Alan Bell's Blog, page 5

Release Day for “Poisoned” is Finally Here!

It’s finally here! Today is the release of my new book, Poisoned; How a Crime-Busting Prosecutor Turned His Medical Mystery into a Crusade for Environmental Victims!

I’m incredibly proud of this work, a culmination of the last 25 years of managing my environmental illness and my subsequent fight to advocate for those who struggle with the same environmental dangers that nearly derailed my life.

There are a few ways you can help me in getting the word out about my book, and I would be ever so grateful if you would do one or all of the following this week.

Share Poisoned via social media with people in your life who might be interested in what we’re working on! We’ve put together a great ‘share toolkit’ to help. You can simply copy and paste the updates and edit as you wish!
If you are a Goodreads member…

Follow me
“Shelve” Poisoned as “to read on Goodreads”
Send me questions via Goodreads
Review the book on Goodreads


After you’ve read the book, post your review to Amazon.

Reader reviews are a tremendous boost for the book.
Give a “thumbs up” to any good reviews, and a “thumbs down” to negative reviews.
Potentially report reviews that aren’t fair reviews of the book.

If you order Poisoned before April 8th you will still be able to take advantage of the exclusive pre-order items. I am offering 21 tips to protect yourself from environmental injury, a PDF of 10 chemicals to avoid, a comprehensive online resource guide for non-toxic living and a one hour LIVE webinar Q&A. You don’t have to purchase anything other than the book to get these free gifts.

No One Is Immune to Environmental Toxins

Concern about global warming affecting future generations is important. Likewise, saving the whales, birds, and trees in distant places is critical.  

However, saving us humans takes the environmental movement to its most basic, fundamental concern: how it affects you and me, here and now.

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you work, or how you live. No one is immune.

As I wrote earlier, we can’t depend on the government to regulate toxins, and additionally, some corporate entities are truly evil, knowingly exposing victims for profit.

Other companies choose to look the other way, rather than face the harmful consequences caused by their negligent actions. In either scenario, wrongdoers should be held accountable for their actions, because it’s the only way to help protect victims and curtail this irresponsible behavior.

Injustice is widespread, manifesting in people, governmental organizations, and corporations that are seemingly bland and harmless—just as Ted Bundy hid his evil beneath a thin veneer of “normal.”

It can seem hopeless to make strides environmentally when corporate America is pushing toxic products on consumers, but it is possible to make an impact and some organizations are making great strides.

The green movement has taken off.

Billions of dollars are being invested into green business which is booming. Many fortune 500 corps are producing green non-toxic products – like Toyota, 3M, Honda, Cisco, Panasonic, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Ford, and Whole foods.

As a consumer, you can support the production and consumption of non-toxic products creating a win-win situation for us: healthier consumers, a healthier workforce, healthier businesses, a healthier economy, and a healthier America.

Consumer demand for green products drives supply.

One of the steps you can take to protect yourself and your family is to purchase products that are non-toxic. Buy eco-friendly products for your home, and expose yourself to things that are safe.

Producing and consuming non-toxic products creates a win-win situation for us all. Because it results in you and your loved ones using safe, non-toxic products. Your health is in your hands. Not your doctors, not your government, and not corporate America.

We would all be wise to support these companies and be a part of the green movement.

The Most Important Advice I Can Give You is Simple

The most important advice I can give you is to simply read the ingredients on any product you come into contact with. That means pay attention to anything you eat, drink, breathe or touch.

Some people find reading labels intimidating, and others tout overly simplistic advice; for example, having an elementary school aged child read the ingredients list and only making a purchase if they can pronounce all of the ingredients may seem reasonable until your child has trouble pronouncing ascorbic acid (which actually has very low toxicity, can prevent disease, and is often included in baby food).

Reading ingredients allows you to take back your power and take back your health. You can make informed decisions by taking initial steps to learn more about the food your family eats and make label reading a consistent habit.

But, it doesn’t stop there, and consumers are happily using stain-proof carpeting, cars with brand new upholstery, garden pesticides, asbestos, hair sprays, clothing, paint, you name it—without knowing they’re at great risk.

Unfortunately, you can’t trust the claims on products you purchase because US laws are inadequate and fail to regulate chemical usage in ways to protect human health.

More specifically, when chemicals are developed for pharmaceutical purposes, they undergo rigorous safety testing using animal models and human exposure studies. These drugs aren’t approved for market until after pre-clinical trials show they don’t cause adverse health effects.

