I was an early cell phone adopter, spending hours on the phone as I traveled to and from grad school. I was on the cell phone for about an hour during my trip from Penn Station to my stop on the Long Island Railroad. So yes, I’m a little freaked out.

What makes it worse is that the the research has been mounting for a while, and I chose to ignore it. In February, for example, Queen’s University released a study that found a link between male fertility and cell phone use. From the report text:

“Men who have been diagnosed with poor sperm quality and who are trying to have children should limit their cell phone use. Researchers have found that while cell phone use appears to increase the level of testosterone circulating in the body, it may also lead to low sperm quality and a decrease in fertility.”

Another study — also released in February — out of the University of Washington, Seattle and University Hospital in Orebro, Sweden found that there was an “increased brain glucose metabolism (a marker of brain activity) in the region closest to the phone antenna, but the finding is of unknown clinical significance.”

And a June 2010 study out of the University of South Florida found that “long-term exposure to electromagnetic waves associated with cell phone use may actually protect against, and even reverse, Alzheimer’s disease.” Wow. There are plenty more. All you need to do is search PubMed or Eurekalert.

Bottom line: Any way you slice it, it’s clear that cell phones are doing something to our brains and bodies. Uggg. So what can we do?

Well, experts tell us to limit cell phone use. Also, to use a headset whenever possible, and one that’s preferably wired. Speakerphone is a wonderful thing, too, as long as you hold it away from your body. (If the radiation hurts our brains, it stands to reason it can affect whatever body part it’s pointed at, right?) Oh, and texting and email are two other options since both are better for you than using a phone near your head. If you must hold a phone near your ear, it should be at least a quarter-inch or so away, according to manufacturers.

The solution, I guess, is that there is no solution short of throwing away your phone. And as a parent, I’ll be making sure that my girls don’t have access to a phone until they are much older — probably 14 or 15 at the least. It might be too late for me, but I’m going to try and protect my kids.

Are you worried about radiation? How many minutes are you on your cell phone each month? I’d love to know.

Take my dinner tonight. I ate a baby spinach salad dressed with chicken and artichoke hearts and sprinkled with a little balsamic vinaigrette dressing. The spinach was organic. (I should say that when it comes to the Dirty Dozen, the 12 vegetables and fruits that have the most pesticide residue — celery, peaches, strawberries, apples, blueberries, nectarines, bell peppers, spinach, kale, cherries, potatoes, and grapes — I am vigilant with my own diet.) So was the dressing — don’t want to eat non-organic grapes and all. But the chicken and the artichokes were Trader Joe’s conventional stuff.

Granted, they are probably going to be better than what you might find at a regular supermarket, but by how much? Certainly the chicken wasn’t my air-chilled organic chicken breast (it’s so important, that air-chilled part) that I typically buy for the kids. And the artichokes were the non-organic kind sitting in brine and oil. Yummy, to be sure, but probably doused in pesticides since, as I have just learned, artichokes are perfect candidates for “aphids, botrytis rot, and fungus, so most commercial artichokes are sprayed heavily with pesticides and fungicides.” Even worse there’s a list of the top 50 pesticides used on artichokes in California. Really?!? Son of a…

Okay, so now I am sitting here feeling queasy. Sure, as my mother likes to tell me, you can’t live your life in fear. However, if you’re walking around at midnight in a shady section of town and a guy who looks dangerous is walking toward you on the street, wouldn’t you cross the street to avoid any potential problems? Or would you just keep walking and see what happens? Because you can’t live your life in fear. Me, I’d cross the street. Or in this case next time I’ll spend the $3.99, and buy the organic artichoke hearts packed in oil from Whole Foods. Also, next time I won’t be lazy and buy the prepackaged balsamic chicken. I’ll make my own. I guess since the whole monkey see, monkey do comes into effect I should have been doing that all along. Sigh.

The more I learn, the more I wish I didn’t know and the more I wonder how big agriculture can get away with this crap. FIFTY pesticides for a single crop of artichokes? For shame, Mr. and Mrs. Conventional American Farmer. For shame.

“Dr. Rainer describes this kind of distancing as “stiff-arming” — creating as much space as possible from the possibility of trauma. It’s magical thinking in the service of denial: If bad things are happening to you and I stay away from you, then I’ll be safe.”

They are not bad friends. They are terrified and coping the way they know how. Some people feel helpless, and can’t deal with that feeling, either.

I know this feeling. Five years ago one of my best friends got a terrible diagnosis for her husband. He had cancer. Not a good cancer (is there really such a thing?), but an incurable cancer with a terrible prognosis. Our kids were 20 months old. As one of her best friends I was with her the entire time — physically. Emotionally, I can only say it was 50-50.

