Autism and our Environment: The Final Answer

I just found out that another member of my family has autism.  As a father of an autistic child, and friend of parents with autistic children, and now one of my cousin’s kids was just diagnosed, its extremely sad and frustrating.  We want to know why, we want to know how, and more importantly we want to know why now…  meaning, we didn’t grow up with this disease, its new, it’s an epidemic and… I know the reason why.  We are damaging our children with the toxicity we put into our world, in our homes, and into our bodies.  There can’t be any other reason why.

Sure, there are those that fear immunizations, but we all got them in the 1960’s and 1970’s, with no problems.  If you search the Internet, you’ll find bogus cures, celebrities who claim they cured their child, but this is a world-wide epidemic – that is systemic of one problem that we don’t want to face, that we don’t want to know…. that we are at fault for the lifestyles that we lead and our children are paying for it with their brains being damaged.

Here’s my case in point – look around your home – very little of what you sleep on, eat off, sit on, wear, decorate with and cook with has ever been tested for chemical reaction to your body.  More than 80,000 chemical compounds exist in the marketplace – 250 have been tested.  Our homes, our offices, our places to play, our places to eat, our modes of transportation are outgassing and leaching toxins into our bodily systems every single day.  We are exposed to massive amounts of heavy metals, chemical compounds, detergents, solvents, volatile organic compounds, noxious fumes, exhausts, pesticides, herbicides, plastic residues, mercury from power plants, dozens of carcinogens from our gasoline engines, chlorine in our water, and so much more its mind numbing. 

How about cosmetics?  What about that roll-on, lipstick, hairspray, face cream, wrinkle cream, nail polish, eye liner, hair remover, facial scrub, shampoo, conditioner and myriad other products put on the female body each day (in which 50% to 60% is absorbed) - for years on end?  Are they safe?  Who knows, few products are tested.

What about your food?  With hormones, pesticides, fungicides, preservatives, and more strange compounds that I could list nor pronounce..  Are they safe?  What about that cookware with its non-stick paint?  Once again, very little testing is done.

Our bodies store and process this onslaught of toxicity every day.  NOW, imagine the chance a small developing brain has against this daily onslaught, some kind of damage is going to happen to those brains that are susceptible to genetic malady.  In the world of autism we talk about a “spectrum” disorder, meaning each kid is affected differently - some its speech and small motor skills, others its socialization, and others it’s a complete system malfunction.  For me, this is indicative of environmental influence.  If it was something as simple as an immunization shot, the malady would be consistent.   It’s not.  The label spectrum disorder – tells the tale – each family is exposed to different levels of toxicity at different times, and it affects the developing brain differently.

A few years ago, Discover magazine hinted at the problem – they found a direct correlation between pollution levels and autism levels.  The article was largely ignored.  It hit me between the eyes…. it’s the final answer.  But we need to ask the larger question.  When are we going to stop poisoning ourselves and our new-born babies…  When are we going to say no to convenience and ease and think and buy practical and safe – and tested.  When do we say no to jobs and companies that create damage to our society at large?  When do we demand long-term studies of our compounds in use and demand that the protective agencies of our government do their jobs?

Thanks for reading, and to the other parents out their with Autistic children, my heart goes out to you.  Here’s our fight – make the world a less toxic place for the next generation…

I run Planet Protect Sportswear and my company fights pollution, visit our website at www.PlanetProtect.com – thanks for reading our blog…

Protect the Sea Turtles: Apparently Feds Won’t

In our last blog of the year, we want to focus on a situation that is very upsetting for marine conservationists like us at Planet Protect Sportswear.  In a December 11, 2009 article, it seems that protections for endangered sea turtles of the coast of Hawaii – Obama’s home state – is being lessened for one group of fishermen.

Its infuriating that politics and back room deals permeates our current system of government – at the expense of marine animals that are on the brink of extinction.

Read the NY Times story here.  Read about the story with Sea Turtle Restoration Project here.

