Tag: chemical

  • 4 Ways To Keep Monsanto Out Of Your Home Garden

    Monsanto/Bayer has been proven to knowingly falsifying documentation about the severity of harm their products cause humans and the environment. In 2019  punitive damages were ordered by the court as the jury found that Monsanto “engaged in conduct with malice, oppression or fraud committed by one or more officers, directors or managing agents of Monsanto”  who were acting on behalf of the company.  Evidence laid out in three trials included numerous scientific studies that showed what plaintiffs’ attorneys said was proof Monsanto’s herbicides can cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma. As well, the attorneys presented jurors with many internal Monsanto communications obtained through court-ordered discovery that show Monsanto has intentionally manipulated the public record to hide the cancer risks. 

    We home gardeners need to do our homework to make sure we purchase seeds from companies that aren’t in partnership with Bayer-Monsanto-Seminis. 

    It’s pretty important to make sure that none of the seeds you buy this year support Monsanto or one of the companies owned by them.  

    40% of US seed market is own by Monsanto GUILTY OF FRAUD and MALICIOUS HARM

    In 2005, Monsanto grabbed 40% of the U.S. seed market and 20% of the global seed market when it bought out Seminis, making them the largest seed company in the world. They supply the genetics for 55% of the lettuce on U.S. supermarket shelves, 75% of the tomatoes, and 85% of the peppers, with strong holdings in beans, cucumbers, squash, melons, broccoli, cabbage, spinach and peas! (source)

    And Monsanto has been buying up every seed company they can ever since. By going to the Seminis site, you can see their history of acquisitions. You can see Syngenta and Dow are doing the same.

    Apparently, Monsanto is now legally registered or established to hold the trademark for a plethora of the named heirloom seed varieties. (See a list of names below.) This company has strategically positioned itself to profit from the growing heirloom or open-pollinated home-gardening market.

    4 Ways To Keep Monsanto Out Of Your Home Garden. Seed industry and ownership chart

    (source) Click here for zoom.it (scroll in and out version)

    Bayer, Monsanto and Their Terrible Little Secrets

    First, as of “2015, the Bayer takeover of Monsanto merges a chemical giant with a seed giant and leaves the control of the world’s food supply in too few hands. The merger also links two key parts of agricultural production, reducing competition in the food chain. Bayer is now expected to control 29 per cent of the global seed market and 24 per cent of the global pesticide market.  

    Global seed market is projected to witness a CAGR of 7.82% during the forecast period to reach a total market size of US$99.041 billion by 2022, increasing from US$67.970 billion in 2017. (source)

    “Second, there are serious concerns about increased farmer dependency on a smaller number of suppliers, and higher prices due to weak competition. 

    “Third, the deal increases the power of an even smaller group of companies over the intellectual property, and patents that already lock up much of the world’s commercially produced food supply. The patents weaken farmers’ ability to use and reuse their own seeds.”

    “Finally, there are ongoing food health and safety concerns related to the seeds and chemicals produced by these companies. Increasing their market share increases their power over the market and over the producers and consumers that use their products. In 2015, the World Health Organisation declared glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide, Roundup, as “probably carcinogenic in humans,””(source). There are THOUSANDS of court cases in the process regarding the carcinogenic components of the pesticide and Monsanto’s malicious cover-up of the harm caused to humans and the environment. You can follow the cases here.

    How long will we tolerate the growing monopolization and genetic engineering of seeds by a monopolistic pesticide company that poses a deadly threat to our health, our environment and the future of our food?

    4 Ways To Keep Monsanto Out Of Your Home Garden. Monsanto's monopoly

    (source)

    4 Ways To Keep Monsanto out of Your Garden: 

    So, it’s pretty important to make sure that none of the seeds you buy this year support Monsanto or one of the companies owned by them.

    Excellent seed companies that are NOT affiliated with Monsanto:

    Our Favorite for the Treasure Valley is a LOCAL Seed-CoOp – SNAKE RIVER SEEDS

    1.) Avoid buying anything from companies that are affiliated with Monsanto or Seminis. You can search the companies they do business with to avoid them as they are potentially compromised. 

    2.) Avoid buying seed or seedlings varieties that are trademarked and owned by Seminis or Monsanto. This includes popular tomato varieties such as ‘Early Girl’, ‘Better Boy’, and ‘Burpee’s Big Boy’, as well as a host of other common home garden varieties like ‘Habanero’ hot pepper and ‘Packman’ broccoli. These are not GMO varieties, but their purchase does profit Monsanto.

