THE UNBEARABLE BURDEN OF BEING

This piece is cross-posted from my entry at The Blue Voice today.  It is so important that I want it disseminated as widely as possible

The Environmental Working Group today released the results of a study on the "body burden" of pollutants found in the umbilical cord blood of newborns. I have written before, in my AOL Journal, of the burden of industrial pollutants we all carry in our blood, tissues, nerves, brains. It was previously thought that a blood barrier protected babies in utero from the toxic substances we all bear. This study shows how untrue that assumption is.

In a study spearheaded by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in collaboration with Commonweal, researchers at two major laboratories found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in umbilical cord blood from 10 babies born in August and September of 2004 in U.S. hospitals. Tests revealed a total of 287 chemicals in the group. The umbilical cord blood of these 10 children, collected by Red Cross after the cord was cut, harbored pesticides, consumer product ingredients, and wastes from burning coal, gasoline, and garbage.

This study represents the first reported cord blood tests for 261 of the targeted chemicals and the first reported detections in cord blood for 209 compounds. Among them are eight perfluorochemicals used as stain and oil repellants in fast food packaging, clothes and textiles - including the Teflon chemical PFOA, recently characterized as a likely human carcinogen by the EPA's Science Advisory Board - dozens of widely used brominated flame retardants and their toxic by-products; and numerous pesticides.

Of the 287 chemicals we detected in umbilical cord blood, we know that 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests. The dangers of pre- or post-natal exposure to this complex mixture of carcinogens, developmental toxins and neurotoxins have never been studied.

Results of the study, a chart of the toxins and their possible effects on a developing fetus, implications for the future of our children and our children's children, are all laid out in these pages on the EWG's site, as is the unescapable conclusion that many increasing childhood problems: autism, asthma, leukemia, childhood brain cancer, ADD and ADHD, are the results of these embryonic toxcicities.

Those who have obsessed so diligently over the legality of abortion need to sit up, read this report, think about the fact that the chemical industry largely depends on "voluntary" regulation, rather than seriously regulated federal standards - and call upon the usual villains in environmental disasters: industry and government, to immediately pay attention to the millions of pounds of chemical materials liberally used in so much that we come in contact with in daily life (including, incidentally, the burning of coal, gas and oil, these carbon emissions are part of this infantile body burden too). What can be wrong with us as human beings that we have allowed such a situation to happen? Why are people worrying about birth control and pregnancy termination when we are well on our way to creating generations of young humans who will have the options of never reaching adulthood, living a damaged life, or developing problems early in their adult life resulting from events in their embryonic development?

This report has overwhelmed me with grief and fury. A commenter on previous posts of mine tells me that the environmental movement has been "hijacked by modern day socialists," that it is a cover for those wanting to destroy our capitalist society. What I have to say to that is - good. (Not that I put the slightest credence in such nonsense.) The sooner I can see the collapse of a society that values financial profit for the chemical and energy industries over healthy life for both unborn and born babies and children, the happier I will be. Please read this entire article, I beg of anyone who visits this blog. Please become an activist in any way open to you. Write your congresspeople, write the heads of industry, avoid as many of these products as you possibly can - most of them are entirely unnecessary anyway. Within this story lurks the Teflon story, which may or may not have surfaced to common awareness. A story for another day. This is enough for now.

WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

It feels as if I've moved out of the AOL journal community, since The Blue Voice started.  Much of my time has been spent researching and posting over there, the rest is being spent teaching and trying to learn how to use the equipment in the new language lab at school.  Not to mention gardening, and family visits.  But I miss my AOL family, I miss writing here.  It's too non-fiction over at The Blue Voice, and I'm a storybook loving person.

Last week one of the boys, his wife and their two darling children flew in from Denver.  They spent a day in D.C. sightseeing, then drove to Chincoteague, where we met them on Thursday afternoon.  I only stayed that one night and the next morning, then came home to shop for something to put in the fridge, mow the lawn, make the beds - in general get the place ready for guests.  They came here on Saturday evening, left Monday morning to return home.  It was a lovely time for all of us.  I haven't seen these kids for over two years, and it was high time I did.  G has flown out to Denver several times since we were West together, but I, for one reason or another, have stayed here.

