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Dr. Yvonne Burkart: How fragrance hijacks your hormones

A toxicologist links her own infertility to everyday product exposures: fragrance, plastics, cookware, and cosmetics quietly disrupt human hormones.

Dr Yvonne BurkartguestSteven Bartletthost
Nov 18, 20241h 59mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:00 – 2:16

    Intro

    1. YB

      Don't believe everything you see on a product that you're buying, because we're being exposed to really toxic chemicals that we know cause harm.

    2. SB

      Okay, so I've got everyday products that we're all using. Is this good?

    3. YB

      No.

    4. SB

      What about this?

    5. YB

      Absolutely not.

    6. SB

      Is this a good one?

    7. YB

      Yes.

    8. SB

      This?

    9. YB

      Throw that out.

    10. SB

      Good, bad?

    11. YB

      There are so many issues with that.

    12. SB

      This?

    13. YB

      Perfect.

    14. SB

      What about this?

    15. YB

      This is one of the worst products that you can use.

    16. SB

      I've been using it every day.

    17. YB

      Get rid of them.

    18. SB

      Goodbye.

    19. YB

      Dr. Yvonne Burkart is a toxicologist-

    20. SB

      ... whose groundbreaking research has unveiled the shocking truth about the hidden risks of toxins found in everyday products. And what we can do about it.

    21. YB

      We don't know what we're exposing ourselves to, because by law, in Europe and in the US, manufacturers do not have to disclose certain ingredients. But we finally have proof that there are links to increased rates of cancer, infertility, obesity. We know that a surface scratch on a nonstick piece of cookware can release 9,000 particles into your food, and those microplastics have been found in lungs, heart, brain, penis.

    22. SB

      There's microplastics in my penis?

    23. YB

      Yes. And scientists have found that eventually, we will become more plastic than we are humans if we continue at this rate.

    24. SB

      You seem really pissed off about this.

    25. YB

      I'm really angry that people have to suffer. I mean, these chemicals are causing children to have cognitive delays. They start having behavioral issues, and I think it brings up a lot of emotions for me, because I've been personally impacted, but I think (clears throat) of how many millions of people around the world are struggling and don't know why.

    26. SB

      So what are the most important things that we can do to have the biggest impact?

    27. YB

      Number one...

    28. SB

      This has always blown my mind a little bit. 53% of you that listen to this show regularly haven't yet subscribed to this show. So could I ask you for a favor before we start? If you like this show, and you like what we do here, and you wanna support us, the free simple way that you can do just that is by hitting the subscribe button. And my commitment to you is, if you do that, then I'll do everything in my power, me and my team, to make sure that this show is better for you every single week. We'll listen to your feedback. We'll find the guests that you want me to speak to, and we'll continue to do what we do. Thank you so much. Dr. Yvonne Burkart. I've consumed a lot of your content. I've seen your videos. I've read t- a ton of your work. Just to start, if you had to sort of encapsulate

  2. 2:16 – 7:59

    Yvonne’s Warning

    1. SB

      the warning that you're communicating to people into a sentence, what would that warning be?

    2. YB

      Don't believe everything you see on a container, a bottle, or a product that you're buying.

    3. SB

      Why? What's the consequence?

    4. YB

      Is that if you're believing in the marketing and what you see on the front of the label instead of actually reading the ingredients, you could be exposing yourself to toxins that you probably don't wanna be.

    5. SB

      And what's, wha- what mission are you on, Yvonne?

    6. YB

      Well, I'm on a mission to empower people to avoid environmental toxins so they can protect their families, and really using science and evidence to make informed decisions that affect their health.

    7. SB

      And what is the, the macro picture here? When you think about the world we're living in and how exposed we are to toxins, do you think people are at all aware of the toxins that we're consuming every day?

    8. YB

      I think now, people are becoming more aware, but there are new toxins that are emerging every day, and it's simply a consequence of how the system is set up, and it's mainly because chemicals and products are not required to be tested for safety before they're released onto the market, at least in the US and many other regions of the world. And so what happens is people are buying these products, and we're being exposed to chemicals that we have no idea how they're actually impacting our health, if they're harmful or not, and we're basically guinea pigs in a massive human experiment that no one signed up for, that we didn't consent to.

    9. SB

      And what's the risk?

    10. YB

      Well, the risk is that we go about our daily lives not knowing what we're consuming or being exposed to, and then later on in life, unfortunately fall ill and suffer from some chronic disease.

    11. SB

      Are there particular illnesses that are most closely associated with toxins in our environment and toxins that we're consuming every day?

    12. YB

      Yes. So cancer is probably one of the most clear associations, as well as infertility. And more widely known are issues like not being able to conceive, having a decrease in sperm count, sperm quality, and the fact that sperm count has declined by 50% in the last 50 years is pretty alarming.

    13. SB

      And who are you?

    14. YB

      I'm a toxicologist, but I'm also a mom.

    15. SB

      What's a toxicologist?

    16. YB

      So I study the basic science of poisons. How do chemicals interact with the cells in our bodies, and how do they cause harm? But not only that, how do our cells defend themselves against these toxins?

    17. SB

      Why did you choose to do toxicology? You know, uh, you could've done anything with your life. You could've pursued anything.

    18. YB

      I found it by accident. Was it really an accident though? I don't know. I think I was led there. I think I've always been interested. I think, I think I was meant to share this. And I think it brings up, um, a lot of emotions for me, because I've been personally impacted, but I think (clears throat) of how many millions of people around the world are struggling and don't know why. And so if I can bring awareness to that, then I feel like my mission is complete. But I studied toxicology because just in my body, I knew that something was amiss. We need to study this environment around us. We need to be more aware and more conscious of what we're doing, and when I was an undergrad and I discovered toxicology, I was living the absolute conventional lifestyle, and sick all the time and wondering why, and just thinking that it was normal, and I shrugged it off, and it wasn't normal, and I reversed it.

    19. SB

      It's so personal for you, isn't it?

    20. YB

      It is, absolutely.

    21. SB

      Why?

    22. YB

      Not only because I've been personally impacted, but... (pauses) I want my children to, to have the best version of me, so I can look after them, and so that I don't have to worry about them having some of the problems that I had.

    23. SB

      And you're scared about that?

    24. YB

      I'm concerned, and I take action on it every single day. I think about it all the time. But not in, not in a, a, a scared way, just, "What else can I do? What else can I research? What else can I learn? How else can I implement this, and how else can I share this so that other people can implement it?" Because there's so much going on in the scientific community about these toxic chemicals that the general public doesn't know, and we all have a right to know.

    25. SB

      Have we got any tissues, Jo?

    26. YB

      (laughs) Thank you. Didn't expect to cry. (laughs)

    27. SB

      Yeah, I mean-

    28. YB

      (laughs)

    29. SB

      I mean, I can understand, but it's, it's illuminating, 'cause it really shows w- why you're doing what you're doing and how much it means to you, which I think is really important. Um...

    30. YB

      Mm-hmm.

  3. 7:59 – 10:17

    How Motherhood Intensified Yvonne’s Mission

    1. YB

      did never pay attention to toxins before. I studied toxicology. I was in the lab. I was looking at really toxic chemicals, chemicals that we know cause harm and cause cancer. But as I went on with my life, I started to face more and more increasing health issues, increasing in severity, until I was faced with fertility challenges. And I was unable and unwilling to accept at the time that IVF, or in vitro fertilization, would be my only option if I wanted to have a family. And I was unwilling to accept that because I said, "Wait a second. I know that there's an environmental component to this. There's chemicals in our environment that are impacting my fertility." That's what I studied in the lab. I studied fertility and can- cancer. So it was quite shocking to me that I actually started to struggle with some of these conditions, but no one could give me answers. And what was missing from my view at the time was these low-dose chronic exposures over a lifetime to toxins and chemicals in our products, in our homes, in our outside world, that nobody really has connected to some of these disease states. And so it wasn't until I embarked on a journey of self-discovery and research that I started to uncover the linkages between these low-dose environmental chemicals in products that we're using all the time and how they impacted my health. And when I started to remove them and replace them with safer options, my health returned. My health recovered, and I was actually able to conceive my own children without assistance.

    2. SB

      How old were you when you were first told that IVF was the only route?

    3. YB

      I was 32.

    4. SB

      Okay. And you'd had tests done and stuff, and... at that time, to see if you were... y- your foot, sort of fertility levels and things like that?

    5. YB

      Right. I was actually not having a cycle at that point for nine months.

    6. SB

      You didn't have a period at all?

    7. YB

      I didn't have a period. So, that is quite striking, because as a person in their 30s, people don't go through menopause and have, you know, a lack of a period until sometimes 50 years old. That's, um, almost 20 years earlier than that. That was really shocking to me. Something was clearly wrong, my body was screaming for help, and I had no other option but to take matters into my own hands.