 All I can offer is that you help fund the legal defense funds to protect these amazing and beautiful creatures.  I’ve spent enumerable time watching and studying Green Sea Turtles, and I am saddened  by any attempt to negate their existence.  Please help fight for these ancient and majestic friends of the sea.

Visit our web site, www.PlanetProtect.com  – we raise funds to help protect our oceans.

Surviving the Cure: the real cancer nightmare

This blog is dedicated to my parents, friends and loved ones who have been through the cancer nightmare.  I have watched, with deep personal horror, as my parents, friends (those alive and now dead), who have been through what I aptly call the cancer treatment outrage.  There is nothing more barbaric, cruel and medieval than cancer treatment in the 21^st century.  For those of you who are reading this, who are cancer survivors, I’m delighted that you are here, reading this, and survived the onslaught of poisons, inconsistent care and sheer guessing voodoo that your oncologist put you through.  I do not see these people as doctors – anymore than I think those who did bleedings and exorcisms in the 15^th century are doctors.

I currently have yet another friend who is about to go through the chemo/radiation mixture of pain, suffering and brink of death – all in the name of medicine and IF she survives the cure, she will have numb hands and feet (perhaps) for the rest of her life, but she’ll be alive.  And for oncologists, this is a win, until the cancer returns…

I watched my father be brought to the brink of death, writhing in such horrible pain, that we had to dope him on morphine until he passed out – for weeks on end.  The pain was not from the cancer, but from burning him inside out with radiation.  He caught every illness in the hospital because his immune system was destroyed from the chemo therapy, and months later, he slowly began to gain his strength back.  Six years later, he is still suffering from the cure.

You go through this often enough and your perspective changes.  After years of this, you start to see cancer treatment as a game, as a business, one that is thriving. I see cancer centers as warehouses to stack, pack and rack as many people as possible, to milk as much money as possible.  I see research as a complete sham now, I won’t donate a dime.  The colleges, universities, pharmaceutical companies, research facilities have had 50 years to study and research the problem… you’re not getting one more dime from me or my family.

It’s time to shift from cancer research into cancer prevention.  We cannot allow toxicity to be in everything we buy and eat in the name of jobs, profits and convenience.  Cancer rates are high because we poison ourselves – period.  Stop poisoning our air, land and water, and cancer rates will plummet – to what they were before the industrial revolution.  Secondarily, take the business and profit out of cancer, and the research will shift into finding ways to get cells to self terminate that is based on genetics, and not post World War II research and accidental discoveries.

I’m mad as hell that my good friend is at the mercy of the cancer “doctors.”  And as one doctor said to me, with my hands around his neck after my father was about to slip away, “this is all we got.”  Well, its time to do better…. Doctor.

I run an activist sportswear company, www.planetprotect.com, I fight pollution and damage to our oceans…

Plastic, its what’s for dinner…

Is there nothing NOT wrapped in plastic at the grocery store?  OK, yes, about four items.  But really, can we not come up with another solution besides plastic on every food item in the store?

So we know that most all foods have to pass some kind of inspection for safety, digestibility, nutrition and health.  So since almost all food products are either stored, made, shipped, manufactured or wrapped in some kind of plastic material… who is checking the plastic contents for safety, outgassing, and passing on of toxicity at the store and at home?  I far as I can tell – no one.

Remember back two years ago when the BPA toxicity claims were all in the news?  I happened to be a the Environmental Protection Agency the day the story broke and went international.  I asked the EPA representative about other compounds used in everyday plastic – are they safe?  Her response… “I suppose so, otherwise we’d heard something by now.”  Fantastic science and research, I thought to my self, but this is the world we live in – chemical companies add what ever they want to our food, water, air – and if its dangerous – prove it is what caused your cancer or deformity… the onus is on us.

Here is a list of additives that common everyday plastic contains – if this sounds vaguely familiar to what cigarette activists tried to do 20 years ago, it is.