I love Chincoteague, but am worried about all the condo building that seems to be going on there.  It is the last of the sleepy little beach places in the area  (Rehoboth Beach once was a sleepy little beach town, now it's a nightmare), unspoiled, quiet, peaceful, real.  Okracoke has that too, unlike Nag's Head and other Outer Banks areas.  Many shops and restaurants in Chincoteague have closed, yet at the same time there's all this condo/townhouse building going on.  Hard to tell which way things are going.

Here's a few photos from the weekend, these are at the beach up here.  I have some from Chincoteague, but not downloaded.

Rachel and Daddy

Rach and Sam, beach enchiladas..

Sam putting on his shoes.

Rachel the artist.

Pretty cute, huh?  All of them.  I may do one of the whole family (Mom isn't in any of these.) when I get the Chincoteague pix ready to put into posts. 

EYES WIDE OPEN

I posted this in The Blue Voice several days ago, but I really want people in the area to be aware of it, so I'm posting it here too.  I know there are windmills readers who live close enough to Philadelphia to trek in and see this exhibit next weekend.  I'll be there volunteering on Sunday, so come see me too!

Eyes Wide Open

Here's an announcement for anyone living within a reasonable drive of Philadelphia. Of course, this is being held on the July 4th weekend, so no drive anywhere in the whole country will be reasonable. Anyway, on this weekend, from the first of July through the fourth, the Eyes Wide Open Exhibit will be back in Philly. It was there last July 4th also.

This exhibit is a project of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization committed to social justice and human service. I will be going, with two friends, to volunteer to help the organizers with the exhibit on Sunday, July 3rd. Please visit the site, there is much information there. The exhibit has been traveling since January 2004, at which time there were 504 pairs of boots. I can't imagine how the necessary number of empty boots will fit on the Mall two weeks from now. Information on future travel for the exhibit is on the site. You can see photos from previous places it's been, as well as read notes and comments in the journal.

This is the exhibit information:

About Eyes Wide Open
Eyes Wide Open, the American Friends Service Committee's widely acclaimed exhibition on the human cost of the Iraq war, commemorates all the lives lost.

The exhibit includes a pair of boots honoring each U.S. military casualty; a field of shoes and a wall of remembrance to memorialize the Iraqis killed in the conflict; and a multimedia display exploring the history, cost and consequences of the war.

Exhibit Location:
Independence Mall and Visitor Center
Market Street between 5th & 6th Sts.

THE SPIRAL DANCE

It is the Summer Solstice.  The longest day of the year, the shortest night.  I have never entered into the spirit of festivity surrounding this seasonal celebration in the way I have the Winter Solstice.  Summer is always so full and busy, bursting with life and activity, visits from family, work in the garden - yet this day is the high point.  From here on, the light diminishes, the darkness gains on us, imperceptibly at first, until it culminates in the shortest day, longest night, in December.  It's a lovely rhythm, really, the turning of a wheel, over and over again. 

Sometimes I think one reason we have let the earth get into such a mess is that as industrial society took hold, we moved further and further from contact with Nature and her rhythms and revolutions.  How many of us keep track of the phases of the moon, the constellations visible in different seasons, the timing of the tides, the amount of rainfall in a given time?  Perhaps farmers and fisherpeople still keep in touch with these cycles.  The rest of us are just trying to rush from urban setting to urban setting, in the confines of our cars.  Using my bike as transportation is helping me get out of this to some degree, gardening is also a way of moving closer to natural cycles of growth and ripening.

Once upon a time this was a day of great festivity, it's the fabled "midsummer" of A Midsummer Night's Dream.  Magical things can happen!  It was celebrated with bonfires, dancing, feasting.  It is a time for marriages and pledging of troths - this full moon is called the "honey moon," and from this comes the post-wedding tradition called by the same name.  With the advent of Christianity this day became the feast of St. John the Baptist, and the bonfires were incorporated.

I think we have lost a lot in losing touch with these ancient days that brought together so many elements, celebrating the fact that our lives, too, are part of Nature and her cycles.  To learn more lovely lore about Midsummer's Day, the Summer Solstice, go to The School of the Seasons.  This BBC site also has loads of interesting information.  Sadly, on this the longest day, I am so tired I'm thinking of going to bed soon after I eat dinner.  But perhaps next year I'll get into the spirit of things, harken back to my Celtic roots, and arrange a bonfire on the beach, add my energy to the sun's energy, and hope we can return to a life in synch with Nature.

