You’ll definitely want to attend this twitter party coming up on Thursday May 12 – 6:00 PM PDT

My friends over at Safer Chemicals are working hard to get toxic chemical reforms passed through legislation.  There is a AMAZING line up of experts that will be “tweeting” on the panel for this twitter party.  Don’t forget to add this to your schedule and…. I’ll be giving away TWO – $25/each ecertificates for Miessence products from @elyorganics.

ALERT – Discount Code ****After the party, you can use this promo code: ‘safer10′ to get 10% off your miessence order through my website.  Make sure you go to ElyOrganics – Your Source For Miessence to use this code.  If you have questions or need help with anything feel free to contact me at: erin[@]elyorganics.com

INFO for the @SaferChemicals Twitter party below:

We’re having a Twitter party! Please join us to tweet about toxic chemical reform!

With the Safe Chemicals Act just introduced in Congress, we thought it would be a good time to host a Twitter party on the topic of toxic chemicals! What’s a Twitter party, you ask? It’s basically a fast-paced, lively chat forum for educating and sharing ideas – all in 140 characters or less! At our Twitter party we will bring expert panelists together to answer your questions about toxic chemicals, show you how to protect your family and let you know why passage of the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 is so critically important.

Here are the details – hope you can join us!

Date: Thursday, May 12th, 2011

Time: 9-10 PM Eastern/6-7 PM Pacific

Topic: Protecting Our Families from Toxic Chemicals

Key Questions Covered:

• Why should we be concerned about chemicals in products we use every day?
• What are the worst chemicals to avoid in products?
• What can we do to avoid exposure to toxic chemicals?
• How will the Safe Chemicals Act protect us?

Expert Panelists:

• Lindsay Dahl – Deputy Director, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families -@Lindsay_SCHF
• Margie Kelly – Communications Director, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families - @SaferChemicals
• Micaela Preston – Writer, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families -@MindfulMomma
• Janelle Sorensen – Healthy Child - @Healthy_Child
• Dr. Alan Greene – Pediatrician and Author - @DrGreene
• Sarah Janssen – Senior Scientist, NRDC - @SarahJNRDC
• Claire Moshenberg – Moms Rising - @MomsRising
• Jennifer Taggart – The Smart Mama - @thesmartmama
• Katy Faber – Non-Toxic Kids - @Non_Toxic_Kids
• Alexandra Zissu – Alexandrazissu.com - @alexandrazissu
• Sommer Poquette – Green & Clean Mom - @greenmom
• Kathy Scoleri – SafeMama - @safemama
• Deanna Duke – Crunchy Chicken - @crunchychicken
• Lori Alper – Groovy Green Livin - @groovygreenlivi
• Donielle Baker – Natural Living Moms - @donielle
• Jeanne Blaisdell – The Green Samaritan - @greensamaritan
• Tracy Himes – Verde Mom - @verdemom

How to join the party – go to the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families Blog to RSVP for the twitter party.

More than Carbon Neutral….

Carbon Negative – Another World’s First From Miessence

Miessence is committed to providing exceptional home, health and body products that support the health and vitality of our customers and the planet. Our sustainable approach for sourcing raw materials respects, supports and nurtures the ecology and energy of the planet, our customers, and the indigenous people who labor to grow our pure ingredients. That’s why we are the world’s first certified organic skin care, personal care and nutritional products company to be carbon negative!

As the debate on climate change and carbon emissions continues, Miessence believes that responsible companies shouldn’t stop at simply reducing their own carbon emissions – something Miessence has been doing for years – but take action to move towards a carbon neutral world.

Now with every purchase of Miessence products, you’ll actually be helping the environment by taking excess carbon out of the atmosphere.

To accomplish this important work, Miessence has extended our partnership with Greenfleet, a leading conservation organization in Australia that provides practical ways for people, businesses and organizations to prevent and minimize the greenhouse gases they produce. Greenfleet works to create forests in areas of environmental concern, putting back (where possible) the mix of native species that would have been present in the local area prior to land clearing, and now has in excess of 6 million trees growing to capture carbon on behalf of its supporters. That’s news worthy to be shouted from the mountain tops!