Antimicrobials, antioxidants, antistatic agents, blowing agents, curing agents, colorants, fillers (hardness), flame retardants, free radical initiators, heat stabilizers, impact modifiers, lubricants and mold release agents, plasticizers, reinforcers, ultra-violet stablizers and much more.

You can’t tell me that all of these “agents” which consist of toxic compounds never leach into our foods and water…  food for thought.

Visit our store for more about plastic pollution in our oceans, and our campaigns:  www.PlanetProtect.com

The Attack on Science, why both sides are at fault for “Climate Gate”

We at Planet Protect Sportswear have been reading with great interest about “climate-gate” and the commentary back and forth.  I started out in college as a science major, physics and astrophysics.  Science has been part of my life since I was very young, and of course my hero was Carl Sagan.  He had a simple and clear way of making the impossible – possible.  He was meticulous about data, analysis and research and I was sad when he left our world, and do we need him now more than ever. There is an assault on science going on today, a resurgence of dismissal, doubt and denial about our physical world, and its exploration.

This isn’t new; science has been at odds with the religious community since the dark ages. It’s been at odds with those who sought education and those who have not.  And today, unfortunately, this battle continues.  Today, the mass communication power of the Internet not only furthers science and thought, it also promotes, misinformation, lies, and pure deceit.  Frankly, the science community has never understood marketing very well.  You don’t run into church in the 1500’s and yell – “The Earth is not at the center of the Universe!”  “Burn him!” They parishioners yell back…  Conversely you don’t run out into the modern world and yell – “We have to change everything, our cars, power plants, our entire lives, because it’s getting warmer and the polar bears are in danger!”  “Discredit him!”  They yell back.  And discredit them; they have been, for the past decade.  Any chink in the armor is exploited, every data glitch is fuel to deny, and a cold day in winter is proof that the “eggheads” have got it wrong.  And now, scientists have been discovered playing with data – back in 1999.

 Thank goodness, this isn’t the only group of scientists studying our world, thank goodness that just about every major university has found alarming data, and that a majority of governments have found the their own data alarming.  We live in a closed system of air, water and land, and if you monkey with the chemistry, you get new results.  Every 7^th grader in chemistry class around the globe can attest to this fundamental discovery.  Hopefully, this lesson in global chemistry will be resolved soon as well.

Visit our apparel store at www.PlanetProtect.com, we raise funds to protect our oceans.

Follow the White Trash…

I’ve seen flotillas of white colored trash – plastic bottles and bags heading off to sea.  It’s sad and it churns my stomach.  Finally a couple of intrepid MIT students (I suppose you have to be intrepid to get into MIT), came up with a clever way to see where loose, un-collected trash ends up and how it migrates around the country.  We applaud this type of research, for too long, our out-of-sight-out-of-mind treatment of trash and pollution has been the norm.  The story is linked at the bottom of this blog, so we highly recommend that you take a read.

here’s a quick quote from the article…

“The idea with this tagging exercise is to bring an invisible system to life,” said Assaf Biderman, associate director of MIT’s SENSEable City Lab. “By knowing how long it stays in the system, where it goes, we are hoping to create an increased awareness in the public.”

We at Planet Protect cannot agree more.  The increased problem of plastic pollution in our oceans is a direct result of people loosing control of their daily trash (those plastic bags, sacks, straws, cups, and fast food waste).  Most of the waste ends up in rivers and streams and heads out to sea – by the ton each day.  Head down to LA and the waste water streams are filled with white plastic debris and trash.  It’s truly shocking when you see it for the first time…

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/28/tracking.trash/index.html

The Real CO2 problem: Ocean Acidification

Here’s a story you won’t EVER see on Fox News – not that they actually do news, reporting, journalism or much anything else but illogical commentary (I guess that’s for another blog).  As a marine conservationist, retailer and designer, the most alarming and under reported change to our ocean environment is acidification.  The more CO2 we dump into the atmosphere, the more our oceans absorb this by-product of our modern age. 