When she first got the diagnosis in June 2005 we spent hours and hours on the phone. She cried. She questioned. She stormed. During that time, even though I was sitting there on the phone I was slowly — mentally — moving away. Her trauma was pushing all my crazy buttons. (She’ll be a widow at 35 — like my mom! Her then 5-year-old daughter will have no dad — like me! Her youngest will never know his dad — like my sister!) In the beginning, she never knew. I was able to hide it by staying and listening and getting involved in other ways.

I did everything in my power, physically, to help her. I threw a second birthday party for her son in my backyard. (She couldn’t fathom having a celebration when her world was falling apart.) I kept her kids whenever her mother couldn’t. I organized a dinner drop off. I collected money for a cleaning lady. I provided news and updates to other friends, encouraging them to call her. I took her out whenever possible. I found stuff that she needed — snow boots, for example, when her daughter outgrew the ones she had. I introduced her to the local Mother’s Center, which became an excellent resource for her.

I sound like a great friend, right? Yeah, not so much. The stress of her stress was like an anchor around my neck. I felt like I was drowning. I started compartmentalizing my life. The first order of business: I didn’t want to invite her to playdates. I decided that I didn’t want her to come to the smaller playgroup I had that was a subset of our bigger 11-person playgroup. I didn’t want to hear about the cancer. I wanted to forget that life is fragile and scary. So when she would ask what I was doing, I never lied, but I didn’t invite her.

Yes, physically, I was there for her. I held the phone and listened to her cry. Emotionally, though, I was trying to get away whenever I could. I was so angry. For her, at her, at others.

Case in point: One of our friends, my friend’s long-time other best friend — let’s call her Jane — was also distancing herself. Jane had her own issues (alcoholic family members) that made her check out, too. She didn’t offer to help. She didn’t want to listen to my friend cry. One time Jane said something to the effect that her husband had broken his ankle and no one was there for her. I ended up battling Jane, who had been one of my good friends. I wrote a scathing letter about her selfishness, and as a result, severed the ties between us completely. I can look back now and see that I was chastising Jane for my own lack of empathy, my own fear. I was mad at myself so I judged Jane and convicted her, throwing her out of my life. Jane was doing what I wanted to do — she was walking away from all the pain and suffering. She was protecting herself. Instead of understanding, I was jealous and indignant and sad all at the same time. That is a relationship loss that I regret to this day. I am so sorry I was so immature and judgmental.

My friendship stayed intact with my other friend, though, despite my behavior. We made it through that terrible period. My husband’s friend went into remission. After some time I actually apologized to my friend. Yes, I was a good friend to her, but I was also a bad friend, too. I told her how sorry I was that I tried to exclude her from our playdates. How sorry I was about some of the things I said. (Probably not a good idea to tell someone dealing with cancer that you’re sick of hearing about cancer.) I told her how silly and childish I was. I told her that I loved her and that I would always be there for her. And now, as her husband is once again out of remission at the same time her mother was just diagnosed with ovarian cancer, I am hoping that I can be there for her without being so afraid. I’m hoping I will remember that her pain and suffering isn’t catching. I’m hoping I can be a good friend.

This morning, I was honored to spend time on the phone with Sarah DeFeo and Audra Moran of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Sarah is the organization’s director of scientific affairs; Audra is its CEO. We talked about detection, prevention and ways you and I can get involved. Here’s a transcript of our discussion:

KB: Who is most likely to get ovarian cancer?

Sarah: With many cancers, they appear at any time at any age. Cancer doesn’t discriminate for the most part. Ovarian cancer is a little different, though. The vast majority of people who get it are post menopausal women 55 years and older. We also know that women with certain risk factors get it, too.

KB: How many people get the disease?

Sarah: The current stats say that 22,000 American women will be diagnosed this year with ovarian cancer, and approximately 15,000 will die of the disease.

KB: How can you tell that you’ve got the disease? What are the warning signs?

Sarah: It’s tough, because you don’t have much in the way of symptoms. Plus, right now there’s no method of early diagnosis, which means far too many [people] are diagnosed in late stage disease. If ovarian cancer is caught early at stage 1 or 2 it can be treated effectively and the treatment is quite high.

KB: How can we change that? Why aren’t more women diagnosed earlier?

