Chemicals in shampoo and toys may interfere with the mental development of young girls, according to researchers

Scientists from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health have suggested that chemicals in shampoos and toys may seriously damage the mental development of young girls. In their study, which will be published in the September edition of Environment International, the researchers identified phthalates as the endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Young girls who had phthalates in their blood had lower levels of the active thyroid hormone free thyroxine (free T4), a hormone that plays a key roles in growth, metabolism, and other body functions.

Led by Pam Factor-Litvak, Professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Medical Center, the researchers collected and measured two thyroid hormones from 229 children, aged three, and 229 pregnant women. All subjects were enrolled in the Mothers and Newborns Study at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health. The thyroid hormones were assessed against five phthalates; the metabolites of monoethyl phthalate (MEP), monobenzyl phthalate (MpzP), mono isobutyl phthalate (MiBP), and mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP) were all associated with lower levels of free T4 in the girls. Conversely, prenatal exposure to a metabolite of Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) was linked to elevated free T4 levels. The researchers believe that this finding suggests age of exposure has a role in determining how phthalates will affect thyroid function.

“The thyroid acts as the master controller of brain development. Thyroid hormones set the schedule, and if the timing is out of synch, there may be later consequences in the brain,” Factor-Litvak explained. “The thyroid disruptions we see in this study, although they fall within the normal range, could explain some of the cognitive problems we see in children exposed to phthalates and we are currently investigating that. As we know from lead, even small exposures can make a big difference.” (Related: Phthalates in plastic products decrease testosterone levels in men, women and children)

On preventing exposure to phthalates, Factor-Litvak stated: “Parents with young children should avoid using products containing phthalates such as shampoos, nail polish, and vinyl flooring.”

What are phthalates?

Phthalates are widely-used chemical plasticizers that prevent plastics from breaking by making them pliable. They’ve been in use since the 1950s and have been applied in all kinds of products. These can include electronics, toys, adhesives, flooring, and car-care products. In personal care products, phthalates are used to lubricate other substances, make fragrances last longer, and help lotions penetrate the skin. Phthalates are not chemically-bound to the plastics, however, so they leach into the environment over time. The most common phthalates are:

• BBzP (benzyl butyl phthalate)
• Bisphenol A (BPA)
• DBP (dibutyl phthalate)
• DEHP (di 2-ethylhexl phthalate)
• DEP (diethyl phthalate)
• DMP (dimethyl phthalate)
• DNOP (di-n-octyl phthalate)
• DiDP (diisodecyl phthalate)
• DiNP (diisononyl phthalate)
• DnHP (di-n-hexyl phthalate)
• DnOP (di-n-octylphthalate)

Children are the most vulnerable to phthalates exposure because of their “hand-to-mouth behaviors, floor play, and developing nervous and reproductive systems,” said Sheela Sathyanarayana, acting assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington. Ingestion is one of the ways phthalates can enter a child’s body, given that babies routinely put things in their mouths and suck on them. Inhalation and absorption are the other ways, with absorption usually occurring when cosmetic or personal care products are applied to the skin and eventually absorbed into the bloodstream.

To avoid absorbing phthalates, Sathyanarayana has recommended using only medically-indicated baby care products, especially if the child is eight months or younger. Manufacturers are not required to list phthalates separately from the other ingredients of a product, so they may have simply included the phthalates under the term “fragrance”.

Visit Chemistry.news for more stories just like this one.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

Mailman.Columbia.edu

BabyCenter.com

ScienceDirect.com

How the mainstream media openly promotes CHEMICAL VIOLENCE against children (video)

We’ve just published a new mini-documentary video that tells the horrifying truth about how the mainstream media openly promotes chemical violence against children.

The New York Times, the LA Times, the Washington Post, CNN and all the other mainstream media outlets are controlled by Big Pharma and the CDC. Their medical “narrative” is shaped to promote the “medical rape” of children with extremely toxic substances that provably cause brain damage via neurotoxicity, yet none of them dare report on the mass death and injury to children, even when the casualty statistics are published by the government itself.

We have begun publishing profiles of some of the so-called “journalists” who are complicit in this medical violence against children at VaccineHolocaust.org. These are many of the same left-wing journalists who have also pushed a narrative of hatred, intolerance and insanity that recently led to the attempted mass shooting of Republican lawmakers in Alexandria, Virginia.