    Here’s a list.

    3.) Ask seed companies if they have taken the Safe Seed Pledge and tested their stock for GMOs. Here’s a list.

    Companies with ties: Kitazawa Seed Co., Wildflower Gardening, Jung Seeds, Gardener Supply, Tomato Growers, Territorial Seeds

    4.) Purchase, plant, and save seeds from heirloom varieties. We need to support Snake River Seed CoOp, Rare Seeds, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Seed Savers Exchange, and Clear Creek Heirloom Seeds and others that specialize in heirlooms and that are NOT owned by Monsanto or Seminis. The legacy of Seed Saver’s Exchange is to tell you how to collect and store seeds.

     

    List of companies that specialize in heirlooms and that are NOT owned by Monsanto or Seminis:USA:

    Note: Always ask questions of a company if you want to verify they are not part of the corporate giant. Things change and companies are under pressure to survive. Some may sell out.

    Let’s boycott all gene-altering companies. Together, we can build a more sustainable world, one garden at a time!

    Adaptive Seeds
    All Good Things Organic (SW)
    Amishland Seeds
    Annie’s Heirloom Seeds
    The Ark Institute
    Backyard Beans and Grains Project
    Baker Creek Seed Co. (Rare Seeds)(MW)
    Beauty Beyond Belief (BBB Seeds)
    Botanical Interests
    Bountiful Gardens
    Crispy Farms
    Diane’s Flower Seeds (she has veggies now, too)

    Deep Harvest Farm and SeedsFamily Farmer’s Seed Co-op
    Farm Direct Seed (Hobb’s Family Farm)
    Fedco Seed Co.
    Garden City Seeds
    Gourmet Seed
    Grow Organic
    Heirlooms Evermore Seeds at Azure Standard
    Heirloom Seeds
    Heirloom Solutions
    High Mowing Seeds
    Horizon Herbs
    Hudson Valley Seed Library
    Humbleseeds
    Growing Crazy Acres
    Ed Hume Seeds
    Irish-Eyes
    J.L Hudson 

    Johnny’s Selected Seeds
    Kitchen Garden Seeds
    Knapp’s Fresh Vegies
     Kusa Seed Society
    Lake Valley Seeds
     
    Landreth Seeds
    Larner Seeds
    The Living Seed Company
    Livingston Seeds
    Local Harvest 

    Mary’s Heirloom Seeds

    MI Gardener Organic Seeds
    Moonlight Micro Farm
    Mountain Rose Herbs
    My Patriot Supply
    Native Seeds  (for the Arid Southwest)
    Natural Gardening Company
    New Hope Seed Company
    Nichol’s Garden Nursery
    Organica Seed
    Organic Sanctuary (SE)
    Peace Seeds
    Peaceful Valley Farm Supply
    Prairie Road Garden
    Renee’s Garden
    Restoration Seeds
    Sand Hill Preservation Center

    Sage Thymes
    Seed for Security

    Seed Treasures
    Seeds Trust

    Seeds Now
    Select Seeds
    Siskiyou Seeds (NW)

    Snake River Seeds (Idaho)

    Southern Exposure
    Sow True (SE)
    Sustainable Seed Co
    Tiny Seeds

    Tomato Bob Heirloom Seeds
    Tomato Fest
    Trees of Antiquity
    Turtle Tree Seed
    Underwood Garden Seeds
    Uprising Seeds
    Victory Seeds
    Vermont Wildflower Farm
    White Harvest Seed
    Wild Garden Seeds
    Wildseed Farms
    Wood Prairie Farm (NE)

     

    SNAKE RIVER SEED is run by locals is a community/family based business as are many of the remaining smaller seed companies! They work extensively to supply free seeds here at home in school gardens and other educational projects. It is their goal to educate everyone about a better, safer food supply.

    Don’t forget Seed-Savers! Here you can shop hundreds of heirloom, organic, non-GMO vegetable seeds and plants to grow in your garden.

    RESOURCES: 

    The Healthy Home Economist gives us 4 ways to forget Monsanto

    SnakeRiverSeeds

    https://livelovefruit.com/heirloom-seed-companies/

  • Why We MUST Detox from Glyphosate Toxins

    By now, most of us have heard about glyphosate in one way or another. Glyphosate has been found in the majority of our environment and food: rain, tap water, air, streams and even in our cereal, honey, breast milk and cotton products. It is almost impossible to avoid.

