Lower income populations are the most susceptible to being exposed to toxic chemicals, have poorer nutrition, and high stress in their lives. Dr. Rishi Manchanda addresses this vulnerable population in his “What makes us sick? Look Upstream” Ted Talk. He tells the story of a woman who is exposed to mold, roaches and water leaks in her home and explains how critical it is to understand where health begins. The woman’s living situation was causing her to have constant visits to the ER for headaches, she was given medication and sent back home. A different approach taken by Dr. Manchanda was to ask about conditions that matter in a person’s health, he diagnosed her with chronic allergies and referred her to a community health worker that would help fix the patient’s housing situation. After housing was fixed the women improved by 90% and her child’s asthma also improved. Health care is treating and preventing, it is important to ask questions about housing, food insecurity, violence, transportation, accessibility to parks, and nutrition. Other vulnerable populations are pregnant women and young children. What made an impression is that no level of chemical exposure is safe. Toxins impact babies in the womb and after they are born. During pregnancy, exposure to flame retardants (PBDE’s) connected to impact a child’s IQ. Exposure to lead, plastics, and PBDE’s are affecting children’s development and reproductive health. In the Reuters article “Human reproduction, health broadly damaged by toxic chemicals: report” a physician and the lead author Gian Carlo Di Renzo is quoted saying, “We are drowning our world in untested and unsafe chemicals and the price we are paying in terms of our reproductive health is of serious concern.” This is a concern we should be fighting. The science is available and now is the time to ask for policy to make corporations accountable.
Living in California, I have many opportunities to access healthy seasonal food. There is a wide variety of vegetables and fruits available in the Fall. With so much variety and relatively short food miles in California, seasonal hospital menus can be a beneficial solution to support local farms, provide healthy options, and continue patient education on the importance of healthy nutrition with local seasonal fruits and vegetables. In the future, I would like to live in Washington state. Washington state also produces a lot of food and I decided to look up their Harvest calendar. This would be a shift if I decided to move there and eat local seasonal food. I would have to learn new and be okay in not eating as much citrus fruit. The article Obesogens, An Environmental Link to Obesity introduced a new explanation that chemicals can also impact our metabolism. There is overwhelming evidence that the cause of obesity is poor nutrition and limited physical activity that it is astonis...
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