If you haven’t heard of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) yet, they are a very useful organization that provides current information about toxins in our food, body products, cleaning products, and so forth, so we can be smart shoppers when it comes to our health. Have you ever seen the “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean Fifteen” lists the EWG publishes every year? They explain which produce items are the highest and lowest in pesticides, so we can prioritize which to buy organic if we are on a budget. It’s a pretty nifty tool, and they even have an app for it so you can access it while out and about (for iPhone and iPad; for Android).

This new post by the EWG is pretty awesome. Titled “Dirty Dozen List of Endocrine Disruptors”, it shares information about what endocrine disruptors are, why they are bad, and what some of the worst ones are. They also list what products contain high amounts of each disruptor, and how to avoid them. It is all very useful information I plan to revisit over time until I feel I have a solid grasp on what products to avoid in order to keep my endocrine system functioning as smoothly as possible.

However, I don’t entirely agree with all their suggestions for how to avoid the listed endocrine disruptors. For example, they say to avoid dioxin by eating fewer animal products, but they fail to mention that organic, pasture-raised, local, sustainable animal products will not have gone through the industrial processes that create dioxin. Animal products are safer than often made out to be, as long as you choose safe animal products. The EWG also recommends eating iodized salt in order to consume more iodine to counter the effects of perchlorate, but table salt really isn’t that good for you. Natural iodine exists in unrefined salt like Celtic Sea Salt or Himalayan salt. And there are other foods that contain iodine, like fish and seaweed.

Despite the small points I disagree with, the article is overwhelmingly useful and educational. For example, just drinking reverse osmosis water alone will help reduce four of the chemicals listed. So you can kill four chemical birds with one watery stone. Cheers to a healthy endocrine system!