Much like with the autism epidemic, I'm just really baffled why this has become such a huge problem in the last 10-15 years... when I was in high school, I think I knew one kid who had a epipen, and that was for bee stings. Now, it seems like every other kid under the age of fourteen has one, and it's for peanuts or some other out of control food allergy. It's just weird...
Yeah, the whole 'my preciousssss can't even scrape a knee' syndrome has to be playing a part. And if it weren't for the superbugs being incubated because of everyone else popping penicillin like candy and dousing themselves in Purell, I'd just say f'em, let them raise their little bundles of neuroses however they want, and reap what they sow. ;)
The stuff that irks me the most are the toys and stuff coated in Microban... that's just gotta do wonders for the babies who're sucking on it. As if the plastic wasn't potentially toxic enough, let's coat it antibiotics too, for that wonderful one-two punch!
I swear to god, if I had kids they'd only have wooden and metal toys to play with. And maybe a Big Bag O' Glass™ from Mainway Toys. ;)
There is quite a bit of talk in the scientific community about how our immune systems are "bored" because we live in a hyper-sanitized environment compared to the wilds our bodies are built for.
I actually think it's the crazy amount of chemicals that our bodies are bombarded with every day - it's bound to eventually take its toll, and I think we're seeing it with the rise not only of allergies but also all the immune system disorders, mental health crises, and cancers. I mean, I've read that every body has a certain traceable amount of TEFLON in their bodies, thanks not only to cookware but also the amount in the water supply, not to mention all the other crap.
Not to sound like a tin-foil-hat type, but seriously - we've done crazy stuff to our earth/bodies/daily lives and it's bound to have an impact on relatively fragile systems such as the human body.
Okay, hippie rant over, I'll go back to my dunkin donuts iced coffee, in plastic cup, and be quiet.. :)
Yeah, but the thing is, is the ecological & individual physiological damage so much worse now than it was when we were kids? I mean, I was born in an age when my mom smoked and drank her way thru her pregnancy, my grandmother worked at an asbestos manufacturer, pesticides caused silent springs, acid rain destroyed lakes and forests, there were plenty of plastic goods and other synthetics like teflon in use, we ate plenty of junk food produced in factories 'that has machinery that processes nuts and nut products', and yet there weren't these widespread über-allergies and stuff...
I just find it odd that besides bottled water in plastic bottles, and a ton more electronics in the home giving off EM, there's not a huge lifestyle difference between then and know. Actually, all the residual pharmacologicals in the waste water leeching into the ground water is relatively new. But 'mommy's little helpers' have existed since the '40s... so is it just the grander scale on which everyone and their mother are taking fistfulls of pills? I dunno.
Bah. We're all doomed. I have a gaia rant brewing in me, but I just don't have the energy right now.
yes, but who knows at what point the damage began, versus when it began to be expressed in these symptoms? It might be damage that takes more than one generation to show up, damage that is cumulative, so that when genes (or other "stuff") get enough pollution/damage/exposure, they snap and then we see the problems.
And let's not forget genetically modified food, which I am pretty sure is a fairly recent addition, and is untraceable thanks to our government's policies...
For me, I see it as an "overall" pollution of the last 100 or so years, that is finally being expressed in the increase of dozens, even hundreds, of diagnoses and symptoms - perhaps made possible by the simultaneous sanitization of every surface, and other cultural changes - who knows? But for me, you just cannot look at the chemically enhanced, removed from nature, genetically modified lifestyle that most of us live and not expect some sort of impact. I mean, isn't that what evolution tells us? (and there are some who suggest that autism, and especially aspergers, are possibly useful evolutionary adaptations to our brave new world)
Of course, I have NO data or even links to back any of this up - more just throwing out my general sense from reading and listening and opining over the years...
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 03:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 04:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 06:13 pm (UTC)I swear to god, if I had kids they'd only have wooden and metal toys to play with. And maybe a Big Bag O' Glass™ from Mainway Toys. ;)
no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 03:50 pm (UTC)Not to sound like a tin-foil-hat type, but seriously - we've done crazy stuff to our earth/bodies/daily lives and it's bound to have an impact on relatively fragile systems such as the human body.
Okay, hippie rant over, I'll go back to my dunkin donuts iced coffee, in plastic cup, and be quiet.. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 04:08 pm (UTC)I just find it odd that besides bottled water in plastic bottles, and a ton more electronics in the home giving off EM, there's not a huge lifestyle difference between then and know. Actually, all the residual pharmacologicals in the waste water leeching into the ground water is relatively new. But 'mommy's little helpers' have existed since the '40s... so is it just the grander scale on which everyone and their mother are taking fistfulls of pills? I dunno.
Bah. We're all doomed. I have a gaia rant brewing in me, but I just don't have the energy right now.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 04:25 pm (UTC)And I can't imagine he'd make very good beer.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 04:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 05:23 pm (UTC)And let's not forget genetically modified food, which I am pretty sure is a fairly recent addition, and is untraceable thanks to our government's policies...
For me, I see it as an "overall" pollution of the last 100 or so years, that is finally being expressed in the increase of dozens, even hundreds, of diagnoses and symptoms - perhaps made possible by the simultaneous sanitization of every surface, and other cultural changes - who knows? But for me, you just cannot look at the chemically enhanced, removed from nature, genetically modified lifestyle that most of us live and not expect some sort of impact. I mean, isn't that what evolution tells us? (and there are some who suggest that autism, and especially aspergers, are possibly useful evolutionary adaptations to our brave new world)
Of course, I have NO data or even links to back any of this up - more just throwing out my general sense from reading and listening and opining over the years...
now to go find my tin foil hat!
no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 03:12 pm (UTC)http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=2107158&page=1