I love to read. I am the sort of person who has books all over the house, membership to two different libraries and a list of op shops with good book sections etched into my brain.
Today however I have realised that there is one big drawback to learning to read; you learn about things you would rather bury your head in the sand about.
I have been aware of the plastic problem for a long time but other than trying to reduce the amount of plastic which I now bring into the house, I've not really looked at the much deeper issue; the effects of plastic on our bodies.
Endocrine Disrupters (wikipedia artical)
Now this snippet scares me as I have Graves Disease and the thyroid gland is a part of the Endocrine System
Endocrine system
Main article: Endocrine system
Endocrine systems are found in most varieties of animal life. The endocrine system is made up of glands which secrete hormones, and receptors which detect and react to the hormones.
Hormones travel throughout the body and act as chemical messengers. Hormones interface with cells that contain matching receptors in or on their surfaces. The hormone binds with the receptor, much like a key would fit into a lock.
Sex steroids such as estrogens and androgens, as well as thyroid hormones, are subject to feedback regulation, which tends to limit the effects of environmental chemicals.
I sort of wish that I hadn't started reading all of this. Life with burping plastic containers is very convenient. Hell, I even went and bought a water filter jug to filter chemicals out of my water and yep, the sodding jug is made of plastic as well!
My toothbrush is plastic, the toilet seat, bathroom containers and milk 'bottles' ALL PLASTIC.
The Husband (no, not plastic) is looking worried about my latest crusade. I have so far this weekend dug out three glass bottles from my bottle stash and am using them for milk, juice and water (letting water run through the jug and decanting into glass straight away). He is worried in case I suddenly turf out all of our accoutrements and replace them with their non plastic version!
So, I have furniture which probably emits a steady low dose of formaldehyde, plastics which might be feminising The Husband (this might not be a bad thing, he might suddenly get the 'multitasking' skill :) ) Foods which may or may not be contaminated by God knows what chemical. I think Humankind are doing a fine and dandy job of screwing up their ecosystem, don't you?
So, now you know why I sometimes want to go back to my blissful ignorance. Living a simple life suddenly got a whole heap more complicated and busy.
1 comment:
5 Responses to “There is a problem with learning to read”
1.Julie Says:
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:27 am e
It can horribly inconvenient when you can’t “unknow” something once you’ve read it! My skin crawls too when I think about plastics - and everything I’ve ever eaten or drunk out of them! Or worse - stuff I’ve eaten after microwaving it in plastic first! Ergghhhhhh *shudder*. I have a huge store of plastic I can’t afford to replace but I am slowly replacing it with glass. Anything that has a high fat content or is acidic leaches more nasties into the food faster so I store it all in glass, and dried goods in the plastic. I also now won’t use glass jars with resealable lids for preserving either as they are lined with plastic. Sigh…
2.kel Says:
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:40 am e
as a kid my mum refused to buy plastic wrap for this reason. i was the only kids i knew with sangers wrapped in paper! i hated it… i remember seeing a doco years ago about fish in a river downstream from a plastics factory…all the fish were female, both healthy and mutant..weird…it began my interest in epidemiology. it was the discovery of the link between plasticides and hormones…oops.. ramble ramble…
3.admin Says:
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:15 am e
Kel, keep rambling!
There just comes a point when you can no longer ignore what’s staring you in the face hey!
4.Lisa Says:
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:41 am e
Hi there Croney,
Now I’m feeling bad that you felt bad about what I wrote at Belindas……
Don’t feel bad, then I won’t feel bad either. What I was trying to communicate (poorly as it happens) is that you hit the nail right on the head with your “simple life wannabe” note, and it’s observations like these that stimulate and educate me as I learn more about what it means to try and be a better person.
Regarding the plastics - there is also a big outcry over the use of BPA (chemical word since forgotten by person who failed Yr 11 chemistry and decided to study art and music instead….) in childrens drinking cups. I’ve done a big chuck from the plastic cupboard too.
If it’s any use, and it probably isn’t because the lids are plastic…..you can get really excellent pyrex storage containers. That’s what we use, but again, the lids are plastic so that kind of buggers that one up for you.
cheerio mon petite cochon - I was always told this was a french term of endearment roughly translated as “my little piglet”….but I was told this by my brother and it may in fact be something else altogether…..Lisa x
5.kedakeda Says:
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:08 am e
The plastics thing worries me out too - and it seems to me that information about BPA/pthaletes etc are turning up on all sorts of U.S. blogs I read but this is the first plastics freakout I’ve read on an Aussie blog (read: good on you). Check out http://www.zrecommends.com/detail/the-zrecs-guide-to-safer-childrens-products/ for information on some safe products and buy the family Eco Tanka/Sigg/Kleen Kanteen waterbottles for Chistmas (which is what I’m doing!).
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