However, when chemicals are developed for industry use, and they’re not marketing them for human consumption per se, these substances don’t go through the same rigorous testing.

Chemicals are pouring into our environment before they are proven to be one hundred percent safe for human health. They’re only regulated after the fact, if data emerges showing that their use leads to toxic effects in people. This data emerges chronologically and cumulatively while the casualties continue. Many, many people are injured by chemical exposure before any regulation is put into place.

This is why it is necessary to read all labels and check ingredients.

You can learn more about ingredients and how to avoid harmful chemicals via the CDC. You can research ingredients using these websites:

https://emergency.cdc.gov/chemical/toxfaqs.asp
www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/index.asp

To get started, use the search toolbar to familiarize yourself with these ingredients (that you should avoid): Paraben, DMDM hydantoin,  Imidsazolidinyl urea, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Triclosan, Triclocarban, and Triethanolamine (TEA)

You can also remember these simple tips:

Only use plastic containers labeled one through five for food
Use natural alternatives for laundry and home cleaning
Buy scent-free and fragrance-free alternatives whenever possible
Buy sunscreens containing zinc oxide as their active ingredient
Understand that the listings are not a guarantee

The United States lags behind when it comes to reforming chemical regulations because of our powerful chemical lobby. After you start reading labels and learn more about ingredients, you can contact your legislators and urge them to enact laws that better regulate all chemicals, not just those in foods or medicines.

My overall message is that we can make a difference in the fate of humanity—but only if all of us work together, spreading the word about the need to protect ourselves from environmental toxins.

Pre-Order POISONED. Get 4 Free Gifts!

I’m excited to announce the upcoming release of my new book, Poisoned; How a Crime-Busting Prosecutor Turned His Medical Mystery into a Crusade for Environmental Victims, coming April 4th!

I’m incredibly proud of this work, a culmination of the last 25 years of overcoming illness and my subsequent fight to advocate for those who struggle with the same environmental dangers that nearly derailed my life.

We already have some incredible praise from people I really respect like Suzanne Somers, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Eugene Cernan.

I just kicked off the pre-launch campaign. We have great bonuses for readers who purchase Poisoned between now and April 8th, 2017.

I am offering 21 tips to protect yourself from environmental injury, a PDF of 10 chemicals to avoid, a comprehensive online resource guide for non-toxic living and a one hour LIVE webinar Q&A. You don’t have to purchase anything other than the book to get these free gifts.

It’s been an exciting journey to create these gifts and write my book. I’m continuing to try to put a face on this issue and make people aware of hidden environmental dangers in order to PREVENT others from becoming another statistic.

I hope that exposing the toxic environmental dangers that assault us every day, will arm others with life-saving ways to modify their lifestyle, minimize risk, and protect the ones they love.

Check out the bonuses here and consider pre-ordering your copy, today.

Is Your Work Environment Literally Toxic?

I often say that people can control where they work and where they live, but I realize that while a from-home workforce is on the rise, the majority of us still don’t have control over where we work.

In an earlier blog post, I shared a little about my story. In short, my office was toxic, which I was not aware of, at the time. I was literally poisoned by my work environment.

If I’d known then what I know now, I would have taken more control over the job I accepted.

At the time, I’d been hired as an attorney and I worked in a brand new building that had thirty floors; we were located near the top. Ours was the most impressive skyscraper to ever grace the Fort Lauderdale skyline. Located across the street from the Broward County Courthouse, 110 Tower was considered a technological marvel.

When we moved in, many of the other suites weren’t yet finished. The walls were still being painted and new carpeting was being tacked down as I was putting my law books on the shelves.

These days, many of its features—like talking elevators, word processing rooms, and computerized doors that required swiping a card for entry—would go unnoticed, but back then they seemed like something out of a science fiction movie. The building had its own hotel, stores, restaurants, nightclubs, and fitness center—you literally never had to leave to do anything.

As impressive as it was in my early career, my body was injured by exposure to toxic chemicals inside my office building, and this injury weakened my immune system to the point where my body was no longer capable of defending itself against other environmental exposures.

I became hypersensitive to various things, including molds, pollen, foods, and chemicals found in everyday products and environments. Anything from chlorine to deodorant was enough to set me off.

It’s nearly unbelievable that a work environment could be this toxic.

Unfortunately, there is no government regulation of most chemicals used in building products, only in foods and drugs. This was true when I worked at 110 Tower in the late 80s and nothing has changed nearly 40 years later.