The mainstream media is not only anti-America, anti-liberty and anti-truth — they’re nothing but fake news at this point — they are also openly pushing the medical exploitation and chemical abuse of children all across America in order to appease their pharma advertisers.

Estimated 1400+ U.S. children killed by vaccines in 2016 alone

In 2016 alone, 144 U.S. children were killed by vaccines according to VAERS data reported by the government itself. This number is widely known to represent no more than 1/10th the real number of vaccine injuries and deaths, making the real number of deaths almost certainly in the 1,400+ range.

When you consider the lack of reporting to VAERS, plus the number of children who are harmed, maimed or disabled by vaccines, it comes to the astonishing level of 100,000 U.S. children being harmed, maimed or killed each year by vaccines alone. Yet the media is SILENT.

This is a true medical holocaust. It is being covered up by the mainstream media, which remains complicit in this global crime against children that continues unabated and unacknowledged. The same media that goes berserk over a photo of one dead child on a beach in Europe says absolutely nothing about 1,400+ medical murder victims in the USA every single year. Ponder that for a moment, and ask yourself why they are covering up this medical holocaust.

Watch the mini-documentary video here, and share with with everyone. Visit WorldMercuryProject.org to learn about efforts to eliminate mercury from all medicine in order to protect the lives of children.

BOMBSHELL: Anti-Zika pesticides found to cause neurological damage

While we’ve all been distracted by other issues, the mass Zika hysteria of last summer has quietly been replaced by deafening silence. For months, the mainstream media inundated the American public with terror-inducing articles about how Zika was going to give their unborn children microcephaly, a condition in which the brain does not develop properly, resulting in an unusually small head, poor motor function, severe brain damage, seizures and other horrific conditions. Many pregnant mothers lived in fear, while others decided to delay falling pregnant or even chose to have abortions. The whole world was on high alert, convinced that in 2015, Zika had caused over 2,000 babies to be born with microcephaly in Brazil. Even Congress got on board, allocating $1.1 billion in taxpayer dollars to programs aimed at controlling this “terrible” virus.

One of these programs involved the aerial spraying of the pesticide naled over large parts of Miami-Dade County and other parts of Florida. Even before the Zika “outbreak” the state had been spraying naled routinely for years to control mosquitoes. This, despite the fact that naled is officially banned in Europe, and several other countries, including Puerto Rico, refused to use it in the fight against Zika. Hundreds of residents protested against the spraying, but to no avail.

And they were right to be concerned. A recent study by the University of Michigan, published in the journal Environment International, has determined that the use of naled is directly linked to motor function deficits in children.

For their study, researchers took cord blood samples from 237 healthy babies in southeast China between 2008 and 2011, and tested these for the presence of 30 different organophosphate insecticides, including naled. The babies had been exposed to varying amounts of pesticides while in the womb. The researchers then tracked the development of these children over a nine-month period. The study focused on China, since it is the world’s largest user of pesticides, and uses naled extensively.

The researchers discovered that five of these pesticides – one of which was naled – were present in at least 10 percent of the samples.

The babies’ gross, fine and total motor abilities were tested using the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales at both 6 weeks and 9 months. While all the babies were fine at 6 weeks, by 9 months, those with the highest prenatal exposure to naled were beginning to exhibit motor skills issues.

Though for the most part the issues were small, the study’s authors warn that these children had been exposed to relatively low levels of naled.

“Just because changes are small, that doesn’t mean they should be discounted,” said Monica Silver, lead author of the study. “We really need to know more about it.”

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) insists that aerial spraying of naled is not dangerous, because the droplets are very fine, stay airborne for extended periods, and break down quickly once exposed to sunlight and water.

However, Cornell University warns:

“Naled is moderately to highly toxic by ingestion, inhalation and dermal adsorption. … As with all organophosphates, naled is readily absorbed through the skin. Skin which has come in contact with this material should be washed immediately with soap and water and all contaminated clothing should be removed. … High environmental temperatures [like in Florida] or exposure of naled to visible or UV light may enhance its toxicity. [Emphasis added]

Health officials in Brazil have now admitted that the Zika virus is not the likely cause of the microcephaly cases in that country. Worldwide, Zika has once again been acknowledged as the essentially benign virus it always has been. Nonetheless, Miami-Dade County officials have indicated that they will be spraying naled again this year if the virus starts to resurface.

