Are We to Kill the Earth from Plastics Rather than CO2? Life Threatening Need for Awareness
#6 2023 (corrected issue number) The Rowen Report
Dear Subscriber,
I am busy with my Substack this week, as you can tell. I am making up for the slow holiday weeks. Thank you for your support, and especially those who help financially support my efforts by being premium subscribers.
Today I want to reiterate my concerns about what I consider the greatest threat to our planet and our survival. Here is headline detailing the threats that formerly pristine Lake Tahoe is now facing from plastic pollution.
But here is a terrifying report and from the mainstream, Plastics pollution is estimated to cause some 250 billion in health damages in the USA alone in one year!
“””Chemicals leaching from plastics are leaving Americans notably sicker and poorer, according to a new study.
In 2018 alone, the hormone-disrupting effects of plastics in the nation’s food and water led to a quarter of a trillion dollars in additional health care costs, according to findings published on Thursday in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.
That’s the equivalent of 5 percent of U.S. health care costs and more than 1 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP), the New York University researchers found.
To put that number in context, 2018 saw a year-over-year GDP growth of about 3 percent, a third of which chemicals such as PFAS, phthalates and biophenols ate up.
The surge in plastics production represents “a dangerous and unnatural experiment,” said Leonardo Trasande, a pediatrician at New York University’s School of Medicine.
“We are coming to reckon with the reality that this is an urgent human health problem,” he added.
By interfering with the chemical messengers governing the human body, micro- and nanoplastics led to a stark increase in conditions including obesity, preterm birth, cancer and heart disease, researchers found.
“Hormones are the signaling molecules underlying basic biological functions: temperature, metabolism, salt, sugar and sex,” Trasande said.
“When these hormones are hacked, there are a broad array of consequences, cradle to grave,” he added, with particularly pernicious impacts on “the developing brains” of young children.
In all cases, the scientists studied chemicals that can leach directly from intact plastics into food, unlike micro- and nanoplastics, which are produced when plastics to break down.
Because their tiny size facilitates the transfer of chemicals out of plastic particles, however, Trasande called plastic particles “carrier pigeons” for these hormone disrupting chemicals.”””
Those of you who have read my stuff have to be aware that I am usually years ahead of the curve. This is not ego talking. It is simply looking at what is before me and applying science and logic. Just look at this photo from the above article:
A boy walks on the plastic waste at the Badhwar Park beach on the Arabian Sea coast on World Environment Day in Mumbai, India, June 5. Negotiators at U.N.-led talks in Nairobi have failed to agree on how to advance work towards the development of a global treaty to end plastic pollution. Environmental advocates say some oil-producing governments used stalling tactics designed to ultimately weaken the treaty. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade, File)
This photo cannot be misleading. Terri and I walked on a beach in Morocco several years ago where there was more area covered by plastic bags seeing the sun than sand. In Sierra Leone I saw an open trash dump about the size of my own city that was mostly plastic baking in the sun. Even in the USA we shred plastic to “recycle” which shredding process merely creates tons more microplastics that enter the environment. I believe the toxic monetary estimated cost mentioned above is quite low.
“The findings on phthalates are particularly concerning: We found them in almost every food we tested, often at high levels. The levels did not depend on packaging type, and no one particular type of food—say, dairy products or prepared meals—was more likely than another to have them.
For example, we found high levels in, among other products, Del Monte sliced peaches, Chicken of the Sea pink salmon, Fairlife Core Power high-protein chocolate milkshakes, Yoplait Original French vanilla low-fat yogurt, and several fast foods, including Wendy’s crispy chicken nuggets, a Chipotle chicken burrito, and a Burger King Whopper with cheese. Organic products were just as problematic: In fact, the highest phthalate levels we found were in a can of Annie’s Organic cheesy ravioli.”
The corrupt press and politicians are programming you to believe that our existential threat is CO2. And so, they are trying to corral your Rights, freedoms, and liberty, and your wallet, to remedy this “crisis” in their image. You can’t go more than a few hours without hearing screams of doom from your creation of CO2, blaming you, and proposals to punish you.
In my opinion, CO2 pales in comparison to what you see in the photo and the reports on chemicals in our foods. The earth will well tolerate CO2. Plants will grow faster, and the earth can well recycle this molecule given a chance (humans not destroying the biosphere and CO2 recycling plants, the Amazon, and ocean plankton.
The earth cannot tolerate man-made chemicals for which Nature never provided a remedy. Ocean animals are suffering and dying. Lower animals have mixed external sex organs (phthalates?).
The closest thing Nature provided for clean-up is ultraviolet energy from the sun which only breaks larger polymers to smaller and more dangerous molecules. Most plastic molecules may take millions if not billions of years to fully break down (if ever) and fluorocarbons are forever chemicals. Even ultraviolet might not be ever able to break the latter toxins down.
Our government and mainstream media are fomenting divisiveness amongst us over sexual identity when a great CAUSE of the problem is right before our eyes. My daily rag, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat recently blasted Big Oil as not owning up to causing the climate crisis, saying the industry should be held accountable. I have not heard word one about the makers of man-made chemicals/toxins being reigned in and held accountable. But in the end, we are responsible for we purchase these environment destroying products.
I do fear we have crossed the line on plastics and non-biodegradable poisons. I am not saying this to terrify you, as government does with all its propaganda. I am speaking logic from the galactic rise in sexual dysphoria and dysfunction to the meteoric rise in cancer, which news is now making mainstream news. We have NOT crossed the line on CO2. Mother earth can recycle, if we give it a chance. It has no chance to decontaminate and protect sea and land based creatures from our chemical destruction.
