Nicole Bijlsma - Healthy Home Guru

Victorians can now sign an online petition against smart meters at the link at a
great new website: http://stopsmartmetersau.com/

There is also space to enter your specific concerns, which will give added
weight to the petition (look at Signatures at the bottom of the petition webpage
to see other people's comments). You can also register yourself at the new website if you wish to be informed of updates posted to the site.

Halt Smart Meters would appreciate it if this information is distributed to as
many Victorians as possible, as quickly as possible.

Benzophenone (BP) is an ingredient that is commonly found in perfumes, lipstick as well as hair and skin products such as sunscreens to prevent sunlight from breaking down the products. It is a hormone disrupting chemical that interferes with thyroid function and lowers testosterone (Kim et al, 2011). There are serious concerns about its impact on male fertility.

Smart meters are receiving alot of adverse attention worldwide for many reasons. Could it be the significant increase in your energy bill, the worldwide collapse of bee colonies (and ultimately our food source!), the fire risks or the admission by the World Health Organisation this year that radiofrequencies are likely to cause cancer that get your attention?

Here are 8 reasons why they should not be in your home!

The US EPA is about to crack down on Glymes (glycol ethers)- solvents used in thousands of everyday household products including paints and paint strippers, carpet cleaners, inkjet cartridges, lithium batteries, brake fluid, polycarbonate plastics, adhesives and sealants, and during the production of hypertension, asthma and anti-depression drugs.

Concerns were first raised in 1995 as a result of a significant increase in miscarriages in semiconductor manufacturing workers. More recent studies have also highlighted these concerns (Schenker, 2010). As a result of the fact that glymes are potent development and reproductive toxins, the European Union has enforced that labels of products containing monoglyme or diglyme must warn consumers that they “may impair fertility” or “may cause harm to the unborn child.” No such labelling exists in US or Australia to date.

Concerns surrounding perfluorinated chemicals used in non-stick cookware, food packaging and stain repellant clothing have been raised for some time after these chemicals were found in the blood of over 90% of Americans. Recent research has now linked them to hyperactivity and early menopause amongst other things. Click here to see how you can reduce your exposure.

You probably already know that some plastics are a problem for our health in particularly PVC (3), polystyrene (6) and some polycarbonate (7) because they contain hormone disrupting chemicals which are thought to be contributing to early puberty, diabetes, obesity, heart disease as well as cancer of the breast and testicles. Well new research is indicating that some of the BPA free plastic could be more harmful than BPA! Many of these 'new' plastics such as PES (polyethylsulfone) contain BPS and BPF which have been shown to be stronger on their impact on the body than BPA.

My solution: use glass, ceramics, pyrex and stainless steel to store your food and beveriges in.

Here is my interview recently on Channel 10 The Circle to shed some light on the issue.

For further reading on plastics click here.

We all know how important sunscreens are to prevent skin cancer... however recent research indicates not only that most DO NOT protect against harmful UV rays, but they may contain chemicals that affect our hormones (oxybenzone or 4-MBC), damage the skin and in some cases, actually increase the rate of skin cancer. To find out the best and worst sunscreens click here.