Expert gave eye-opening reality check about dangers of excessive plastics

Editor:

Dr. Jane van Dis, an obstetrician/gynecologist affiliated with the University of Rochester, spoke on Wednesday, March 5th at the Hoag Library in Albion in a presentation arranged by Sister Dolores O’Dowd and “Green Orleans.”

Following her insightful talk she took numerous questions about the dangers of excessive plastic in our environment. This session was attended by about twenty residents who got an eye-opening reality check from an expert.

Doing justice to the amount of information she presented is beyond me, but this is an attempt to alert people to a problem we know too little about. Much of what we surround ourselves with contains plastic in some form. What it is doing to us may be far more harmful than most of us realize.

What Dr. van Dis had to say was quite eye-opening. Plastic in some form is in much of what we expose ourselves to. Her remarks revealed that its presence has serious deleterious effects on our health.

Among the conclusions Dr. van Dis had come to was that she should expose herself to as little plastic and the chemicals it contains and leaks as possible. That includes avoiding polyester clothing and acrylic paint. Look for paraben-free shampoo. According to her, growing your own food as much as possible works. She described herself as a vegan. Not allowing her children to crawl on polyester carpeting was mentioned.

Those who attended the informative session got a big-time wake-up call. One of the more surprising views she expressed was that attempting to recycle plastic likely does more harm than good. Green Orleans will attempt to alert residents to her next nearby presentation.

Sincerely yours,

Gary Kent

Albion