Surviving the Chemical Age

This Caged Bird is Going to Sing “If one has courage, nothing can dim the light that shines from within.” Dr. Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings If you’ve read my post on this site “All of Us are Canaries Now” then you are aware that the term “Canary” for chemically sensitive people is derived from the historical practice of coal miners taking a canary in a cage down into a mine shaft with them while working. As long as the canary was still alive and well, the miners assumed it was safe for them to go to keep working in the mine. The canary bird is best known, however, for its beautiful song, which delights its listeners. But those of us humans who identify as “Canaries” are less likely to sing. We have survived “going down into the mine shafts” of environmental exposures but we suffer …

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“If It Smells, It Sells” Serious journalists complain that “if it bleeds, it leads” when their substantive, public-serving stories are bumped off the front page and not used as “teasers” on TV news programs in favor of tales that have more blood, tragedy, and shock value. The editors, who are responsible for keeping readership and media outlet profits up, understand human nature and know that such titillating stories are much more likely to catch the viewer’s attention. Similarly, modern manufacturers of a whole array of products from garbage bags to car waxes to construction materials to bubblegum know something about human nature too: “if it smells, it sells.” A product advertised as having “fragrance” is much more likely to be purchased than one without added scent. What manufacturers do not disclose is these fragrances are made up of synthetic chemicals (not natural ingredients) and harm human health and the environment, …

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INTRODUCTION to Category: “Surviving the Chemical Age”   “For the first time in the history of the world, every human being is now being subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception until death.”  Rachel Carson, The Silent Spring “Canary in a Coal Mine” In the past, coal miners would lower a canary in a cage down into the mine to check for the presence of dangerous gases. If the canary was sick or dead when its cage was pulled back up, the miners knew not to go down into the mine. Nowadays, all of us, our loved ones and our pets are “canaries.” We are the subjects in an uncontrolled experiment by the Chemical Industry. We are all being sickened by it, whether we know it yet or not. When I was a young child, we worried about “The Bomb”— annihilation by nuclear war. Today the …

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