Therese Kerr from Divine shares her journey to health and wellness and passion for organic products…
In 2001/2002 I had tumours in my spleen and had to have my spleen removed. That was a turning point in my life. Having tumours in my spleen was the best thing that ever happened to me and caused me to delve into every aspect of my life at a level I had never experienced before. During this time I questioned why my body would react in such a way and the knowledge I gained and have continued to gain since this time consistently amazes me. I was uneducated in relation to health and wellness, yet I would not have thought so prior to having gone through this experience. I thought I was healthy, but clearly I wasn't as healthy as I thought.. The simple truth is that I wasn't educated as to the amount of chemicals I was unknowingly putting onto my body every day or the amount of additives, preservatives and/or the lack of nutrition that was in the food I was consuming.
I didn’t know that there are around 10,500 chemicals used in personal, skin, hair and beauty care products, only approximately 13% have ever been tested for safety (according to the EWG) and those that have, have only ever been tested in isolation so we are in effect putting a chemical concoction on and ultimately in our body each and everyday without ever knowing what the end result may be. Sadly in this country as in many other countries around the world, chemicals are allowed to be used in skin, hair, beauty and personal care as well as household cleaning products until such time as they are proven unsafe. Would it not be wiser to adopt the more advanced recent approach by the Europeans and treat chemicals as unsafe until they are proven safe? It can take generations for adverse effects of inappropriate and dangerous use of chemicals to surface and I believe we are seeing the results today from a gross oversight in allowing chemicals to be used without testing. The incidence of Endocrine disrupting disorders (endometriosis, fibroids, thyroid diseases, pancreatic abnormalities, PCOS, infertility, early onset menopause, early onset puberty, breast, ovarian and testicular cancer as well as childhood cancers are at an all time high. Everyone knows someone with one or many of these disorders.
The World Health Organisation’s report on the level of endocrine disrupting disorders and their impacts states that “We are on the tip of the iceberg in relation to the endocrine disrupting disorders we are experiencing.” These endocrine disrupting chemicals impact men and boys as they do women and girls as well as babies of both genders, in fact, the World Health Organisation’s report states that semen quality in men has dropped by a staggering 40% and male genital malformation in baby boys is up by 400%. Dr Carole Hungerford states that the very thing women think makes them more feminine (smelling beautiful by applying perfume) is the very thing that is ultimately costing them their femininity. Unfortunately, 65-70% of what we put on our skin is absorbed into our blood stream and organs. I was unaware that our skin absorbs chemicals ten times faster, even more so than digesting food that contains chemicals simply because our skin doesn't have the digestive enzymes available to it to break the chemicals down before they enter our bloodstream and organs.
When I had tumours in my spleen I couldn’t find certified organic products that I felt worked effectively enough so I decided after having been the CEO of KORA Organics (Miranda’s certified organic skincare line) that we needed to much more as a family than just certified organic skincare especially after I spoke at an event and a young mum of a four month old baby boy told me her little boy had testicular cancer, another mum told me her little six month old baby girl had lung cancer. Babies are being born pre-polluted and that has to stop. Professor Marc Cohen of RMIT University in Melbourne states that “You don’t ever want to be the first born child and that’s because we dump our chemicals onto our babies and one of the quickest ways for us to detox is through pregnancy and breastfeeding, but how many mums know that?
There are so many chemicals in the products we use everyday and each and every day when we use products like toothpaste, mouth rinse, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, hand wash, hand lotion, hand sanitizer with mostly untested ingredients we are increasing the chemical body burden we are placing on our bodies. Sadly people simply don’t understand that our endocrine system whilst responsible for regulating our metabolism and sending important messages to just about every cell in our body is impacted dramatically by even small amounts of these endocrine disrupting chemicals (phthalates in particular which have, according to the Environmental Working Group are found in all fragrances. “Fragrance” is a cluster ingredient which means thousands of chemicals can be listed under that one name and the individual chemicals within the “fragrance” do not have to be shown on the label.
Our endocrine system is also responsible for our hormones and for hormonal development and yet only the smallest amount of synthetic estrogen can have dire consequences on every body, young or old, but in particular on developing fetuses and on children.
I am the Health and Wellness Ambassador for Australian Certified Organic and I personally created a range of the highest quality, certified organic personal care products to replace the everyday day chemical-filled products as certified organic is the only guarantee that a product doesn’t contain the following:
TEA's, DEA's, Glycols, Parabens, Sulfates, Synthetics, PEGS, Artificial colours, Artificial preservatives, Artificial flavours, Phthalates, endocrine disrupting chemicals, GMO ingredients, pesticides, insecticides, NO PBA’s, fungicides, herbicides, Ethoxylates, Obesogens (that cause you to put on and retain weight and have been shown to cause the fat cells in your body to multiply), Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde derivatives regularly found in conventional products.
It is important to note that a company can call something “organic” or “natural” if it contains one natural ingredient, but may contain thousands of chemicals. Regulation in relation to this has to change so that the unsuspecting consumer thinking they are making healthier choices is being deceived by inappropriate labeling. Certified organic is the consumers ONLY guarantee that the products don’t contain any of the aforementioned nasty ingredients and have full traceability of all ingredients.