  4. 10:17 – 12:22

    The Medical System Lied About Yvonne’s Reproductive Health

    1. YB

    2. SB

      As a toxicologist, someone who's trained and done the research, when you were told that, you know, th- uh, IVF is the only route, what did they say was the, the problem? Because if someone's telling you that IVF is the only route, presumably they're saying that you're, uh, maybe implying between the lines that you're broken in some way or that i- i- it's normal not to have a period at 32. Like, what were they t- what was the, what does the system tell you is the problem with you?

    3. YB

      That's the issue, is that they didn't. They had no answers. They couldn't tell me what the issues were. They said, "Oh, you look normal in tests, but if you're unable to get pregnant on your own, well, the other option is IVF or adopt."

    4. SB

      And as a toxicologist, was there anything that you needed to relearn or reunderstand based on your training that you've discovered wasn't true?

    5. YB

      I had to relearn almost everything, because as a scientist, I was trained as a toxicologist, day one, to follow the path that, and the belief, that the dose makes the poison, that the more you're exposed to a chemical, the more severe the outcome. And that's not always true, because as we know now, there are chemicals in the environment known as endocrine disruptors, at very low levels, have higher activity than they do at high levels. So it's completely-

    6. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    7. YB

      ... backwards. So I had to relearn everything that I had learned (laughs) as a student in order to recover. And in fact, I was so resistant and so hesitant to go outside of what I knew, that actually helped, uh, kept me stuck for much longer than I needed to be.

    8. SB

      Did you say, with endocrine disruptors, that sometimes lower doses are worse than higher doses?

    9. YB

      Exactly.

    10. SB

      How can that be possible?

    11. YB

      They're called non-monotonic dose responses. That's the technical term for it, but it's basically, because the hormones in our bodies are present and active at such extraordinarily tiny amounts that any amount of excess, or a-... chemicals coming from the environment could trigger those same pathways, could be devastating on a cellular level.

  5. 12:22 – 14:27

    How Many Everyday Products Are Toxic?

    1. YB

    2. SB

      And when you think about the products that we use day to day, whether they're beauty products or, you know, might be a frying pan or a spatula, plastic spatula, anything, how many of these sort of day-to-day consumer products have toxic chemicals in them, or at least one toxic chemical?

    3. YB

      Almost everything. And it might shock you to think that (laughs) is almost everything, but unfortunately, it is. It's because our world now is overcome with plastics, single-use plastics, plastic containers, food containers, uh, almost everything that we know of has some plastic element to it. And that's really at the root of a lot of the problems that we have because the chemicals that are used to create the plastics are leaching. The plastics themselves are breaking up, leading to microplastic and nanoplastic release that we are just being constantly bombarded with on a daily basis.

    4. SB

      And what about beauty products? Because I had this conversation with my partner recently. So we're in the process now, I'm 32 years old, so it's that kind of season of life where you start thinking about having a family and kids and such. And so, we've both become pretty conscious of the products that we're applying every day, from shampoos to deodorants.

    5. YB

      For the most part, if you grab a product off of a store shelf, nine times out of ten, there are chemicals of concern in them. And we're talking about major retailers, big box stores. If you go to smaller, let's say health food stores and chains like that, then the percentage is much lower, so the, you have a better chance of getting a safer product at a health food store.

    6. SB

      Just to, before we get into it, can you give me an overview of your personal education and the career journey you've traveled that have resulted in the wisdom that you have now?

    7. YB

      Yeah, so I am a PhD toxicologist. I started studying reproductive toxicity in the laboratory as an undergrad, and we were looking at the effect of environmental chemicals that are pretty much everywhere (laughs) in the environment. They're the products of combustion, so the combustion of gasoline and cars, um, in cigarettes, in

  6. 14:27 – 15:52

    Yvonne’s Background

    1. YB

      cooking, so some of these chemicals, and we looked at the impact on, of them on the reproductive system in males and females. And what we saw was pretty striking, such that when the animals are challenged with these chemicals and they're pregnant, then the offspring, not only the daughters and the sons, but also the grandchildren are impacted by the grandmother being exposed.

    2. SB

      How does that work?

    3. YB

      So, when a woman is pregnant with a female daughter, her developing ovaries, which will then someday become, contain the eggs that will then become the grandchildren are also in the same environment as the mother. So what the, what the mother is being exposed to, the baby is also being exposed to, and also her grandchildren are being exposed.

    4. SB

      So if a mother is exposed to toxins, her babies' babies are being exposed to those toxins.

    5. YB

      That's exactly right.

    6. SB

      So there's sort of a generational toxification of people.

    7. YB

      Yeah, that's called multi-generational toxicity, and it even goes a step further, transgenerational. That's when great-grandchildren can be impacted because what's happening in utero is epigenetic changes, so changes to our DNA that are then being passed down

  7. 15:52 – 17:06

    The Impact of Multi-Generational Toxicity

    1. YB

      through our progeny. So great-grandchildren, even if they live a perfectly clean lifestyle and haven't been exposed to toxins, could have already been genetically predisposed to developing some of these conditions.

    2. SB

      Are there particular toxins that you think are especially susceptible to this sort of transgenerational passing down through mutations in our DNA?

    3. YB

      Yeah, it's the endocrine disruptors. Things like phthalates, bisphenol, PFAS chemicals, a lot of the endocrine disruptors that some people are familiar with, other people are not, but that are found in our everyday products, like nonstick cookware, the makeup and cosmetics that we're using, the plastic containers that we're buying food in.

    4. SB

      What is an endocrine disruptor? Explain that to me like I'm nine years old.

    5. YB

      Okay, so in the human body, we have eight endocrine glands. So they're little centers in our bodies, and they secrete hormones, and these hormones regulate pretty much everything that you can think of. So from sleep, wake, digestion, to how well your brain works, cognition, to metabolism, so how quickly you can burn calories, uh, how much fat you deposit, how much fat you can lose, and

  8. 17:06 – 19:07

    What Are Endocrine Disruptors?

    1. YB

      also your fertility, if you're able to have children someday. So endocrine disruptors are coming in, and they're basically disrupting, like, just as the name indicates. They're throwing the balance off, they're messing up with the signaling, they're causing everything to go haywire in our bodies. So we really need to be careful, especially for children, whose bodies are rapidly developing, and then you're throwing in these endocrine-disrupting chemicals. It's like adding gasoline to, you know, like, a dumpster fire, basically.

    2. SB

      And as it relates to children, are they especially susceptible to endocrine disruptors because they're in a developmental stage?

    3. YB

      Absolutely. So with children, it's extremely unfortunate that they are the most susceptible and most vulnerable to a lot of toxins because, like you said, they're growing. They're not able to detoxify. In fact, a child's detoxification capacity doesn't fully develop until the age of 10 years. So-

    4. SB

      Sorry, de- detoxification capacity? What's that?

    5. YB

      Yes, so the ability of your body to detoxify chemicals. We all have it. Everyone has it. The liver and the kidney are the detox organs, the main ones, but we have this capability of-... being able to break these chemicals down and remove them so that they don't cause harm in our bodies. But with children, that ability isn't fully developed until the age of 10 years old. So if you think about all these little children, they're being exposed even before they're born, after they're born, and then they can't even get rid of these chemicals from their body until they're 10 years old.

    6. SB

      And what are some of the illnesses or diseases that we see in children that a- have been heavily exposed to these endocrine disruptors in our everyday environment?

    7. YB

      The worst is cancer. So we see an increased risk of childhood leukemia with certain exposures. There's also neurodevelopmental delays, so cognitive deficits in children that are exposed to these chemicals. We also see increased rates of obesity. Obesity in children is skyrocketing now, unprecedented levels that we have not seen

  9. 19:07 – 19:48

    Diseases in Children Linked to Endocrine Disruptors

    1. YB

      before, and it's likely due to these chemicals and this genetic predisposition and programming that kids are just being dealt the worst hand possible.

    2. SB

      What about things like neurodivergence? Is there links between things like ADHD and these endocrine disruptors, and you know, a- ADHD, autism, et cetera, et cetera?

    3. YB

      Yeah, there is a link actually. So some of these chemicals have been known to worsen these behavioral conditions like ADHD and autism, like you mentioned.

    4. SB

      And have they, have they done studies on this?

    5. YB

      Yes.

    6. SB

      Oh.

    7. YB

      So there's associations where they'll measure the amount of these chemicals in children through their urine or

  10. 19:48 – 20:28

    Microplastics and Their Link to ADHD

    1. YB

      through their blood, and they'll confirm the severity of these conditions and be able to correlate it with the amount of the chemicals in their bodies.

    2. SB

      And what about, um, the impact this has on things like puberty? Because I was reading some stats before that I think it's, is it women are having, girls are getting, going through puberty earlier and earlier, or is it later and later? I can't remember. It's one of the two.

    3. YB

      It's earlier.

    4. SB

      Okay.