    Monsanto corporation – now a part of Bayer – lost the trial of the century against a man dying of cancer, his cancer alleged to be caused by Roundup herbicide. The corporation was found by a jury to be responsible for all claims and ordered to pay $289 million dollars in punitive damages to school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson, whose life and limb are stricken with deadly lymphoma after years of using Roundup Pro and Ranger Pro. 

    Moreover, the jury found that Monsanto “acted with malice, oppression and fraud.” 

    Monsanto internal documents depict a “rampant corporate culture that has no interest in looking at whether or not their product is safe,” says Brent Wisner, lead trial counsel for Dewayne Lee Johnson in his lawsuit against the company.

    See the internal Monsanto papers and documents now unclassified that the jury saw that lead them to that conclusion.

    Our children are the sickest generation – 54% have chronic disease or neurological illness. Its easy to see that their health conditions are likely connected to this toxin’s pervasive use. Our children, the most susceptible to toxins. They are suffering the consequences of more than 250 million pounds of Roundup herbicide every year. At the same time, weeds are becoming more resistant to Roundup, so farmers are using more and more chemicals to deal with super-pests and super-weeds. From 1994 to 2005, the use of glyphosate has increased by 1,500 percent.

    Increasingly, glyphosate is also sprayed just before harvest on wheat, barley, oats and beans that are not genetically engineered. Glyphosate kills the crop, drying it out so that it can be harvested sooner than if the plant were allowed to die naturally.Monsanto’s Round Up ‘pre-harvest’ spraying guide meant for conventional farmers recommends that they spray crops just three days prior to harvest – and they don’t just mean on GMO crops. This means you’re likely consuming food which had been drenched in toxic pesticides.

    According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the following non-organic crops are sprayed with glyphosate (reporting years: 2004-2013) (10):

    1. Alfalfa*
    2. Almonds**
    3. Apples*
    4. Apricots
    5. Artichokes
    6. Asparagus
    7. Avocados
    8. Barley*
    9. Beans, Green
    10. Blueberries
    11. Broccoli
    12. Brussels Sprouts
    13. Cabbage
    14. Caneberries
    15. Canola*
    16. Canteloupes
    17. Carrots
    18. Cauliflower
    19. Celery
    20. Cherries*
    21. Chicory
    22. Corn**
    23. Cotton**
    24. Cucumbers
    25. Dates
    26. Dry Beans/Peas*
    27. Fallow**
    28. Figs
    29. Garlic
    30. Grapefruit*
    31. Grapes**
    32. Hazelnuts
    33. Kiwifruit
    34. Lemons*
    35. Lettuce
    36. Nectarines
    37. Oats*
    38. Olives
    39. Onions
    40. Oranges**
    41. Pasture*
    42. Peaches*
    43. Peanuts*
    44. Pears*
    45. Peas, Green
    46. Pecans*
    47. Peppers
    48. Pistachios*
    49. Plums/Prunes*
    50. Pluots
    51. Pomegranates*
    52. Potatoes
    53. Pumpkins
    54. Rice*
    55. Sorghum**
    56. Soybeans**
    57. Spinach
    58. Squash
    59. Strawberries
    60. Sugar Beets**
    61. Sugarcane*
    62. Sunflowers**
    63. Sweet Corn*
    64. Tangelos
    65. Tangerines
    66. Tobacco
    67. Tomatoes*
    68. Walnuts*
    69. Watermelons
    70. Wheat**
    *Over 100,000 pounds of glyphosate herbicide sprayed on them throughout the year
    **Over 1,000,000 pounds of glyphosate herbicide sprayed on them throughout the year

    Applying glyphosate to non-GMO crops as a desiccant before harvest is probably one of the worst times to spray, because the glyphosate then absorbs into the food crop directly. In other words, glyphosate can’t simply be “washed off,” as it has become part of the food itself. This chemical is them ingested by those who consume the whole, unprocessed food, or via processed foods that contain glyphosate as an ingredient.

    Poison Served with Breakfast

    The Environmental Working Group has released independent laboratory test results that found that Roundup’s weed-killing poison, glyphosate, has been found in 43 of 45 cereals tested, including those we feed our children.

    Of the 43 cereals that tested positive for glyphosate, 31 of those had a glyphosate level greater than 160 parts per billion–the threshold the EWG used. 1 part per trillion was shown to increase the growth of cancer cells. NO exposure is safe. 

