creepy chemical news

Remember last year when all of those left-wing, clean-living people had themselves tested for chemicals and were horrified and dismayed by the results? Well frankly, this new "test yourself" phenomenon is an amazing moneymaking opportunity. Heck, if the price (and accessibility) got down a bit lower, I'd love to know what godawful stuff was in my body. It's more useful, too, than the "Get an MRI Instead of a Cruise" marketing campaign aimed at paranoid boomers. A few years ago when I had a mammogram, they thought that one of my breasts seemed a little crunchy or something (sorry, forgot the term -- must be palliative amnesia), they signed me up for an MRI on it. YUCK. I had to lie inside of this metal tube for about 45 minutes and the only way I got through it was by pretending that my son was nursing and almost asleep and I couldn't move. Yes, yes, sure I'm neurotic (what's it to you?). But I'm also, it turns out, fairly claustrophobic. Joy and rapture. New wierd mental problems as I age. I guess it's good that the senses go first. Or was it looks? Hmmn. Can't seem to remember (probably an indicator). At any rate, it was terrible. I left and burst into tears for about 1/2 hour. From that point on, they gave me some little pill to take when i went in. Some wierd thing that apparently ... oh, who knows. But no more crying. Instead, I chatted at the poor MRI operators. Kind of like a cheap drunk. Where was I? Ah. So they took an MRI. Found a very small ... something or another. I believe that the doctor really *did* characterize it as "wierd." They told me that it might be cancerous. They couldn't tell unless they operated and took it out. And ... did I want them to do that? Or did I just want to wait until it grew larger and they could see what it was. Huh? Were they freaking insane? Yes, yes. Take it out, for heaven's sake! As part of this, it was explained to me that the MRI gets EVERYTHING, no matter how small, and that our bodies have literally hundreds of things which *might, some day* end up being harmful floating around. It's pretty much impossible to figure out what might be harmful or just ... wierd ... for the most part. You could get a lot of scars that way, you know? So here's an article that will provide the same frisson of distaste and fear, but you can just throw away your wall to wall carpet and stop eating fish oil when you're finished. *Much* more sense of control, you know? This is from my local mom's list, by the way: "Here is a a fascinating and disturbing article about an investigation of chemical pollutants in our bodies. The authors tested a typical Bay Area family for a whole host of chemical pollutants and the results stunned event scientists. This family seems to live as chemical-free a life as they can, yet their 20-month-old son has extraordinarily high PBDE levels. The article is part of a three part series which also includes a "body burden" quiz and a discussion of what you can do to limit your exposure. Here's the link: http://www.insidebayarea.com/bodyburden/ The article about the bay area family is entitled "What's In You""