    5. YB

      Earlier and earlier. So children who are being exposed to these chemicals are experiencing earlier puberty, earlier breast development, earlier, um, menstrual cycles, and what that does is actually shift the entire window, because if you think about it, we're born with a cer- a set number of eggs in our

  11. 20:28 – 21:45

    The Effect of Endocrine Disruptors on Puberty

    1. YB

      ovaries. Once those eggs are gone, that's when you start having menopause. So what's happening when you start your period earlier, you actually go through menopause earlier, and that can come with its whole host of risk factors, bone fractures, and so on and so forth.

    2. SB

      And this is because of those endocrine disruptors?

    3. YB

      Likely, yes.

    4. SB

      How, how would they know?

    5. YB

      They've done studies on this as well. So you can see that they've done, um, observational studies where they'll ask, uh, families, "Uh, when did your child start using beauty and personal care products which are loaded with these chemicals?" The children who used more products have more phthalates, m- more endocrine disruptors in their blood and in their urine, and then they have earlier puberty, unfortunately.

    6. SB

      And as it relates to fertility, generally, in adults, are you aware of the shifts we've seen in infertility? Like, what are the numbers? How do you quantify the changes?

    7. YB

      Well, over the last 100 years or so, there's been a drastic decline in the number of live births, so that's one of the numbers that I have looked at recently, right? So it isn't necessarily that more people, um, are experiencing infertility. It could be a measure of people are having children later, could be. Um, people are just having

  12. 21:45 – 23:01

    The Shift in Fertility Trends

    1. YB

      less children. But it is an overall measure of, uh, population level, so it looks like there's just less children being born, and that could be for a whole number of reasons, right? Are people not able to have kids? Are they choosing not to have kids? I would almost argue that it's the fact that people are not able to have kids. When you correlate that with the fact that sperm counts have declined by 50% worldwide, that is absolutely astonishing. We're not at the point yet where humans will go extinct, but if we continue on this path and don't make changes, which there are many ways that we can make changes, then we might be looking at population decline.

    2. SB

      Uh, isn't it the job of the FDA or some kind of government body to regulate the chemicals that are in our everyday items?

    3. YB

      You would think, right? In Europe, the European Commission has a much better system of regulating chemicals, so they require upfront chemical testing depending on the amount that is produced. So chemical manufacturers need to provide data, so they have to fund these studies, these laboratory studies. They have to fund

  13. 23:01 – 25:19

    Shouldn’t the FDA Regulate These Toxins?

    1. YB

      them and provide this package of information to the European Chemicals Agency, or ECHA. And once they do that, then based on the amount that they're producing, you have to give more information. You have to have more testing, such that if you're producing several metric tons of a chemical, you've got to do a whole bunch of studies to really prove that it is safe, not only for people, but also animals and the environment, that it's not going to be something that is persistent, that builds up, that can't be broken down, that starts to accumulate, because that's what we're seeing now with some of these chemicals. And that's really the problem, is that they don't break down. They don't go away. They don't disappear. So then what happens? It basically disrupts the entire ecosystem of the planet.

    2. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    3. YB

      And we're, we're not disconnected from that, right? We're connected-

    4. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    5. YB

      ... to the ecosystem. We rely on that. So if, if we're looking at it from the standpoint that testing of chemicals upfront, that is absolutely something that we should be doing, but no one is really mandating that except in Europe.

    6. SB

      Why don't they mandate it in other parts of the world, like the United States?

    7. YB

      Our system wasn't set up like that over here. I think we've got a different relationship, um, with- between the government and with industry. I think there is a lack of...... regulations, a lack of requirements for toxicity testing, combined with the lack of corporate responsibility. So a lot of these manufacturers don't want to have to foot the bill and pay millions of dollars to have testing only to show that this chemical that they are so excited and in love with can't be used because it's toxic.

    8. SB

      Do you think it is malicious and intentional in terms of, do you think there's a concerted effort to make sure that the government doesn't increase regulation on these industries so that they can continue to produce low-cost items that are, have long shelf lives and, um, are cheaper?

    9. YB

      I would hope not, but it's looking like that, and it's just, this whole system is not set up to protect consumers and then the environment, at least in the US.

    10. SB

      So you, you, you don't have your period yourself. You're told that you, your best option is to go do IVF. You then go on a bit of a journey yourself to unlearn lots of things

  14. 25:19 – 28:59

    Is There Malicious Intent Behind Government Inaction on Toxins?

    1. SB

      you learned in toxicology training. What was the ending to that story in terms of what did you do then? Did you go find a different doctor? Did, what did you change, and what is the ending of that story?

    2. YB

      Well, I fell down a rabbit hole of research, and I had to pick myself up and say, "Hey, you know what? I'm gonna take matters into my own hands. I'm going outside of the route that I thought I was supposed to go down, the mainstream route." So I kind of went, I went sideways a little bit, and I went with integrative and functional medicine. And so I went looking for the root cause, the root cause, which is not necessarily what I was being guided toward with the conventional route. So with integrative and functional medicine, there was personalized testing. And of course, this was all upfront cost for me, but this was something that was absolutely vital, so I found a way (laughs) to pay for these tests. And they told me exactly what I'm deficient in, what I need to do, and they guided me. So I first started with removing inflammatory foods and really dialing in on my diet, and I saw relief from my symptoms in, within two weeks, very rapid. Once I started removing these triggers that were causing digestive problems, then I started to see improvement very fast. But it was then going on six months, and I kind of felt like I hit a plateau. I said, "There's something else that's still triggering me. There's something else that's still bothering me, and I don't feel 100%," even though I've done all the work. I've cleaned up my diet, I cook all my meals at home, I have sourced the best quality meats and vegetables. I even started growing my own food, and there was still something there. Something was not right. And so then I started targeting things in my home. My makeup cabinet, in particular, was a huge source of trigger for me in terms of chemicals and toxicity. Once I started to clean out my makeup drawer, I really saw a shift because what I was doing on a day-to-day basis, I was using several cosmetic products, I was absolutely obsessed with perfumes and fragrances. Once I removed those, one by one, slowly disentangling myself (laughs) from there, just being obsessed with them, I started to see real change, and I noticed more energy return. I was feeling more fit. I had more mental clarity, more focus. I didn't have as many headaches and migraines anymore, and I just started to feel like a more vital person, like more vitality.

    3. SB

      And did your period return?

    4. YB

      It did. It did return, and it returned, and I was pregnant within nine months-

    5. SB

      Really?

    6. YB

      ... of, of that first, the first time when I started this whole journey. Within nine months, I was pregnant. I had my period back within, I'd probably say three months, and then six months after that, once I got rid of all the beauty and personal care products. I also looked into my oral care, my oral health. I had mercury amalgam fillings, and mercury is extremely toxic to reproduction, but also to the brain. Once I got rid of the mercury out of my teeth, that was when things just really took a nice, a huge leap in my, in my health journey.

    7. SB

      And how were you able to measure the improvements? I know you can say, you know, "I felt better," but, uh, could you measure the improvements biochemically in a lab somehow?

    8. YB

      Yes, actually that was part of this entire journey. So there was regular routine testing going on whenever we made changes. I was working with these practitioners, and I made changes, and we would do tests and say, "Look, your numbers came back. It looks great. You removed the mercury amalgam fillings from your teeth. Your mercury levels have dropped."

    9. SB

      Really?

    10. YB

      Yeah, it was pretty shocking, (laughs) and I felt

  15. 28:59 – 31:32

    How Yvonne Tracks Her Health Improvements

    1. YB

      almost instantly better when they took those out of my mouth. It was that striking of an effect.

    2. SB

      Knowing what you know, surely it's built up a bit of, um, I don't know, a bit of a... If I knew all that you knew, I think, about toxins in our environment, I would be, A, a really annoying p- person at, like, every dinner party, and B, there'd be a certain sense of, I guess, emergency and urgency to me because I'd be looking around at all my friends, and I'd be, if I understood the consequences of them drinking from that plastic container or putting that product on their face, I feel like I'd try to be shou- shout at the world to tell them to stop. Do you f- do you feel a sense of that? You, you directly witnessed the impact that making these changes and detoxifying your environment had on you. Do you feel a sense of, like, you know, ugh?

    3. YB

      Absolutely. I mean, I can't even tell you how much passion it has ignited in me to be able to share this information and spread it as far and wide as possible because it's literally affecting every single person on this planet. And I do find it sometimes challenging not to call someone out and say, "Hey, be careful with that." But, you know, I think it comes from being a living example, and I've found that that is much more effective, at being a living example instead of telling people, "Don't do this, don't do that."... showing them what's possible.

    4. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    5. YB

      Look at what happened to me. Look at my journey. Look at the benefit that I feel. And then once you start removing these things and making these simple swaps, it's about simple, small, incremental shifts that anyone can do over the long term, because it's really about... Uh, it's a marathon, not a race. It's not about, you've gotta throw everything away and you've gotta hide under a rock, 'cause I tried that and it didn't work, and it caused more stress. And stress is harmful.