Sources for this article include:

Fox17Online.com

MiamiHerald.com

NaturalNews.com

PMEP.CCE.Cornell.edu

EPIDEMIC: 38 States have reported toxic lead levels in children

A large number of children with elevated blood lead levels (EBLL) might have been left undiagnosed in the U.S., according to a study published in Pediatrics, the flagship journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). As part of the study, the researchers pooled data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The CDC data revealed that 38 states and Washington D.C. had childhood lead exposure of 10 micrograms per deciliter or higher.

According to statistics, approximately 1.2 million cases of elevated blood lead levels may have occurred during the study period. However, only 606,709 or about 50 percent were reported to the CDC. The other half consisted of missed cases and states failing to report in the previous years, the CDC stated. The report also found that the reporting rate for elevated blood lead levels in children was only 64 percent. In addition, the report showed that pediatric care providers in 23 of 39 reporting states were able to identify less than half of children with high lead exposure.

The estimated prevalence of elevated blood lead levels in children was 99.5 percent in the Northeast region, and 94.3 percent in the Midwest. In contrast, the CDC estimated that 25.3 percent of children in the South and more than 21 percent in the West had elevated blood lead levels. In line with this, the AAP has recommended that pediatric care providers assess children for elevated blood lead levels based on federal, state, and local guidelines.

“While we find no evidence of under-ascertainment in a number of states, the majority appear to successfully identify fewer than half of their children with EBLL…clinicians are frequently unaware of the guidelines, and — if they are aware — then lack of enforcement undermines any effect they may have on clinician behavior,” the researchers wrote in AAPPublications.org.

High blood lead levels adversely impact pediatric health

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), lead exposure commonly stems from various lead-based products such as gasoline, batteries, cosmetics, and the like. Lead exposure is associated with a plethora of adverse health effects, especially in children.The EPA notes that heavy exposure to lead may trigger conditions such as behavioral problems, anemia, and lower IQ in children.

A 2014 study demonstrated that lead exposure may cause behavioral issues in the said population. As part of the study, researchers examined 1,341 Chinese children aged three to five years old. The study revealed that each increase in blood lead exposure was linked to a simultaneous increase in teacher-reported behavior scores on emotional reactivity, anxiety problems, and pervasive developmental problems. This effect was more pronounced in girls, the research team found. “This association showed different patterns depending on age and sex. As such, continued monitoring of blood lead concentrations, as well as clinical assessments of mental behavior during regular pediatric visits, may be warranted,” the researchers wrote in JAMANetwork.com. The findings were published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Another study revealed that lead exposure was tied to lower IQ in children. To carry out the study, researchers examined 172 children and found that participants whose blood lead levels increased from one to 10 micrograms per deciliter suffered an IQ loss of 7.4 points. The study also showed that children whose blood lead levels increased from 10 to 30 micrograms per deciliter experienced an IQ loss of about two to three points. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In addition, a Taiwanese study showed that environmental exposure to lead may negatively impact a child’s academic performance. As part of the study, the research team examined 934 children from 32 primary schools in 11 districts of Kaohsiung City in Taiwan. The researchers found that children with high blood lead levels fared worse in language capacity and mathematical ability. The findings were published in the journal Environmental Research.

Discover more articles on toxic heavy metals at HeavyMetals.news.

Sources include: 

AAPPublications.org

CDC.gov

EPA.gov

JAMANetwork.com

ABCNews.go.com

NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov

Hyperactivity in children linked to pregnant mothers who talked on a mobile phone more than four times a day

Children born to mothers who frequently used their phones were more likely to be hyperactive, according to a recent study. As part of the study, a team of international researchers examined 83,884 mother-children pairs from Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, and Korea between 1996 to 2011. According to the research team, children aged five to seven had a 28 percent increased risk of being hyperactive if their mothers used their mobile phones four times a day while being pregnant.

The study revealed children born to mothers who used their mobile phones for an hour daily during pregnancy had higher odds of developing hyperactive behaviors. The research team also found that children born to mothers who never used their mobile phones during pregnancy had lower odds of exhibiting behavioral hyperactivity/inattention or emotional problems. Researchers speculate that radio waves emitted by mobile phones may have something to do with the increased risk of developing hyperactivity in children. However, an expert also cautioned to take these results with a grain of salt.

Pediatrician Dr. Robin Hansen of the University of California inferred that children who feel that they were being ignored by their parents might be resorting to hyperactivity to get the attention that they wanted. “Is it something about the cellphone itself? Is it something that impacts your parenting behaviour? It’s not until you cry or you throw something or make a lot of noise, that your parents shift their attention from the cellphone to you. It reinforces hyperactive, attention-getting behaviour,” Dr. Hansen added in DailyMail.co.uk.