Miessence Environmental Statement

Our passion for organic products translates into a devotion to ethical and sustainable business practices that support the environment. We achieve this through an internal focus on eco-friendly business practices and by following innovative and ecological business ideas. We practice a genuine ‘cradle-to-grave’ approach to sustainable manufacturing and invite like-minded suppliers and partners to share in this work with us.

As the world’s first certified organic skin care (USDA certified 2002), personal care and nutritional products company to achieve carbon negative status, it is our established policy to be committed to and responsible for the environmental legacy of our company.

To achieve this goal we engage in the following activities:

• Consistently work to exceed regulatory and legislative requirements.
• Look for new ways to eliminate or minimize the effects of pollution on our world.
• Utilize raw materials, water and energy in the most efficient ways.
• Work with only certified organic and environmentally responsible suppliers and sub-contractors wherever practical in order to reduce our environmental impact.
• Regularly monitor and audit our environmental performance with third-party certifiers.
• Consistently work to reduce the environmental impact of our manufacturing and distribution processes where practicable.
• Have become a carbon negative company through the purchase of carbon credits exceeding our usage.
• Implemented a waste minimization program involving recycling strategies and providing segregation of wastes needing disposal.
• Continually train company personnel to implement environmental management techniques effectively.
• Take education seriously and regularly educate customers and alliance partners to promote the principles of
sustainability wherever possible so that everyone can collectively make a positive difference in their health and the future of the environment.

As an Independent Representative for Miessence products I am also purchasing my own carbon offsets through a great company called Native Energy.

Ely Organics is a carbon neutral home based business.

We purchase carbon off sets through Native Energy for transportation and home energy use.

Find out more about Renewable Energy Credits and Carbon Off-sets here

Watch the TEDx Great Pacific Garbage Patch event LIVE right here on elyorganics.com/blog/ ~ just click the Livestream below on Sat Nov 6 from 8.30am to 6:30 PM PDT see Van Jones, Aimee Christensen, Dr. Wallace J Nichols, Beth Terry and many more eco-pioneers!

The evidence is mounting…

This is not new information to me.  In 2005, the ONEgroup wrote an article in their Organic and Natural Living Tabloid about this very topic.

Chemicals Make You Fat – The Medical Evidence – Eliminate Chemical Calories

What is the cause of obesity?  Why do current estimates suggest that women are gaining weight to the tune of 450g and men 225g each year despite the many diets they undertake?  Could it be true that the chemicals in our food, skin care and detergents make us fat?

The foundation for most diets today is based on the work of Dr’s Johnston and Newsborough of the University of Michigan who, during the 1930s, developed the theory that if a person consumes fewer calories than the body needs, the body will burn up its fat stores.

In her groundbreaking book, The Detox Diet – Eliminate Chemical Calories and Enhance Your Natural Slimming System, (out of print, first published in 2002) Dr. Paula Baillie-Hamilton tackles what she believes is the root cause of weight gain.  Our own natural weight-control system is being poisoned by the toxic chemicals that we encounter in our everyday lives – this damage makes it increasingly difficult for our bodies to control their own weight, so we end up getting fatter even if we eat less food.  This detox diet approach tells us how to avoid the most “fattening” chemicals, or “chemical calories” in our food and around our home.  It explains how we can shed our body’s load of chemical calories safely, and rebuild our natural slimming system.

Synthetic chemicals damage our health in two ways.  First, by acute “poisoning” through expposure to large quantities, which induce almost immediate and often violent reactions that account for a staggering 220,000 fatalities worldwide every year.  The second, more subtle way is by long-term exposure to much lower levels.  This is what Dr. Baillie-Hamilton explores in her book.

