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As a longtime health and medicine journalist, I think a lot about how contaminants in everyday products might affect my and my family’s health. After reading that chemicals like phthalates can leech out of plastic packaging and containers, for example, I switched out most of my household’s plastic food storage containers for glass – and we no longer put the remaining plastic ones in the microwave.
But I’m well aware that actions like these only accomplish so much, given the enormous range of substances people are exposed to in the course of modern life. So when toxicologist Brad Reisfeld at Colorado State University proposed an article explaining the overlapping effects of these daily environmental exposures, I was excited to take him up on it.
There’s no way any of us can live a “chemical-free” life, Reisfeld writes. “A more practical goal is to reduce unnecessary and repeated exposures when doing so is easy and inexpensive, and does not create new problems.”
I’ve already started implementing Reisfeld’s highly practical suggestions, which focus on the big picture rather than specific products. I hope you’ll find them helpful too.
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