The findings were published in the journal Environment International.

Mobile phone use may induce hyperactivity in adults too

Excessive mobile phone use was also found to trigger hyperactivity in adults, a study revealed. As part of the research, health experts at the University of Virginia examined mobile phone use among 221 college students. During the first week of the study, half of the participants were instructed to minimize mobile phone interruptions by activating their “do-not-disturb” features. The participants swapped places during the second week of the study. The research team then assessed hyperactivity and inattentiveness in participants by determining the frequency symptoms similar to attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The experts used the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as a basis for identifying ADHD-like symptoms in adults.

The research team found that up to 95 percent of smartphone users checked their devices during social gatherings. The experts also found that one in 10 users used a mobile phone during sexual intercourse. The study participants spent at least two hours a day using their devices, the study showed. The study also revealed that the participants reported symptoms similar to ADHD when their mobile phone notifications were turned on compared to when their devices were silent. Some of these symptoms include hyperactivity, reduced focus, inattention and sitting still. According to the lead researcher, smartphones trigger these symptoms because the devices serve as temporary distractions. However, the lead researcher stressed that ADHD is not a mere collection of symptoms, but is a completely separate psychological condition that has biological causes. (Related: Learn more about the latest discoveries in mental health at Mind.news)

“We found the first experimental evidence that smartphone interruptions can cause greater inattention and hyperactivity – symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – even in people drawn from a nonclinical population…Our findings suggest neither that smartphones can cause ADHD nor that reducing smartphone notifications can treat ADHD.The findings simply suggest that our constant digital stimulation may be contributing to an increasingly problematic deficit of attention in modern society,” said lead researcher Kostadin Kushlev in IBTimes.co.uk.

The findings were presented at last year’s Human-Computer Interaction conference in California. Follow more news on the biological health effects of EMFs at EMF.news.

Sources include:

Reuters.com

DailyMail.co.uk

Wired.co.uk

IBTimes.co.uk

Comprehensive list of states with the highest toxic vaccine rates

The vaccine debate rages on, with some vehemently pro and others vehemently against vaccine mandates and toxic ingredients. The mainstream media and medical community would have us believe that vaccines are 100 percent effective and 100 percent safe, 100 percent of the time. Anyone who has ever taken the time to read a vaccine insert can tell you that such a claim is simply not true. Nonetheless, the media and most U.S. states continue to push hard for every citizen to be immunized with a long list of vaccines that often contain hazardous ingredients (such as mercury and aluminum).

Though 47 U.S. states allow vaccine exemptions, it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain such an exemption for religious or personal reasons. Many states will only grant an exemption if a child is allergic or has some other health reason – a compromised immune system due to chemotherapy, for example. The decision not to vaccinate can have far-reaching implications for a family in terms of access to schooling and other issues.

The three vaccines which are touted as being the most important, since they are for the most common and supposedly most easily preventable diseases, are: The MMR vaccine (mumps, measles and rubella); the DTaP vaccine (diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough); and the varicella vaccine (chickenpox).

Four of the states have really pushed for all three vaccinations, namely Maine, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Nebraska.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, other states which have thrown their full weight behind immunization programs are:

MMR: North Dakota, New Mexico, Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee and Maryland.

DTaP: California, New Mexico, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and New Hampshire.

Varicella: Kansas, North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, Connecticut and New Hampshire.

The mainstream media continues to insist that vaccination offers “herd immunity,” and that those who refuse to inoculate their children are compromising the health of the community in general. CBS News, for example, notes, “U.S. medical experts spoke with CBS News for World Immunization Week (April 24 – 30) and raised concern about the number of Americans who still aren’t vaccinating their children or getting their own shots, which continues to fuel preventable disease outbreaks.”

The article then goes on to reference the huge increase in the number of mumps cases in the U.S. in recent years – up from 229 cases in 2012, to 5,748 cases in 2016. It also notes that colleges have been particularly hard hit.

While it is true that the number of mumps cases on college campuses has been increasing dramatically, it is simply not true to blame this on the people who are choosing not to inject themselves or their children with these toxic shots.

The CBS article claims, “The MMR vaccine doesn’t offer total protection, but after two doses, 97 percent of people are protected, say experts. Immunization resulted in a 79 percent drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2015 worldwide.”

