Melamine and Dog Treats

The latest from the China front: WalMart announced today that melamine was found (again) in jerky treats for dogs, and they learned of it after pet owners complained of their dogs getting sick (and in some cases dying) after being fed the treats. How can we protect ourselves, and our families (including the four-legged members) from all these Chinese contaminants? It is hard since country of origin labeling is not required. But here's a couple of things you can do:

Buy less stuff, but seeker higher quality products. We are all guilty of buy, buy, buy, and that's part of the problem. Several years ago I made a firm commitment to cut down on my purchases of all types, but to spend more on what I do purchase.

Email your representatives and tell them that this is unacceptable. We need the federal agencies that are supposed to look out for us funded at a level that allows them to just that! You can find your elected officials email by going to www.house.gov (search for your rep by zip code) and www.senate.gov.

In Monday's post, I mentioned Lice B Gone as a sugar-based enzyme product on the Baby Green Genes site. In a follow up, Betty Mekdeci of the site's parent organization, asked me to clarify that her organization doesn't endorse individual brands of products, and she said that other manufacturers offer similar plant-based products for lice control. And, in another note, I have revised the other pages of the Toxic Burden site: The articles will have some longer articles (there's one on nanotechnology there now) and the tips page will be the place to find things like the kind of fish that are safe to eat, and the kind to be avoided, or tips on homemade and safe cleaning products. Check the other pages out at www.toxicburden.com.

Baby Green Genes Marketplace

Birth Defects Research for Children, Inc (BRCI), has launched the Baby Green Genes Marketplace. It is a place to find “green, safer, earth-friendly and organic alternatives for the products you need to take care of your family, home and garden."


BRCI is a nonprofit that runs the nation's only birth-defects registry, but over the last couple of years they have begun focusing on prevention, with their Healthy Baby Resources. The Baby Green Genes Marketplace is an outgrowth of that effort. "We want to provide people with positive steps they can take for themselves and their children," Betty Mekdeci of BRCI says.

There are products, in dozens of categories, ranging from accessories to water purification. Each product listed on the site has been approved by BRCI staff as having met certain minimum criteria for health and environmental safety. One example that Betty gave of the great alternative products that are on the market is a sugar-based product that can be used to control lice. Lice B Gone uses natural sugar enzymes, which dissolve the sticky substance that holds lice nits in hair. As Betty said, "Who really wants to dunk their child's head in pesticides?" (There is also a similar, sugar-based product that's effective for flea's and ticks.)

Eat Your Fish

Fish can be dangerous, with mercury and PCBs accumulating in their tissue, yet fish is also a truly remarkable health food. Fish are the best source of those wonderful omega-3 fatty acids, which are associated with all kinds of health benefits ranging from improved cardiac health to improved mood and behavior, and reductions in cancer risk and arthritis symptoms.

Our bodies can't produce these beneficial omega-3 fatty acids; they have to come through our diet, and cold water fish are by far the best source of omega-3 fatty acids. (Other sources include grassfed meat and milk.)

These fish are your best choices for both environmental sustainability and health reasons, and are safe to eat at least once per week:

anchovies,

clams,

Dungeness crab,

king crab (US),

snow crab,

Pacific cod,

crawfish,

Atlantic herring (US/Canada),

lobster (US/Baja/Cananda/Australia),

Atlantic mackerel,

blue mussels,

farmed oysters,

wild Alaskan salmon,

sardines,

farmed scallops,

shrimp (US/Canada),

squid,

tilapia (US/Central America),

farmed rainbow trout,

canned tuna (light/skipjack).

The fish you should absolutely avoid include:

bluefish,

striped bass,

American eel,

weakfish,

king mackerel,

bluefin tuna,

swordfish,

shark,

croaker,

Atlantic salmon.

If you forget the list, this list, and other tips on healthy living are available on the Toxic Burden Living Clean Tips page for easy access.