    6. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    7. YB

      So being a living example, empowering people with information, educating about the problem but coming with a solution.

    8. SB

      You mentioned cancer is one of the downstream consequences of living in a toxic environment, and we talked about how sperm quality has reduced over the last couple of decades. When we look at the stats around cancer, are there any stats in particular that you think are most clearly associated with us living in such, such a tox- toxic environment? One of them that always brings to mind is breast cancer because I, I think I read or heard that breast cancer's on the rise, or has been rising for the last couple of decades. And when you look at the Western world versus something

  16. 31:32 – 34:51

    The Rise of Cancer in the Modern Age

    1. SB

      like, you know, a tribe in, in Africa, they don't see the same levels of breast cancer.

    2. YB

      Yeah, that is definitely a concern because cancer historically was a disease of age, aging. It wasn't so common that you see cancer in your 30s, 40s, and even 50s. Now, we're seeing a shift. The window is moving earlier and earlier. Cancer incidents, like you said, breast cancer incidents, is definitely on the rise. I, myself never knew anyone that suffered from breast cancer or survived it until I hit my 30s. Then, I knew five people that had it, including two people that I worked with in the toxicology lab.

    3. SB

      And what are your suspicions about the root causes of this rise in cancer?

    4. YB

      I definitely think there is an en- a huge environmental component to it because a lot of what was believed decades ago was that disease and cancer incidents had to do with your genes. You were just genetically predisposed. You were unlucky. But in actuality, what we're seeing now is that the environment plays such a massive role in whether or not you actually have cancer. So just because you have the predis- disposition to developing breast cancer, such as the BRCA gene, doesn't mean you'll get it. It really depends on your lifestyle and how you lived but also, how your ancestors lived. Right? We talked about the multi-generational effect of these chemicals. Depending on how your ancestors lived, how your grandmother and how your mother lived could predispose you to this.

    5. SB

      And have there been any studies that show the impact of these sort of everyday chemicals on cancer risk?

    6. YB

      Yes, and that's something that is... I don't wanna say that it's exciting, but I'm glad that we finally have proof. I don't wanna see these studies. I, I hate seeing this actually. I'm really angry that people have to suffer with cancer because it's so preventable. There was a study recently that looked at removing certain ingredients from beauty and personal care products. So women without any history of breast cancer were asked to remove these ingredients from their products for 28 days. So that's very short. Four weeks, right?

    7. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    8. YB

      They took cells from the breast tissue. They were all normal. They measured the amount of breast cancer gene expression. After 28 days, they took another sample. So after 28 days of removing these ingredients, they took another sample, and they saw that the breast cancer gene expression dropped. And the only thing that they were asked to change about their lifestyle was to remove these ingredients from their beauty and personal care products.

    9. SB

      And which products were they told to remove, and what ingredients were those?

    10. YB

      It was skincare, deodorant, shampoo, things that most people are using, and the ingredients were phthalates, which can often be found in fragrance. So the seemingly innocuous little term on the ingredients list, fragrance or parfum, can contain a huge number of chemicals. It's hidden behind this umbrella term because by law, in Europe

  17. 34:51 – 44:17

    Products to Avoid for Better Health

    1. YB

      and in the US, manufacturers do not have to disclose this. It is considered trade secret. And within that chemical mixture are known carcinogens, endocrine disruptors like phthalates, and the most potent allergens known to man. And with phthalates, the reason that they're in fragrances and that manufacturers love them so much is they're what are known as film formers. So it helps the fragrance to stick to surfaces like your skin, your clothing, and it helps to make it last longer and linger. So if you've ever sprayed something on yourself and are still able to smell it hours later, that's a telltale sign that you've been exposed to phthalates, that you have phthalates in that fragrance, in that product.

    2. SB

      And how many deodorants on the shelf have phthalates in them?

    3. YB

      If it's got fragrance in it, almost all of them.

    4. SB

      Okay, wh-

    5. YB

      It's code, it's code for endocrine-disrupting phthalates, essentially. You can assume that, and in fact, it's safe to assume that they contain phthalates.

    6. SB

      So I mean, this is one of the deodorants that I often use. Um, it's just a... I mean, for anyone that's just listening, it's just, like, one of the de- deodorants you'll find on a shelf in any store that comes in a little... Uh, bl- is this an aluminum can? Yeah, it is an aluminum can. Does this have phthalates in it? How do I know?

    7. YB

      So you just turn, turn the container around-

    8. SB

      Yeah.

    9. YB

      ... and check the ingredients list. Do you see a word, fragrance or, slash, parfum?

    10. SB

      Yeah. Fragrance, brackets, parfum.

    11. YB

      That's what you're looking for.

    12. SB

      Okay, so I shouldn't be spraying this all over my body.

    13. YB

      Right.

    14. SB

      Okay, well, I sprayed it this morning, so hell yeah.

    15. YB

      So sometimes you'll see on there, it'll say phthalate-free.

    16. SB

      Okay.

    17. YB

      Right. That's helpful, but that still doesn't take away the fact that there are known carcinogens and allergens in there. So if you've got any kind of respiratory problems, any kind of skin problems, and you just don't want to expose yourself to unnecessary carcinogens, then it would be beneficial to avoid fragrance.

    18. SB

      What about a little spray, just a psst?

    19. YB

      I mean, it depends. Is that really going to benefit you? Is, are you gonna get any effect from that little spray?

    20. SB

      I don't wanna smell, so this is why I spray this, because, you know, this top is quite tight.

    21. YB

      Yeah. (laughs)

    22. SB

      So if it, if it's tight and it's hot in here, I'll end up s- smelling. So I just spray it, psst, and then I'm really do- it's public service for other people, really. I'm fine to smell myself. I can't even smell it, but it's for, you know, Jack and the team.

    23. YB

      Well, the question would be, can you find a safer alternative? And the answer is yes.

    24. SB

      How do I find a safer alternative? What am I looking for?

    25. YB

      So you don't want fragrances.

    26. SB

      At all.

    27. YB

      And you definitely, yeah, so avoid the word fragrance unless it says that the fragrance comes from essential oils.

    28. SB

      Okay, but, but if it comes from essential oils, will it still make me smell nice?

    29. YB

      Yes.

    30. SB

      Okay.

  18. 44:17 – 47:31

    Why Are Fragrances in Everything?

    1. YB

      changes your mood, it uplifts your mood, it helps you feel more confident. Fragrances affect us on a very primal level, and the earlier and earlier that you can get hooked on fragrances, the better for these manufacturers, right? So that's why they're putting fragrances in even children's products and scented everything. If you notice, I've got kids, we go out and look for slime. I said, "Let's look for unscented slime." It's nearly impossible to find it. You'd have to make your own slime at home. So that's what we've started doing, and the kids love it because they get to, you know, be like little chemists or whatever. But you cannot find even, even, they have markers, pens, crayons. They've got scented stickers. I mean, scented everything. Scent is everywhere now. The fragrance industry has absolutely exploded in the last 10 or 15 years, and fragrances are the most pervasive source, (laughs) one of the most pervasive sources of toxins in our homes, in our daily lives. It's almost like the new secondhand smoke. That's how prevalent it is, because the chemicals, once you spray them, right, the reason you smell them is because they have volatilized, means that they have become gases, and they reach your nose, you smell them. What that also means is that they are in the air. Studies have shown that these fragrance chemicals, phthalates, carcinogens, allergens, they bind to the dust in your home. So it's not like, "I smell this fragrance, I sprayed it three hours ago, and I'm totally fine." Well, it's still in the air. It's always going to be in the air unless you physically remove the dust. So if you're not regularly dusting, mopping, sweeping, and vacuuming, you're becoming re-exposed, and this is absolutely the worst for a child, a baby who is crawling on the floor. Their faces and noses and airways are close to the ground, so they're inhaling the dust that have settled on the floor. I don't know many people that are sweeping and dusting every single day, but if you, if you have a child, then really, I really want you to listen to this, because the child is putting stuff in their mouth, so they're ingesting these dust particles. They're ingesting the chemicals that are attached to the dust particles, they're inhaling them, and they can't detox them. They can't detoxify them from their bodies. And so then what happens? They grow up, they start having allergies, they start having cognitive delays, they start having behavioral issues, they start storing more fat, they can't lose weight, they have low energy, depression, and a host of conditions that we think are nor- are common, but doesn't mean they're normal, and they're avoidable. That's, that's the part that is so important is that these conditions are avoidable.

    2. SB

      I was just reading about allergies as you were speaking, and it's, I've got some stats here. Food allergies, um, the prevalence of food allergies in children have increased by 50% since the 1990s in the United States. S- in terms of seasonal allergies, in 2021, approximately 81 million Americans were diagnosed with allergic rhinitis, also known as hay fever or seasonal all- allergies. By 2018, nearly fif- 42 million Americans, or 13% of the

  19. 47:31 – 49:32

    Shocking Allergy Statistics

    1. SB

      population, had been diagnosed with asthma in their lifetime. And I mean, why is this happening? I mean, there's, like, BBC articles here that show there's been huge increases in allergic reactions as well, and the EpiPen business is on the rise. Why are allergies getting worse in your opinion?