Sarah: It’s tough because there’s nothing like a pap smear or a mammogram out there for ovarian cancer detection. However, there are early warning indicators. Many women with ovarian cancer report that they did have symptoms, but they didn’t recognized them as ovarian cancer. [These] women had things like abdominal bloating — some women notice their pants seem too tight around the waist — difficulty eating or feeling full quickly. They might not have a desire to eat. Urinary problems are another symptom. Having to go frequently or having problems with urgency. The hard part is any women could read these symptoms and at any time and say, “Oh my God. I am bloated, I have ovarian cancer!” Any woman could have these symptoms at any time and they are nothing. The key is if these symptoms are new and unusual for you and they persist, you need to get them checked out. If you have these symptoms for two weeks, three weeks go to your doctor and be sure to ask about ovarian cancer.

KB: Won’t my doctor or midwife think I’m nuts if I say I think I have ovarian cancer?

Sarah: It’s worth being explicit especially when the symptoms are vague. We hear stories about women who bounce around the medical system for a few months before getting a diagnosis, and that’s what we want to avoid. For example, if symptoms are basically GI problems, a woman could end up going to a gastroenterologist. You need to say it because even though we hope a gynecologist would think to check for it, if it is a younger woman, it might not be top of mind for that doctor if the patient doesn’t appear to have warning signs.

KB: I get a sonogram of my ovaries when I go for a regular checkup. Why doesn’t every doctor or midwife do that?

Sarah: For many doctors the concern is it would lead to some unnecessary treatment. If you screen 100 people you might find something in a few of them. So the next thing you know you’re performing potentially risky surgeries on women.

KB: Why is it so important for people to get involved and donate to ovarian cancer research and organizations like the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund?

Sarah: We’re the largest non-profit in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to funding ovarian cancer research. (There are some government sponsored research programs going on, too.) We’ve been around for 15 years, making grants for 12 years. In that time we’ve made a big impact on the field. Not only in moving the science forward but also helping to grow ovarian research itself. Most people don’t know this, but scientists they will go where they can find money to do research. So if there is no money out there for ovarian research but tons of money for prostate cancer research they will go and do the prostate cancer research instead. What we’re doing is helping them get working and encouraging them to stay in the field.

KB: How can women protect themselves from ovarian cancer?

Sarah: Be proactive about looking for signs of cancer. Also, be extra vigilant if you have any of the risk signs: increasing age, if you have a family or personal history of breast cancer, if you’ve never had children. Oral contraceptive use significantly reduces risk, as does breastfeeding and multiple pregnancies.

KB: How can I get involved?

Audra: There are plenty of ways. You can donate to the fund right on our website. We’ve also got an online shop where vendors have donated beautiful items for purchase. And right now Electrolux, though Kelly Ripa’s Kelly Confidential site, will donate $1 for every banana split you make online.

Do you have someone in your family who is affected by this terrible disease? How do you protect yourself from cancer on a daily basis? Let’s hear it!

It was something I would hear several times from several people throughout the day. It was cool and windy; the sun wasn’t shining. Everyone figured they were protected from a burn. And everyone found out they were wrong. It’s a common misconception, actually.

The truth: Skin-damaging UVA and skin burning UVB light penetrates clouds and will start damaging your skin pretty quickly. According to the World Health Organization’s Global Solar UV Index Guide, up to 80 percent of the sun’s ultraviolet rays can pass through the clouds. Add sand, which reflects 25 percent of the sun’s rays or snow, which reflects 80 percent of the sun’s rays, and you understand why you need to wear sunscreen on exposed areas every day — winter, spring, summer and fall. And also why some of the worst burns I’ve ever seen happened on ski slopes.

As someone who has type 1 skin — the American Academy of Dermatology has come up with six skin categories; click here to see which one you fall into — I am super, hyper vigilant when it comes to skin protection. I keep the blinds drawn (UVA rays can penetrate glass), I wear hats, I don’t step outside without sunscreen and I reapply often. Unfortunately, I got more than my fair share of burns as a child — many, many blistering burns. (Am I the only one who had my mom drape wet washcloths across my back and shoulders?) So I am at greater risk of getting skin cancer. And yes, as usual, this is why I treat my kids like the sun will make them disintegrate on contact.

To date, my big girl is nearly freckle-free. (She’s got a tiny dusting on her nose.) The baby is still completely freckle-free. Neither has ever been burned — thank goodness. I can report this because of the hyper-vigilance. They wear sun shirts rather than suits whenever possible. I make them wear terry cover-ups, hats when they’re not in the water. They get lots of sunscreen. Lots. I reapply every few hours, and try and get them to play in the shade even though they’re ‘blocked. I hope I am creating good habits that will follow them into adulthood. I think it will. They have been watching me put daily sunscreen on my face since they were born. The baby actually asks for her own sunscreen. The big girl gets slathered every morning before she gets on the bus. She gets why we’re doing it. She’s been hearing about the dangers of sun for a while, and the benefits of sunblock, too: better-looking skin well into old age.

