And good evening.

Thank you so much for watching HealthLine on PBS for Dwayne.

I'm your host Mark Evans.

>> A very interesting and probably an unusual topic.

I don't think I've ever talked about this on HealthLine a number of years I've hosted this show.

>> We have a very special guest to guide us through that Dr Rose Weinrib, may I call you Dr. Rose?

Is that OK?

That's fine.

I've gotten to know you back in the green room before the show I was just like we've been old friends for years so I would like to address you is that if you don't mind us professionally it is Dr.

Enrich and you are a family physician family medicine and we're going to be talking about environmental health a guide to healthy living in a chemical world.

>> And when you sent me some suggestions on what to talk about tonight, I was astounded by some of these things that I read that we're going to be discussing and it's about the toxins and just a well, nine elements of everyday life .

Right.

And what we'd like to address tonight those toxins what what they are and how we can get rid of them and to lower the intake so to speak.

>> OK, very good.

That phone line is open for you 866- (969) 27 two zero call it any time in the next 30 minutes.

We are live tonight and we want to address your concerns.

So if you have any concerns regarding the subject, please call we don't step down for commercials because we are public television.

>> Very proud of that.

Well, Dr. Rose, before we get into the meat of the matter, so to speak, tell us a little bit about your specialty.

>> The family medicine field and there's a reason I'm asking you this and I would like to know a little history explain what a family physician is qualified to do and also what the education is required.

>> So family medicine is a full residency of three years.

>> In the old days it was like the old country doctor who made house calls.

>> Absolutely I've done that and we deliver babies.

We take care of people from cradle to grave basically and a lot of family doctors still do Obbie I did Obbie early in my career but don't anymore.

>> But we can take care of men, women and children so we've to take care of people in nursing homes.

>> And so the family doctor is that that doctor that we all want to have somebody that knows us well and knows all about us and can know our kids, our moms, our dads and our whole story.

>> So that's the that's what attracted me to family matters.

So the whole family unit then and you don't necessarily deal with whole families but you are a family doctor, a family physician but you do have situations where you deal with whole families is absolutely and the family unit is so important for our health .

>> Yes.

absolutely.

>> Yeah.

Yeah it comes from the top down so we're going to be talking about environmental health and again a guide to healthy living in a chemical world.

>> Why are you wanting to talk about this tonight?

>> Well, I got interested in this type of medicine.

You know, when you're in medical school they teach you about disease and what pills to give it and what treatments to do for it and it's very frustrating waiting to have a patient that all you can do is just give them a pill and in twenty ten after I'd been in medicine close to twenty five years I discovered integrative medicine which is where we teach people to be proactive for their health and not just say you have a headache here, take this pill or you've got a stomach ache, take this pill kind of a holistic approach so there's things you can do.

There's things you eat.

I learned that broccoli can change your your biochemistry I mean just eating healthy, having a healthy lifestyle, avoiding toxins and how we can keep ourselves healthy.

>> In the past few years with the pandemic we're all aware that our general health made a difference in how we got through the pandemic.

>> Absolutely.

And we are just exposed to so many chemicals and bad habits and lifestyles of our modern day that as a nation we're getting sicker and there's a lot more chronic illness disease, obesity, diabetes, mental health disorders, autoimmune disorders, hyperactivity in children.

>> It's just there's just an epidemic Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's.

I mean the list is on and on autoimmune disorders and is it possible that our lifestyles are impacting our health and the truth is yes they are.

>> Yeah.

And you know, through all the research that's been done, I certainly believe that, you know, something came about just this last weekend, something that might move the needle a little bit the California law.

>> Right.

Can you explain that please?

Well, I forget what the name of the law is called, but it's it's been in the works for some time.

But California is banning certain chemicals and the list is a brominated vegetable oil which has been used in soft drinks and sports drinks to keep the ingredients separated and make it look good.

>> The other one is Pro Bowl Perriman that's used in baked goods to make them appealing in texture and look and the last one is red dye number three.

>> Yeah, it's a big one and it's in a lot of candies that we give our kids.

>> Halloween's coming up.

I think we should all look at labels what we pass up for Halloween but a lot of scientists feel that all those dyes that have numbers like I jotted them down like red dye number thirty yellow three all those are just kind of spooky chemicals that we probably shouldn't be eating.

>> Yeah, especially our kids.

Well, yeah.

And we're going to talk more about that and you know, in hinging on what you just discussed, you want to offer some practical tips on how to reduce chemical and toxin exposure in our daily lives.

