Page 79 - Spring 2019 Journal

Stink!
Produced and directed by Jon J. Whelan
You might think that products like kid’s pa- jamas are carefully tested and regulated to make sure they aren’t laced with any toxic chemicals. You might think. As is often the case with gov- ernment regulation, logic is not operative here. One concerned parent (Jon) started looking into it when he bought some rather strong-smelling PJs from the clothing firm called Justice for his daughter. He contacted Justice, and what he eventually figured out—after much persistence on his part and runaround on their part—was that there was no chance of getting a straight answer from Justice. Why not? Because they, in fact, do not know. The pajamas are made in China, and who knows what is going on over there?
Even if they do know, Jon found that com- panies he talked to like to hide behind the word “proprietary.“ When companies use that word, it means that you, the customer, don’t have any right to know what you are being exposed to.
So, Jon had a lab analyze the pajamas. They found endocrine disruptors and flame retardants that had been banned long ago from children’s clothing. What are the government regulatory agencies doing about this? Nothing. Why not? Two reasons: one, they don’t know about it, and two, they apparently have no authority to do anything about it. What is Justice doing about it? I’ll give you one guess.
All this led Jon to research what goes on at fragrance companies. Most commercial fra- grance companies are harder to get into than Fort Knox. One that did let him in had over three thousand different chemicals. I’m not sure if this was for real or just a set-up for the video, but a large can or barrel in the background was labeled “monkey farts.“
There is a very funny commercial showing a stampede of high school girls in their under- wear converging from every direction. They
SPRING 2019
are scaling every obstacle, splashing through shallow streams—nothing can stop them. At the end of the commercial, you see they are stampeding toward one guy wearing a popular fragrance product.
Then Jon did some hard research and asked a real high school girl what she thought about guys who wear strong colognes. Pay attention, guys. She thought they were trying too hard. Did you get that? Walking around in a cloud of chemicals does not impress the girls. You can save your money...and your health.
Another romantic factoid for you: some of the same fragrance chemicals found in Chanel No. 5 perfume are also found in toilet bowl cleaner. Give yourself a treat today—and don’t forget to flush.
Jon chased down a leading lobbyist for the chemical industry and asked about the safety of industry products. Like a good little industry parakeet, the lobbyist just repeated that indus- try products are in full compliance with FDA regulations. The FDA has a nice list of all their chemicals and the associated risks. Elsewhere in the video, we see Senator Kerry interviewing an FDA representative. The FDA has no such list. Or if they did, they lost it. Or the dog ate it. That really wouldn’t surprise me. I suspect dogs run the place. All the FDA knows is what manufacturers tell it. They have no authority to regulate any of it and don’t seem very inter- ested in anything about the subject. But a time- honored traditional food like raw milk, which has never been near any chemical...the FDA is all over that. Watch out! That stuff will kill ya.
The European Union has banned over one thousand chemicals (raw milk is not one of them). The U.S. has banned about ten. Not ten thousand, just ten. When you think about these unregulated and untested chemicals in just about everything on the market, it is no wonder that even people who are health-conscious are get- ting cancer. The thumb is UP.
The European Union has banned over one thousand chemicals. The U.S.
has banned about ten.
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