    Cereals found to contain even higher levels of glyphosate include:

    • Quaker Simply Granola Oats, Honey, Raisins & Almonds
    • Nature Valley Granola Protein Oats ‘n Honey
    • Quaker Dinosaur Eggs, Brown Sugar, Instant Oatmeal
    • Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal
    • Lucky Charms, among others

    Dangers of Glyphosate

    Did you know that if your child has multiple allergies, rashes or even just irritability and learning focus challenges, that could indicate they have leaky gut? That means small holes in your child’s small intestines are leaking unprocessed food and potentially medications into their blood stream and causing havoc in the immune system. 

    Did you know that Glyphosate (Roundup) weed killer sprayed on GMOs and non organic food,  is allowed on 160 of our foods by the EPA at levels far above that which has shown to destroy gut bacteria? The gut bacteria is the stronghold of our immune system and is where Tryptophan is stored and made. Without Tryptophan our bodies cannot make Serotonin or Melatonin which regulate insulin, (diabetes) mental processing and  illness, feeling satiated (obesity), bi polar and even acts of violence. 

    Did you know that glyphosate can break down the blood brain barrier, allowing toxins into the brain such as chemical off gassing from fire retardent on pajamas, sofas and toxins in vaccines?

    Did you know that glyphosate destroys the tight junctions of blood vessels, hampering the flow of nutrients to bones and organs, leading to osteoporosis, arthritis and more?

    In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, reviewed extensive U.S., Canadian and Swedish epidemiological studies on glyphosate’s human health effects, as well as research on laboratory animals. The IARC classified the chemical as probably carcinogenic to humans, and has steadfastly defended that decision despite ongoing attacks by Monsanto.

    In 2017, California listed glyphosate in its Proposition 65 registry of chemicals known to cause cancer. The state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, or OEHHA, has proposed a so-called No Significant Risk Level for glyphosate of 1.1 milligrams per day for an average adult of about 154 pounds. That level of exposure is more than 60 times lower than the safety level set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

    Scientists have been able to correlate a number of health issues related to glyphosate exposure, including, but not limited to:

    •  ADHD [1] 
    •  Alzheimers Disease [2] 
    •  Autism [3]
    •  Birth Defects [4] 
    • Cancer [5]
    • Celiac Disease [6]
    • Colitis [7] 
    • Heart Disease [8]
    • Inflammatory Bowel Disease [9]
    • Kidney Disease [10]
    • Liver Disease [11] 
    • Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma [12]
    • Parkinsons Disease [13] 

    Glyphosate Detox

    If we’re not directly eating glyphosate-sprayed crops, then we’re inhaling it, or drinking it (or even bathing in it). There is quite literally no way to escape the glyphosate chemical giant Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) has created. 

    Here’s the steps to take to detox: 

    1. Eating Cleaner Foods. 

    • Choosing the organic or pesticide-free label. 
    • Seeking out stores that sell local produce labeled pesticide free. *Shopping in-season helps to reduce the costs. 
    • Shopping the regular sales at THRIVE MARKET seeking out the CHOSEN brand. 
    • Getting meats and eggs from local farmers.
    • **Eliminating refined sugar – specifically GMO beet sugar is important as well!

    “Herbs such as cilantro help us to eliminate metals such as lead and mercury. Herbs like turmeric and garlic help to lower the levels of inflammation that are often the underlying causes [of chronic diseases” -Dr. Robert Zieve, an integrative medicine expert and medical director of Partners in Integrative Cancer Therapies, in Prescott, AZ 

    2. Sipping Ferments. 

    Apple Cider Vinegar , Sauerkraut juice and Kombucha contain a beneficial bacteria that neutralizes glyphosate! That is absolutely amazing! 

    Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, ““With every mouthful of sauerkraut you’re consuming billions of beneficial microbes which will be killing the pathogens in your gut driving them out and replenishing the beneficial flora in your digestive tract.” 

    Click here to learn how to make sauerkraut at home and here to learn how to make kraut juice, a more gentle on the stomach probiotic for those with leaky gut. Getting your child to take the tangy savory liquid tends to be a bit more challenging.

    3. Regular Detox Baths (with filtered water).

    1/4 cup of Epson salts or baking soda or apple cider vinegar on a regular schedule has helped tremendously ESPECIALLY during the weeks before harvest as the fields around us are sprayed intensively with Glyphosate. 20 minute soak – or for our kids “until they get ‘wrinkly’. 

