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Seems like a nice thing for them to do, right?
The Noun Project/Graphic by Cristina Cianci
I mean, toxins are terrible and scary and should be removed from everythingshouldn’t they?
Detoxesthat purport to flush toxins from your body?
Made of chemicals, just like everything else, but probably more expensive.
Organic food that plays into your perception that theyre made without pesticides?Theyre not.
They just bang that drum of saying were nontoxic without a robust understanding of what the word even means.
Thats true in a general sense.
I focused on opiate toxicology for my masters thesis and worked in a drug toxicology lab for four years.
Toxicology is essentially the study of poisons.
There are endlessexamplesof this.
Then we have to delve into substances that are fine for some organisms and toxic for others.
Some substances, known as teratogens, are perfectly fine for adults but are toxic for developing fetuses.
Welater came to findit was severely toxic for the developing fetus.
In a nutshell: Pretty much everything can be consideredtoxicif misused.
That doesn’t mean everything isa toxin.
If you believe the headlines and advertising, youd have a lot of reasons to be afraid.
Toxinsin the sex toys, thetampons, andof coursein the food supply.
(But mainly thesex toys.)
That’s what they tell you, anyway.
But the way the marketing works isnt always on the level.
Funny that the FDA doesnt give companies carte blanche to just dump toxins into your Teddy Grahams.
First, get a dictionary and learn to pronounce it.
Something being hard to pronounce does not make it bad for you.
Finally, remember that fear sells.
I saw an ad for Phlur fragrances declaring that their fragrances had no toxins.
One of their ingredients was denatured ethyl alcohol, which is very common in perfumes.
Here’s the thing: This ingredient iswicked fucking toxicin the right (wrong) dose.
They chose to market toan audience for whom fear resonatedinstead of just saying our perfume smells good.
I get that people don’t always want totrust the government(and lately, who can blame them?
), but the cosmetics industry, the food industry and even yourcondomsandtampons(though not the supplement industry!
), are regulated to keep people safe.
Don’t buy into their fear-mongering BS.
Chemicals are everywhere?!
No shittell me something I don’t know.
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