How to Reduce Your Exposure to Toxic Chemicals

The journey of becoming a parent can be filled with wonder and worry. While many first-time parents will attend a parenting course from their hospital or peruse the local library for parenting best-sellers, not everyone is aware of the hidden dangers of toxic chemical exposures within our very own homes. From selecting the safest paint for the nursery to personal care products and water filtration systems, expecting parents must make informed choices when preparing for their baby. Dr. Alexis Temkin shares her expertise and advice to help prospective parents reduce their exposures to toxic chemicals throughout pregnancy and beyond.

Dr. Temkin earned a Ph.D. in marine biomedicine and environmental sciences from the Medical University of South Carolina and is a Toxologist on the investigative science team for the Environmental Working Group, an environmental and consumer protection watchguard organization in Washington, DC. Her principal area of research is how exposure to environmental chemicals during human development can influence adult disease and disorders. Dr. Temkin is an advocate for infant health, calling attention to the medical studies which have measured over 150 toxic chemicals present in the umbilical cord blood of infants and highlighting the importance of avoiding synthetic pesticides and chemical exposures while pregnant.

For years, the medical community believed that the placenta offered a protective barrier from the developing fetus’ exposure to harmful chemicals, but recent studies debunked that, highlighting hundreds of different industrial chemicals, including carcinogens and neuro and reproductive toxins were present in the blood of children who hadn’t even been born yet. “It’s really very important for pregnant women to understand that whatever they’re exposed to, their infant is going to be exposed to and that the infant is even more vulnerable to that exposure because they are still developing”, shared Temkin.

Toxic chemical exposures may seem unavoidable in our increasingly manufactured world but Dr. Temkin highlights the simple practices that expecting parents can take to reduce chemical exposures and incorporate safer alternatives to everyday items. Dr. Temkin advises that parents reduce indoor air pollution by following the manufacture instructions for product off gassing before completing a home renovation, selecting low VOC paints for indoor areas and using the EWG database to assess which household cleaning products are safest for their homes. Water quality is also important and many toxic exposures can be avoided easily and affordably simply with the use of a carbon filter for the fridge or a filtered water pitcher.

Dr. Temkin underscores the importance of the critical neurodevelopment occurring during pregnancy and how exposure to chemical toxins can disrupt that process. “I think a lot of people are familiar with lead and its association with reductions in IQ but pesticides are also associated with different adverse behavioral and cognitive functions and neuro development,” shared Temkin. To address this concern, the EWG created a list coined, the Dirty Dozen, which highlights the fruits and vegetables with the most pesticide contamination. Dr. Temkin advises that expecting mothers maintain an organic diet when possible, noting that the EWG created a second list called the Clean 15, which are the least contaminated fruits and vegetables that can be conventionally purchased without a high risk for synthetic exposure.

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