“The Detox Diet” links the current fat epidemic to the toxic synthetic chemicals used in agriculture, skin care, cosmetics and household products.  Toxic synthetic chemicals are highly fat soluble and when we are exposed to them the body creates fat to safely store those toxins it cannot process and eliminate safely.  Carbamates, a group of insecticides and herbicides used in the growing and of food, cosmetic and medicinal ingredients, are also used as growth promoters in battery-farm situations because they slow down the metabolic rate.  So, the same synthetic chemicals used on our fruit and vegetables are used to fatten livestock!  Carbamates are also used in medicine to promote weight gain in humans.

People are not overweight simply through their own lack of effort, such as exercise.  The truth is that the finger of blame must also be pointed at toxic chemicals.  It is known that toxic chemicals, even when present in very small amounts, directly damage muscles and disrupt the hormones that control their growth.  Catecolamines, a valuable group of slimming hormones, also seem to come under frequent attack by these chemicals, which interferes with the metabolic process and in hibits our body’s own natural slimming systems.  Dr. Baillie-Hamilton recommends the replacement of our food, skin care, cosmetics and household products that contain toxic synthetic chemicals with organic products, combined with effective detoxification.  In addition, her research suggests that the highest levels of “slimming nutrients” are found in organically grown produce.

watch video now: Chemicals That Make You Fat

Chemicals can turn genes on and off; new tests needed, scientists say.

A National Academies workshop examined the evidence of epigenetic effects and considered whether the thousands of chemicals in use today should be tested for them. Some pollutants and chemicals don’t kill cells or mutate DNA. Instead, they may be more subtle, muting genes or turning them on at the wrong time, which can lead to diseases that are passed on for generations. Asthma in New York City children exposed to traffic exhaust is an example, experts say.

By Bette Hileman
Environmental Health News
Aug. 3, 2009

Each of us starts life with a particular set of genes, 20,000 to 25,000 of them. Now scientists are amassing a growing body of evidence that pollutants and chemicals might be altering those genes—not by mutating them, but by sending subtle signals that silence them or switch them on at the wrong times.

Last week, several dozen researchers and experts convened by the National Academies tackled this complicated topic, called epigenetics, at a two-day workshop in Washington, D.C. They discussed new findings that suggest chemicals in our environment and in our food can alter genes, leaving people vulnerable to a variety of diseases and disorders, including diabetes, asthma, cancer and obesity. They also considered whether regulatory agencies and industry should start testing the thousands of chemicals in use today for these effects.

“There is little doubt these epigenetic effects are important. The next question is how we test for effects,” said William H. Farland, professor of environmental and radiological health sciences at Colorado State University. “We don’t need to abandon current approaches to chemical testing. When testing chemicals in animals, we may just need to add some new endpoints.”

Liinda S. Birnbaum, Director, NIEHS

Linda S. Birnbaum, Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Exposure to gene-altering substances, particularly in the womb and shortly after birth, “can lead to increased susceptibility to disease,” said Linda S. Birnbaum, who was named director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and of the National Toxicology Program in December. “The susceptibility persists long after the exposure is gone, even decades later. Glands, organs, and systems can be permanently altered.”

Animal studies indicate that some environmental chemicals cause epigenetic changes that trigger breast and prostate cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease and learning disabilities, she said. And some new human studies are now adding to the evidence.

“There is a huge potential impact from these exposures, partly because the changes may be inherited across generations. You may be affected by what your mother and grandmother were exposed to during pregnancy,” Birnbaum said. “There is a huge potential impact from these exposures, partly because the changes may be inherited across generations. You may be affected by what your mother and grandmother were exposed to during pregnancy.” Linda Birnbaum, Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

What a pregnant mother eats and the chemicals she is exposed to can affect her offspring without causing mutations in the DNA, the experts said. Instead, such exposures can disrupt the way that genes behave, according to both animal and human studies. These changes, in turn, can be passed on to the next generations.

Some environmental chemicals enable methyl groups (carbon atoms with three hydrogen atoms attached) to attack genes, which turns them off or mutes them, at a time when they should be turned on. When genes are turned off, they can’t direct the manufacture of proteins that are essential for proper cell function. Chemicals also can uncoil parts of the chromosome, causing genes to be expressed, or turned on, at inappropriate times.

