We try to avoid as many environmental pollutants as possible. To completely avoid them is nearly impossible but we control what we can control and then do our best to support our bodies to detoxify the rest as best as possible. One of the biggest environmental pollutants to try and avoid is pesticides.
Pesticides are found on the foods we eat, in the water most people drink, and are even used around most people's homes. This is why personally we try to buy organic produce and recommend our clients do the same, use a filter for all of our water, and don't spray toxic chemicals around our home. It is very hard to see people in your community spraying things like Round Up all over their yards when you know how damaging these chemicals are to human health. Just to have weed free or greener grass at the expense of your health doesn't make and sense, especially when there are organic ways to garden to get the same results. These people aren't bad people, I am not saying that, they are just unaware. That is why I thought it would be good to share some information today.
Nicole Spear, MS, CNS wrote an article which highlighted many of the problems associated with pesticides. I have shared what I thought to be the major take away from the article but check it out in full to learn more.
"A review in the journal, Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, indicated:
“There is a huge body of evidence on the relation between exposure to pesticides and elevated rate of chronic diseases such as different types of cancers, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson, Alzheimer, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), birth defects, and reproductive disorders. There is also circumstantial evidence on the association of exposure to pesticides with some other chronic diseases like respiratory problems, particularly asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease such as atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease, chronic nephropathies, autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematous and rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and aging.”
This same review cited the primary mechanisms of action behind pesticide exposure and chronic disease include genetic damages, epigenetic modifications, endocrine disruption, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress and unfolded protein response (UPR), impairment of ubiquitin proteasome system, and defective autophagy."