There was a great article in The New York Times back in February (I just found out about it) called “Are You a Toxic Waste Disposal Site?”

It talks about toxics in our bodies and in particular exposures to lead, but most importantly, the author gives a historical example of a public health change that worked.

Maybe, just maybe, the crisis in Flint can be used to galvanize a public health revolution.

In 1854, a British doctor named John Snow started such a revolution. Thousands were dying of cholera at the time, but doctors were resigned to the idea that all they could do was treat sick patients. Then Snow figured out that a water pump on Broad Street in London was the source of the cholera. The water company furiously rejected that conclusion, but Snow blocked use of the water pump, and the cholera outbreak pretty much ended.

Thousands were dying…a water pump was found to be the source…one man blocked the use of the water pump.

Oh how I wish I could block the use of toxic chemicals in consumer products!

A group of scholars, led by David L. Shern of Mental Health America, argue that the world today needs a new public health revolution focused on young children, parallel to the one mounted for sanitation after Snow’s revelations about cholera in 1854. Once again, we have information about how to prevent pathologies, not just treat them — if we will act.

The reason for a new effort is a vast amount of recent research showing that brain development at the beginning of life affects physical and mental health decades later. That means protecting the developing brain from dangerous substances and also from “toxic stress” — often a byproduct of poverty — to prevent high levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which impairs brain development.

A starting point of this public health revolution should be to protect infants and fetuses from toxic substances, which means taking on the companies that buy lawmakers to prevent regulation. Just as water companies tried to obstruct the 19th-century efforts, industry has tried to block recent progress.

Back in 1786, Benjamin Franklin commented extensively on the perils of lead poisoning, but industry ignored the dangers and marketed lead aggressively. In the 1920s, an advertisement for the National Lead Company declared, “Lead helps to guard your health,” praising the use of lead pipes for plumbing and lead paint for homes. And what the lead companies did for decades, and the tobacco companies did, too, the chemical companies do today.

Well, we here on this website are already having the revolution right here in our own homes. We all just need to make it more known.

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Question from Tammy

Hi Debra,

Hi for about a year now my feet have been very painful cannot get comfortable in any shoe my feet become real hot and I just want to rip my shoes off within 10 minutes of putting them on. Recently found out I was allergic to fossil fuel’s which include Rubber all the memory foam shoes I can’t find any shoes that are good for me I am looking for leather shoes with no padding and no rubber soles I’m allergic to the glue’s etc. I really need help has anybody found any shoes That might work?

Debra’s Answer

First, there are already some resources on this website for shoes:

Shoe page of Debra’s List

Safe Sneakers

How to Choose Toxic Free Shoes

Are There Any Nontoxic Shoes?

Nontoxic Shoes

But today I want to give you even more information.

I spent quite a bit of time online over the weekend looking at shoes. And I found some I want to investigate further.

But here’s what I learned. There are A LOT of shoes available made from natural materials. The key is to search on the type of material you are interested in and then look at IMAGES. From this gallery you will find many brands and then you can find out more about them.

Also if you find some you like, click on the image and google will give you a box with “more like this” choices. Look at those too.

For example here are some search results…

“vegetable tanned leather sandal”

“cotton shoes” and “cotton espadrilles”

“hemp shoes”

Have fun looking and post a comment to let us know what you find.

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Last week this issue came up twice in one day, and it came up again this morning, so I decided to write a post about it.

The issue is promotion of a product versus the precision of product description. Promotion being text and images created specifically to make you want to buy the product and precision the act of being exact and accurate.

First, a long-time reader wrote to me and asked what I thought of a product that had been promoted that day via email.

I took a look at the promotion page, and there simply wasn’t enough detail for me to evaluate the product. But it was a great promotion—great enough to make her want to buy it. In this cassette technical details about the product were missing altogether.

Second, I made a mistake in recommending a business on Debra’s List, I was so charmed by the promotion and the content in the headlines that I didn’t look deep enough on the site to find details that were there.

The website I deleted is Bears for Humanity.

On their home page it says, “Our products are made of 100% GOTS Certified Organic Cotton and Hemp.” And they display the GOTS logo.

On their About page they say “From farm to fulfillment, our plush toys are made using only 100% GOTS Certified Organic materials and Global Fair Trade practices, while employing at-risk women from Welfare-to-Work programs right here in the United States.

Now doesn’t that sound like 100% of the bear is GOTS Certified Organic Cotton and GOTS Certified Organic Hemp?

Not so.

Reading further on the site it says, “Our bears’ shells are made from a one-of-a-kind certified organic, sustainably-sourced fabric developed in partnership with EnviroTextiles.” It’s “faux fur.” But it doesn’t say if this is organic cotton or organic hemp or organic something else. I called EnviroTextiles and they told me it was 41% (not organic or certified) hemp, 34% certified organic cotton, 24% synthetic PET (in the backing, not the fur). Don’t know if the PET is recycled. She didn’t say.

And the filling is made from recycled soda bottles.

Not 100% organic, not even 100% natural, and the product itself is not GOTS certified.

I’m not even sure the fabric is GOTS certified because there are no certificates. Only claims.

But they did a great job at making it LOOK like a GOTS-certified organic product.

And then this morning there was another one.

A reader commented in Toxic Free Q&A asking about the materials used to make Telic sandals. As I said in my response to her comment, I called Telic and asked them what their material was made from. The website says only a patented trade name, and that it’s an “elasto-polymer.” The customer service rep said it was “toxic-free” but couldn’t tell me what type of plastic it was. He said he knows it’s toxic free because it was tested. When I asked for a certificate he said it was on the website, but he couldn’t find it.

Again, this is no information. Yet, the rep claimed the material is “toxic free.” Great promotion though about Made in America and molded to support your foot.

There are federal laws about advertising. You need to 1) tell the truth and 2) substantiate your claims.

To fulfill both of these, manufacturers need to reveal their materials and show their certificates or give other substantiations about claims. Take a look at Debra Lynn Dadd Recommended Products for examples of manufacturers who are doing this.

We consumers need to double-check headlines, read the information that is given, and ask for information if it is missing.

And not be swayed by promotion.

I so wanted there to be an organic teddy bear!

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