CALLING HOME

Poor windmills journal, you must feel so left-out and abandoned.  This week of beginning The Blue Voice has been so hectic - adding the beginning of summer school and a flying trip to Washington has only made it crazier.  I have neglected everything else in my life while we've been getting TBV up and flying:  the garden, the animals, reading anything but political stuff.  This really can't continue.  The deal was, there are eight of us on this group blog, so we could each post one day a week.  At a minimum.  Well, I have posted nine entries so far this week, and everyone else has done at least that many, I think.  If not more. 

I'm going to refer you to my post on TBV for my impressions from the Conyers hearing and rally.  There are actually two posts, the second is about the letter Conyers wrote to the editor of the Washington Post yesterday.  The coverage was abysmal, at least in the major papers. 

We made it through the ten days or so of heat wave without putting on the AC at all, and I feel very proud of us for this accomplishment.  The weather broke sometime on Thursday, and is now as pleasant as one could wish.  My lettuce is starting to  bolt; we can't eat it as fast as it is ready.  The tomato and cucumber plants have blossoms, the peppers are trailing behind. 

I have done several articles on TBV about global warming, and will be doing more soon.  It is wonderful to see comments from AOL journal friends over there, but I am missing reading and writing here.  Shall I put links here to my articles on that blog?  Those looking for environmental postings might want them, I don't know.

RALLY ROUND THE RESOLUTION

June 15 - This is actually a P.S. to the post that follows.  There are changes in time and location for the D.C. hearing tomorrow.  As follows:

On Thursday June 16, 2005, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Room HC-9 of the U.S. Capitol, Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and other Congress Members will hold a hearing on the Downing Street Minutes and related evidence of efforts to cook the books on pre-war intelligence.The hearings had been planned for the Democratic National Committee offices because the Republicans controlling the House Judiciary Committee had refused to permit the ranking Democratic Member to use a large room on the Hill.  However, the Democrats did have access to a small room in the Capitol, and Congressman Conyers has decided to move the hearings there.  This does not indicate any change in position from the Republicans.

 

Members of the media will be welcome, but citizens in town for the 5 p.m. rally at the White House will have difficulty getting into the 2:30 hearings.  The DNC will serve as an overflow room, so people can still go there: theWasserman Room at 430 S. Capitol St. SE.

 

AfterDowningStreet.org encourages people, instead, to spend the afternoon lobbying their Congress Member and two Senators, and paying special visits to the offices of Congressmen John Conyers and Maurice Hinchey, Congresswomen Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey, and Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy to thank them for their leadership.  Recommended talking points can be found in a one-page document at the top of After Downing Street.org.

 

Original Post from yesterday:

From After Downing Street, a very current Need to Know site, please note this announcement:

"On Thursday June 16, 2005, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Wasserman Room at 430 S Capitol St. SE, Washington, D.C., Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and other Congress Members will hold a hearing on the Downing Street Minutes and related evidence of efforts to cook the books on pre-war intelligence.

Later on the same day at 5:00 p.m. ET in Lafayette Square Park, in front of the White House, a large rally will support Congressman Conyers who plans to deliver to the White House a letter addressed to President Bush and signed by over 500,000 Americans and at least 94 Congress Members. The letter asks the President to respond to questions raised by the Downing Street Minutes. On May 1, 2005 a Sunday London Times article disclosed the details of a classified memo, also known as the Downing Street Minutes, recounting the minutes of a July 2002 meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair that describes an American President already committed to going to war in the summer of 2002, despite contrary assertions to the public and the Congress. The minutes also describe apparent efforts by the Administration to manipulate intelligence data to justify the war. The June 16th hearing will attempt to answer the serious constitutional questions raised by these revelations and will further investigate the Administration's actions in the lead up to war with new documents that further corroborate the Downing Street memo."

I really will be there, going to drive in to D.C. after teaching my first summer school class on Thursday. I can hope for this to be an historic occasion, and furthermore, an old friend from university days will be one of the speakers.

If you live anywhere within driving distance of D.C., please come support Rep. Conyers and his efforts.  If you live elsewhere in the country, check on the After Downing Street site for rallies to be held in other cities to back up this one in the Capital.

WELCOME, OUR DOOR IS OPEN!

It's Monday morning, June 13th, and the gang of eight is thrilled to announce the opening of our group blog:  The Blue Voice.  Please come visit - today and often.  We have many friends in J-land whom we hope will remain friends on blogspot, commenting on our entries and participating in lively political discussion. The blog looks gorgeous, thanks to the efforts of Mara and Marcia Ellen, and I think people will be entering first posts throughout the day.