Huffington Post wrote an article last month asking job seekers if they interview their building to find out if it’s healthy prior to accepting a position. It may seem intimidating or strange to ask questions about the building in an interview, but if I had known what would happen to me in that skyscraper then I would have asked a lot of questions.

The article suggests asking:

Is the building certified as green?
Is the air quality monitored?
Is there access to daylight?
Can you recognize nature inside the building?

These proactive questions are beneficial. I suggest that you also consider if the office has industrial smells like paint fumes, or if people who are making renovations are wearing gas masks. You may not notice this until you’ve already taken a position, but paying attention to these kinds of details may save your health.

If you notice that you often feel unwell at work—nauseated or dizzy—and you feel normal in other environments, then consider making a transition.

Controlling your work environment is more difficult than controlling where you live, but it’s equally important in light of the amount of hours we spend working

Are You Breathing Toxic Air?

We know that air pollution causes asthma and other respiratory diseases. Millions of Americans are becoming ill each year because of air pollution, and it causes one out of every twenty city deaths. Maybe you know about the rising incidence of cancer, but did you know that the National Institutes of Health have recently reported that 70 percent of all cancers can be linked to environmental pollutants?

The Guardian recently posted an article about the effects air pollution has on your health. It’s an illuminating article that claims a reduction of air pollution, “would cut rates of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, asthma and respiratory disease.”

Another study in the Journal of Environmental Health Perspectives linked 16,000 premature births in the United States each year to air pollution. This is a costly health crisis: preterm births associated with particulate matter—a type of pollutant—led to more than $4 billion in economic costs due to medical care and lost productivity resulting from disability.

Voice of America cited a new study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology reporting that nearly 200,000 deaths in the United States alone occur each year as a result of air pollution, with most related to emissions from road transportation and electrical power generation.

Research continues to amass, yielding the same results, but we continue to breathe toxic air.

Many governments around the world legislate to clean the air we breathe, but there is much more work to be done.

Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as spending more time indoors. Indoor air quality is affected as well, and since we spend ninety percent of our time indoors on average, it’s alarming to know that pollutants are up to five times higher inside.

You can easily take steps to control indoor pollution. For starters, when painting your home, always use zero VOC paint. All furniture should be made of solid wood, instead of formaldehyde laced particleboard. Your bed should not contain flame retardants in it. Flooring should be solid wood or tiles, instead of toxic carpeting. Pesticides should never be used indoors. The Guardian article cites that,  “those who use solid fuels such as wood and charcoal in cooking and heating, [as well as those using] wood-burning stoves” are exposed to higher risk. I’ve mentioned before that we can use ozone-free HEPA air purifiers, or a HEPA-filtered unit when vacuuming, and regularly opening the windows in your house to let fresh air dilute pollutants is beneficial.

The problem is immense, but change is possible. Awareness if the first step toward positive change.

Check out these sites to learn if you are breathing toxic air:

www.scorecard.org

www.epa.gov/airdata

www.epa.gov/myenvironment

Keep Yourself and Your Family Safe in a Non-Toxic Home

Most disease and premature death is caused by exposure to environmental toxins found indoors. But you can protect yourself and your family.. and prevent this from happening to you. As a former victim of chemical poisoning and as a survivor, I understand what is at stake.

I was lucky, on my journey—if you can call it that—to be able to live in actual places designed for someone with chemical sensitivities.

Early on, I bought an 800-square-foot adobe brick house in Arizona specially constructed by a woman who’d suffered from multiple chemical sensitivity before she passed away. It had tile floors and everything inside it was metal or glass, including the table and chairs. There were no drapes, just metal slats on the windows. When anyone went inside or out, airlocks on the roof would kick in and prevent irritating chemicals from entering this environmentally controlled bubble. The kitchen was built fifty feet away from the house to avoid cooking fumes, in a detached building barely big enough for a stove, refrigerator, sink, and table.

It sounded sterile and therefore perfect, but I eventually realized ocean air proved to be the best thing for my breathing and moved to California.

Today, I live in a high tech, energy efficient non toxic home that I built by the pacific ocean.

It has an ultra energy efficient air conditioning system, advanced air filtration for eliminating pollens, molds, and chemicals from inside the home. I have a water filtration system filtering out all chemicals from the water. I use photo voltaic solar panels on the roof that absorb energy from the sun and convert it into electricity to use in my home. I’m able to sell that back to the electric company.

We spend 90 percent of our time indoors, where pollutants are up to five times higher than outdoors, so these steps have been non-negotiable.

All building materials used for the home are environmentally safe and inert:, walls, ceilings floors, doors, furniture.

