Prophetic wombs: The Dangers of PCBs & Methyl Mercury

When a child is conceived there are so many outside influences that can affect the healthy development of its biology that it’s astounding to truly be born completely free of slight irregularities. Everything from the woman’s biological and psychological inclinations can have adverse affects on the fetus. For example when a woman is pregnant they are usually advised to stay away from alcohol do to its implied negativity. It can cause fetal alcohol syndrome in its most severe cases or a diminished IQ level of up to seven (7) points in others. On the positive side it can relax the mother’s muscles during birth, allowing a much smoother delivery, hence a safer one. Everything has to do with moderation, but then there are the things we don’t intentionally consume that have greater more devastating outcomes, like pathogens. These pathogens are such a huge problem because of their prevalence, and ability to spread to the furthest corners of the earth. They have even been detected in the barely touched Antarctic snow, which goes to show how widespread our pollution really is. Pathogens are in their simplest form just synthetic chemicals we produce.

In a world that demands its environment to produce more goods at a faster pace, the use of chemicals is ever more pervasive, today there are approximately Ninety thousand (90,000) synthetic chemicals in circulation with new ones being created every week. These chemicals are used for everything, from Pesticides, to the plastics we use to heat up the food we ingest. Our very delicate endocrine system which is responsible for maintaining a balanced level of hormones is the part of us that is mostly affected by these toxins. More than fifty (50) of these synthetic chemicals have been identified as endocrine disrupters, with hundreds more suspected and yet and still no real action (aside from the most potent ones (known right now) not being used anymore) has taken place. This very sad truth brings to the light the inadequacy of our governments in establishing certain guidelines to protect the public.

Two examples of these pathogens are Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and Methyl mercury. These two alone have caused lower IQs, autism, Cerebral palsy and even Down syndrome. The way they affect the fetus is by penetrating the placentas protective barrier and the fetal blood-brain barrier as well, thus affecting the child’s cognitive abilities and neurological constants. They cause these terrible things through the products we buy and the food we eat. The sad truth is that the damage thus far is with present knowledge irreversible, at best it can be reduced for the future generations who have yet to feel the impact of what our society has for the most part ignored. There have been studies like that of the Dutch experiment, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and last but probably most important after the fact accounts, on the dangerousness of these pathogens. It seems like the more we learn the less we know when it comes to the extent of how wide spread and complicated the issue really is. Many scientists are overwhelmed with the probable amount of endocrine disrupting chemicals, yet they can’t really take any steps to aggressively speak on the issue because it would then become a political venue, where uninformed people would debate whether it’d be necessary to actually change anything. The chemicals that they have singled out are for the most part still being used just in “safe” levels, which is a complete myth; considering the fact that about ten percent (10%) of child bearing aged women living in the United States are found to have toxic levels of mercury in their blood. This is an absolutely sad reality considering the magnitude of what it all implies. However knowing the truth is only part of the solution, there is a lot we can do as a societal organism to make a change globally; we can for once put aside all the hatred greed and mistakes all of our ancestors had made despite their best efforts and try and save each other the human race. It wouldn’t be an easy task but for all the narcissistic intelligence in this world, it’s astonishing to see that with all the new evidence found on the effects these pathogens and their destruction on the human fetus (even and especially at its most vulnerable stages) have that we sit and let these things happen. It’s an informed guess to assume that since these pathogens are affecting the intelligence of our future generations by limiting their IQ levels, like in the Dutch study of the affects that PCB has on children who were exposed to these substances in utero, that gradually it will affect our survival now and in a hundred years. For now the effects seem to be measurable but not devastating if you aren’t the parent of one of the children who were born with Down syndrome due to the pollution.

If we are the ones polluting our environments and in turn intoxicating our own offspring to the extent that it impairs their abilities than how will civilization continue? Of course it wouldn’t be a reasonable idea to abandon our post industrialized societies in order to stop the inevitable demise of the human population but look and invest into ways that we can produce more efficiently through less harmful ways. We have to educate ourselves and our kin in order to correct our trial and error mistakes that have impacted our lives. After all anything worth having is worth fighting for and that is LIFE.