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- Soozie, this is where I keep

the vast amount of chemical resources that I use

for one of my businesses, which is the boating business.

And in here are waxes, lots of cleaners.

- Lil' bleach.

- Acid in there, rubber gloves so we all don't get ill.

Brushes.

- What is that?

- Turn it around, read the label.

Tuff-Job Remover.

- Tuff-Job Remover?

- Yeah, when you have a tough job,

you use that to remove it.

- "May be fatal"?

- Yep.

- "Or cause blindness if swallowed."

"The vapor is harmful."

- Yeah, it's terrible stuff.

- It's terrible stuff.

Where did you get this?

- At a terrible stuff store.

- Yeah?

My dad.

He was one of the Midwest's

largest industrial chemical distributors

and he practiced his craft liberally.

It's safe to say he never met a problem

a spray, solvent, or scrub couldn't fix.

Embedded in my DNA has been the belief

that chemicals make us cleaner, safer, and prettier.

I was a makeup artist for a decade.

This is what I put on my face almost every single day.

When I nearly got kicked out of a community garden

for bringing in weed killer,

I rolled my eyes and bought a few alternatives.

Then, my 30s hit,

and it was like every best friend started having kids.

They began taking a closer look at what they were buying,

and it made me consider everything I use.

I realized I'm surrounded by a lot of chemicals.

What has made my life clean

was now making me feel really dirty.

Can I hit the reset button, or is it too late?

My name is Soozie Eastman and I'm from Louisville, Kentucky.

Like most Americans, I love products.

My purchases are fueled by an endless quest

for fast, efficient, and cheap.

The only thing I ever really consider

when I'm shopping is the price.

The desire for cleanliness and glamor

has been around for generations,

but the dawn of commercialism sold us on the fact

that our lives are best lived with stuff

and lots of it.

- Just a light spray of Gossamer in the morning

keeps her hair in lovely shape

and protects it from drying sun and wind.

- The massive influx of chemicals

into our everyday culture

began in the postwar consumer boom.

TVs came into homes, and the commercial era was born.

- The chemistry that was invented during the wartime period,

the physics that were developed from making new products,

the assembly lines that were devised;

all of that industrial might became focused

on the consumer culture that we enjoyed in peacetime.

- We are now learning the consequences

of that ultimate hubris that said,

"We can make anything and it's going to be fine."

And ultimately, what we're experiencing now

is the consequence of that sort of unbridled consumerism.

- The companies invent chemicals

with no restrictions whatsoever.

They put them in a proliferation of products.

They have a marketing system designed to create the demand,

stimulate demand.

We buy them and then belatedly, after the fact,

we find out that along with these products

come a lot of chemical exposures that no one wants.

- What goes into the lab as petroleum

comes out as several chemical families

with really hard-to-pronounce names.

These families then create different types of products

that you and I come in contact with every single day.

- We're all exposed to a multitude of chemicals every day

from a multitude of sources,

and that results in cumulative exposure

to many different chemicals over time.

- Body burden really refers to the full array of chemicals

or contaminants that are in our bodies.

You can just be living a normal life

and you will accumulate, over time,

hundreds and hundreds of toxic chemicals.

- During one of my late-night Google sessions,

I found a study done by the Environmental Working Group

that freaked me out.

Turns out, all these products I use

contain chemicals that might not only impact my health,

but the health of my future children as well.

- Babies coming into the world,

before they take a breath of air,

before they take a sip of their mother's milk

or eat any food,

they are basically coming into the world pre-polluted.

We tested for more than 400 chemicals and we found,

on average, about 200 different chemicals in cord blood.

- In regard to industrial chemicals,

the placenta's more like a sieve.

It basically lets all of these substances pass--

some of them to a greater degree and faster than others,

but it is not a protective barrier.

- Even if chemicals are in the body for hours

or days at best, they can reek significant havoc

insofar as developmental programming is going on.

The implications can not just be for the children,

but for those children as they age into adulthood.

- A major study out tonight

which finds a possible link between common pesticides

and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

- Attention all mothers and fathers.

There's a new study by the Environmental Working Group

finds that chemicals from makeup

could be seeping into her bloodstream.

- For decades, we've all depended on special chemicals

to protect us from fire,

but now there are serious questions

about the safety of those chemicals.

- We're seeing neurological diseases.

We're seeing Parkinson's.

We're seeing cancers.

