Time For Optimism
On a winter day in America
Today I did an interview with Hopeful and Wholesome podcast host Hope Pedraza. (It hasn’t aired yet, but I will post the link when it does.) Hope asked me about whether companies lie to consumers and brought up the non-phthalate claims companies are making for baby products. She asked whether these could be trusted.
I shared with her the lawsuit that the Healthy Living Foundation filed against Johnsons’ baby products in Washington D.C., under the Consumer Procedures Protection Act, for their no-phthalate claims. Independent testing done for the Healthy Living Foundation found a consistent pattern of phthalate contamination in multiple Johnson’s baby products. Millions of shoppers are being misled even today. That is why I am speaking out.
Other brands like Justin’s and Chex have corporate owners that deceive consumers by omission when they hide the chemical toxins they know are present in their products.
But I also shared there are many companies attempting to be transparent and intent on bringing safe and healthier foods and products to shoppers.
I am optimistic that more and more of us are becoming aware when we shop for products that we have a larger responsibility than simply self gratification — and many brands are stepping up to the task because our numbers are growing by millions and millions.
I shared with Hope how the shopping choices folks have been making since the 1980s and 1990s are paying off decades later and how gratifying it is to know we’ve made a difference. That is why organic foods are priced comparably to those that are conventionally grown, I tell her in the podcast. The prevalence of organic personal care and cosmetic products in the marketplace is also the result of consumers making their shopping dollars count for a healthy America. We have far more alternatives for cleaning products, furniture, flooring, clothing, home building, and so much more.
These are the accomplishments of a movement that didn’t even exist as a speck until Rachel Carson published Silent Spring n 1962. We really didn’t have the vocabulary or concepts of what it is to be antitoxic until the 1970s and 1980s. Practically nobody had ever heard of a part per billion (like a drop of oil in an Olympic-sized swimming pool), environmental impact reports, semen counts and quality, and so many other concepts.
The antitoxic movement is open to everyone; people are self joining everyday simply by making the kind of smart shopping choices in their own personal lives that move markets and nations and the people and eventually industries such as energy and transportation to healthier models. It isn’t perfect, but antitoxic activists, shoppers, parents, moms, dads, citizens are all changing this nation for the better and, at least, certainly staving off even worse consequences but, at best, shaping a future that will last for countless generations.
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After a year of interviewing some of the most heroic parents in America today, I’m delighted to announce advance copies of Raising Healthy Kids: Protecting Your Children from Hidden Chemical Toxins are available. Be sure to visit https://tinyurl.com/4a9ctywu or your favorite independent bookseller.