An example is asthmatic children. Wan-Yee Tang, a researcher at the University of Cincinnati, found that children in New York City exposed in the womb to high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), common air pollutants from traffic, were much more likely to have asthma than those who were not exposed. By studying cord blood, she found that a particular gene (ACSL3) was methylated in the asthmatic children and unmethylated in the unexposed children, and concluded that the abnormal methylation patterns probably caused the asthma.

The finding could in part explain why worldwide asthma rates have skyrocketed in much of the world, reaching epidemic proportions among children. In the boroughs of New York City with the worst air pollution, about 25 percent of children are asthmatic.

Epigenetic changes also have been observed in children conceived with assisted reproductive technologies, said Richard Meehan of the Medical Research Council in Scotland.

One of the disorders that occurs at a higher rate in these children is Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, which is characterized by abdominal wall defects and a higher risk of certain childhood cancers. The culture medium where fertilized eggs are grown for several days before implantation probably causes the syndrome, he said. It appears that all the different media used for the eggs might be problematic because they contain chemicals that stimulate the addition of methyl groups to the cells.

The scientists at the workshop said it’s important to understand epigenetics not only to figure out which chemicals might endanger public health, but to find new ways to prevent or treat diseases.

Scientists are just now beginning to figure out normal methylation patterns in the genome so they can learn what is abnormal, said Karl T. Kelsey, professor of community heath and pathology at Brown University in Rhode Island. As a result of this new understanding, epigenetic therapies have been developed for some types of cancers, and some have been successful in clinical trials, he said. Unlike traditional cancer drugs, which kill cells, the new drugs simply change how the cells act.

Research with rats shows that gene-altering chemicals can change animals’ brains—in some cases, in a beneficial way.

Moshe Szyf, a pharmacology and therapeutics professor at McGill University Medical School in Montreal, found that rats that received healthy doses of maternal licking as pups grew up to be calmer than pups who had inattentive mothers. The maternal grooming brought about a chemical change in the part of the pup’s brain that produces stress hormones, he said.

The rats reared by attentive mothers had different levels of corticoid gene expression and lower levels of stress hormones than those reared by inattentive mothers. Szyf found he could cure the stressed rats by injecting a chemical called TSA into their brains, which reversed the inappropriate methylation caused by inattentive mothering.

This understanding of epigenetics may lead to new medications for treating human problems. By using approaches similar to those used in the rat study, Szyf is hoping to find drugs that will help alleviate human psychiatric conditions.

Szyf also studied the preserved brains of suicide victims and of people who died suddenly from causes other than suicide. He found that certain genes in the suicide victims were methylated, or turned off. In contrast, those same genes were not methylated in the victims who died by other means. Abnormal methylation patterns could cause depression in some people, he said.

Some compounds, such as nickel, chromium and arsenic, are well-known carcinogens—not because they are toxic to cells but because of their epigenetic effect, said Max Costa, a New York University professor of environmental medicine and pharmacology. They increase DNA methylation, which results in gene silencing and cell transformation and leads to cancer, he explained.

Researchers at the meeting spent a great deal of time discussing whether and how to test chemicals for their ability to cause epigenetic changes.

Most researchers there agreed that compounds need to be tested for epigenetic effects. But practical testing of the 80,000 or so chemicals in commerce would require rapid screens that would prioritize the compounds into high, medium, and low-risk groups. Those at high risk for epigenetic effects could then be subjected to more definitive and expensive tests.

John M. Greally, associate professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, pointed out that no single test is ideal for detecting epigenetic effects.

“All of the assays have drawbacks,” he said. For example, one assay requires immediate sample processing so it cannot be used on stored samples.

Nevertheless, many researchers said that testing chemicals for epigenetic changes can begin soon.

“The fact that we don’t know a great deal about this area doesn’t mean it’s daunting,” said George Daston, research fellow at Procter & Gamble. “We just need to build on what we have. Microassays already show how chemical exposures change the gene expression in certain parts of the genome. The fact that we don’t know a lot doesn’t mean we can’t start testing quickly.”