Terri commented just today, after shopping for some clothing, that it is about impossible to find clothes that are 100% natural and which do not contain some kind of plastic synthetic. Remember, textile (clothing) fibers are now in our atmosphere, rain water, oceans and drinking water. It is only going to get worse as corrupt governments, under the influence of the World Economic Forum, pushes the WEF agenda to reduce CO2 (which is not a bad idea, but being enforced irrationally). This agenda calls for the phase out of fossil fuels (again, not a bad idea if there is a safe alternative). But oil companies will turn to making the toxic petrochemicals instead of fuel. We are actually seeing that with a geometric, if not a logarithmic increase in plastic production.
Consider the alarming rise in non-smoking lung cancer.
“Another study that same year, of 2,170 patients in the U.K., found an even larger increase: The proportion of lung cancer patients who were never-smokers rose from 13% in 2008 to 28% in 2014.Nowhere is mentioned the probability of inhaled non-biodegradable plastic fibers as a possible cause in these tragedies, even in quite young adults.”
I have previously presented to you my first steps in trying to reign this in. And, believe it or not, I got my paperwork to a high official in RFK’s campaign and was told it is quite good. Remember, I also got my ideas on COVID to Trump’s high command, but it went nowhere. I am told by a friend of his that the paperwork was actually given to Trump and he ignorantly passed it off to an underling, and it was “deep sixed”, to the detriment of us all.
I don’t know if Kennedy will run with it. But, he has been a champion regarding protecting us from industry.
A first step, (though you know I tend to be a Libertarian in my political views) is to impose a “use tax” on plastics. I happen to believe this is constitutional, and imperative for our survival. The proceeds of the use tax can be used to arrange for proper destruction (perhaps like high temperature incineration), disposal, or safe “recycling” of plastic, which to date actually is possibly more environmentally destructive than just burying it for future generations to deal with or be poisoned from leaching. The increased cost, by tax, of use of plastic will also encourage production and use of non-toxic alternatives to plastic such as glass and stainless steel, which was used before the plastic explosion.
Terri and I try to do our part. We reuse plastic bags at the market. I use paper bags where possible. Our clothing is virtually 100% natural. Everywhere we have an alternative, we run for it. Our big challenge is in the office, where we cannot help but use plastic, such as syringes, and/or equipment. Fortunately, we have been able to take advantage of home solar, have back up batteries and an electric vehicle. We should be close to generating as much electricity as we consume if not better. (Of course, not everyone can go that far). And, we grow a very large portion of our consumed food.
But again, I am far more concerned about plastic and chemical destruction of our environment than CO2. Please remember my past comments on how corrupt press and government are stirring you up for THEIR agendas rather than addressing the real problems.
I am hoping that the Kennedy campaign (or others) will look into my proposals on the environment and medicine. I’d just like the ideas out in the public for discussion.
My apologies to those who would prefer to see no politics in my posts. We cannot have a healthy planet or healthy bodies without some political process in protecting us from malevolent and profiteering forces. Your help and education of political candidates is urgently needed. Your life literally depends on it, as does ALL life on this planet.
To Saving the Planet,
Robert Jay Rowen, MD
PS 1) After scheduling this post, I came across an article in mainstream echoing my fears about microplastics from clothing and simply doing your laundry. Folks, this is an incredibly serious situation. Even radioactivity has a half life. Human wars eventually end. CO2 is recycled. But then, there is plastic. All life on the planet is exposed to his horror and plastics are now found in about 100% of placentas and they cross into the child. Flame resistant fabrics are made with cancer causing polybrominated biphenyls, which are also major hormone disrupters. All of us supporting the synthetic textile world are unwittingly contributing to this catastrophe. . The peaceful sea turtle is under attack. Images like this are heartbreaking.
Sperm counts are plummeting and the fall is ACCELERATING.
““This publication considers data on sperm counts from 233 scientific studies published since 1981. The researchers published this data previously (2017), but have updated to include 38 newer studies (14233 samples) from 2014 – 2019, importantly from all areas of the globe. Their findings confirm that sperm counts are falling by around 1.1% per year, with an overall decline of 51.6% in 45 years. Of concern, the rate of decline has doubled since 2000. And we genuinely don’t know why. Exposure to pollution, plastics, smoking, drugs and prescribed medication, as well as lifestyle, such as obesity and poor diet, have all been suggested to be contributory factors although effects are poorly understood and ill-defined.””
Look guys, you might not care about having children, or you might have already have had your children. Aside from the impact this will have on your children, if chemicals are knocking out your sperm production (hormone related), just think of the wonders they will do for your erections (hormone related). I can’t imagine that ED won’t disturb you. Better invest in Viagra. But will even erection drugs be able to overcome chemical micro particulate hormone disrupters?
Thank you. I am NOT defending the use of fossil fuels. I am raising my opinion that the plasticization of the planet is a far more dire threat than CO2. The earth will eventually recycle the CO2. It cannot do the same with plastic. When we kill our species off, the planet will purge the problem of CO2. It cannot do so with plastics and forever chemicals. Again, my opinion.
"We need plastic bags to save the trees, so lets get rid of paper bags ". "Let's get rid of CO2 to save the Planet ." Their stupidity never ends .