And I mentioned earlier in the program that not we have nine elements here of everyday life pretty much but the first one here let's discuss endocrine hormones and immune system, endocrine disrupting chemicals like BPA.

>> Talk about that.

So BPA is it's used in the plastics industry and we are kind of familiar with bottles that we buy like sports drink bottles that we carry water bottles.

>> Brown water is good for us but we see BPA free on that plastic bottle and BPA was banned because it was found to be harmful to children and infants and so they got rid of BPA but they replaced it with BP a you know, to heart to and with other chemicals.

>> So all of the plastics have that potential.

>> And so my advice to people is to avoid plastics whenever you can even if it says BPA free for a child's toy or for a sports drink bottle because the plastics are there getting in our bodies, they're getting in our water.

They're destroying the oceans.

I mean we all know about plastics but it's not a safe thing.

It's not a safe we'll say as a stainless steel water bottle or a glass water bottle and we'll talk about drinking water here in just a minute and we'll save that chemicals in kids.

You talked about that just a little bit but you know we have the Halloween season coming up and there's some very, very popular candies on the market that have the red dye number.

>> Yes, exactly.

The red dye.

>> The dye you do not want to eat for sure.

And I'm I'm an old enough doctor that I remember when back in the day when people when kids were having problems with ADD and ADHD and hyperactivity, we would there was a strong push to get kids off of these kind of things.

Yes.

And they got better .

>> Yeah they did.

So I don't know why we're so slow to learn but that's just it's just eventually we're going to get there.

>> But I think keeping kids off of these artificial colors is is reasonable plastics in our drinks, our toys, our food offering your children food that doesn't have that's not highly processed.

>> So it's hard to get toddlers to eat sometimes but when we're choosing we should try to offer them food that doesn't have a million ingredients that's not in a packaged box, you know.

>> So that's what I think just making a choice that we're going to give our kids healthy things pure is best.

>> All right.

And speaking of that, we have a call just came in.

It's from Sophia and Sophia is asking I read what is it says or I read micro plastics and plastic chemicals affect fertility.

>> How can I protect myself?

>> Oh well we are there finding micro plastics in every body fluid including the brain and all over the oceans.

>> How can you protect yourself cut back on your use of plastic ,use a filter on your water in your home and that's about the best we can do right now.

>> Be an activist to try to limit plastics.

We all have to work together to reduce the plastics in our society.

So I'd say if you're interested in that there's lots of ways that you can become organized but avoid plastic when you can and filter your water.

All right.

That's very good question.

The phone lines are open as you can see 866- (969) 27 two zero .

If you're just joining us, we're talking to Dr. Rose when Rich and its environmental health a guide to healthy living and a chemical world.

Our topic tonight let's go on to the next item up for grabs here chemicals in our food.

>> You touched on that lately as well.

But one of the main reasons for chemicals in our food is preservation, right?

>> Well, just growing our food oh, there's you know, pesticides are used to in farming and I'm I'm from a family of farmers so I'm not anti farmer but we have to be aware of the exposure to pesticides that we get particularly from corn, wheat and soy products in the United States.

So on those three I would try to use organic if you can and then if you're able and it's available I think choosing organic produce is reasonable.

>> It's not to say that a non organic you know, vegetable or fruit isn't healthy for you by all means eat it.

>> But if you have the choice I think avoid pesticides on our food is one easy thing you can do and then reading labels and learning what what do these things mean that are on the label.

>> One thing that is kind of a catchphrase in the food industry is natural flavors and nobody really knows what that is.

>> So be mindful of things have natural flavors because we don't know what's in that right and it's a it could be something that's OK but it could be something that you don't want to eat or give your two year old well, I was grocery shopping just a few days ago and I needed to get some pancake sirup and I found one that's oh it's butter flavored but I read the label there was no real butter and there's no butter in their artificial flavors but that one back on the shelf.

>> Oh gosh.

So I think it's just being aware and reading labels we talked I mean I don't like to just give bad news or have people be scared or have more things to worry about.

>> That's not our intent.

We can't just wring our hands about all this but I think just reading labels and being aware that puts us way ahead of the game because when you're looking at two things oh, let's this looks like it's more natural.

>> Yeah.

And the word natural or healthy on the label on the box doesn't mean it's healthy right.

>> And just well it made me think of this like when you're buying salad dressings or other foods that come in bottles if you have the option to get things that are in glass I would do that as opposed to plastic.

>> Good advice.