    2. YB

      Yeah, I think it's this pervasiveness of the overuse of fragrances, scented products, and the lack of awareness about the harm that they cause. There's, there's studies showing that there are people who, as soon as you light a candle, then people start having migraines, they can't think straight anymore, they become dizzy. But not only that, like you said, increased asthma incidents, and once you get asthma, it doesn't go away. You have reactive airways, so then you're triggered again whenever you encounter these chemicals.

    3. SB

      What about people who say-The allergies have exploded over the last couple of years because we're not letting our kids consume more dirt. I hear this a lot, people say it's because we're becoming too sanitized and our kids need to go play in the mud.

    4. YB

      That could be it as well. But I would almost, I would like to see the data in the rise in fragrances and fragrance use overlaid on top of the incidents of allergies in children, and all of these health conditions. I wanna see that data. I haven't seen it yet, and I'm hoping that somebody does these, these studies, because I think they would be correlated.

    5. SB

      Have you done any research on, you know, I was kind of thinking about other populations and civilizations and, that aren't exposed to the environmental factors we're exposed to, and seeing how they're getting on in terms of their health outcomes when they're not exposed to microplastics and fragrances, you know, like some of the tribes in Africa that are still pretty close to being, um, un-contaminated, like contaminated by human interference in the Western world. Have you ever looked at any of those civilizations or societies?

    6. YB

      Yeah, the rate

  20. 49:32 – 50:55

    Disease Rates in Other Societies Compared

    1. YB

      and incidence of cancer is almost nonexistent, at least it was almost nonexistent. But now some of these chemicals have spread so far and wide, and one example being PFAS, they're known as forever chemicals because they don't degrade. They can travel so far, they've basically covered the globe. They are found in polar bear fat, so that just tells you how far up the food chain these chemicals have traveled because they don't break down. So as soon as an animal eats it and then it gets eaten by another animal, so on and so forth, then it reaches the apex predators, right? And it's in, stored in their fat, and in polar bears' it's been seen that you can find some of these chemicals. So we know how far and wide that these chemicals have gone that even these tribes that are in remote locations aren't necessarily exempt from being exposed. They're also getting exposed. It's just in the air, it's in the water, it's in the soil.

    2. SB

      And what chemicals are those, P fats?

    3. YB

      PFAS.

    4. SB

      P fat, what, what does that stand for?

    5. YB

      P-F-A-S. So per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. It's a huge chemical class of about 15,000 different chemicals, and that includes things like PFOA, PFOS, and PTFE, which are more commonly known as Teflon, non-stick chemicals.

    6. SB

      Like this non-stick pan that I have here?

    7. YB

      Exactly.

    8. SB

      So there's, that

  21. 50:55 – 52:20

    The Alarming Rise in PFAS Levels

    1. SB

      P fat is-

    2. YB

      PFAS.

    3. SB

      PFAS.

    4. YB

      Yes, PTFE is the chemical name for Teflon. So Teflon is used to create the non-stick coating, and it is believed that because it is so chemically stable that it wouldn't come off the pan into your food, but that's not true. There's evidence showing that there is transfer from the cookware in normal cooking conditions into food. Not only that, when you heat that pan high enough, it will vaporize and get into the air and if you inhale it, you run the risk of experiencing what's known as Teflon flu, and it basically has flu-like symptoms when you inhale that stuff. And so that would be considered an acute exposure, so a one-time higher dose exposure. But what we really need information on are the chronic low doses that we're getting just by cooking our daily eggs on there.

    5. SB

      Have there been any studies done on the, the impact of people cooking on these versus people that don't cook with these non-stick, sort of Teflon pans?

    6. YB

      Well, I can tell you that they've measured the amount of chemicals that are coming off of the pans, and so if you've ever had a non-stick piece of cookware, it scratches very easily.

    7. SB

      Yeah.

    8. YB

      And some of these scratches are microscopic and invisible to the, to the naked eye. Studies have found that a surface scratch can release 9,000

  22. 52:20 – 56:54

    The Dangers of Non-Stick Pans

    1. YB

      particles from that non-stick coating into your food. And if it's a crack, it, that number jumps up to 2.3 billion particles that are transferred into your food.

    2. SB

      And what's that gonna do to my health? What are these P fats doing to my health?

    3. YB

      Well, PFAS are linked with several types of cancers, so kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disorders, which, thyroid problems are so common these days, but they're not normal. Then we have increased risk of miscarriage, preterm labor, preterm birth, preeclampsia, which is high blood pressure during pregnancy that's, could be deadly. You also have increased obesity that's linked with PFAS chemicals, and PFAS also contribute to an increase in endometriosis and PCOS.

    4. SB

      Oh, really?

    5. YB

      So pe- people who have endometriosis and PCOS, they have found to have higher levels of PFAS in their bodies, and PFAS are found in everybody. No one's exempt. Everyone has PFAS in our bodies, but whether or not they're able to exert toxicity depends on your inner environment, depends on how many other chemicals your body is working to fight off.

    6. SB

      I just pulled up some studies here, th- one of the studies from 2023, which you might be aware of, showed that higher levels of PFAS in the blood of women in Singapore were associated with a 30% to 40% lower chance of pregnancy and live birth within one year. Um, another study s- sampled 381 blood samples from people trying to lose weight, and no matter the diet that these participants tried, they gained weight if they had elevated PFAS exposure. What the hell? They gained weight even if they tried different diets?

    7. YB

      Yeah, so these chemicals are known, endocrine disruptors are also known as obesogens. So they're increasing the prevalence of obesity, so you store more fat and you can't lose it.

    8. SB

      Obesogens. I thought food was the only obesogen.

    9. YB

      (laughs) Well, the chemicals that you're being exposed to through your cookware, through food packaging, they're also sources of these endocrine disruptors.

    10. SB

      And what about, um, uh, c- cancer? Is PFAS linked to cancer? Have they done any studies on that with, with animals or...

    11. YB

      Yeah. In humans, it's kidney and testicular cancer.

    12. SB

      Okay. What about prostate? I know that's a big concern for a lot of men, in particular.

    13. YB

      I haven't seen direct evidence on that, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was also linked, because that's also a hormonal tissue.

    14. SB

      A study from 2021 S- uh, in mice at the University of Illinois found that h- a high-fat diet combined with PFAS exposure could cause changes in prostate cells that promote tumor growth. Is there, is there an alternative to PFAS? Is there something that I could use instead of this non-stick pan?

    15. YB

      Yeah, just get rid of the non-stick chemicals altogether, and that would be something as simple as cast iron, stainless steel, glass cookware, ceramic cookware.

    16. SB

      It's just a bit more annoying, isn't it?

    17. YB

      Yeah, (laughs) I mean, non-stick cookware is amazing. I mean, you, you can make food slide off, clean up is a breeze, but at what cost? You're, you might be saving time when you're cooking, but, "How much of that time is being taken off the back end of your lifespan?" is the question.

    18. SB

      So you're saying throw this away?

    19. YB

      I would.

    20. SB

      And-

    21. YB

      But see, that's the other thing is if you are then hearing this, and you're like, "I gotta get rid of my cookware," well, guess what? You throw that out, and it ends up in a landfill, and the PFAS chemicals are now in the environment where they won't go away.

    22. SB

      So am I throwing it out-

    23. YB

      So it really depends, right? If you are in the position to where you can get rid of it, then it might benefit you, but the key is to really stop buying it. But s- you already have it.

    24. SB

      Yeah.

    25. YB

      So it's really up to you.

    26. SB

      In terms of cookware, that's, that's better for me. Avoid the non-stick, go for stainless steel, cast iron. What about the utensils, then? So things like, I've got a plastic spatula here in my hand. Is this good?

    27. YB

      No, because that's melting. It's breaking off into little tiny bits and fragments of microplastics and nanoplastics in your food.

    28. SB

      So bad spatula?

    29. YB

      Yes, yes.

    30. SB

      Okay.

  23. 56:54 – 58:37

    Safe Kitchen Utensils to Use

    1. YB

      the silicon rubber, the plastic. If you just think about the fact that it's being heated up, if you've ever looked at one, the integrity, you'll see it starting to fray. If you see any bits coming off-

    2. SB

      Yeah, there's-

    3. YB

      ... then you know it's definitely breaking up and getting into your food.

    4. SB

      Yeah, there's loads of little pieces missing from the end of the plastic, and I guess they, that's gone into the food most likely-

    5. YB

      Right.

    6. SB

      ... slowly dissolving over time.

