Young mother Molly Jones Gray always wished of holding soft delicate babies in her hands, but never expected to have trouble trying to get pregnant. She had many miscarriages, and learned that because of household products she had could not become pregnant. She became part of a study to find out if there were any chemicals in her body that she did not know of. According to the study, Molly had higher levels of mercury, in contrast to the other women in the study. She also learned that the household cleaners she was currently using affected not only her, but also the fetus inside her. Health experts today are trying to examine the health risks involved with cosmetics, cleaning products, and cans (Toxic).
While women are pregnant, do they consider they might be taking risks while using any cleaning products at home? When do women ever consider house-cleaning products as teratogens? Do they ever stop and think that when they are touching and smelling a common cleaning product it might affect the fetus? Why are women so naïve about the harmful chemicals that these cleaning products contain?
Teratogens are any substances that may harm the fetus in their development stages (Crandell 94). Today the most common teratogens are known as smoking, alcohol, marijuana, caffeine, cocaine and other kinds as well (Crandell 96). Each year 1.6 million people die because of indoor air pollution, according to the World Health Organization (The Deirdre).
Women have always been stereotyped as being the mother who stays home and has the responsibility of the household and maintaining the children. Presently mothers work outside the home, but they still have the responsibility of taking care of the household. “One study of 20 industrialized countries ...
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Teratogens are defined as “those substances which exert an adverse influence on development [of a developing fetus]” (Hepper, 2007, p. 48). Teratogens can be environmental influences, such as chemicals or infectious agents. They can also be physical conditions or nutritional deficiencies present in the mother. Thousands of known teratogens have been discovered. For example, Purdue University’s Department of Radiological and Environmental Management (2014) maintains an internet-based list of teratogens which currently names over 2000 substances. This paper will discuss two of these teratogens in further detail: maternal cigarette smoking and vitamin A.
Tobacco use during pregnancy is another environmental influence. The nicotine, carbon monoxide, and many other harmful chemicals mixed together in cigarettes are very harmful to the mother and especially the unborn child. This can cut off the baby’s oxygen supply, increase the risk of
Women throughout history have been considered to have an active role in the family life as the caretakers, while the men are considered the “breadwinners” of the family. However, a few women still have had to provide for their families throughout the years and as a result have sought employment in industries that “were highly segregated by sex” (Goldin 87). Women employm...
There are many factors that are integrated into the successful development of a child from Prenatal growth into toddlerhood. Teratogens (outside factors) have a great impact on the babies’ inutero development. Some outside factors like second-hand smoke, smog, or fumes from cleaning chemicals can cause negative effects on the child inside the womb. A few major affects from teratogens could result in low birth weight, head circumference, slow physical growth as well as an effect on mental, behavioral and motor skills (Berk, 2003). The environment around the mother provides many of these outside factors affecting the baby’s growth. But the main link to teratogens during the gestation period is most likely the mother. Daniel S. Messinger and the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that 2.8% of pregnant women admitted to using illicit drugs during their pregnancy (1996). Through illicit drug use, tobacco use and alcohol use, the mother disrupts her baby’s growth with possibly permanent damage.
R., Decouflé, Pierre , & Hungerford, Daniel W. (1999). In addition, many different organ systems are sensitive to teratogens at different periods during development. For instance, the brain is most susceptible to teratogens between fifteen to twenty- five days after conception, while the heart on the other hand is most vulnerable to teratogens twenty to forty days after conception (Feldman, R. S. (2013). When talking about exposure time for a teratogen to be harmful to a fetus, many issues come to mind that promotes an unhealthy environment for your developing fetus. Such as, if you are living in poverty, and the mother is not able to afford things for her unborn baby to keep them healthy such as an adequate diet, or adequate medical care. This makes them more susceptible to various illnesses that can be harmful to the developing fetus, like
I can recall a time when the media was influencing my life and actions. The week after I graduated high school, my girlfriends and I took a trip to Cancun, Mexico, where the MTV beach house was located that summer. As I look back on the week of drunken partying and sexy guys, I can only wonder how I made it home alive. How could any young woman find this behavior acceptable? Every young woman there was flaunting their bodies to the young men around them. They were proud to be sexual objects. Where did they learn such debauchery? This is the kind of woman that is portrayed throughout MTV and various other aspects of the media. They have even coined the term “midriff”—the highly sexual character pitched at teenage girls that increasingly populates today’s television shows—in order to hook the teen customer. Teenage women increasingly look to the media to provide them with a ready-made identity predicated on today’s version of what’s “cool.” The media is always telling us that we are not thin enough, we’re not pretty enough, we don’t have the right friends, or we have the wrong friends… we’re losers unless we’re cool. We must follow their example and show as much skin as possible. The type of imagery depicted by MTV-- as well as people like Howard Stern, the famous “Girls Gone Wild” videos, and various Hip Hop songs—glorifies sex and the provocative woman.
