The Toxic World We Live In:

The decomposition process of petroleum plastics in landfills emits methane gas into our atmosphere for approximately one thousand years.  Methane gas is four times more toxic than what comes out of the exhaust pipe of an automobile.  Once in our atmosphere methane gas oxidizes to carbon dioxide gas.  Carbon dioxide gas has a half life of seven years, which means it will remain for many years after the oxidation process.  Carbon dioxide gas retains heat at twenty times the rate of oxygen.  This can be an influence on the changing weather patterns of the planet.

In addition to petroleum plastic contaminating our soil and underground water sources for centuries, many countries continue to incinerate plastics.

• Billions of pounds of petroleum plastic including hospital waste, is incinerated annually.

• Incinerated plastic is one of the leading sources of furans and dioxins, known cancer causing agents.

• Dioxins represent a family of seventy five toxic chemicals, one of which occur naturally.  They are produced when petroleum plastic is burned.
  
  

• Dioxins float in our atmosphere for thousands of miles.  They eventually settle in our soil, water, grass, and crops.

• Cows eat the grass, and store dioxins in their fat.

• Dioxins are considered by many scientists to be among the worst toxins in the world.  So potent are these chemicals that they are referred to as the "Darth Vader of toxic chemicals" by Epidemiologist Richard Clapp of Boston University's School of Public Health.

• Dioxins are now a global threat.  The EPA found that dioxins not only were carcinogenic and also can cause severe health disorders such as birth defects as well as reproductive and immune system disorders.

• It is not too late to reverse the damage already done to our environment and to our bodies, but it is important that we begin now to reverse these trends.