Birnbaum, who formerly was head of experimental toxicology at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said regulators and industry don’t have to start from square one.

“We’re already marching down this road,” said Birnbaum. “The National Toxicology Program is already talking about including some epigenetic studies in the program.”

The most important public health issue that arises from epigenetics, Birnbaum told Environmental Health News, is that the current environment may not be the crucial factor to consider when examining what causes diseases.

“Asking heart attack victims what they ate this year or last may be far less important than what they were exposed to in the womb and shortly after birth,” she said.

“Ten Americans”: We all know pollution and toxins are bad for you. But the Environmental Working Group has conducted perhaps the deepest analysis of this issue on the most vulnerable demographic on the planet. Some shocking information in one of the most entertaining presentations of the conference. Ken Cook speaking on the Health. Plenary at Tides’ Momentum 2008.

CBC documentary, The Disappearing Male

“It sounds like a B movie, millions of males vanish, the fact is, there aren’t as many now adays.  Not human males, not frogs, not fish. Chemicals are moving us to the most rapid evolution this species has ever experienced.   From toys to shampoo, we’re awash in strange new compounds.  We’re only just learning that males are being hit hardest.

There are many warning signs, a growing body of evidence shows that something is wrong with the sexual health of human males. Sperm counts world wide have been cut in half over the past 50 years.  Sperm abnormalities and male rates of infertility have radically increased.  Rates of testicular cancer have doubled in the last 20 years.  The question is: why?

Scientists now believe that certain man made chemicals are now to blame.  They interfere with the male hormonal system and are playing havoc with the basic building blocks of male sexual development.  The problem is, these chemicals are everywhere.”

This Doc Zone asks: Where have all the boys gone.  Watch the 45 minute documentary that discusses the growing scientific evidence that something is wrong with the sexual health of human males.

Watch now:

The Disappearing Male, CBC documentary

Amy Goodman interviews investigative journalist Mark Schapiro, author of Exposed, The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What’s at Stake for American Power

From Democracy Now with Amy Goodman

Is your lipstick laden with lead? Is your baby’s bottle toxic? The American Chemistry Council assures us that “we make the products that help keep you safe and healthy.” But U.S. consumers are actually exposed to a vast array of harmful chemicals and additives embedded in toys, cosmetics, plastic water bottles and countless other products. U.S. chemical and manufacturing industries have fought regulation, while Europe moves ahead with strict prohibitions against the most harmful toxins. The European Union says regulation is good for business, inspiring consumer confidence and saving money over the long term.

Most people would be surprised to learn that the cosmetics industry in the United States is largely unregulated. Investigative journalist Mark Schapiro is the author of “Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What’s at Stake for American Power.” In the absence of oversight, researchers and journalists like Schapiro and grass-roots organizations have stepped into the breach.

Schapiro told me, “Whether it is your nail polish, eye shadow, shampoo, essentially personal-care products [are] not regulated by the [Food and Drug Administration]. … Numerous times in the Senate, over the last 50 years, there have been efforts to expand the purview of the FDA, and it’s been repeatedly beaten back by the cosmetics industry.” Details on the toxins are hard to come by. Schapiro continued, “The reason I even know what kind of material is in cosmetics is not because the FDA has told us; it’s actually because the European Union has taken the action to remove that stuff, and they have a list.”

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics lists numerous toxins that appear regularly in cosmetics and personal-care products, among them lead and phthalates. Phthalates are linked to birth defects, including disruption of genital development in boys, decreased sperm counts and infertility. Lead appears in lipstick and hundreds of other products. The CSC reports that “lead … is a proven neurotoxin—linked to learning, language and behavioral problems … miscarriage, reduced fertility in both men and women, hormonal changes, menstrual irregularities and delays in puberty onset in girls.” This is the stuff women and girls are putting on their lips all day, licking it off and reapplying.

