What an amazing video from Jane Hoolihan. She delivers a wonderful presentation on industrial chemicals with a strong association with human diseases, quality of drinking water and foods safety. In her presentation, I was shocked that many Americans would prefer to spend more money on bottled water than gasoline since many people think bottled water is safer than tap water, containing fewer contaminants, such as industrial chemicals. However, according to a study conducted by the EWG, it shows there are 38 contaminants in 10 popular brands of bottled water. A couple of them even contain Tylenol and substances that can alter hormone level. In addition, Jane points out another environmental concern from bottle water. Only 24% of water bottles can be recycled, and the lefts of them either go to landfills or incinerators.
In her presentation, I also like how she talk about pesticide affecting food safety. Before I watch her presentation, I seldom choose organic foods due to high price. However, Jane has provided me a better understanding on how to purchase foods wisely. I was surprised that 8 different pesticides could be found when people purchase a conventional peach. Jane encourages people to use Shopper’s Guide to Pesticide to know which 12 fruits or vegetables containing more pesticides, so people know which food items should buy organic or non-organic.
After I watched the presentation, I felt environmental health concerns should be prioritized than other issues in the Untied Stated since those environmental health concerns have a huge impact on the future generations and us. According to Lisa Jackson, anf EPA administrator, “ a child born in America today will grow up exposed to more chemicals than a child from any other generation in our history.” There are so many unknown harmful chemical compounds existed in the United State for past 50 years. How can we prevent this?
I was also surprised by the statistics related to bottled water. Sadly, I read somewhere that even the process of recycling the plastic is very harmful to our environment.
ReplyDeleteI took the agriculture class over the intersession and learned a lot about pesticides. They have such detrimental effects to our health and our environment. It's disappointing to see that so many people are unaware of this. There's actually a great website that tells you what kinds of chemicals are in your produce. http://whatsonmyfood.org/
Definitely an informative presentation that solidified my practice to pay the few extra bucks for farm fresh produce, and growing my own fruits and veggies. I had ex-nayed bottled waters almost 3 years ago, and mainly, I did it for other environmental factors such as production of plastic and its life-cycle. I had no idea about the 38 contaminants it harbored (with ten of the popular brands). If only we could get clean water in tap form to all communities.
ReplyDelete