IMPACT
It’s time to talk about the part we can all play in reducing toxic pollution – you don’t even have to leave the house. Biologist, author and plastic pollution campaigner Anna Turns shows us how…
If you’ve been to the seaside recently, you’re sure to have seen it: every kind of litter – from bottles and bags to straws and take-away containers – washed up on the shore. In fact, few of us head to the beach without a bin bag along with our buckets and spades these days, to collect the rubbish we come across. But the plastic you see strewn across the beach or blowing down the street is only part of a much bigger pollution story.
While researching for my book, Go Toxic Free (Michael O’Mara Books, £14.99), I delved into the science behind the synthetics used in every part of the home, from the bathroom cabinet to the garden shed. The impact of harmful or hazardous synthetic substances is much less tangible than plastic litter – but plastic is just the tip of the iceberg.
Toxic chemicals are all around us, from pesticide residues on your food to flame retardants in your furniture. It might surprise you to know that some synthetic chemicals increase the risk of certain cancers, while others can affect brain development and behaviour, and disrupt your hormone systems. Often, exposure to toxic chemicals occurs gradually, so the effects can be chronic and long term, rather than sudden and acute.
This may sound alarming – and a sense of overwhelm can easily lead to inaction. But there’s good news: reducing your own toxic load – that’s the amount of different chemicals you breathe in, eat or drink, or come into direct skin contact with – can radically improve your own health and wellbeing, as well as that of the planet. And it’s easier than you may think with just a few simple lifestyle changes, which in turn reduce the risk of health issues. So, where should you start?
Let’s begin with supermarket shelves. They’re full of disinfectant cleaning sprays that normalise toxic products – surely they’re okay if everybody else is using them, right? Wrong. It gets poured into the toilet, sprayed over kitchen surfaces and rinsed down plugholes. But take a closer look and you’ll see a picture of a dead fish on the back of the bottle, alongside the warning: ‘Harmful to aquatic life’. Exposure to chlorine-based bleach can result in flare-ups of respiratory conditions such as asthma, and bleach can be an irritant to the mouth, skin and eyes.
Many scented laundry detergents contain surfactants that help to produce a lather and emulsify dirt – but they’re not necessarily biodegradable in the sewage system. Some build up in sediment and ha