NOAA has put together a great web site that covers in detail this concern.  Our government has been concerned about this for years, even during the Bush Administration.  So for those Republicans out there, this isn’t new.  See Ocean Research Bill – July 2008: http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2262

Climate change is going to take decades to show conclusive results for even the most ardent non-believers. Here is real data on Ocean Acidification, real facts that are measurable, precise and conclusive – right now.  We will be releasing new shirts this Spring – enlightening our customers about this growing and dangerous concern.  We’ve already written our Senators numerous times, and so should you.  We must reduce our carbon footprint immediately.

Go research this for yourself, don’t dismiss this, start learning, and take action.  http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/OA/background.html

 

 

Activist Sportswear: One Customer at a Time

Does it help or hurt being a politically active apparel company.  I’m sure my company would gain more customers if we were politically correct, stayed away from tough issues and only focused on pretty words and phrases.  The fact is, I started Planet Protect Sportswear because I’m sick of the decimation of our oceans, the lack of focus on our marine environments, and the lack of protections (Internationally) for our oceans around the world.   Should I focus on what’s primarily good, and ignore the serious concerns?  Marine activism isn’t sexy, its not very fashionable, though I think our graphics and designs are cool, it may well be a turn off for a majority of our female customers.  Plastic pollution isn’t on the forefront of everyone’s mind… but who else is going to push this issue.

The occasional news stories about marine and coastal concerns isn’t going to change a thing.  The acidity levels in our oceans are rising, and governments around the world – including our own, are more concerned with short-term jobs and profits than long-term livability and responsibility.

We have some great new items coming out next year, stylish, cool, hip and very attractive.  However, everything we sell is a reminder that the fight for our oceans must continue.  Our customers wear our clothes with pride, and if it means we sell less, because we support activism and conservationist attitudes, well that’s OK too!

Keep Your Damn Golf Balls Out of the Ocean

Every time I head out into the reefs, there is always a bright white object that catches my eye.  Sometimes its a multitude of bright white objects… golf balls.  It always struck as strange that golf balls would be in areas of the reef, where is there no golf course.  I have tried to figure out current patterns, and yet, those currents do not lead to the offending golf course. 

So how are these balls getting out into the ocean, and deep inside the reef areas?

My own father gave me the answer.  “Its the fantasy of most golfers to hit balls into the ocean.”  He’s even done it himself he confessed to me. On most of my excursions, the golf balls are typically along a well traveled road, near a parking area, and easy access to the beach.  Which might explain the proliferation of balls in certain areas and not others.  And, I surmise, that these golfers, know that doing this is fundamentally wrong, because I’ve never seen anyone doing this during the day, so are these guys being night drivers?

trash from a dive including a golf ball

I really enjoy the game of golf, but, more and more, this is becoming a pollution problem.  I recently read a story that Lock Ness has ten’s of thousands of golf balls at the bottom of the lake.  Apparently, this is a golfer’s fantasy around the globe.  Well, knock it off!  These things don’t break down, decompose, and marine mammals think they are food.  And yes, there is a funny episode of Seinfeld, where Kramer hits a ball into the blowhole of a whale.   In this case, not funny, a pain in the butt for divers and marine conservationists like me…

The Importance of Organics

We here at Planet Protect – the Organic Sportswear Co – are frequently asked what are the advantages of Organic Cotton?  Why sell it, what’s the significance?  These are great questions, and we typically get such questions at the trade shows we participate.  People easily understand organic foods – no pesticides and fungicides are used to grow the food, making the food a healthy choice.  In terms of clothing, since we don’t eat our clothes, the real value is in the farming and land use.  Tons of highly toxic chemicals are used in the production of cotton.  The plant is doused with a dangerous mixture to ward of pests, fungus and other detractors to its growth. 

Unfortunately, the run off of this toxicity is dangerous to people, our water supplies and health.  Organic cotton is truly the best choice for consumers.  The number of organic cotton farmers has increased dramatically, and we at Planet Protect applaud these suppliers and will continue to sell only Organic cotton t-shirts.

Visit the Organic Trade Association web site: http://www.ota.com/organic/mt/organic_cotton.html