"The first is a chemical engineer who works directly in the synthesis of compounds added to plastics to give them desired properties such as flexibility and hardness. By some analyses, this person has taken on voluntary risks related to the workplace; furthermore, this person is protected by federal and state regulations governing chemical exposure and worker safety.
The second is a vegan environmentalist who works in a natural foods store and enjoys hiking in national parks. This person makes lifestyle choices to avoid exposure to synthetic chemicals and reasonably assumes that federal laws regulating the introduction of new chemicals ensure safety under normal conditions.
Yet when their blood is tested, they have similar levels- measured at parts per billion- of compounds known to cause harm as much higher doses. How should they interpret this finding?"
Source: Arthur Daemmrich, "Forum: Risk Frameworks and Biomonitoring: Distributed Regulation of Synthetic Chemicals in Humans," in Environmental History
Continue to treat your bodies well, but switch your rhetoric that asks not where your chickens are being raised, but instead about the nation that is raising them, the industries that create your iphones, cars, wars, and builds your homes. Think bigger.