We're seeing autism.

We're seeing diseases that are increasing in our population.

About 80% of our cancers

are related to environment in one form or another.

- Today, one in eight women

face a lifetime risk of breast cancer.

In the 1930s, it was one in 40.

That increase directly parallels the increased use

and introduction of chemicals in commerce.

- One of the kind of most concerning

of the environmental exposures

are these endocrine-disrupting chemicals,

and they can look just like our regular hormones

with just some real minor modifications.

- The glands in the endocrine system

regulate our development, metabolism,

sexual function, and reproduction

by communicating with each other via hormones.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals mimic these natural hormones,

causing our signaling to go haywire.

These disruptions can lead to compromised thyroid function,

various cancers, birth defects, and lowered fertility.

I wanted to come see you because I've been your patient,

I guess now, for like 12 years.

So, you know that me having a baby is kind of like--

- It's very important.

- Yeah, and starting to swirl around more and more.

And so, I started churning,

"How can I make the healthiest baby

if chemicals get into babies' bodies?"

If it's in my baby, that means it's in me.

- First. Exactly.

- It's in me first.

So, if it's in me first, is that going to be a problem

when it comes to me actually wanting to have a little one?

- Unfortunately, many people don't take the opportunity

to even think about these things

before they decide to get pregnant.

And often they come in here at their first visit

when they're already pregnant.

- When we had an exam last year,

it came up that there might not be that many eggs in me,

so then that started making me wonder,

"OK, well actually, what can I be doing

"to not add additional hormones in,

"like any kind of these chemicals

"that might pretend that they're a hormone?"

- Absolutely, many things that we can all look at.

What kinds of products you're putting onto your body,

how much travel you're dealing with,

what kinds of environmental exposures

do we need to stay away from?

So, all of that kinda stuff would be great to do

before you try to conceive.

- If the products I'm using and the food I'm eating

are probably loaded full of petrochemicals

and will eventually be passed on to my future children,

how much is in me, and is there anything I can do about it?

Little did I know the challenges I would have

trying to find the answer.

A little bird told me that you all might be able

to test dioxins in human serum?

- Now, this human serum,

just give me a little explanation of that.

Is that a biohazard?

What is that?

- So, the lab didn't know that serum is human blood.

That's...

That's a great sign.

I was looking more for plastics,

like bisphenol A or parabens,

some of the stuff that's in products we use every day.

- Methamphetamine?

I'm not sure.

- I liked that she asked me

if I was looking at measuring methamphetamines.

I can't just send my blood in

and order a test to find out-- - No.

- The big issue is the affordability.

- So, that's $1,700 for two families of chemicals out of 10.

After days of calls to labs

all over North America and Europe, I'm getting tested

for 119 commonly-used chemicals for $3,500.

Think we have probably like 15 tubes today,

so that's not too--

- Did you bring anything to eat?

- I brought orange juice.

I'll likely be chugging it with my left hand

while you're doing the draw.

- OK. Well, we'll just put it back here then.

- So that I don't black out on you,

'cause that doesn't sound like a fun way to start the day.

So, when we get the results back,

we're looking at various things

from pesticides to flame retardants,

all the various things that when I have a little one,

it will go from my body to them.

- I don't think we realize how much we put in our bodies

and how toxic it can be,

and that we do pass it on to our children.

I think, if we were more aware,

we would be a lot more careful.

- So, I have these, are going to Missouri,

and that's for pesticide.

This is going to Canada, I have my serum,

and this is going to Georgia.

- Awesome, worldwide.

- All good places. - Yes, yes.

- Awesome, thank you so much.

- That's no problem.

- The Centers for Disease Control does studies,

they release the results every few years,

they look at the blood of the American people.

And they have found hundreds and hundreds

of toxic chemicals in our bodies.

- Report like this size comes out of the CDC

about every three years

profiling the body burdens of chemicals.

And so what biomonitoring is, is actual biological blood,

urine, and other specimen data from a human being

that both tells you possibly what that person's exposed to,

but also gives you information about the population.

- If you look at blood samples from World War II

that was to be used for people injured in combat

to give them blood transfusions,

and they looked at the chemical burden in those blood

and it was near zero.

And if you look at anybody's blood

anywhere in the world right now, there are chemicals.

- There's 84,000 chemicals being used by US companies.

Almost none of them have been adequately tested

for their health impacts.

