Human Guinea Pigs

We all want to believe that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) protects us from anything dangerous in our food and drug supply. We'd like to think the FDA painstakingly tests products to assure consumers are not harmed. Wake up everyone! The fact is when the FDA approves a new drug for public use it has not tested that drug and it's safety. Get this, the FDA relies on the safety information from the drug manufacturer itself! This bears repeating. The manufacturer tells the FDA their own drug is safe, providing their own studies and results for the FDA to review. What?! Are you kidding me?!

The FDA also does not test the safety of ingredients in cosmetics or personal care products, instead relying on the industry to "self-police". There is no objective other party who tests these drugs and chemicals in our food, cosmetics and personal care products. There are thousands of new chemicals introduced yearly that no agency can even keep up with or even tries. The big pharma industry is making billions of dollars and lining their own pockets at our risk. Are you as outraged as me? Since the FDA doesn't know anymore than you or me about the safety or lack of safety for a drug, you should be.

Personal care products and cosmetics are sold in the U.S. to the public without approval from the FDA. The phrase "buyer beware" has never gone out of style and has never been more true than today. Being an educated and informed consumer is as critical today as it was during the time of snake oil salesmen. Thank goodness today we have resources like non-profit organizations like the Environmental Working Group, EWG, in Washington, D.C.

Every consumer uses an average of 9 personal care products daily, containing on the average 126 separate ingredients, with women using a much larger number. At least one third of these ingredients have been identified as causing cancer or other serious health problems. The European Union has banned over 1100 ingredients in personal care products; the FDA has banned only about a dozen of these.

Ellen and I made the choice to take control of our own destiny the best we could. Eliminating chemicals and ingredients that were synthetic in our personal care products and in our families' groceries. Remember, if you read a synthetic chemical on the ingredient label, then you are taking your chances of putting something in and on your body that has not been objectively tested for safety. Are you willing to take that risk or risk that of your family? Are we going allow ourselves to be one big human experiment?

Let's stop being the human guinea pig and buy products and groceries that are free of chemicals and synthetic ingredients. The only real way to affect change in our society is to vote with our dollars.