Lindane is an organochlorine insecticide and fumigant which has been used on a wide range of soil-dwelling and plant-eating insects. It is commonly used on a wide variety of crops, in warehouses, in public health to control insect-borne diseases, and (with fungicides) as a seed treatment. Despite a recent global ban on its agricultural use, the pesticide, a potent neurotoxin, is still used in shampoos and lotions in the U.S. to control head lice and scabies. Scientists report that lindane is currently among the least effective means to control lice...
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An insecticide is a pesticide used to kill insects. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and the household. The use of insecticides is believed to be one of the major factors behind the increase in agricultural productivity in the 20th century. This is great for production, but those of us that eat the food have now ingested these toxic insecticides. Organophosphates are the most frequently used insecticide in the world and are listed by the EPA as a possible human carcinogen. They have devastating effects on neurological systems and...
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Hexane (n-Hexane) is a chemical made from crude oil. Most of the hexane used in the industry is mixed with similar chemicals in products known as solvents. The major use for solvents containing hexane is to extract vegetable oils from crops such as soybeans. Because cooking oils are processed with solvents containing hexane, very small amounts may be present in these products. They are also used as cleaning agents in the printing, textile, furniture and shoemaking industries. Certain kinds of special glues used in the roofing and the shoe and...
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Herbicides, also commonly known as weed killers, are used to kill unwanted plants. Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often synthetic "imitations" of plant hormones. Herbicides that are used to clear waste ground, industrial sites, railways and railway embankments are non-selective and kill all plant material that they come into contact with. Smaller quantities are used in forestry, pasture systems, and management of areas set aside as wildlife habitat. Herbicides...
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Fungicides are extensively used in industry, agriculture, and the home and garden for a number of purposes. Fungi can cause serious damage in agriculture, resulting in critical losses of yield, quality and profit. At the end of the season, profit is the greatest concern for farmers, so companies will use fungicides to protect seeds during shipment and storage. Fungicides are chemicals used to cure fungal, mold and slime diseases in gardens, lawns, and crops. They are also used in protection of carpet and fabrics in the home. Historically, some of...
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Formaldehyde is naturally produced in very small amounts in our bodies as a part of our normal, everyday metabolism and causes us no harm. It can also be found in the air that we breathe at home and at work, in the food we eat, and in some products that we put on our skin. A major source of formaldehyde that we breathe everyday is found in smog in the lower atmosphere. Automobile exhaust from cars without catalytic converters or those using oxygenated gasoline also contain formaldehyde. At home, formaldehyde...
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People associate certain colors with certain flavors, and the color of food can influence the perceived flavor in anything from candy to wine. For this reason, food manufacturers add these dyes to their products. Sometimes the aim is to simulate a color that is perceived by the consumer as natural, such as adding red coloring to glacé cherries (which would otherwise be beige). While most consumers are aware that food with bright or unnatural colors (children's cereals such as Froot Loops) likely contain food coloring, far fewer people know that...
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Fluoride in drinking water was originally added in the 1940s to prevent tooth decay, or that was the cover story. The hard truth is that fluoride can do little to nothing to prevent decay. Studies have now shown that fluoride causes dental fluorosis (decreasing density) in 10% of the population! (see photo) Even more disturbing than the cosmetic impact that fluoride can have on teeth, research is also linking fluoride to cancer (particularly bone cancer), gene mutations, reproductive problems, and neurotoxicity. In fact, in 1999, the EPA's Headquarters Union of...
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Dioxins are a class of chemical contaminants that are formed during combustion processes such as waste incineration, forest fires, and backyard trash burning. They are also used during some industrial processes like paper pulp bleaching and herbicide manufacturing. The highest environmental concentrations of dioxin are usually found in soil and sediment, with much lower levels found in air and water. Humans are primarily exposed to dioxins by eating food contaminated by these chemicals. Dioxin accumulates in the fatty tissues of the body. Dioxin made headlines several years ago at places...
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N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide, abbreviated DEET, is the most common active ingredient in insect repellents. It is intended to be applied to the skin or to clothing, and provides protection against tick bites, mosquito bites, chiggers, and other insects that can transmit disease. It has a faint odor and does not dissolve easily in water. DEET has been used in a number of insect repellent products including liquid sprays, lotions, and sticks. It has been estimated that about 30% of the U.S. population uses one or more products that contain DEET every year....
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A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco for smoking, enclosed in a wrapper of thin paper. The main ingredient in cigarettes is tobacco, although the tobacco is not the most toxic part of the cigarette. Farmers use many chemicals to grow tobacco. They use fertilizers to make the soil rich and insecticides to kill the insects that eat the tobacco plant. After the tobacco plants are picked, they are dried, and machines break up the leaves into small pieces. Artificial flavorings and other chemicals are added. There...
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Chloroform is a colorless liquid with a pleasant, nonirritating odor and a slightly sweet taste. Several million tons are produced annually as a precursor to Teflon and refrigerants. In the past, chloroform was used as an inhaled anesthetic during surgery, but it isn't used that way today. Today, chloroform is used to make other chemicals. Other names for chloroform are trichloromethane and methyl trichloride. Chloroform is considered somewhat hazardous. It enters the environment from chemical companies, paper mills, contaminated water from sewage treatment plants, and drinking water that contains chlorine....
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