It’s important to install ceramic tile, stone, or solid wood on your floors, with washable area rugs instead of using synthetic wall-to-wall carpet containing petrochemical fibers coated with toxic stain resisters.

Triple pane glass and high performance insulation in the walls and ceilings preserves heat and coolness inside our home, saving energy.

Minimizing exposure to electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) is a tip I list in my book, Poisoned. I recommend staying a safe distance from your television set and use low-EMF, flat screen computer screens instead of cathode ray tube monitors. I have no EMF inside our home, (no wifi, only Ethernet).

It’s a safe, calming oasis.Totally ZEN. I try to continue to walk the walk and protect myself and my family by living in a non-toxic home.

What steps can you take to help make your home a more safe environment for your family?

Control Your Environment and Your Genetic Makeup by Avoiding Toxic Products

EcoWatch published a new article this week claiming that Trump is proving to be as bad for the environment as we feared. Loosening regulations on the EPA, and repealing rules that reduce methane pollution are concerning. It’s true. These are scary times; however, it honestly doesn’t matter what the government does or doesn’t do.  

Corporate America will continue to throw toxic products at you. You don’t have to buy it (literally or figuratively). You don’t have to buy into what these companies are selling.

We need to save ourselves in our own homes and neighborhoods. We do have the power to make a huge impact on our chances of becoming ill and prematurely dying. We are living in a world where all of human disease is either in your genes or in your environment. In many cases chronic disease and premature death is 100% preventable. Aside from wartime and accident, it’s all caused by genes and your environment.

You may think that the only thing you can control is your environment; interestingly, you also have some control over your genes.

Each of us begins life with a particular set of genes – about 20,000 to 25,000 of them. Scientists are gathering evidence proving pollutants and chemicals are altering our genes – not by mutating them but by sending signals that switch them on when they otherwise might remain dormant, or event “silence” the genes altogether. Exposure to gene-altering substances can lead to disease long after the toxic exposure is gone, permanently injuring glands, organs, and cells throughout your body.

Animal studies show that some environmental chemicals cause epigenetic changes that trigger breast and prostate cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, learning disabilities and ALS.

When genes are turned off due to chemical exposure, they can’t direct the manufacture of proteins essential for healthy cell function. Chemicals can also cause chromosomes to uncoil and genes to “express” or be “turned on,” when they otherwise might have remained dormant.

Your chemistry can be altered on a cellular level by something as simple as consistent exposure to toxins used to resurface a gym floor.

In 1900, US chemical consumption was less than 100 million metric tons, but by 2000 this had increased to more than 3.3 billion metric tons. Chemicals are finding their way into our everyday products, but if you take control of your environment then you can also take control of your genetic makeup.

Prevent these diseases and protect yourself and your family from falling victim. Having hope for a better future is the best way through difficult times.

The Best Ways to Protect Your Family from Lead Poisoning

You may think your days of worrying about lead poisoning are long gone. However, according to a recent article in the Environmental Health News, more than 3,000 new cases of children under 6 with high lead levels were reported in 2015 in New Jersey alone. The article went on to specifically address lead paint dangers by saying, “long-term exposure and the ingestion of paint dust can cause a host of health problems, including stunting the development and learning capabilities of children.”

Although lead-based paints were banned for use in housing in 1978, lead exposure continues to be a very real problem, for children in particular. In fact, children under the age of six are at the highest risk for lead poisoning because they are more likely to ingest it and are in critical stages of growth and development.  

Whether you are a tap water drinker, someone who is living in an older home, or someone who thinks you are not currently at risk, it’s wise to be aware of the areas in your home that have the highest concentrations of lead and be aware of ways to reduce your risk of toxic exposure.

Lead in Paint

It’s not the paint itself, but rather the deterioration of paint that makes lead a real issue to those living in older homes. First and foremost, make sure that your children aren’t able to access peeling paint or surfaces that can be chewed – especially in older homes. This includes old cribs and furniture as well. Barriers can be created or duct tape used to limit exposure until the affected area can be cleaned up, which is the strongest recommendation. Additionally, if you are renovating your home, make sure to make alternate living arrangements to avoid airborne toxins in the dust that comes with demo day.

Lead in Water

Often, it is the pipes of an old house that contain lead and not the water source itself. To avoid exposure to lead in your water, allow the faucet to run for several minutes before hopping in the shower or getting a drink. Always choose cold water as, according to the CDC, warm and hot water are more likely to pick up lead debris from pipes. The wisest move is to find an alternate water source for drinking and cooking such as a water bottle delivery service to reduce lead ingestion. You can order a test kit to measure lead in your water here.

