Learning More about Toxins in Your Community, Home, and Body

Scorecard is a project of Environmental Defense that analyzes trends in U.S. pollution based on the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory data. Just enter your zip code and find out what pollutants are being released into your community - and who is responsible.

Visit: www.scorecard.org

The Right to Know Network

A service provided by OMB Watch that provides free access to numerous databases, text files, and conferences on the environment. With the information available on RTK NET, you can identify specific factories and their environmental effects and assess people and communities affected.

Visit www.rtk.net

Health and Environment Resource Center

Information on the health affects associated with commonly used products, including cleaners, pesticides, and personal care products.

Visit http://www.herc.org/maketheconnection/

Environmental Working Group

The results of a comprehensive study of the "pollution in people" that tested 9 individuals for 210 chemicals that occur in consumer products and industrial pollution.

Visit www.bodyburden.org

Organic Food

Find organic co-ops, farmer's markets, natural food stores, and farms at the Organic Consumer's Association.

Visit The Organic Consumer's Association

Organic fruits and vegetables

Buying organic food reduces your exposure to pesticides and reduces harm to the planet. Organic farming is safer for agricultural workers, who are among the people most at risk for exposure to pesticides, and it prevents endocrine-disrupting chemicals in pesticides from ending up in our water system. If your local grocers don't carry organic food, keep contacting them and let them know there's a market for safer, healthier food. Learn more about organic food at www.foodnews.org

Safe seafood

A number of recent studies have found high levels of PCB's in farmed fish. Farmed fish are also treated with antibiotics and dyed with petroleum-based dyes. They also contain lower amounts of the omega-3 fatty acids that make fish a nutritional champ. When possible, choose wild fish low in mercury, like salmon and sardines. Click here for more information on safe seafood.

Meat, poultry and dairy

Non-organic meat, poultry and dairy products are a major source of pesticides, hormones, and other chemicals in our diet. Many of the toxics in our environment are fat-soluble and accumulate in our bodies. These contaminants are passed from organism to organism up the food chain and their concentration magnifies as they go. This means that when we eat animal products, we consume the toxics in that animal as well as the toxics in the plants and animals they've eaten, and so on. When possible, choose organic, hormone and antibiotic-free meat, poultry, and dairy products.

Find a store that carries certified Human Raised and Handled meat near you.

Read more about organic meat, poultry, and dairy.

Community Supported Agriculture

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) connects local farmers with local consumers develops a regional food supply and strong local economy, encourages land stewardship, and honors the knowledge and experience of growers and producers working with small to medium farms. Find a CSA farm near you.

Safe Household Products

Resources

Safe Shopper's Bible: A Consumer's Guide to Non-Toxic Household Products, Cosmetics and Food, David Steinman and Samuel S. Epstein, MD. (Macmillan, 1995)

Home Safe Home, Protecting Yourself and Your Family from Everyday Toxics and Harmful Household Products
Debra Lynn Dadd ( Tarcher/Putnam, 1997)

A Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients
Ruth Winter (Three Rivers Press, 1999)

Living Downstream - An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment
Sandra Steingraber ( Vintage Books, 1998)

Our Stolen Future, Are we Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence and Survival? A Scientific Detective Story, Theo Colburn, Diane Durnanoskj & John Peterson Myers (Plume, Penguin Books, 1997)

Dying from Dioxin: A citizen's Guide to Reclaiming Our Health and Rebuilding Democracy, Lois Marie Gibbs and the Citizens Clearing house for Hazardous Waste ( South End Press, 1995)

Toxic Deception: How the Chemical Industry Manipulates Science, Bends the Law and Endangers Your Health, Dan Fagin, Marianne Lavelle and the Center for Public Integrity (Common Courage Press, 1999)

Clean and Green: The Complete Guide to Non-Toxic and Environmentally Safe Housekeeping, Annie Berthold-Bond. (Ceres Press, 1990)

The Green Kitchen Handbook: Practical Advice, References, and Sources for Transforming the Center of Your Home into a Healthful, Livable Place,
Annie Berthold-Bond (Three Rivers Press, 1999)

The Healthy Home: An Attic to Basement Guide to Toxin Free Living
Linda Mason Hunter (iUniverse.com, 2000)