    4. Restore balance. Support Natural Detox.

    We have added a new element to our routine. Toxic exposure is constant and even with a clean diet, sneaking in ferments (which is really hard to do with young children) and doing regular detox baths its not enough to overcome the hurtle of these health issues. We are calling in reinforcements. 
    As a family we are adding Biome Medic a product specifically designed to tackle glyphosate toxicity to help flush harmful toxins, support “good” bacteria and repair your microbiome. 

    $50 Discount Biome Medic or Any Purium Detox Product

    Biome Medic. Studied under a randomized, product-controlled IRB approved protocol,the six-week pre-clinical trial reported a 74%reduction of the herbicide glyphosate, a 75% reduction in the inflammatory bio marker reactive protein(CRP) and a 35% increase in gut immune response as measured by reduced food sensitivities.
    http://www.puriumcorporate.com/purium1/php_uploads/BiomeMedicResearchResults-PressRelease.pdf

    Purim is a family owned company dedicated to providing whole, organic, GMO-free nutrients for the whole family. 


    [1] The journal Environmental Health Perspectives reported in 2002 that exposure to Roundup [glyphosate herbicide] was been linked to attention deficit disorder (ADHD), likely due to the herbicide’s capacity to disrupt thyroid hormone functions.

    [2] A study published in the journal Toxicology found that glyphosate exposure can cause the same kind of oxidative stress and neural cell death found in Alzheimer’s diagnosis. It also affects CaMKII, an enzyme whose dysregulation has also been linked to Alzheimer’s.

    [3] A research scientist at MIT says the symptoms of glyphosate toxicity closely resembles the same of autism symptoms.

    [4] Glyphosate exposure can disrupt the Vitamin A signaling pathway, which is critical for normal fetal development. A study from Paraguay found that babies born to women, living less than a mile from fields sprayed with glyphosate herbicide, were more than twice as likely to develop birth defects.

    [5]: There are numerous glyphosate studies that link glyphosate to cancer. The International Agency of Research on Cancer (an agency within the World Health Organization) published a study in 2015 that determined glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. There is also a meta-analysis study from 2014 published in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health and a 2008 Swedish study that link glyphosate and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. There are others, including a study in Argentina of 65,000 people in farming communities where Roundup is used (communities referred to as “the fumigated towns”), found cancer rates to be two to four times higher than the country’s national average. Specifically, the study noted increases in breast, prostate and lung cancers. In a comparison of two farming communities—one that sprayed Roundup and another that didn’t—31 percent of residents in the Roundup sprayed community had a family member with cancer. In the community that didn’t spray, only three percent of residents had a family member with cancer. The high cancer rates among those exposed to Roundup [glyphosate herbicide] can likely be traced to the herbicide’s known capacity to induce DNA damage, which has been demonstrated in a number of laboratory tests.

    [6] A study of fish exposed to glyphosate herbicide showed that some developed digestive problems similar to those with Celiac Disease. Parallels between glyphosate exposure and Celiac Disease include impairment in enzymes critical to detoxifying environmental toxins, imbalances in gut bacteria, amino acid depletion and certain mineral deficiencies.

    [7] A Roundup study titled ‘The Effect of Glyphosate on Potential Pathogens and Beneficial Members of Poultry Microbiota in Vitro’ found that glyphosate toxicity could be a significant predisposing factor in the overgrowth of clostridia, an established causal factor in colitis.

    [8]: A study published in Entropy found that glyphosate exposure can cause disruption to the body’s enzymes, causing lysosomal dysfunction, which is a factor in heart failure and cardiovascular disease.

    [9] In another Entropy study, researchers found that exposure to glyphosate has been demonstrated to create a severe tryptophan deficiency in some, which can cause inflammatory bowel disease.

    [10]: Glyphosate herbicide exposure may explain the recent spike in kidney disease statistics among farm workers in India, Central America and Sri Lanka. According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health“Although glyphosate alone does not cause an epidemic of chronic kidney disease, it seems to have acquired the ability to destroy the renal tissues of thousands of farmers.”

    [11] A 2009 study showed that very low doses of glyphosate can disrupt liver cell function.

    [12] A study looking at meta-analyses of nearly 30 years worth of research on the relationship between Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and occupational exposure to pesticides, found a positive association between glyphosate herbicide exposure and B cell lymphoma.

     [13] The onset of Parkinson’s following glyphosate exposure has been documented by a number of lab studies, which show that glyphosate can induce the cell death characteristic of the disease.