Therese Kerr
Author, Speaker and Ambassador for Holistic Family Health.
www.theresekerr.com
www.divinebytheresekerr
In 2001/2002 I had tumours in my spleen and had to have my spleen removed. That was a turning point in my life. Having tumours in my spleen was the best thing that ever happened to me and caused me to delve into every aspect of my life at a level I had never experienced before. During this time I questioned why my body would react in such a way and the knowledge I gained and have continued to gain since this time consistently amazes me. I was uneducated in relation to health and wellness, yet I would not have thought so prior to having gone through this experience. I thought I was healthy, but clearly I wasn't as healthy as I thought.. The simple truth is that I wasn't educated as to the amount of chemicals I was unknowingly putting onto my body every day or the amount of additives, preservatives and/or the lack of nutrition that was in the food I was consuming.
I didn’t know that there are around 10,500 chemicals used in personal, skin, hair and beauty care products, only approximately 13% have ever been tested for safety (according to the EWG) and those that have, have only ever been tested in isolation so we are in effect putting a chemical concoction on and ultimately in our body each and everyday without ever knowing what the end result may be. Sadly in this country as in many other countries around the world, chemicals are allowed to be used in skin, hair, beauty and personal care as well as household cleaning products until such time as they are proven unsafe. Would it not be wiser to adopt the more advanced recent approach by the Europeans and treat chemicals as unsafe until they are proven safe? It can take generations for adverse effects of inappropriate and dangerous use of chemicals to surface and I believe we are seeing the results today from a gross oversight in allowing chemicals to be used without testing. The incidence of Endocrine disrupting disorders (endometriosis, fibroids, thyroid diseases, pancreatic abnormalities, PCOS, infertility, early onset menopause, early onset puberty, breast, ovarian and testicular cancer as well as childhood cancers are at an all time high. Everyone knows someone with one or many of these disorders.
The World Health Organisation’s report on the level of endocrine disrupting disorders and their impacts states that “We are on the tip of the iceberg in relation to the endocrine disrupting disorders we are experiencing.” These endocrine disrupting chemicals impact men and boys as they do women and girls as well as babies of both genders, in fact, the World Health Organisation’s report states that semen quality in men has dropped by a staggering 40% and male genital malformation in baby boys is up by 400%. Dr Carole Hungerford states that the very thing women think makes them more feminine (smelling beautiful by applying perfume) is the very thing that is ultimately costing them their femininity. Unfortunately, 65-70% of what we put on our skin is absorbed into our blood stream and organs. I was unaware that our skin absorbs chemicals ten times faster, even more so than digesting food that contains chemicals simply because our skin doesn't have the digestive enzymes available to it to break the chemicals down before they enter our bloodstream and organs.
When I had tumours in my spleen I couldn’t find certified organic products that I felt worked effectively enough so I decided after having been the CEO of KORA Organics (Miranda’s certified organic skincare line) that we needed to much more as a family than just certified organic skincare especially after I spoke at an event and a young mum of a four month old baby boy told me her little boy had testicular cancer, another mum told me her little six month old baby girl had lung cancer. Babies are being born pre-polluted and that has to stop. Professor Marc Cohen of RMIT University in Melbourne states that “You don’t ever want to be the first born child and that’s because we dump our chemicals onto our babies and one of the quickest ways for us to detox is through pregnancy and breastfeeding, but how many mums know that?
There are so many chemicals in the products we use everyday and each and every day when we use products like toothpaste, mouth rinse, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, hand wash, hand lotion, hand sanitizer with mostly untested ingredients we are increasing the chemical body burden we are placing on our bodies. Sadly people simply don’t understand that our endocrine system whilst responsible for regulating our metabolism and sending important messages to just about every cell in our body is impacted dramatically by even small amounts of these endocrine disrupting chemicals (phthalates in particular which have, according to the Environmental Working Group are found in all fragrances. “Fragrance” is a cluster ingredient which means thousands of chemicals can be listed under that one name and the individual chemicals within the “fragrance” do not have to be shown on the label.
Our endocrine system is also responsible for our hormones and for hormonal development and yet only the smallest amount of synthetic estrogen can have dire consequences on every body, young or old, but in particular on developing fetuses and on children.
I am the Health and Wellness Ambassador for Australian Certified Organic and I personally created a range of the highest quality, certified organic personal care products to replace the everyday day chemical-filled products as certified organic is the only guarantee that a product doesn’t contain the following:
TEA's, DEA's, Glycols, Parabens, Sulfates, Synthetics, PEGS, Artificial colours, Artificial preservatives, Artificial flavours, Phthalates, endocrine disrupting chemicals, GMO ingredients, pesticides, insecticides, NO PBA’s, fungicides, herbicides, Ethoxylates, Obesogens (that cause you to put on and retain weight and have been shown to cause the fat cells in your body to multiply), Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde derivatives regularly found in conventional products.
It is important to note that a company can call something “organic” or “natural” if it contains one natural ingredient, but may contain thousands of chemicals. Regulation in relation to this has to change so that the unsuspecting consumer thinking they are making healthier choices is being deceived by inappropriate labeling. Certified organic is the consumers ONLY guarantee that the products don’t contain any of the aforementioned nasty ingredients and have full traceability of all ingredients.
Therese Kerr
Author, Speaker and Ambassador for Holistic Family Health.
www.theresekerr.com
www.divinebytheresekerr