What’s your sun ritual like? What’s your favorite sunscreen? I’m partial to Blue Lizard, which scores the best on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep website. How about you?

I finished the story and just feel terrible. Every day it seems like there is another report and another study linking our environment to negative health problems. And every day companies and organizations such as the Vinyl Institute and the American Chemistry Council — even pro-health organizations such as The American Cancer Society — come out and tell us not to worry. It will all be okay. The researchers don’t know what they are talking about. The studies are all wrong. It’s just really depressing and disheartening.

So today, a day late, I am ending my post with a haiku. (The WordCount Blogathon asked participants to write haikus yesterday. I forgot.)

It is the money
That trumps our health and wellness
We should be ashamed

And…

Chemical exec
A place is waiting for you
In hell and it’s free

And…

I cry for our kids
What are we doing to them
We need to stanch it

And…

Money can’t buy health
It can buy lawmakers though
A very sad state

Please let me know if I messed up the moras or anything. I haven’t written haiku since fourth grade. And since I love participation: How about adding a haiku of your own? Oh, yeah. And see that little brown square to the right? The one that says Top Mommy Blogs? Click on it and vote for me? You can vote every day to help me move up on the list.

The organization assessed 17 different perfumes, which listed “fragrance” on their labels. On average, there were 14 different unlisted ingredients in each of the perfumes. The reason: manufacturers are not required to list the chemicals they use to make perfumes fragrant. And some of the perfumes had many more than average. For example, American Eagle Seventy Seven had 24 unnamed ingredients, Coco Mademoiselle Chanel had 18, and Britney Spears Curious and Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio both had 17 unnamed ingredients. Almost 2/3rds — 66 percent of the ingredients — have not been tested for human safety. “According to EWG analysis, the fragrance industry has published safety assessments for
only 34% of the unlabeled ingredients,” says the report.

From the report: “The fragrances tested contained, on average, 10 chemical sensitizers, which can trigger reactions such as asthma, wheezing, headaches and contact dermatitis when they are breathed in absorbed into the skin.” (Check out page 9 of the report to see the full list of chemicals.)

It’s not like this all over the world, though. In fact, it seems like the folks in Europe are better protected than those in the States. In Europe, there are 26 ingredients that must go on the label if they are in perfume. According to this week’s report, those 17 perfumes tested by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics had 22 of those ingredients. And 12 of the 17 perfumes tested also contained phthalates: diethyl phthalate, known as DEP, specifically. Phthalates are hormone disruptors that mainly affect the reproductive organs and the brain. Nasty little chemicals. Not something you’d want to be rubbing on your skin or inhaling into your lungs.

An April 2010 study out of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University has linked prenatal exposure to phthalates found in personal care products and perfume to childhood ADHA. Another Mount Sinai study linked phthalates to early puberty in girls. This is a big deal, according to researchers, because it may cause a higher incidence of breast cancer later in life: “”Exposure to these chemicals is extremely common,” Dr. Mary Wolff, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Oncological Sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. “As such, while the association between chemicals and pubertal development seems small, the impact on the overall population is significant.”

So what’s the take-away? We, as consumers, should be able to avoid phthalates and chemicals that have the potential to hurt us. We can’t do that unless we can see everything that goes into the products we buy. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics wants Congress to rewrite the Federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1973, forcing the perfume manufacturers to list every chemicals that’s in a perfume or cologne. It’s tough, though, since the FDA lacks the authority to make this happen. I agree something has to change. What do you think?

Do you wear perfume every day? I don’t — only on special occasions — but this still scares me. My girls have been lying on my mom’s chest since they were born. My mother-in-law’s, too. They “smell like Grandma” when both grandmas leave.

The report explains that, in 2009, more than 1.5 American men, women and children were diagnosed with cancer, and 562,000 died. The experts on the panel seem to think that environmental risk factors are “grossly underestimated.” Here’s an excerpt from the study:

“With nearly 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, many of which are used by millions of Americans in their daily lives and are un- or understudied and largely unregulated, exposure to potential environmental carcinogens is widespread.” The report then went on to mention bisphenol A (BPA) specifically.

Babies and kids, according to the report, are extremely sensitive to environmental toxins. One of the biggest sources: agriculture. “The entire U.S. population is exposed on a daily basis to numerous agricultural chemicals, some of which also are used in residential and commercial landscaping. Many of these chemicals have known or suspected carcinogenic or endocrine-disrupting properties. Pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides) approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contain nearly 900 active ingredients, many of which are toxic.” Many of the pesticides have fillers and inert ingredients, too none of which are required to be tested as to how they might contribute to people getting chronic diseases or long-term illnesses such as cancer. HOW can that be true? How can it be allowed? But it is true, and it is allowed. The report makes that very clear.

