even cause structural changes. This information was pivotal in the recent banning of three types of phthalates in some children’s products. Others phthalates are still under investigation.

The new study shows that little boys aren’t the only victims – little girls are at risk, too.

The study, conducted at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, tested 1,151 girls, aged 6 through 8 at the time the study started, from New York, greater Cincinnati and northern California. The content of phthalates, phenols, and phytoestrogens was measured in the girls’ urine.

One year later, they measured the chemical content again, and checked for signs of early puberty – breast development and pubic hair. By then the girls were 7 to 9 years old and, yes, they were developing breasts and pubic hair! The more of the chemicals they had in their body, the more likely they were to be maturing prematurely.

This developmental problem can also lead to health problems in later life – increased risk of breast cancer, for example.

How can you help your children avoid these problems? To start with, Moms, and potential Moms, should be aware that chemicals in their body can pass to their children while still in the womb. Moms, and Moms to be, should study up on these chemicals and use products that don’t contain them. If Mom’s body is free of these chemicals, she won’t be passing them on to her children.

To help you get a good start on that process, be aware that all three chemicals are found in lotions, shampoos, cosmetics, nail polishes and many other consumer products – especially if they contain added fragrance. Perfumes are definitely out. Check into organic essential oils as an alternative.

Next, get a Naturepedic baby crib mattress – no phthalates, phenols, or phytoestrogens. And no other harmful chemicals like those found in fire retardants.

Additionally, always check for dangerous chemicals in everything that goes in or on your baby. Use natural soaps, lotions and shampoos exclusively. And watch out for the toys they play with – especially those made of PVC/vinyl (like rubber duckies); they usually contain phthalates to make them soft. If you have questions about personal care products, check the Environmental Working Group’s Cosmetics Database. You can also check the book Home Safe Home for a wealth of information on healthy alternatives for just about everything. It’s so hard to find this kind of information all in one place – this book is packed with stuff!

To find out more about the study, see Exposure to Three Classes of Common Chemicals May Affect Female Development on the Mt. Sinai site.

Getting rid of harmful chemicals in your life is good for you, your children, and the environment. Have fun finding healthy alternatives!

Here’s the list, along with where these chemicals are commonly found:

1. Bisphenol A (BPA) – food wrap, water bottles and other plastics
2. Oxybenzone – moisturizers, sunscreens, lip balm
3. Flouride – toothpaste, tap water
4. Parabens – moisturizers, hair care and shaving products
5. Phthalates – skin care treatment products, crib mattresses, toys, shower curtains, just about everything made with pliable PVC/vinyl
6. Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) – chewing gum, snack foods, diaper creams
7. Perflouroctanoic Acid – tap water, teflon and non-stick pots and pans
8. Perchlorate – drinking water, soil
9. Decabromodiphenyl Ether (DECA) – flame retardant in electronics, furniture, carpets
10. Asbestos – insulation, drywall, artificial fireplace logs, toys

The Time article doesn’t give a lot of information on each chemical and, of course, the actual list of toxic chemicals commonly found is in the thousands. But that’s not the point.

The important thing is that they are writing about it – more people are being educated, the powers that be will be more motivated to bring the issue to the top of their agenda, change will occur at a more accelerated rate, and we’ll all be living healthier lives.

Hundreds? That’s right. A study conducted by the Environmental Working Group tested umbilical cord blood samples from newborns and found 287 chemicals. (This study isn’t new, but it’s still very relevant.)

Are the chemicals the study found dangerous? Well …

• 180 cause cancer in humans or animals
• 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system
• 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests

It is any surprise that autism, ADD and ADHD, childhood obesity, eczema and other conditions are ever-increasing – some at epidemic rates?

For example, here are the annual growth statistics for autism from 1992 to 2008.

To make matters worse, the exposure continues for most children from the minute they’re born: Cribs made with toxic glues and solvents; crib mattresses that contain chemical fire retardants, PVC/vinyl, phthalates and polyurethane foam (protect your child with our organic crib mattresses); food grown with pesticides, antibiotics and synthetic hormones then loaded with preservatives; polyester clothing and bed linens infused with formaldehyde to make them ‘easy care’ – the list goes on and on.

Check out the study, Body Burden — The Pollution in Newborns, for more information on exactly what chemicals were found, how they may have entered umbilical cord blood, and so on.

There are a lot of things you can do it prevent this from happening to your baby, and to you! Start by getting rid of potentially hazardous chemicals in your own home and body. You can find out more about how to do this in our blog post Going Green in 2010 – A Few Simple Things With A Big Impact.

And don’t forget to protect your child with Naturepedic crib mattresses and other products. We started Naturepedic to protect our own family, now we’re helping you protect yours.

Read The Health Case for Reforming The Toxic Substances Control Act

The results of a compilation and analysis of 30 years of environment studies, recently published as a health report from Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, revealed startling details about the increase in disease in the U.S. over the last 35 years, and the link to toxic chemicals.

Here are some of the statistics from the report:

• Leukemia, brain cancer, and other childhood cancers, have increased by more than 20% since 1975.
• Breast cancer went up by 40% between 1973 and 1998 and, while breast cancer rates have declined since 2003, a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is now one in eight, up from one in ten in 1973.
• The incidence of asthma doubled between 1980 and 1995 and has stayed at the elevated rate.
• Difficulty in conceiving and maintaining a pregnancy affected 40% more women in 2002 than in 1982. For woman aged 18 – 25, the incidence of reported difficulty has almost doubled.
• The birth defect resulting in undescended testes increased 200% between 1970 and 1993.
• Diagnosed autism has increased more than 10 times in the last 15 years.