    7. YB

      Right. Because with non-stick cookware, you can't use metal utensils, right? You'll scratch the surface. But guess what? Even with that, you can scratch the surface.

    8. SB

      So the wooden one here in my left hand, that's better?

    9. YB

      Yes. At least from a safety and microplastic and non-stick chemical perspective, yes.

    10. SB

      Are you concerned at all with me?

    11. YB

      No, not at all.

    12. SB

      Okay, so wood is fine?

    13. YB

      Wood is totally fine.

    14. SB

      Okay.

    15. YB

      What people normally will say is, "I can't properly clean the wood," but I haven't had that issue. You just clean it with soap and water, and it is fine.

    16. SB

      Okay, so we'll keep the wooden spatula. Um, what else in terms of cooking products? So I've got this pan here. Are you saying this is a good one, stainless steel?

    17. YB

      Yes.

    18. SB

      Great. Keep that one, keep that one. Um, okay, what about... what about this nice plastic container? Super convenient, put my lunch in it, go to work, maybe pop it in the microwave, heat it up, get my takeaway in it. Plastic container, good?

    19. YB

      Absolutely not. Do not microwave plastic containers. Even after just a few seconds, you'll get release of billions of microplastic particles into your food. Just from a tiny square centimeter, you'll get billions of microplastic particles. And with microplastics, they're hard. It's

  24. 58:37 – 1:03:07

    The Risks of Using Plastic Containers

    1. YB

      a solid mass. It does not break down in the body.

    2. SB

      What if it says, "BPA free"?

    3. YB

      That's great, but it's still plastic. It's still microplastic. It's still nanoplastic-releasing. And it probably has phthalates in it, depending on the type of plastic.

    4. SB

      Right. Okay, so you don't want to be microwaving these.

    5. YB

      Yeah.

    6. SB

      And, and if I get microplastics, um, into my food, what's the, what's the net impact? What's the harm of that?

    7. YB

      Well, microplastics don't break down. They don't go away. A- again, they're accumulating in human tissues. So they've actually been found in a whole number... uh, they're, I'm pretty sure they're all over the body at this point. We just have to see the, the evidence to know, right? And so they're in human lu- um, lungs, blood, in the gut tissue. They're in heart. They're in brain. They are in the placenta. They're also in penis, and they have been detected in-

    8. SB

      There's microplastics in my penis?

    9. YB

      Yes, there could be. Studies have shown that, and even in newborn babies. So when babies are born, they have their first bowel movement, which is known as meconium. And in the meconium, microplastics have been found. So that means babies are being exposed to microplastics in utero. They're being born with plastics in their body.

    10. SB

      And what's the risk of that?

    11. YB

      Well, the risk is that they don't go away, number one, and on a cellular level, they're causing inflammation and oxidative stress. And oxidative stress is free radical damage, and what that means is, if you ingest these m- microplastic particles, which everyone is, and they're in your tissues, and your body cannot get rid of them, then they're basically like the equivalent of a million little fires all over your body. And unless you have enough detox capability, like antioxidants, to get rid of them, they're there to stay.

    12. SB

      What do you mean by detox capabilities? As in my, my liver and my kidneys?

    13. YB

      Yeah, exactly. Every cell in your body has some antioxidants in it.If you, if they, if you didn't, you would be dead. Because in order to live on this planet and breathe oxygen, we need antioxidants to neutralize the free radicals that happen through cellular respiration, right? So whenever we breathe oxygen, there are free radicals that are created, and our cells have naturally in them antioxidants like glutathione, and they help to neutralize these free radicals. But glutathione is also vital for detoxifying environmental chemicals. So if you think about it, how does the body decide what's more important? "Do I neutralize these free radicals because I need to breathe and live, or do I have to deal with these chemicals over here? I don't know." So you're literally being torn. Your body is torn at this point what to deal with first. And usually, it's the oxygen. "I need to breathe, so let me neutralize the free radicals from breathing oxygen. Then I'll deal with these chemicals later if I have enough left in the tank." And most people don't. Modern lifestyles are resulting in depletion of glutathione. Our glutathione is being robbed by these microplastics, by these parabens, phthalates and other chemicals that you find in consumer products.

    14. SB

      If you had to sum up in a sentence what microplastics are doing to us, what would that sentence be?

    15. YB

      Slowly killing us over time. We're becoming plastic. We're actually known as the Plasticine Epoch. Humankind is more plastic. Eventually, we will become more plastic than we are humans, if we can s- continue at this rate. There have been thr- over 300 million metric tons of plastics produced.

    16. SB

      I mean, that's a really big number but I can't really wrap my head around it.

    17. YB

      And they don't go away. They don't go away, that's the problem. They just continually break up into smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller fragments.

    18. SB

      A 2024 study on microplastics in human livers, kidneys and brains found that all of them contained microplastics, but the brain contained 10 to 20 times more than any other organ. The brains measured around 0.5% plastic by weight. That's a Guardian article. So does, does that mean 0.5% of my brain is plastic?

    19. YB

      Yes. And that's because plastic is fat-soluble, and the brain is mostly fat. So microplastics travel there through the bloodstream,

  25. 1:03:07 – 1:04:55

    How Microplastics Are Destroying Our Brains

    1. YB

      we inhale them, they go to the brain, and they can't leave, because the brain can... The brain does not have the ability to detoxify itself the way that other tissues do.

    2. SB

      I guess it wasn't expecting the plastic.

    3. YB

      Right. So it's like, "Who's this? I can't get rid of you, so just stay." But then what is it doing to you over time?

    4. SB

      What is it doing to our brains over time? I'm gonna throw this away, by the way. I'm not gonna microwave my food in plastic anymore. Um, what is it doing to our brains over time, do you think? Is there any associations?

    5. YB

      I haven't seen any clear evidence, but my hypothesis is that it's increasing the likelihood of cognitive decline. And the brain is one of the most important, obviously the most important organs in our bodies, and brain problems don't usually show up until you're in your elder years. But I'd be interested to know if the rate of dementia, if people are getting dementia and other brain-related disorders earlier, just like cancer. I would not be surprised if I saw that.

    6. SB

      We drink out of these, um, stainless steel cups here on The Diary of a CEO. Are these okay to be drinking out of?

    7. YB

      Yes.

    8. SB

      Okay. What does it say on the bottom?

    9. YB

      Because they're not, they're not leaching microplastics into your drink.

    10. SB

      BPA-free stainless steel, okay. They weren't expensive, that's good news. But, um, sometimes, when I go to shops and, you know, supermarkets and stuff, I grab these plastic bottles full of water. There's been a lot of conversation around plastic bottles and water. Um, are these safe to drink from, in your opinion?

    11. YB

      Well, if you have no other option, then that's what you've got. And so I don't want people to think, "I can never drink bottled water ever again or I'm going to die," because that's not the case. I myself traveled here. I had to drink from bottled water because I didn't bring enough of my own water with me. Is that something

  26. 1:04:55 – 1:08:01

    Is Bottled Water Bad for You?

    1. YB

      that I'm going to panic about? No, it's not. Is it something that I want to do? No, but I need water, so that's my only option. But if you are able to avoid that, then absolutely avoid bottled water.

    2. SB

      Have there been any studies done on bottled water?

    3. YB

      Yeah, there have been so many studies showing that bottled water is a major source of microplastics, because if you think about it, plastic is not meant to be permanent, but it kind of is. But at the same time, there are certain conditions that promote leaching, and one of them is if you put that plastic water bottle in the sun, UV causes plastic to break down, so that's releasing microplastics. Just squeezing it, physical force is causing microplastic shearing and release. But not just that. Just over time, the plastic is just leaching on its own. Temperature is another factor. So if you leave that in a hot car, microplastics. If you've ever had a bottle of water sitting in a hot car and you drink it and it tasted like plastic, that's because it is. It's plastic. It's becoming more plastic.

    4. SB

      Okay.

    5. YB

      But the microplastics are releasing endocrine disruptors, right? The same phthalates that we talked about in fragrances are also in plastic water bottles.

    6. SB

      What about these water bottles that a lot of people have now, the kind of, like, Stanley cup store water bottles that are made of this, this metal? Are these better?

    7. YB

      Yeah, definitely. It's the same as these stainless steel cups.

    8. SB

      Yeah. Okay, so everyone should have one of these for their water.

    9. YB

      But not only that, it's also more sustainable, right? Because plastic bottles make up the majority of plastic waste in the environment, and all of those are breaking up, again, into smaller and smaller microplastics and nanoplastics that are basically polluting everything now.

    10. SB

      Okay, so instead of that plastic container I had, this glass container for the microwave and for my food is better.

    11. YB

      Perfect.

    12. SB

      Okay, but what about the lid? The lid has got l- these little plastic handles on it.

    13. YB

      Yeah, so what I would do is take the lid off if you need to heat up your food.

    14. SB

      Okay.

    15. YB

      And what I also do is keep a space between my food and the lid, so it's not in direct contact with the plastic.