The report’s main message is that we need a nation-wide plan to eliminate or reduce the environmental risks out there. In the meantime parents MUST take care of their kids, especially. One of the subheads in the report was pretty clear on this point: “Children Are at Special Risk for Cancer Due to Environmental Contaminants and Should Be Protected.”

It even calls for pregnant women to be more careful, saying babies today are born “pre-polluted” since so many contaminants can cross the placenta. It suggests we find green alternatives to many of the chemicals in use. Until that happens we can take steps to protect ourselves by buying organic — eliminating many of those pesticides criticized in the report. We can also avoid household chemicals by buying green, non-toxic cleaning supplies, and stop buying air fresheners. Clothing and furniture can be toxic, too if it is treated with flame retardant chemicals, so read your labels. Another huge, necessary change: saying no to plastic food storage and packaging. When the government repeatedly says something, in this case BPA, is bad, it’s probably a good idea to avoid it at all costs. Finally, try to keep kids away from chemically-treated lawns and gardens to reduce the number of fertilizers and herbicides they are exposed to. (And yes, it’s absolutely worth going up and talking to your school district about what they use on their laws, in the schools and on the playground.)

I’m impressed that the government is finally telling the public the truth about the chemicals in our lives. Now that it’s in our faces and obvious it’s up to us to do something with this information. It’s up to us to take care of ourselves and our kids.

Do you have a family member with cancer? Do you think there is an environmental link between that disease and the illness? What, if anything, are you going to do with this information?

Perfect example: This week my close friend, the one who holds the Seders every year, got some terrible news. Her mother has ovarian cancer. This terrible diagnosis comes on top of the already-heavy load she’s carried for the past five years. You see my friend’s husband has multiple myeloma, a serious blood cancer. He’s been in remission but his numbers are going up, which means the cancer might be coming back. Tomorrow she’ll spend the entire day at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Her mom’s appointment — where she’ll find out a treatment path — is at 9:45. Her husband will get the results of his blood tests in the early afternoon. It sucks.

We spent an hour on the phone last night. I tried to keep her from going to the Bad Place. My friend has an amazing and enviable relationship with her mom. Her mom is her rock. When she is nervous about her husband she can always turn to her mom. Now both of her rocks are ill. How can she make it through with both of them sick, she wanted to know. I didn’t know what to say. It’s just not fair. (And it makes my husband’s intestinal issues seem like a splinter, right?)

During our chat I tried to tell her to remain calm. Not to think the worst. The reporter in me had to look up and report back on all the amazing trials that are going on for those suffering with multiple myeloma. (There are more than 180 in New York State; 61 of them are still actively recruiting.) Then I told her about some of the excellent work that’s being done for ovarian cancer. Intra-abdominal chemotherapy, where they bathe the stomach cavity with chemo while blasting more chemo into your blood stream is getting good results, for example. And the five-year survival rate for ovarian cancer is no longer as dire as it once was. Almost half of the women diagnosed today will live for more than five years. And as a woman, you can do things to boost your own survival rate. A study that came out earlier this month links diet with long-term outcome. Women who ate well had a “survival advantage” over those who didn’t. My friend’s mom is a fighter. She’s going to do everything she can. She’s going to eat right. She’s going to have the best doctors. I don’t even have to think about which side of that 50 percent she’s going to fall into.

Anyway, as you go about your day today, please think good thoughts for my friend and her family. And while you’re at it, send a little love my husband’s way, too. He’s going for a test to see if he’s got long-term damage in his intestines as well as check to see if that fourth surgery he had in February actually worked. In fact, if you pray, say a prayer for everyone. I don’t think God has any pull when it comes to who gets sick or who gets better, but I do think that the power of our minds and our energies combine and can elicit change. Let’s make a little change for my friend’s mom Mrs. S., her husband Mr. B., and Mr. S, my hubby.

p.s. For the portion of my readers who are, at this minute, saying, ‘What the heck!?! This blog is supposed to be about food and health and chemicals and high fructose corn syrup. What’s with two blogs in a row related to religion?’ I say this: This blog is not turning into a religious blog. I promise. Again, I’m not even that religious. Religion and sex are the two things you’re not supposed to talk about and I keep doing both. Sorry, and tomorrow we’ll get back to our regularly scheduled complaints and gripes.