And you mentioned the the food, the chemicals honor of food just washing those chemicals off is not going to do the job.

>> They're pretty much infused in that vegetable or fruit, aren't they?

Well, washing washing is good.

>> Yeah and that was fine.

Yeah absolutely.

And there's little tricks that if you think it's highly contaminated you could use a little dish soap or something.

>> They make products to rinse it but I think just washing it with water vigorously and foods that have a thick peel or like an avocado or a banana those foods seem to be a little safer in the nonorganic just as safe because you're taking that big peel off and the food inside is still good.

>> OK, good, good.

I was wanting to clarify that we talked about drinking water.

You say a filter is the best way in the green room we talked about reverse osmosis.

Not everybody can afford that.

>> So the next best thing to get yourself one of those filters you can see at the grocery store or you buy at one of the department stores that you pour the water into the container filter filters out so that's not one hundred percent precautionary but it's better than nothing.

>> Right?

Right.

Well, the the water filtration industry is blooming and so there are a lot of options on the market.

>> There's things you can stand on your countertop.

>> There's things you can hook under your sink.

There's Holehouse carbon filters, the pictures that are commonly used all that does an amazing job.

Nothing is perfect but I think filtering in some way that works for you.

>> You know if you live in an apartment or you're a college student, you can't like install a whole big thing.

>> But those pictures are easy and relatively inexpensive.

>> Change the filters regularly.

But wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

What about the safe drinking water we get out of our forces?

In fact, Fort Wayne has one of the finest tasting and I guess cleanest drinking water available.

the tap and say hey, I'm safe with this stuff?

I thought Wabash had the best water.

>> Oh no Fort Wayne OK. Well ah the the people that man our water systems the people that supervise our air and food and meet safety those guys do a great job and they follow all the rules set by the government.

>> The problem is they don't screen for everything because it hasn't been mandated to screen for everything and there's a lot of things that are in municipal water that none of us want to drink.

When you start looking what's in there and there are websites database is where you can see what's in your water.

>> But our local water people do a great job.

They do exactly what the government says they should do.

But we all know sometimes the government rules aren't right what they should be and we don't necessarily know what goes in that water.

>> We can only guess and we and we do know some things that go in the water.

>> We really don't want to talk about those and we'll just think of medicines and you know, they filter a lot out but things like medications and other chemicals that again we don't want to have.

>> Yeah, but it's not mandated to filter everything out.

>> So I advise to use a filter okay.

By I am all right we have some calls coming in and it looks like Linda is asking she says she heard coffee is good for your heart.

>> Is coffee or tea better for you and that's a little bit off track of what we're talking about.

>> But you give her two sons they're both very good for you.

OK, use filtered water to make them both.

There we go.

>> That's the key right there.

Thank you, Linda for that call.

And we have another call coming up.

And if whoever is operating the teleprompter, if he can bring up line six, I could see the entire question.

>> That's for Mario.

Thank you.

Mario is asking is there a connection between food allergis and GMOs or pesticides?

>> Good question.

That's a great question.

Food allergies are complicated and there's not a great way to test for them.

>> There are tests for them.

There's a lot of controversy about genetically modified foods in Europe for instance.

>> They're very strict and stringent.

>> They they are less tolerant than we are here in the United States for genetically modified organisms.

>> One of the biggest things I'll just talk about wheat for a second, OK?

>> One of the big problems with wheat and a lot of people who have problems with gluten or gluten intolerance in this country there is a form of gluten intolerance called celiac disease which is genetic specific and you can't you shouldn't have any kind of wheat.

>> Right.

There's a lot of people that are intolerant to wheat and they think that maybe that has to do with the pesticides on our wheat and that also our wheat is different than it used to be back in the day and it wasn't an evil plot but they bred and changed the genetics of wheat so that they would get more per acre to feed the world.

>> It was to try to make the fields more productive but that new wheat is different chemically genetically than the old wheat.

It's called Einhorn's.

>> It was the old wheat and modern wheat a lot of people have trouble with.

So yes, I was going to say when I was a kid I never heard of celiac disease.

My mom was a nurse.

We never heard of that stuff, you know, so maybe there was a form of it but they just didn't.

put the finger on it I guess the see the celiac disease seems to be more and more easily diagnosed or more aware of it but in a and it's a small piece the bigger piece is all the people that are sensitive to gluten and it's it's it's complicated by Roundup glyphosate and the genetic& modification of the wheat and so I think it's not an easy solution.

