Little cupboard of horrors

It’s Friday night. I should have watched some dumb romantic comedy or at least a good thriller. But instead, I got sucked into a horror movie. It’s not what you think, it wasn’t a blood and guts horror. It was a documentary.

The information wasn’t new to me, it wasn’t really shocking, but it still cut to hear it all put together like this. “The Disappearing Male” chronicles the effects of chemicals like Phthalates and Bisphenol A on the future of our species. Both are endocrine disrupters which a growing body of evidence is finding to be responsible for skyrocketing male infertility, reduced proportion of male babies, higher rates of miscarriage and male genital birth defects.

BPA has been big in the news in the last couple of years. It makes clear plastics hard and shatterproof. It was the culprit in the big baby bottle recall a couple of years ago. Aside from mimicking estrogen and disrupting male sexual function and development, it is linked to breast and prostate cancer, thyroid disruption, and heart disease. It’s used in a lot more than baby bottles. It’s known to leach from the linings of cans and plastic bottles and it’s used in pretty much everything made of clear plastic. According to the doc, more than a staggering seven billion pounds of BPA are produced each year worldwide.

Phthalates are plasticizers. They make plastics flexible and soft. They are found in personal care products, toys, linings of tin cans, PVC shower curtains and medical supplies. It’s hard to know how to avoid phthalates because they are not labeled. In cosmetics and detergents they are usually contained in the generic term “fragrance”. They make our hair shiny, they bind to perfumes to make us smell good and clean. But I’m starting to wake up to the fact that they are actually very dirty.

What can I do? Well, I’ve already pretty much stopped buying anything that contains fragrance, I got rid of our PVC shower curtain, I’m more careful about soap. But I’ve got to wonder if what is in my mattress, my drinking water, my laminate floors? This requires more research. Added to list. Today my step is to make a conscious effort is to use fewer cans (gotta learn how to soak beans) and to remove the waterproof mattress covers from my kids’ beds.

This doc had me feeling ill, and on the edge of my plastic seat, trying not to breathe or touch anything. But knowing that more people are watching it, that the issue is becoming mainstream, gives me some hope. Check out “The Disappearing Male”. It airs on CBC on Valentine’s Day (it does give us reason to appreciate maleness I suppose). It can be viewed online at http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2008/disappearingmale/index.html.

WARNING: Not suitable for anyone wishing to continue living under IIB. (Ignorance is Bliss).