The Brockovich Report

It's nearly summer time, and the living is easy. Maybe not that easy, considering the mudslides and wildfires--but summer is still on its way. In honor of the season, I am going to digress for a moment from fighting the bigger battles, and mention something which was brought up to me in an email. A reader sent me news that her child had developed diarrhea and otitis media as a result of swimming in a Calabasas pool. Now, bear in mind that public pools are always a great place to exchange germs and bacteria. I don't know how many pool related ear-aches and cases of pink-eye we all had growing up, but it was a lot.

Dirty pools are a haven for waterborne pathogens, bacteria, parasites, protozoa and viruses. A chlorine resistant parasite called Cryptosporidium is a particular problem along with Amoebic meningoencephalitis, Giardia, E. coli O157:H7 (E. coli), and Shigella. This is by no means a comprehensive list of the communicable nasties that can live in pools.

The problem is not just that the pool may be inadequately filtered and/or chlorinated. It is also that each individual who goes into the water brings his or her own collection of bacteria. This is not a new development. Neither is it new that 20 billion disposable diapers are sent to landfills annually. That the two issues converge in a relatively new development: swimmer diapers, is.

It bears thinking about that disposable diapers are not exactly sanitary in aquatic conditions and these new swimmer's diapers are already developing a reputation as a public health issue. Even if they do manage to contain the visible fecal matter (and there's no guarantee that they'll do that) there's no way they can contain all the bacteria that's in the feces, and all of the urine that the diapers contain. The Center for Disease Control publishes warnings about this; and if your public pool hasn't gotten around to banning these diapers, it is only a matter of time before they will.

So, if you're going to be a responsible parent, don't ask for trouble by putting your baby in the public pool. Don't expose other people to your baby's excreta. (Why would you would want to expose a baby to the virulent waterborne pathogens in a public pool anyway?) If you're going to be a responsible adult, do a visible inspection before you get in the water, and determine if the pool at least looks clean. Inspect on your own behalf and for your child. If you're the one responsible for maintaining the pool, remember you're holding public health in your hand.

Acrylamide

Another chemical has been pointed out by the media. Acrylamide is not exactly the phrase on everyone's lips, but it is nothing new; it's something the EPA set water regulations for in 1974.

FYI, it's an organic white, odorless, flake-like crystal used as a coagulant in water treatment, in making chemicals and dyes, sizing paper and textiles and in ore processing. For the short term, exposure causes damage to the nervous system, weakness and lack of leg coordination; long term, it causes damage to the nervous system, paralysis; cancer.

It's something to learn about.

As far as I know, it's not something adds like a spice or even as a preservative. But if you fry food at high temperatures, it is created in the process.

It's time to eating it and stop feeding it to your kids.

Wake up America. Another reason not to eat fried foods.

I'm not surprised that the chemical acrylamide found in fries, cakes and snacks. I don't think this would be something to sue about, but it is something to know about and to avoid.

I've had my experience with foods that hurt. For the past two years my health has not been good. I attributed it to my exposures to chemicals and my severe allergy to sulfur, After finding no help through modern medicine except more antibiotics, steroids to reduce inflammation, nose sprays, eye drops and more antibiotics, I finally sought help.

It had to be something I was exposed to everyday that was causing all my fatigue, sinus problems, watery eyes, depression.

The culprit seems to have been foods allergies. I got off sugar, processed foods, frozen foods, and yes, by coincidence, french fries. This really started making me aware of what chemicals are in our food. I can absolutely say after several months of watching what I eat, that food can make you sick. Bad food choices can be poison to our bodies.

Fortunately good food choices can make us feel better.

So now, if God didn't make it, I don't eat it, and my health is fantastic. I have energy, no bags under my eyes, no headaches, no sinus problems, I take NO medicine, my vision is no longer blurred.

I'm not trying to set myself up as the poster child for organic eating. I've cheated--I recently had a chocolate chip cookie--even if it didn't stay down very long. It's just that fast food french fries show high levels of acrylamide--from 39 to 72 micrograms. Since it forms in fries during high-temperature frying, realistically, it just means that we can eat our potatoes cooked another way. Besides, who needs all those starchy carbs anyway?

So let's say no to acrylamide. We don't need fries--and other processed fried or baked goods containing acrylamide-- to survive. They aren't so evil they need to be illegal. But we will probably live a little longer and feel a little better without them.