Lead in the Environment

We pick up lead every day without realizing it as we walk around outside. Hand washing, while long since touted for reducing the spreading of diseases, is an effective tool for removing toxins carried in from outside as well. Since children are more likely to put their hands in their mouths, having a frequent hand-washing regiment will go a long way in reducing lead ingestion. Additionally, taking a page from Asian cultures by making your home a “shoe free” environment by leaving shoes outside or isolated in a garage or mudroom will prevent tracking toxins in through the house and all over the floors. You can order a test kit to measure lead on different surface areas in your home here.

Reducing any lead exposure, even in several tiny incremental rituals, can go a long way to reducing overall lead content in our bodies. Especially when it comes to the developmentally fragile years for children or unborn babies, taking a few moments to think through and implement some prevention methods can have significant long-term health benefits.

Now, More Than Ever, We Need Protection from Toxic Chemicals

If you’ve taken a look on any social media platform over the last week, you’ve likely seen plenty of political conversations. People are hopeless and angry across political lines. Everyone has a reaction.

It was part of Trump’s campaign platform to loosen government regulations. We should expect him to try to deliver on his promise with his party who is a majority in Congress and Senate. He is following through with what he promised on the trail, and less government/less regulations will adversely impact public health.

Less government means less money spent to find treatments and cures. Pollution levels won’t be monitored as much and, with the additional promise of increased factories, we will see more and more pollution excreted into our environment. This also means fewer regulations in monitoring potentially toxic chemicals and products before they are introduced into our marketplace.

This change in administration makes us less able to depend upon our government to protect us. So, we need to protect ourselves and our families. Now, more than ever, it is time to take control of our personal environment.

You can arm yourself with knowledge about what is harmful to you in your home, school, workplace or neighborhood. By modifying your lifestyle, you can avoid toxins that can harm you and your family. Knowledge is power. With this knowledge, you can take back power over your health. These simple lifestyle modifications can help prevent you from becoming another statistic.

Here are 5 Common Toxic Chemicals to Avoid:

Acrylamide: Used in gel and binding agents, and found in food packaging, cosmetics, and disposable diapers. You will also find it at a summer barbecue or fast food restaurants because it is created by frying or baking starchy foods like potatoes and grains. Acrylamide can also be ingested from tobacco smoke or drinking water, and by touching products that contain the chemical. High doses of acrylamide exposure can lead to skin, eye, and upper respiratory infections.
Atrazine: More than 70 million pounds of this agricultural pesticide are sprayed on our croplands each year, most of it to protect corn. Agricultural workers inhale and absorb this pesticide, and it has also been found in ground and drinking water. High doses of atrazine found in animals have been linked to the delayed onset of puberty, impaired fertility, and reduced levels of the hormones prolactin and testosterone. The EPA is currently reviewing whether or not the chemical is carcinogenic in humans.
Benzene: This volatile chemical is a product of coal and petroleum production. It’s also added to unleaded gasoline and industrial solvents, and it’s a by-product of tobacco smoke. The compound offgasses from building materials and also occurs naturally. Humans typically inhale benzene in ambient air. The body absorbs it readily and send particles to the brain, fatty tissue, and, in pregnant women, across the placenta. Exposure to high concentrations of benzene vapor can depress the central nervous system and lead to death.
Bisphenol A: Also known as BPA, this chemical is commonly used in plastics such as eyeglass lenses, auto parts, CDs, food containers, plastic dinnerware, and toys. Exposure to BPA is thought primarily to happen when we eat foods that have come into contact with the chemical. It is highly toxic to some animals, interfering with brain and reproductive organ development. Studies in humans are murky, but have found a variety of possible health effects, including a possible association between BPA and heart disease.
Long-chain perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs): Fire-resistant PFCs are used in electronics, automotive parts, textiles, and in the construction and aerospace industries, not to mention nonstick cookware. It is unclear how the toxic chemicals get into the human body, but one likely possibility is through diet. While scientists don’t know with certainty if PFCs are harmful to human health, studies have found that high doses cause liver damage in rodents and monkeys.

In this politically charged climate, now more than ever, we must understand that we can’t rely upon our doctors, our government, or corporate America to protect us and our families. You have the power to bypass loose governmental regulation, medical shortcomings, and the toxic products the industry is producing.

Let’s stand together to take back our own personal environment and take back our health.