WHY BURNING PLASTIC CAN ACTUALLY SLOWLY KILL US?
Your bleached white paper, your baby's plastic toy, your PVC drain pipe, your pesticide-grown vegetable, your bathroom disinfectant are actually some of the sources of cancer-causing substances- the most persistent organic pollutants known to man- Organochlorines.
Organochlorines are basically chlorine (as in the byproduct of salt) combined with chemicals containing carbon.They are found in many household products such as plastics, solvents, pesticides, disinfectants, and chlorinated paper products- especially when burned all together.
If you ever heard of PCBs, CFCs (greenhouse gas) and DDT, these are some of the most notorious examples of organochlorine compounds.
By burning chlorinated products such as plastics, toxic by-products such as dioxins are produced. Dioxins are one of the most persistent toxic substances known to man and are known to accumulate in our bodyfat and in our surroundings. And if our body absorbs even small amounts of Dioxins- we are likely to have immune and nervous system damage, cancer, miscarriages, sterility, birth defects, you name it.
To illustrate how the plastic burning kills us... Imagine a green field downwind a municipal waste incinerator which spews toxic ash. Naturally, the grass in the fields will have high levels of dioxins. If the same grass will eaten by cows, then the cows will absorb dioxin into their body fats. The cow's milk will of course, have higher levels of dioxin, it being fat-based. Voila! Your kids who may be drinking the milk may be drinking the dioxins. Now, imagine if the cows that produced the powdered or fresh milk in your local grocery store actually fed on dioxin-contaminated grass in a field someplace near a municipal waste incinerator.
Now, imagine no more.. because this example actually happened.
Dioxins are sooo prevalent that studies have shown even the whales in the arctic have high levels of dioxins in their blubbers.
What I suggest: Minimize your use of chlorinated products; DO NOT burn chlorinated products such as plastic and PCB-laden electronic parts; Find out if the fish you eat came from very polluted areas. Avoid eating food made of animal fats such as cheese and milk if youre not sure of its source. Plant your own vegetables so you can be sure its pesticide/ DDT free. And mothers, breastfeed your babies.
But of course, its unlikely for anyone of us to entirely avoid dioxins unless you're inside a glass dome.
My Cause: Philippine Environmental Concerns
April 11, 2008, 05:58 AM PDT
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