The European Union, with 27 member nations representing almost half a billion people, is asserting itself on issues of toxins, using serious economic muscle. Stavros Dimas, European Union commissioner for environment, explained the long-term benefits of regulation: “The medical expenses for chemical-related diseases will be less. Medicines will not be needed. We will not lose working hours, and productivity will be better. So the overall benefits will by far outweigh costs to the industry.”

Interestingly, because European countries pay a far larger share of their citizens’ health-care costs than does the U.S., they want to keep costs down and they expect to save upward of $50 billion in coming decades, says Schapiro, as a result of the improved health and environmental conditions brought about by stricter chemical regulations.

In the wake of the 2007 China toy recall in the U.S. (because of lead found in the toys), Congress passed, and President George W. Bush signed, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. A key provision, mandating a ban of phthalate- and lead-containing products intended for children 12 years of age and younger, went into effect Feb. 10. If you bought a plastic toy before that date, beware: After the law passed last summer, some stores stuffed their shelves with tainted toys and sold them at fire-sale prices to unload their inventory.

Safe alternatives for toys, cosmetics, shampoos and other products are becoming increasingly available as demand for organic products grows. The difference between market forces limiting toxins and a law doing it, Schapiro says, is “if you have a law, it makes it far more equitable, because everybody gets the same protections, whether you have the resources or the knowledge to pursue the alternatives.”

That is where the EU comes in, with its expansive and world-leading regulatory system in place (called “REACH,” for Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of CHemical substances). Schapiro notes, “The European-led revolution in chemical regulation requires that thousands of chemicals finally be assessed for their potentially toxic effects on human beings and signals the end of American industry’s ability to withhold critical data from the public.”

Tough regulations on toxins are not only essential to saving lives; they also make good business sense. The U.S. now has an opportunity to catch up to our European partners—and make changes that are more than just cosmetic.

Click here to listen to podcast with Amy Goodman and Mark Shcapiro

Biodegradeable Dishwashing Concentrate

The myth that’s out there is that we need toxic substances to have our quality of life. Green Chemistry is dispelling that myth everyday and the more awareness we have of the power and potential of green chemistry the greater the rate of adoption and implementation is going to be toward a sustainable civilization.”

Paul Anastas, the father of Green Chemistry

Green Chemistry sounds like a contradiction in terms. The chemicals we find in our food, consumer products, pharmaceuticals and so much else are complex synthetic compounds far removed from their sources in the natural world. And for all their effectiveness and convenience they’re also often toxic to nature and some to the human body. Not just the ones in the products we use but those that are used and discarded in the manufacturing process which often linger long afterward in the environment.

But imagine a world where our man made chemistry is benign and as elegant as nature’s own patterns because it’s modeled on natural processes.

The chemicals we manufacture for modern needs are complex synthetic compounds. Most are untested and some are toxic to nature and the human body. But the new science of green chemistry offers the possibility of products that are “benign by design,” modeled on natural processes. Join us as we explore how by following the lead of nature we may be able to transform petro-chemistry into biochemistry. To learn more, listen to the audio presentations about Green Chemistry availalbe from A World of Possibilities, links below.

Green Chemistry Better Living Through Nature

Guests:
Janine Benyus, President of the Board, Biomimicry Institute
Dr. Paul Anastas, Director for the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering; Professor in the Practice of Green Chemistry, Yale University
Beverley Thorpe, Director, Clean Production Action (International)
Dr. John Warner, President and Chief Technology Officer, Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry

(Click on a guest’s name to listen to their full unedited interview.)

In 2007, I attended the annual Bioneers conference with Narelle and Colin Chenery, directors for ONEgroup. Paul Anastas was a plenary speaker at the conference that year.

While all the products that ONEgroup manufactures already fit in the category of Green Chemistry, Colin and Narelle were particularly inspired after hearing Paul’s presentation at the conference. They returned home to Australia that fall with the intention of creating a new cleaning product specifically formulated using the 12 principles of Green Chemistry.

Thus the creation of Biodegradeable Dishwashing Concentrate by ONEgroup.

Click Here to PURCHASE Biodegradeable Dishwashing Concentrate

More on Paul Anastas and the theory of Green Chemistry.