Toxic Chemicals and Their Impact on Health
You may have noticed that many companies now make household goods with “non-toxic” somewhere on the label – cleaning solutions, personal care items, food and beverage containers, children’s toys, clothing, and even things we eat are marketed as healthy alternatives to what people have used for decades.
Why the switch?
Modern research has found that many chemicals used in manufacturing (often for well-intended purposes, like durability or effectiveness) are harmful to humans, animals, and the environment.
Understanding how these toxic chemicals can impact your health and knowing where you might come into contact with them will help you align your lifestyle with your wellness goals. In this article, we’ll share these details for some of the most common harmful chemicals.
We will also explain how to remove harmful chemicals from the body naturally so you can get your body to a more healthful state – the way nature intended.
The Impact of Toxin Exposure on Health
Contact with toxic substances has the potential to seriously damage human health. Metabolic disorders, hormone dysfunction, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, pneumonia, congenital disabilities, neurological problems, and immune system alterations are among the possible effects of having a build-up of toxins in your system [1].
Here is a more tangible list of what common contaminants can do to different systems in your body [2]:
Respiratory System
Your respiratory system, which includes your nasal passages, pharynx, bronchi, and lungs, supplies the body with oxygen and converts carbon dioxide.
- Sources: Old batteries, degreasers, car exhaust, and furnaces or wood-burning stoves.
- Toxins: Asbestos, radon, cadmium, benzene, carbon monoxide, and soot.
- Possible Health Effects: Lung diseases, bronchitis, fibrosis, emphysema, and lower blood-oxygen levels.
Renal System
The renal system comprises your kidneys, urethra, bladder, and ureter. It helps eliminate waste and regulate body fluids and salts.
- Sources: Old batteries, cigarette smoke, old paint, outdated plumbing, thermostats, thermometers, some fish, food and water, nuclear testing sites, degreasers, paint removers, dry cleaning solutions.
- Toxins: Cadmium, lead, mercury, uranium, chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents (TCE, PCE, PCT).
- Possible Health Effects: Decreased urine production, blood flow to kidneys, ability to filter blood and urine flow, kidney tissue damage, and kidney diseases.
Cardiovascular System
Your cardiovascular system includes your heart, blood, arteries, veins, and capillaries. This body system helps move nutrients, gasses, and wastes, regulate body temperature, and combat disease and infection.
- Sources: Car exhaust, unvented furnaces, industrial production, fertilizers, auto parts cleaners, paint removers
- Contaminants: Carbon monoxide, carbon disulfide, nitrates, methylene chloride.
- Possible Health Effects: Heart failure and inadequate oxygen levels throughout the body.
Reproductive System
The reproductive system regulates egg and sperm cell production, fetal development, and hormone production. The male reproductive system comprises the testicles, seminal vesicles, prostate gland, and penic. Female reproductive systems include the uterus, bladder, vagina, Fallopian tubes, ovaries, and cervix.
- Sources: Some fish, coal-burning power, car exhaust, unvented furnaces, old paint, outdated plumbing.
- Toxins: Methyl mercury, carbon monoxide, lead.
- Possible Health Effects: Infertility or low fertility, congenital disabilities, infant mortality.
Nervous System
Your nervous system – both the central and peripheral nervous systems – helps different parts of your body communicate.
- Sources: Pressure-treated wood, discarded batteries, car exhaust, unvented furnaces, rat poison.
- Toxins: Arsenic, cadmium, carbon monoxide, cyanide.
- Possible Health Effects: Loss of movement or feeling, confusion, issues with speech, sight, memory, muscle strength, or coordination.
Immune System
Your lymph system, bone marrow, white blood cells, and spleen help protect the body from tumor cells, harmful environmental substances, viruses, and bacteria.
- Sources: Thermostats, some fish, old paint, outdated plumbing, unwashed fruits and vegetables, industrial waste, cigarette smoke, vehicle exhaust, asphalt roads.
- Toxins: Mercury, lead, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
- Possible Health Effects: Allergies, decreased immunity, autoimmunity.
Skin
Your largest organ keeps out germs, protects hydration levels, and regulates body temperature.
- Sources: Cement, thermostats, some fish, pressure-treated wood, paints, industrial production, industrial waste, fumes from gasoline, paint, adhesives, and building supplies.
- Toxins: Nickel, mercury, arsenic, chromium, PCBs, volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
- Possible Health Effects: Irritation, rash, redness, discoloration, dermatitis, and contamination of internal systems.
Hepatic System
Your liver and veins break down food, store nutrients, make proteins for clotting blood, and filter drugs, contaminants, and chemicals from the body.
- Sources: Adhesives, auto parts cleaners, paint removers, pipe sealer.
- Toxins: Carbon tetrachloride, methylene chloride, vinyl chloride.
- Possible Health Effects: Liver damage, tumors, fat accumulation, liver cell death.
Please note that this list is not meant to generate fear but to increase awareness about the prevalence of these chemicals in modern life. In many cases, it’s impossible – not to mention impractical – to completely avoid them.
Toxic chemicals are an unfortunate by-product of today’s world. However, there are steps you can take to regularly cleanse your body of toxins and potentially avoid their harmful effects on the body. One step is using a toxin removal supplement.
How to Remove Harmful Chemicals From the Body Naturally
A toxin binder detox supplement that binds to toxins, traps them, and eliminates them through the digestive tract can be an effective way to cleanse your body, potentially helping you avoid illness.
Supplements containing ingredients like ozonated activated charcoal, Himalayan shilajit, chlorophyllin, broccoli sprouts, boron, and fulvic and humic ionic minerals may be effective for bonding to heavy metals and toxins and facilitating their removal from the body.
In combination with using a toxin removal supplement, it’s recommended to decrease your at-home exposure to harmful substances by eating organic foods, drinking filtered water, and switching to non-toxic or clean household products when you run out of the conventional ones you may have now.
References (2)
- Lavezzi, Anna M., and Bruno Ramos-Molina. "Environmental Exposure Science and Human Health." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 20, no. 10, 1 Jan. 2023, p. 5764.
- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Health Effects of Chemical Exposure. 2011.
Dr. Edward Group, DC
FOUNDER | HEALER | ADVOCATEDr. Group, DC is a healer and alternative health advocate, and an industry leader and innovator in the field of natural health who is dedicated to helping others. He is a registered doctor of chiropractic (DC), a naturopathic practitioner (NP), and proud alum of Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management. Dr. Group, DC is the founder of Global Healing – a mission and vision he has shared through best-selling books and frequent media appearances. He aims to spread his message of positivity, hope, and wellness throughout the world.
