Asthma – Difficulty breathing, linked to manmade pollution in the air, commonly occurring in contaminated communities. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
Biomonitoring – The process of measuring for chemicals in the body. This can be done by testing urine, blood, or hair. (Commonweal Biomonitoring Center)
Bisphenol A (BPA) – A synthetic sex hormone used in plastics and can linings that’s linked to obesity, other forms of endocrine system disruption, and increases aggression in cancer. (U.S. Institute of Environmental Health Services)
Critical Windows of Development – The period of human development between conception and birth when human beings are the most vulnerable to chemical exposure. See the “Websites” section for a database on environmental health impacts identified by peer reviewed studies curated by Theo Colborn and Carol Kwiatkowski. (The Endocrine Disruption Exchange)
Environmental Justice – The concept that all people deserve clean air, clean water, clean earth, and a healthy environment. (Robert Bullard)
Grasshopper Effect – Persistent chemicals travel north toward the Arctic on wind and water. They land in places along the way, and when they do, they leave their “footprint,” and capacity for exposure. (United Nations Environment Program)
Low Dose Effects – The phenomenon that low dose exposures can trigger health impacts, sometimes later in life. (Breast Cancer Prevention Partners)
Non-ionizing radiation – Radiofrequency waves from wireless devices, linked to weakening the blood brain barrier, enabling toxic chemicals to enter the brain more easily. Also linked to neurological, reproductive, and eugenic impacts. Carcinogenic. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
PCBs – Polychlorinated biphenyls. Persistent chemicals linked to the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system, and endocrine system impacts. Banned in the 1970s, yet still ubiquitous. (U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry)
POPs chemicals – Persistent Organic Pollutants that last a long time and travel north on wind and rain, leaving a “footprint” as they pass through. (United Nations Environment Program)