    Contaminated Cheerios: https://www.reuters.com/article/products-general-mills-glyphosate/general-mills-hit-with-lawsuit-over-glyphosate-containing-cheerios-idUSL2N1VB1MY

    To read more about allowable glyphosate levels and the chemical’s effects, read “Glyphosate: Unsafe on Any Plate”.

  • Advocates Petition FDA: Remove Neurotoxin from Hairdye

    Advocates Petition FDA: Remove Neurotoxin from Hairdye

    WASHINGTON — A group of public health advocates today announced that the Food and Drug Administration will consider removing its approval of lead acetate in hair dyes such as Grecian Formula. The group filed a joint petition that requires FDA to revisit a 1980 decision allowing the neurotoxin and carcinogen to remain in hair dye. Lead acetate is the active ingredient that slowly darkens grey hair when used every few days.

    “An FDA ban on lead acetate is long overdue,” said Tina Sigurdson, EWG assistant general counsel. “Lead acetate can expose people to lead, which has been linked to serious health problems like developmental, reproductive and organ system toxicity, as well as cancer. It’s unconscionable that this potent neurotoxin is still used in a handful of men’s hair dye formulas. Lead acetate already has been banned in Canada and the European Union. It’s time for the U.S. to take action.”

    “We now know that lead is more dangerous, especially to children, and skin absorption is a more significant route than FDA thought in 1980,” said Tom Neltner, chemicals policy director at Environmental Defense Fund. “We also have evidence that when the dye is applied, lead spreads widely in the immediate environment. This puts more people, including children, at risk of unknowingly ingesting it.”

    “Government agencies at all levels are making great strides in reducing exposures to lead from legacy sources like paint, old water pipes and other uses long-since banned,” said Howard Mielke of Tulane University School of Medicine. “The fact that FDA continues to allow a dangerous toxicant like lead acetate in consumer hair coloring products is shocking. Our petition would force FDA to get the lead out of cosmetics being sold, haphazardly used by consumers, and stored in home medical cabinets. The FDA action will bring its regulation into the 21st Century.”

    “Lead poisoning is not a problem of the past, and we will continue to damage our future and our children’s future if we do not commit to removing all sources of lead from our products, air and water,” said Eve Gartner, litigator in the Healthy Communities Program at Earthjustice, where she heads efforts to protect human health from toxic chemicals. “It is unacceptable that as we struggle to remove lead contamination in our water supplies and old homes, we still allow lead in home-use hair dyes that many people apply by hand on a daily basis. The FDA must take action now to protect people from this continued source of exposure to lead.”

    “Nearly twenty years ago, CEH action created strict rules to protect California consumers from lead acetate in hair dyes. It is long past time for FDA to take action to protect all Americans by banning this unnecessary and toxic ingredient,” said Caroline Cox, research director at Center for Environmental Health.

    In 1980, the FDA approved lead acetate as a repeated use hair dye with minimal restrictions, including a warning label and a restriction that it only be used on the scalp and not facial hair. The levels of lead in the product are allowed to be as high as 6000 ppm. Three years earlier, the Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the sale of household paint containing more than 600 ppm of lead.

    The petitioners cited major advances in science since the 1980 FDA decision allowed lead to remain in hair dye. The petition cites a study showing lead contamination from the hair dyes—especially on surfaces touched after using the hair dye like blow-dryers, combs and faucets.

    The study found these surfaces had up to 2,804 micrograms of lead per square foot. In 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency said that more than 40 micrograms of lead per square foot on the floor posed a hazard to children.

    Dr. Maricel Maffini, an expert consultant to EDF, said that “The risk from an innocent mistake is real: one user who didn’t realize it should not be used on the beard lost feeling in his hands and feet after only seven months. He did not return to normal for a year.” 

    While use of lead acetate remains common in the United States, it is prohibited in Canada and in the European Union.

    The petition was filed by Environmental Working Group, Environmental Defense Fund, Earthjustice, Center for Environmental Health, Healthy Homes Collaborative, Health Justice Project of Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Breast Cancer Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Improving Kids’ Environment, Consumers Union and Howard Mielke.

    Under the law, the agency must make a final decision within 180 days. If the petition is approved, the ban would be effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Register.

    ###

     

    Reporters also may contact Keith Gaby at the Environmental Defense Fund: TEL (202) 572-3336

    This article originally appeared at: http://www.ewg.org/release/advocates-petition-fda-bar-toxic-lead-compound-hair-dyes.