POISONING CONSUMERS WITH TEFLON

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has filed a complaint against DuPont for withholding evidence revealing negative health and environmental impacts from a chemical used to produce Teflon. The chemical, commonly known as PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), has been found to cause cancer in laboratory animals. Due to Teflon's popularity (those nifty non-stick frying pans, etc.), PFOA can now be detected in the bodies of 90% of Americans. The EPA is investigating the possibility that DuPont may have learned of potential problems with the chemical more than two decades ago. On an international level, the EPA's announcement has prompted foreign governments to launch investigations into the toxicity of the chemical, and stores in China have begun pulling Teflon products from their shelves. Read more...

Killer Tampons

If you are a woman and use pads, but especially if you use tampons, read this and pass it on to your friends. For the men reading this, please tell your friends, significant others, sisters, mothers, daughters, etc. Thanks!

Check the labels of the sanitary pads or tampons that you are going to buy the next time and see whether you spot any of the familiar signs stated in this email. No wonder so many women in the world suffer from cervical cancer and womb tumors. Have you heard that tampon makers include asbestos in tampons? Why would they do this?

Because asbestos makes you bleed more, if you bleed more, you're going to need to use more. Why isn't this against the law since asbestos is so dangerous? Because the powers that be, in all their wisdom (not), did not consider tampons as being ingested and, therefore, did not consider them illegal or dangerous.

This month's Essence magazine mentions 2 manufacturers of a cotton tampon alternative. The companies are: Organic Essentials @ 1-800-765-6491 and Terra Femme @ 1-800-755-0212. (other great alternatives are “The Keeper” or menstrual cups like the “Moon Cup” www.mooncup.co.uk

A woman getting her Ph.D. at University of Colorado sent the following: "I am writing this because women are not being informed about the dangers of something most of us use: Tampons. I am taking a class this month and I have been learning a lot about biology and women, including feminine hygiene. Recently we have learned that tampons are actually dangerous (for other reasons than TSS). After learning about this in our class, most of the females wound up feeling angry and upset with the tampon industry, and I for one, am going to do something about it. To start, I want to inform everyone I can, and email is the fastest way that I know how.

HERE IS THE SCOOP: Tampons contain two things that are potentially harmful: Rayon (for abso rbency), and dioxin (a chemical used in bleaching). The tampon industry is convinced that we, as women, need bleached white products in order to view the product as pure and clean. The problem here is that the dioxin, can lead to very harmful problems for a woman. Dioxin is potentially carcinogenic (cancer-associated) and is toxic to the immune and reproductive systems. It has also been linked to endometriosis and lower sperm counts for men. For both sexes, it breaks down the immune system.

Last September, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that there really is no "acceptable" level of exposure to dioxin given that it is cumulative and slow to disintegrate. The real danger comes from repeated contact (Karen Couppert "Pulling the Plug on the Tampon Industry"). I'd say using about 4-5 tampons a day, five days a month, for 38 years is "repeated contact", wouldn't you? Rayon contributes to the danger of tampons and diox in because it is a highly absorbent substance. Therefore, when fibers from the tampons are left behind in the vagina (as usually occurs), it creates a breeding ground for the dioxin. It also stays in a lot longer that it would with just cotton tampons. This is also the reason why TSS (toxic shock syndrome) occurs.

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES? Using feminine hygiene products that aren't bleached and that are all cotton. Other feminine hygiene products (pads/napkins) contain dioxin as well, but they are not nearly as dangerous. So, what can you do if you can't give up using tampons? Use tampons that are made from 100% UNBLEACHED cotton. Other alternatives are the "Keeper" (and similar brands of reusable cups), "Instead" and other such products that are not consumptive nor dangerous.

Unfortunately, there are very few companies that make these safe tampons. They are usually only found in health food stores. Countries all over the world (Sweden, Germany,British Columbia, etc.) have demanded a switch to this safer tampon, while the US has decided to keep us in the dark about it. In 1989, activists in England mounted a campaign against chlorine bleaching. Six weeks and 50,000 letters later, the makers of sanitary products switched to oxygen bleaching (one of the green methods available) (MS magazine, May/June 1995).

WHAT TO DO NOW: Tell people. Everyone. Inform them. We are being manipulated by this industry and the government, let's do something about it! Please write to the companies: Tampax (Tambrands); Playtex; O.B.; Kotex. All the 800 numbers are listed on the boxes. Let them know that we demand a safe product: ALL COTTON UNBLEACHED TAMPONS...

Greenpeace Argentina Blocks Bulldozers

Greenpeace Argentina Blocks Bulldozers to Save Jaguars

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, August 3, 2004 (ENS) - Greenpeace activists, dressed as jaguars, are using motorbikes to track down bulldozers that are destroying forests in a remote region of Argentina. The forest is being ripped up to grow genetically engineered soya that is shipped to Europe and Asia to feed pigs, chicken and cows.

While on the prowl in Salta, on the border of the Great Chaco and Yungas forests Friday, the Greenpeace jaguars located five bulldozers on Friday that were clearcutting and burning the trees.

Five of the Greenpeace activists used their motorbikes to intercept the bulldozers and block their path to the forest. They locked the machines using chains to immobilize them and stamped "Blocked by Greenpeace" on them.

"Argentina’s rich biodiversity is being swallowed up by Monsanto’s genetically engineered soya," said Emiliano Ezcurra, biodiversity campaign coordinator for Greenpeace Argentina.
"The Argentinean government must intervene and stop these unique jaguar forests being destroyed," he said.

Jaguars still live in the Great Chaco American forest which covers a million square kilometres, across Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil. The big cats also inhabit the Yungas forest, also known as the Clouded or Mountain rainforest. Located entirely in Argentina, it covers about 70,000 square kilometres.

Greenpeace activists tracked down bulldozers all last week, and so far, eight machines remain immobilized and stamped, and the Greenpeace jaguars are on the prowl for more.

The sharp increase in soya cultivation is causing social as well as environmental problems in Argentina. Ramón Ferriera, who lives in the Great Chaco forest, said, "They force us to leave our land, often with guns. Then they come with these powerful machines, knock down all the trees, burn them and plant soya. We see no economic benefit from such great destruction and we lose all we have."

Indigenous people and campesinos have never been given title deeds to their land by the authorities, despite the fact that they have been living and working in these forests for decades.

All the land is state owned, and local authorities often sell it to private owners. Since the indigenous people have no title deeds, they have no legal way to defend their land. Many move to the cities looking for work and end up in living in poverty in the growing slums.

Argentina is one country where transgenic crops are embraced, if not universally, at least by the government. Argentina is planning to grow 14 million hectares of soya this year, and almost all of it, 98 percent, is genetically engineered.
Over 90 percent - around 20 million metric tons - of Argentine soya is exported as animal feed to Europe and Asia. Europe accounts for 35 percent of Argentina's soya exports and China for 23 percent.

Some 5,400 people around the world have telephoned their Argentinean embassies this week to demand that Argentinean President Dr. Néstor Kirchner stop the forest destruction, Greenpeace says.