According to the report, there is a growing consensus that chemicals are playing a role in the incidence and prevalence of these diseases.

The birth defect resulting in undescended testes, for example, as well as other hormonal problems with young boys, could be the result of exposure to phthalates – the plasticizer chemicals used to soften PVC/Vinyl so it can be used as a waterproof covering in crib mattresses – which is one of the reasons three phthalates were banned in baby mattresses and other kids products. One study even found that the school-age boys of women who tested positive for phthalates in their urine while pregnant played in ways that were not typical of young boys – no trucks, rough housing, and so on.

What’s being done about the chemical problem?

Although the EPA has admitted they’ve failed to protect the public from the dangers of toxic chemicals, and is currently making changes, the track record is abysmal: Since the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) was enacted 34 years ago, only 200 of the 80,000 chemicals that have since been produced and used in the U.S. have been tested by the EPA, and only five have been regulated.

Health care reform is currently the subject of intense controversy. But real reform will come when we start getting rid of the chemicals suspected of exacerbating, if not causing, illness.

Chemical policy reform would also free up a lot of health care dollars: If reducing exposure to chemicals resulted in healthier people, it would only take one tenth of one percent in health savings to free up $5 billion every year.

Read more details in the report, The Health Case for Reforming the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Safer Chemicals Healthy Families also has a campaign to help eliminate toxic chemicals. There are many facets to their campaign, including Parents for Non-Toxic Alternatives and several others directly concerned with toxic chemicals and the relationship to child safety. Check them out, you may want to become involved.

If you’re concerned about your child’s safety and want to do something about it right now, consider getting a Naturepedic toddler or crib mattress, along with our safe child and baby bedding and pillows. Also, check out the book Home Safe Home by Debra Lynn Dadd for thousands of safe alternatives for just about every chemical in your household.

Babies"R"Us Great Trade-In Event - Be Safe and Save

Today marks the first day of Babies”R”Us The Great Trade-In event. You can return as many qualifying items as you want and replace them with new items from participating manufacturers or brands. This gives consumers a break on replacing recalled items or older and used baby items that are “potentially unsafe for a variety of reasons, including damage or lack of compliance with recent advances in product safety standards.”

We contacted Babies”R”Us to find out if the event includes crib mattresses – there has never been a recall on waterproof crib mattresses containing phthalates, for example. Unfortunately, crib mattresses are not on the list: a sure sign that awareness of unsafe chemicals and consumer demand for safer materials needs a boost.

That said, the safety issues regarding the trade-in are vital to resolve. The majority of recalls were for things like crib sides that aren’t properly secured so they can fall off, platforms for mattress that don’t allow the mattress to be lowered to the necessary extent (the baby could fall out of the crib), car seats with bases that ‘fail’ if there’s a collision so the baby isn’t protected, strollers with failing brakes or that kids can easily fall out of, or that amputate fingertips.

So, while you generally don’t have the opportunity to return items that contain potentially hazardous or toxic materials, you do have the opportunity to return a long list of items – cribs, car seats, bassinets, strollers, travel systems, play yards, toddler beds or high chairs – even those that haven’t been recalled, and get new ones at a 25% discount. Any parent concerned about the safety of their children will want to take advantage of this deal.

It’s much easier than replacing faulty parts or waiting for a recalled item to be replaced by the manufacturer (it obviously can’t be used while it’s being fixed). And it’s much safer than continuing to use an older product that may be damaged or not meet current safety standards.

To find out about participating manufacturers and other details, check out The Great Trade-In Event. It ends on February 20^th – so don’t delay.

The study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, found that the higher the concentration of phthalates in the urine, the more apt the children were to have ADHD symptoms. The researchers also found “significant relationships” between urine concentrations and errors in continuous performance tests (CPTs), which measure the child’s sustained and selective attention – the ability to focus on the right things at the right times – and impulsivity. CPT is used to support an ADHD diagnosis.

So, where are these phthalates coming from?

According to other studies, it starts in the womb: phthalates in mom’s body transfer to the child. Mom may have gotten them into her body via her hand lotion, nail polish, or a variety of other personal care products, or from food containers and packaging, laundry detergents or even the enteric coating on pharmaceuticals.

So, the kids get off to a bad start. Then, right from infancy, they sleep on crib mattresses with PVC/vinyl waterproof coverings made pliable by the use of phthalates. We’ve never used phthalates in our Naturepedic crib mattresses, and we never will.

From the crib mattress, the very long list of products containing phthalates continues: Plastic toys, building materials, textiles, the same liquid soap and detergent used by mom – it goes on and on.

According to a study published in Atmospheric Environment in 2008, manufacturers produce about 800 million pounds of phthalates each year (those figures are from 2004, the latest available at the time), and they contribute 10-60% of plastic products by weight.

Fortunately, the U.S. government is getting wise to phthalates. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) banned phthalates in crib mattresses and some children’s products last year – although only three phthalates were banned and several others are still used. Both the CPSC and the EPA are doing further investigation, and the EPA now has a Phthalates Action Plan by which they hope to determine the degree to which these chemicals should be restricted – or perhaps banned altogether.

But, unlike Europe – where phthalates were banned a decade ago – we’re a long way from full protection.

What is the answer? The obvious solution is to avoid them. Fortunately, there are more and more products out there that do not contain phthalates. Look for them. If you have questions about specific products, contact the manufacturer. If they can’t guarantee ‘no phthalates,’ switch to a brand that can.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up to 10% of U.S. children have been diagnosed with ADHD. Wouldn’t it be great if an environment free of phthalates and other dangerous chemicals could change that?

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