    16. SB

      How'd you keep a space? Like...

    17. YB

      Just don't fill it all the way to the brim.

    18. SB

      Oh, okay, just keep it-

    19. YB

      Just keep a little space.

    20. SB

      Okay, cool. So that's- that's good.

    21. YB

      It's- it's the contact with the plastic. I mean, if you need the container and you need a lid to store your food-

    22. SB

      Okay, we'll- we'll keep the lids.

    23. YB

      This is, I mean, I have those too, so...

    24. SB

      We'll keep the lids.

    25. YB

      Just the thing is just try to keep your food from touching it if you can.

    26. SB

      Okay. Um, what about this? Coffee, coffee cup. I went to, you know, you go to a Starbucks, I shouldn't say that. You go to a coffee shop, they give you these takeaway coffee cups which are made of, like, this sort of papery feel. Good, bad, indifferent?

    27. YB

      Get rid of them. They're terrible. So they're basically lined with plastic, and studies have shown that within 15 minutes of contact with a hot liquid, you're getting 25,000 microplastic particles in that cup. And most people, some people don't drink their

  27. 1:08:01 – 1:09:54

    The Hidden Dangers of Takeaway Coffee Cups

    1. YB

      coffee in 15 minutes, they'll let it sit longer. And so the longer it sits, the more leaching there is. And not only that, the lid is plastic. So as the hot liquid is passing through the lid, there could also be leaching of microplastics. That plastic lining also leaches heavy metals. So it's, there are so many issues with that cup.

    2. SB

      You seem really pissed off with the cup.

    3. YB

      I'm actually really, they're so pervasive. And I remember being in Germany about 10, 15 years ago maybe, something like that, and coffee to go was new. And at the time, I come from the US, those have been around forever. I was like, "Why is this new? I don't understand. Coffee to go. Why is that a thing?" And my husband said, "It's because we sit down and drink our coffee out of a mug. We don't take it to go. So this is, like, appealing to tourists."

    4. SB

      But what's wrong with coffee to go? Is it the container they give it you?

    5. YB

      It's the container. So if you bring your own container-

    6. SB

      Or if they-

    7. YB

      ... Starbucks will fill it up, or if you bring your own container, some shops will fill it up for you.

    8. SB

      Okay.

    9. YB

      And they, you, they might even knock off 10 cents because you brought your own container.

    10. SB

      So I'd have to bring something like, I guess, like this, which is a steel...

    11. YB

      Right.

    12. SB

      With a little glass lid.

    13. YB

      Right.

    14. SB

      Okay. So it's, okay, and...

    15. YB

      It's a plastic lid, so if you can, take the lid off to drink. But if you can't, again, don't stress out over it.

    16. SB

      Okay. We've been through some of these things so far just on the consumables. Okay, fine. Okay, so, um, and last question on consumption stuff is about food and water. Should I be filtering my water?

    17. YB

      Absolutely. Absolutely. If you live in an area where water has been fluoridated...

    18. SB

      How do I know?

    19. YB

      You've gotta check the water report. Most municipalities have water reports, and if not, you can go to the EWG, the Environmental Working Group. They have a water report

  28. 1:09:54 – 1:12:52

    Should You Filter Your Water?

    1. YB

      database that you can check. So just type in your zip code of where you live, and it'll tell you what contaminants are found and which ones exceed safe limits. And it's very helpful to know what's in your water.

    2. SB

      What if I get these kind of, like, you know, these little pl- pl- plastic, um, water filter systems you can get, where you put it in the fridge, you pour the water in, and then you put, like, a little filter thing in, you replace it, and then you pour it in. Are those good?

    3. YB

      It depends on what type of filter you have.

    4. SB

      Okay.

    5. YB

      Some of the more mainstream, lower cost, lower end options do not remove fluoride, number one, and they don't filter nearly enough chemicals. Tap water is a source of hormones, so endocrine disruptors, pesticides, heavy metals, fluoro- fluoride, if it's added to the water, um, agricultural runoff. There's a bunch of different contaminants in tap water. Depending on where you live, some are worse than others, and there have even been tragic instances of lead, high levels of lead because of the lead piping that water is transported through. So we've got to be careful with the water that we're using to drink and cook with.

    6. SB

      And so what, what's a, a sort of low-cost solution to this for people that are concerned about the water that they're consuming and their families are consuming?

    7. YB

      Yeah, actually there have been studies showing that you can boil your water. So if you boil your water, that can actually remove a significant portion of the microplastic pollutions in there because of, if you've ever noticed, a- after you've boiled water, there's sort of a white crust at the bottom of the pot. That's actually calcium, calcification, and the microplastics get trapped in that calcified layer. But that still doesn't take care of all the other chemicals that are found in tap water. So the best option is to filter it. Some filters are more accessible and affordable than others. Reverse osmosis removes the most contaminants, but it also requires the most, it generates the most wastewater, so it isn't the most efficient, and it also can remove beneficial minerals, which you then have to add back in because it's not good to drink demineralized water over time. So there are different options that you can, you can use, but the best option, you have to filter at some point, at some level, depending on where you are. So check your water and look for a filter. So carbon filters are effective for the most part, but you want to check to make sure that the filter can remove fluoride as well.

    8. SB

      Okay, well in the, um, show notes of today's episode, what I'll ask you to do is to just help us put together a bit of a list of things that you approve of, um, relating to the subjects that we've discussed today. Just, you know, some of the deodorant stuff that we mentioned, um, and also, water filter systems and stuff 'cause I can imagine it can be quite confusing for people. And I, I imagine most people listening, they just want, they wanna know what the most important simple things that they can, can do to have the biggest potential impact, and also-They're gonna be quite cost-conscious, as we all are,

  29. 1:12:52 – 1:14:55

    Cost-Effective Health Tips Everyone Can Do

    1. SB

      about not overspending on things, and they don't have thousands and thousands of pounds, but they wanna make significant ch- steps forward. Um, I guess to that point then, if you were to say to someone, "What are, like, the simple free things we can all do, or cheap things, cost-effective things we can do, as it relates to the, our cookware, things we're consuming, um, to make sure that we're staying as healthy as we possibly can be?"

    2. YB

      First thing is to filter your water.

    3. SB

      Yeah.

    4. YB

      Second thing is to get rid of fragrance products. So you're actually saving money by not buying that stuff, right? So if you can remove that, then you're better off. Thirdly is to cook at home. Cooking at home is also significantly more cost-effective than getting takeout all the time, and you're also saving on a massive amount of toxic exposure that way.

    5. SB

      What about, um, the types of foods we buy? Uh, uh, have we gotta just be buying organic food?

    6. YB

      If you're able to, then it's helpful, but if you can't, eating an unprocessed diet as much as you possibly can, whole foods, single ingredient foods. If you choose to eat meat, fruits and vegetables, things of that nature. Try to get the least processed option you possibly can, and cook at home. And if you can, cook on stainless steel or cast iron, but if non-stick is all you have, that's all you've got, right? So just do what you can with what you've got, but try to eliminate the processed food as much as you can.

    7. SB

      What about beauty then? So I've got some beauty products here, moisturizers, got some eyeliners. Um, this is a roll-on deodorant. You're probably familiar with these.

    8. YB

      Yeah. That looks like an antiperspirant.

    9. SB

      Oh, an antiperspirant. Oh, yeah, yeah, you're right.

    10. YB

      So that's different than deodorant. So antiperspirants contain aluminum salts, and those physically block sweat ducts. And so what that does over time is it prevents you from sweating, right? That's why it's antiperspirant. But the problem with aluminum is that there have been links to increased risk of breast cancer in young girls who use deodorant because aluminum itself also

  30. 1:14:55 – 1:20:50

    Health Risks of Antiperspirants and Aluminum

    1. YB

      acts like an estrogen in the body.

    2. SB

      Oh, God, it smells strong. Wow. Okay, so these roll-on deodorants that are... For anyone that doesn't, isn't watching, it's the one with the ball on it, the little ball thing that you roll under your armpit.

    3. YB

      The key is to avoid the antiperspirant if you can.

    4. SB

      Okay.

    5. YB

      And I know a lot of people have, you know-

    6. SB

      Sweating problems.

    7. YB

      ... self-concern, concern with, with sweating and everything like that, but, uh, some people online have done armpit detoxes. So with apple cider vinegar and bentonite clay, you make a little paste out of it, smear it under your arms, and that can help to pull out some of these embedded particles in your sweat ducts.

    8. SB

      What is the most compelling study that you heard about as it relates to... 'Cause I am always, uh, you know, from doing this podcast and reading about this subject matter, I am increasingly concerned about, you know, putting things under my armpit for a number of reasons. It's really hot under there, but then it just feels... I don't know. The- It does... Then I read there's stats around breast cancer, and I thought, "Gosh, I'm, it's probably not a good idea to be, like, lathering chemicals under my, under my armpit." Um, what is the most compelling study you read on this subject that made you think twice about antiperspirants?