From the very beginning of history, women were portrayed to be insignificant in comparison to men in society. A woman 's purpose was deemed by men to be housewives, bear children and take care of the household chores. Even so, that at a young age girls were being taught the chores they must do and must continue through to adulthood. This ideal that the woman’s duty was to take charge of household chores was then passed through generations, even til this day. However, this ideology depends on the culture and the generation mothers were brought up in and what they decide to teach their daughters about such roles. After women were given the opportunity to get an education and treated as equals, society’s beliefs undertook a turning point on women’s roles in society. Yet, there still seems to be a question amongst women in search of self identity and expectations from parents.
The first goal of this project was to create both soaps and detergents and compare the properties found in each. In order to do this, we had to decide pick three materials to make soap with. We chose to use lard, vegetable oil, and olive oil. We had to use oil because soap uses an oil to make insoluble substances soluble, which is why soaps are effective at cleaning. After we obtained our oil bases, we added sodium hydroxide and glycerol. The sodium hydroxide allows the substance to actually become clean, as oil is a hydrophobic agent, which means it would be ineffective in cleaning alone, because most substances repel it. The solution was heated, with stirring, until it became thick. Next, sodium chloride was added. This causes the soap to precipitate, allowing for it to be filtered easier. We next filtered our solution, separating the soap, and the wastewater, and saving both. We left them to dry for a week.
Chambers, C. D., Polifka, J. E., & Friedman, J. M. (2008). Drug safety in pregnant women and their babies: ignorance not bliss. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 83(1), 181-183.
Some examples of harmful toxins with difficult names include diethanolamine (DEA), formaldehyde, glucocorticoids, and triethanolamine (TEA). We are exposed to toxic chemicals in many ways. We may breathe them in as sprays and powders, swallow chemicals on our lips and, even rub them on our skin. According to a team of researchers who conducted a study on the relationship between exposure to phthalates and DNA damage on human sperm, “cosmetics frequently contain enhancers that allow ingredients to penetrate deeper into the skin. Studies have found health problems in people exposed to common fragrance and sunscreen ingredients, including increased risk of sperm damage, feminization of the male reproductive system and low birth weight in girls” (Duty et al. 1164). There should be regulations banning toxic chemicals from personal care and beauty products because toxins are bad for our health (1), the consumer faith in cosmetic companies are suffering (2), and other countries recognized the effects and banned it while America has not
There was a time when the woman 's expected role was based on staying at home. Now there are many more working mothers. This has caused changes in many attitudes. Those that
More and more women work outside and inside the home. The double demands shouldered by these women pose a threat to their physical health. Whether you are an overworked housewife or an exhausted working mother the chances are that you are always one step behind your schedule. No matter how hard women worked, they never ended up with clean homes. Housewives in these miserable circumstances often became hysterical cleaners. They wore their lives away in an endless round of scouring, scrubbing, and polishing. The increased strain in working women comes from the reality that they carry most of the child-rearing and household responsibilities. According to social trends (1996), women always or usually do the washing in 79 percent of cases and decide the menu 59 percent of the time. Picking up the children at school or doing grocery shopping are just a few of the many typical household-tasks a woman takes on every day.
Men and women are working harder than ever to survive in today's tough economy. It's a big challenge for low and middle class families to survive. To meet growing demands, it's getting difficult for families to depend on one income. To contribute to family income, mothers are coming forward and joining the workforce. Working mothers are the one who takes care of the family and work outside the home. They may be a single mothers or married mothers. Working mothers usually work to support their family financially. Some of the mothers work, just because they are more career-oriented. Working mothers may work part time or full time. Women are now the primary or only income source for 40% of US households with kids, according to a new Pew survey (Wang, Parker and Taylor, ch. 1). They play a major role in raising their family and doing household chores. There are many reasons that why mothers should work.