Debra Lynn Dadd, talks with Craig Pepin-Donat, about Toxins All Around Us. The World Cancer Report states that cancer rates could increase by 50 %, to 15 million new cases, by the year 2020. Cancer rates are higher amongst industrial nations, with the United States amongst the top five, according to the World Health Organization.

In spite of advances in science and technology, toxic exposure from the environment, chemicals in our food, water supply, personal hygiene products, and household cleaning products contribute to our nation's ill health.

Dadd speaks with Craig Pepin-Donat about the startling health risks created by toxic chemicals in everyday cleaning products.

Toxins in Our Homes

Craig Pepin Donat: With toxins all around us, making us sick, what products should we avoid? What should we be concerned with that could damage our health?"

Debra Lynn Dadd: Virtually any product that is in your home may have toxic chemicals in it, because there are toxic chemicals in every type of product. If you are not currently attempting to buy non-toxic products, then you probably have hundreds of toxic chemicals in your home. You might find particleboard furniture that emits formaldehyde, and chemicals in synthetic wall-to-wall carpet, a wood stove, and a fireplace. In the kitchen, aluminum cookware, canned food, and cleaning products may contain toxic chemicals. Dangerous pesticides may reside in chocolate and coffee. Now, as I point to this list, I don't want you to think that you can never drink coffee or you can never eat chocolate. You can. You just need to buy organic products. It is not necessary to be 100% nontoxic at all times. You need to avoid enough chemicals so that your body can naturally regenerate itself and naturally heal itself, so that your immune system can work properly.

When you're in a nontoxic environment, your body de-toxes. If you go into a toxic environment, you put toxic chemicals back into your body. One of the benefits of having a non-toxic home is that all the hours that you're in your house, your body is de-toxing. Then, if you go out in the world and you're exposed to something, your body's much stronger.

Toxins in our Body

Pepin-Donat: How do these chemicals get into our bodies in the first place?

Dadd: There are four ways chemicals come into your body. You can ingest them; they can get absorbed through your skin; you can inhale them, because they're floating around in the air, and, they can get splashed into your eyes. Those are the only four roots of exposure, but there are many ways that your body tries to get rid of them. A lot of symptoms that we think of as just being common symptoms, that we might take an over-the-counter drug for, are actually symptoms of your body trying to get rid of something toxic.

Those symptoms would include: sweating, vomiting, diarrhea, excessive urination, mucus membrane secretions. How many times do we suppress those symptoms when our body's trying to cleanse itself? If you can't get toxins out of your body, your body starts collecting them in your fat tissue, in your bones, in your cell membranes, and in various other organs. You can end up with all kinds of illnesses, including cancer and heart disease.

"Your endocrine system also gets affected by toxic chemicals and that affects every area of your body. It affects fertility, reproduction, sex drive; you could be depressed. The thyroid gland is extremely sensitive to toxic chemicals, therefore, there are many people that end up having hypothyroidism just because they are exposed to toxic chemicals. It affects your ability to lose weight or gain weight or maintain a regular weight.

Our bodies have a tremendous ability to heal and regenerate themselves. When we're sick, we think that illness is something wrong with our body. What illness means is that something is right with our body; it's our body trying to correct the problems. We just need to let the symptoms do their job, and you'll come out well in the end. Don't try to suppress them.

Living "Green"

Pepin-Donat: I think people are afraid of "going green," in their homes. First, you have to research all these products, and then find alternatives. They are afraid it may be difficult, or costly. But that's not true, is it, Debra?

Dadd: If we focus on cleaning products for a second, we can see that cleaning products are of the most toxic you'll find in your home, however, they are one of the easiest to change.

Everybody can wash their windows with vinegar and water. You can get rid of ammonia. If you look on cleaning products, a lot of them have warning labels that say "Caution" or "Danger." Find the ones that have the skull and crossbones on it, and those are the ones you cannot use anymore. Most people are sleeping on sheets and bed linens that are saturated with formaldehyde. Formaldehyde causes insomnia. You have people all over the country buying millions of dollars worth of sleeping pills; what they need is to change their sheets.

You could get rid of a lot of toxic chemicals, our world would be perfectly fine, and we'd still be able to do everything we're doing. It's just a process of learning a different way."

Copyright (c) 2008 Craig Pepin Donat