    9. YB

      Yeah, it was the increased risk of breast cancer in young girls that are using these underarm antiperspirants.

    10. SB

      What about these other beauty products then? Throw that one away. Um, everyday pretty, beauty products. I think, I don't even know what these products are. What, what I mean-

    11. YB

      That looks like a foundation makeup that you would put all over your face.

    12. SB

      So you go like this?

    13. YB

      Yeah.

    14. SB

      Okay.

    15. YB

      Or a concealer or something like that to help even out your skin tone.

    16. SB

      Okay.

    17. YB

      Cover up spots.

    18. SB

      Right. Good.

    19. YB

      So that goes all over your face, right? So products that sit on your skin, those are known as leave-on products. Those comprise a higher risk than something you would rinse off, like a soap or a body wash, because it's sitting on your skin. So the contact time is longer. The longer something sits on your skin, the longer time it has to penetrate the skin and get absorbed into your bloodstream. Lipstick is also a high-risk product if you're using the wrong kind, because it's going on your lips and you're having some ingestion.

    20. SB

      So don't use foundation?

    21. YB

      No, not necessarily. Find a safer foundation. So avoid, avoid the fragranced foundations.

    22. SB

      It smells good, this one.

    23. YB

      Yeah. So it's got fragrances in there, I'm sure.

    24. SB

      Okay.

    25. YB

      Because foundations are usually made of chemicals, right? Chemicals don't always smell good, so a lot of manufacturers put fragrance in there to mask the odor.

    26. SB

      Even, like, lip balm? I had this conversation with my girlfriend the other day, and she was lathering on her lip balm, and I was like, "I don't know if that's good for you." And she was like, "It just smells so good." And I was like, "I, I just..." I don't know, it just... Do you know what? I have this conspiracy theory about lip balm that I've never shared with anybody, which is my girlfriend applies lip balm all the time, and her lips get dry often, whereas I don't apply lip balm ever. Any special occasions. No, I'm joking. I never apply it, and my lips don't seem to get dry unless I go on a plane or something. But I just wonder sometimes if these cosmetic products are fixing a problem that they're creating.

    27. YB

      Yeah, I would think so, because if you never touched your face, what would your skin be like, right? Some people only use water on their face, and I have found personally, the more I mess with my face, the more products I use, the more I end up feeling like I need them because my skin is reacting differently. So it's, I think it's creating an issue that wasn't there, and then comes in, and like, "Oh, this is the solution to that." It's brilliant if you think about it from a money-making perspective.

    28. SB

      But also, if I'm disrupting your hormones with all of these chemicals, then I'm more likely to be causing you to have skin flare-ups and skin issues, and I'd probably be even aging and wrinkles, which are, you're then gonna need to use some of these cosmetic products to solve for.

    29. YB

      Right, and then they're going to try and sell you some other, more invasive procedures down the line.

    30. SB

      I- I've seen some people who don't use skin products at all and have never used them because of the society they live in, and they have unbelievable, remarkable skin. Um, and they don't have the flare-ups and all these kinds of things that we have over here, so it's...I've always been pretty dubious. I think I'm a bit of, like, an evolutionist. I don't know if that even is a thing, but just someone who has much more faith in my nat- my body's natural systems for dealing with things than the modern world would lead us to believe. Like, I don't... I know that we live in an unnatural world, right? So there are some things that we need... I live in... You know, we're indoors all day, so I probably should be taking some vitamin D, for example. But outside of that, I just don't buy that we need all of these products like, you know, shampoos and conditioners and... What do you think of shampoos? I've got a shampoo brand here, um, which I just got off the shelf in the local sh- shop. Are shampoos okay?

  31. 1:20:50 – 1:23:43

    Yvonne’s Thoughts on Menstrual Products

    1. YB

      with your vaginal canal. They should, just should not be there. Things like benzene. There's heavy metals in tampons. Actually, there was a study showing that women who use tampons had higher levels of heavy metals in their body. We don't need those down there. And fragrances, again, with the phthalates, they're also found in tampons. A lot of menstrual products contain scent. Maybe that one doesn't, but there's a lot that do.

    2. SB

      What's the alternative?

    3. YB

      And it's, it's entirely unnecessary. The alternative would be to use... You can, you can find organic cotton tampons. Tampons are made of cotton, right? Cotton is one of the most heavily sprayed crops in the world with glyphosate. We don't need glyphosate (laughs) down there. The problem is that the vaginal canal is occluded, right? So it's, it's blocked off. It's warm. It's body temperature, and there's also friction. So all of these factors increase and drive chemical absorption into the body, and you don't want to be delivering some of these chemicals directly to your reproductive organs.

    4. SB

      You think it's gonna have a big impact on fertility?

    5. YB

      I think it could. In fact, there are a lot of anecdotal reports anyway of people saying that when they switched out their period products and went with more organic and more sustainable options, that their periods became easier.

    6. SB

      Some people close to me have PCOS. I've also got some friends that have endometriosis. Is there a link between phthalates and sort of, uh, you know, menstrual products and PCOS and endometriosis in your opinion?

    7. YB

      Yes, there is, and there is a link with PFAS chemicals, too. So these xenoestrogens are exacerbating these conditions because if you think about it, the uterus is an endocrine, is an endocrine-responsive tissue. It's an, hormonally active. It responds to estrogen. You're delivering, let's say, phthalates through tampons directly down there. It's going into the circulation, and it bypasses what's known as the portal circulation, phase two detoxification by the liver. So it bypasses detoxification. So you're basically delivering hormonally active chemicals directly where you don't want them to go. They cannot be detoxified.

    8. SB

      What about my clothes? You, you mentioned cotton a second ago, and it made me think about the clothes that I'm wearing. Um, how do I know if the clothes that I'm wearing are toxin-free? Are there certain clothes that are and aren't?

    9. YB

      That's a really good question. Organic cotton is one way of knowing if your clothes contain pesticides and certain chemicals that are used in the farming of cotton. But not only that, if your clothes are made out of synthetic fibers, like polyester, nylon, and acrylic,

  32. 1:23:43 – 1:24:46

    The Truth About Toxic Clothing

    1. YB

      those release microplastics. And they've also been found to contain BPA, which is an endocrine disruptor.

    2. SB

      All right.

    3. YB

      Yeah, you got, you got to check the tag around the side sometimes.

    4. SB

      95% polyester.

    5. YB

      That's a source of microplastics. Every time you wash it, every time you move, there are microplastics breaking off.

    6. SB

      5% spandex.

    7. YB

      That's also synthetic, so you're basically wearing an entirely synthetic shirt.

    8. SB

      What about the chemicals that I wash it in? I've got some, um... This is where I expose that I've never cleaned a T-shirt properly in my life. Sugar. I've got some fabric cleaner thing here. I guess this is probably a source of toxins. I'm getting the hang of this now, toxins in pretty much everything.

    9. YB

      Yeah, you're right. You, you've called it out. You called it out exactly right-

    10. SB

      So if I-

    11. YB

      ... with fragrances.

    12. SB

      ... if I wash my clothes in this, and then I put the clothes

  33. 1:24:46 – 1:26:12

    The Hidden Dangers in Cleaning Products

    1. SB

      on, I'm exposing myself to toxins? Let me see.

    2. YB

      Right, because it's, it's covering your entire body, right? Wherever you have the clothing touching your skin, there's some friction. There's movement. There's body heat. There's moisture. That's increasing chemical penetration and absorption into your bloodstream.So the solution there is, if you like scented laundry care products, is again to use essential oils. So instead of the dryer sheets that you get at the store, those actually just coat your clothing with some type of oily, waxy substance. That's what makes them feel soft. They're not actually softening your clothes. They coat your clothing, and so all of that is touching your skin, it's rubbing. How much of that's getting absorbed, right? So if you can instead look for wool dryer balls made out of wool, uh, people put essential oils in there and let it run through their clothing.

    3. SB

      Hmm. I am, something quite startling that I read when I was going through all of your work is that beauty and hair products marketed to black women often contain the most toxic ingredients.

    4. YB

      Yes, that is known as environmental injustice. So that's one of the, I would say, the most tragic circumstances that we're facing as a society, is that the people who are exposed to the most amount of toxins

  34. 1:26:12 – 1:33:15

    Why Products Targeted to Black Women Contain More Toxins

    1. YB

      are low-income people and people in ethnic groups. And so some of these products that are marketed specifically to black girls contain some of the worst ingredients I have ever seen, and I think it should be outlawed. Like you said, the fragrances, the endocrine disruptors, these harsh detergents, some formaldehyde-releasers. Formaldehyde's a human carcinogen. What place does it have in a beauty and personal care product? It doesn't. It needs to be removed. There needs to be better regulations and better protection for vulnerable populations.

Episode duration: 1:59:40

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