Is that true? Well, let’s look more closely at some of the campus outbreaks.

In 2016, 40 Harvard University students were infected with mumps – all had been vaccinated. In that same year, 193 students were diagnosed with mumps at the University of Missouri. Again, every single one of those students had received both doses of the MMR shot before getting sick.

These examples fly in the face of the “herd immunity” theory, which states that if a very high percentage of people in a community are vaccinated there won’t be enough vulnerable people left to spread the disease, thereby ensuring that everybody is protected. If that theory were true, the Harvard and Missouri cases could never have taken place. (RELATED: Did you read about the vaccine-resistant mumps outbreak on Long Island?)

Though evidence is mounting that vaccines are far less effective than we have been led to believe, many are pushing for even more vaccinations to be added to the schedule. In spite of the MMR vaccine’s links to autism and other serious health problems, vaccine advocates like Dr. Paul Offit insist that adding a third MMR shot to the schedule will solve the problem.

Anyone who dares to look at the situation objectively is sure to realize that there has to be some other motivation behind the push for this ever-increasing number of vaccinations.

Sources:

CBSNews.com

NaturalNews.com

ANH-USA.org

Hit the dirt: An ultra-clean house may be bad for your child

Dirt is essential to the development of a child’s immune system, claim scientists. According to Drs. Jack Gilbert and Rob Knight, the children of today may be too clean to the point where it’s harmful to their health. In their book, Dirt Is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child’s Developing Immune System, the scientists and co-author Sandra Blakeslee have laid out a simple hypothesis. They’ve asserted that early childhood exposure to some germs and microorganisms will help the immune system learn how to control its reaction to “everyday invaders” like dust.

Gilbert, Director of the Microbiome Center and a Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago, noted that our better understanding of disease-causing microbes has led us to adopt more intensive hygienic practices. “We’ve deliberately separated ourselves for reasons of comfort and reasons of fear of disease,” Gilbert has told NYTimes.com. Though the benefits have been many, the excessive zeal for cleanliness has resulted to some negative consequences for children. A report by DailyMail.co.uk took note of the growing cases of eczema, hay fever, asthma, and childhood diabetes among children who rarely played with animals or rolled in the dirt.

“We used to live in much dustier environments,” stated Marsha Wills-Karp, a Professor of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. “Studies have shown that priming or seeding of the microbiome in the child is absolutely critical. While you don’t want to go out and expose your child to aggressive infections, you don’t want to create such a sterile environment that their immune system doesn’t develop normally; it puts them at risk of developing immune diseases.”

Gilbert was one of the authors of a 2016 study comparing the immune systems of Amish children who grew up on small, single-family farms, and Hutterite children who are genetically similar but grew up on large, industrialized farms. The Amish children, who were living in environments “rich in microbes”, were found to have “exceedingly low rates of asthma and distinct immune profiles that suggest profound effects on innate immunity.” (Related: Study: Children who eat their own boogers may have stronger immunity than peers)

“There are definitive ways to embrace the controlled exposure or uncontrolled defined exposure to that rich microbial world early in life,” Gilbert said. Indeed, there are many safe ways to get children dirty. A good number of them, according to HuffingtonPost.com, calls for letting children do what they do best: be kids.

• Encourage outside play: Perhaps one of the best ways to introduce kids to dirt. The outside world is full of dust, mud and grasses—all of which can boost the immune system greatly. Having other children around makes things even better, because this allows children to be exposed to each other’s skin and sweat.
• Meet animals: Taking children to a local farm is both fun way to expose them to beneficial germs and bacteria, and a nice bonding activity for the whole family. Keeping pets around can also help. Dogs, cats, and even fish can bring helpful living organism into the home.
• Feed them all kinds of cultured foods: The bacterial cultures in food preparation can also contribute to the strengthening of a child’s immune system. Foods like yogurt, pickles, and kefir are just some of the foods rich in useful microbes.
• Don’t bathe or shower everyday: Bathing daily is good, but it doesn’t hurt to skip one bath day. The stink and stain can be washed off easily, but the stimulus made on the immune system will stay.

Exposing children to dirt may be one of the best favors anyone can do for them. Learn more about what is and what isn’t good for the immune system by visiting Immunization.news.

Sources include:
DailyMail.co.uk
NYTimes.com
NEJM.com
HuffingtonPost.com