A major thing that has frustrated me about the alternative health community is the "not in my backyard" mentality regarding toxins. Yes people should be very concerned about toxins- they can cause various health problems including cancer. They can be found in all sorts of cleaning products, bodycare products, in and on food. The alternative health community- at least that which i have been exposed to- promotes avoiding the use of these toxic products, in addition to avoiding plastics, microwaves, etc. They promote "all natural" products, organic agriculture, etc. They're into "detoxing" by using herbal products that cleanse their bodies of toxins.
They are concerned about pollution. But there are people who are constantly exposed to toxins in high levels. Like people who have to live near toxic dump sites, people who have to work with pesticides, artificial chemicals, and outright toxic waste everyday. People who have to live with lead paint- still, and other similar toxic environments. But people with class and white privilege can avoid these things. Meanwhile people on reservations, farm workers, people who work in factories and maquiladoras, and more tend to be mostly people of color and do not have a high enough class status for people who can do something about it to care. When i was interested in researching herbal and other alternative health methods of helping such people become healthier i became aware that there is hardly any such research out there. In addition, i was warned that doing typical detoxes could bring on a very traumatic response from the body- since many toxins get stored in fat cells, bones, etc.- releasing them back into the bloodstream can be very hard on the body, causing symptoms that may be very difficult to deal with. For the most part, the exposure to these toxins in various communities is environmental racism- something that's been going on for decades.
People do fight back though. And there have been successes. Help make this fight a success...