>> The other thing with regard to the caller about allergies, I think eating healthy and reducing perhaps sugar in the diet I've had some patients get like their food allergies get improved when they start eating healthier overall not just avoiding this or that.

>> I can see that line five we have Lee calling in.

>> He's asking our store bought scented candles you burn in the house.

Good for your health .

>> No, I need your help.

There are some candles that are healthier but in general air fresheners don't really fresh in our house in our homes.

>> I think you just have to be careful and I'm not going to throw candles under the bus.

>> Yeah, because we all love candles but I will throw those air fresheners, the plug ins and the sprays I think they're toxic.

>> It's a it's a form of indoor air pollution and when you choose your candle or your diffuser your essential diffusers just be aware what's in there and read the label.

>> But the all the air fresheners I say are mostly just hurting us.

>> They make me sneeze.

I can't handle I can smell them a mile away too.

All right.

Let's go ahead and talk about some more things here.

We've only got about looks like about seven or eight minutes left in the program.

We've covered a lot of territory territory here, the air quality indoors and outdoors.

>> Some advice on that?

>> Well, the big one was the air freshener fresheners for indoors.

The other thing is be aware that new furniture, new carpets, new flooring they all have different pros and cons.

So you want to be aware especially if you have little children crawling around.

>> Is this a safe drug or safe carpet that I'm buying?

Is this type of floor safe?

A lot of the particles that collect the plastics and the chemicals are in dust.

So having keeping your house clean and running the vacuum especially if you have a toddler that reduces their exposure to a lot of the stuff that's in the air.

A lot of cultures remove their shoes when they come into the home.

>> So you're not tracking in everything you walked through in the yard in the driveway.

>> And so I think taking your shoes off at the door is a pretty easy thing to do.

>> It seems like it's common sense to me even though I don't do it.

But I should I know my my daughter's real good about it in her home.

I'm I'm trying to do better.

But the other thing is like dry cleaning.

I guess environmentally if you can avoid dry cleaning or have clothing that doesn't need dry cleaning that's probably reasonable.

But if you have something that does need dry cleaning before you bring in the house, she might hang in the garage or outside to let some of those fumes off, especially if you have little kids in the house.

>> So I just got this from the dry cleaners today and was still on the plastic when I put it on.

No, I contaminate you.

Oh no, look out.

But seriously, that's a good point because I've read about those dry cleaning fluids.

>> All right.

Let's go ahead and talk about the radiation this is an interesting subject and we have about three minutes left in the program.

>> Where are we getting this radiation from?

>> Well, there's radiation all around us.

I mean we have radon and in Indiana a lot of old homes have radon in there.

>> So that's that's a different kind of radiation than I I was kind of focusing this talk on is our cell phones basically and how we can limit those.

So I think not sticking the phone, you know, down your bra and your front pocket.

>> So it's right against your body I think is a good idea.

>> I think putting it on air pocket airplane or off if you have to carry it on you I would not have it right by your head at night.

>> I would use hands free if you can.

There's a lot there's a recent study I just saw about counts and radiation just telling men not to put it you know, in their front pocket.

A lot of guys carry their phone so it's cell phones are here to stay how we handle them safely.

>> We're just only beginning to learn, you know, our kids from very early age are using cell phones.

>> We really don't know what it's going to do to their little brains.

So just be careful.

>> Be mindful also all the Bluetooth and toys that emit those kind of things I think should be limited especially to the little ones.

>> OK, and I was just given the one minute signal so if you can encapsulate the obvious personal care products we have not touched this the only thing we haven't touched so something about that so just read labels avoid things that say fragrance because that it's a catch all like the food natural flavorings there can be things in there I think avoiding parabens and phthalates and whole list of things justre's a- educate yourself as we slather stuff on us we brush our teeth, we have shampoo, we have conditioner, we have lotion, personal hygiene products like for girls sometimes those chemicals that are in tampons and pads they're toxic and so get to get away from as much of that as you can.

>> And I don't know if we if we want to quickly talk about how to not how to get this stuff out of your system.

>> Well, we have to unfortunately I'm getting the big rap so but drink a lot of water filtered water.

>> Yeah.

Have good bowel movements, sweat get exercise right.

>> Good sleep, good sleep.

All those things eat your veggies.

Yes.

>> And try to get organic.

All right.

Hey listen we're out of time.

It was a great conversation, Dr. Rose, when Rich and we got to have you back again, OK?

>> Thank you, Dr. Rose.

Thank you so much for watching.

We'll see you next week here on HealthLine.

>> Until then, good night and good