- We've got this system

that looks like it's protecting citizens

and tricks a lotta people

into thinking that they're being protected.

But frankly, they're not.

- I think the EPA is a very ineffectual agency right now.

First of all, let's look at--

there are 750 to 1,500, every year,

new chemicals coming on the market.

They're unable to do anything.

- Over 10,000 chemicals are used

to formulate cosmetics and personal care products

and only 11 have ever been banned

or restricted for use here in the United States,

compared to over 1,300 chemicals that are banned

or restricted in cosmetics by the European Union.

Formaldehyde, a known human carcinogen,

is restricted in the European Union.

It's been found at levels 10% by weight

in hair-straightening products here in the United States.

That's more formaldehyde than an embalmer uses

to embalm a dead person.

- And we found that of the 10,000 chemicals

that are cleared for use in our food-- in our food--

the majority of those don't have toxicity data.

The majority of them.

- So, you have a couple of different problems.

One, there's a myriad of cumulative exposures

that we're exposed to every day,

and you have a myriad of federal agencies

that don't necessarily talk to each other.

- The EPA sets standards for drinking water

and pesticides in and on our food.

They also keep data on household cleaners,

nonstick surfaces on cookware,

and flame retardants on furniture.

The FDA has strict requirements

for prescription and over-the-counter medicines

and bottled water, but standards for cosmetics,

personal care products and food additives

are far less stringent.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission

regulates products that may pose a safety hazard,

as well as household cleaners

that contain hazardous substances.

Seems cut and dry, except chemicals like phthalates

are monitored by the EPA

when they're in flooring and building materials,

FDA when they're in our personal care products,

and CPSC when those phthalates are in children's toys.

EPA covers triclosan when it's a pesticide,

FDA when it's in toothpaste,

CPSC when it's on a product's surface.

EPA handles formaldehyde when it's in building materials,

FDA when it's in beauty products,

CPSC when it's in wallpaper and paints.

There can be certain chemicals in drinking water,

different ones in bottled water--

those can pop up in consumer products, too.

And none of these regulatory agencies

sets standards based on these multiple exposure routes.

Follow that?

Instead of creating regulations

to protect citizens and consumers,

the US government created the Toxic Substances Control Act,

which paved the way for little to no restriction

or safety testing on virtually every chemical in commerce,

and it's been that way for nearly 40 years.

- The Toxic Substances Control Act,

which was passed in 1976, has been a dismal failure.

There really is not a system to make sure that products

that are being put into your cosmetics,

that are being put into your household cleaning goods,

and, frankly, even that are being put into your food

really are safe.

- If you look at the rules of the game in the United States,

it pretty much says,

"You can expose anybody to whatever you want

"until someone proves beyond a shadow of a doubt

"that it's gonna hurt them."

- In 2016, the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act

was signed into law.

But the majority of environmental

and public health advocates were against the bill

because it did little to move the needle

on meaningful regulation.

- Well, the new law is a real mixed bag.

The EPA is supposed to take a look

at a priority list of 10 chemicals to start with.

But, man, if you think about the fact

that there are literally tens of thousands

of chemicals out there that we're being exposed to,

and EPA is only gonna be looking at

a relative handful every year,

it's going to be centuries before EPA gets around

to looking at every chemical that we're exposed to.

- And now, with the current administration,

it's questionable if the new law will be enforced at all.

- We think we can cut regulations by 75%, maybe more.

When somebody wants to put up a factory,

it's gonna be expedited.

- Since EWG did the biomonitoring tests on babies

that started this quest for me,

I visited them to interpret my results

and learn how I stack up against the CDC's measurements

of the average American.

- Bisphenol A level was elevated above the 95% percentile.

So, that would likely be through polycarbonate bottles,

canned food, the receipt paper.

This is extremely high exposure.

The PBDEs, these were flame retardant chemicals.

Most of the levels look elevated

above what you'd expect, general population.

Flame retardants are commonly found in couch foam

and other foam products.

In terms of the parabens,

two of the paraben levels were very high.

We highlighted propylparaben as a preservative in foods,

also used as preservatives in cosmetics.

- Wow, that's kind of worrisome.

- In terms of the organophosphate chemicals,

there was two that were very elevated,

very unusual, in very high levels.

I mean, these are levels that were reasonably high

above the 95th percentile,

so this is in the top few percent of people in America

would have levels this high.

My guess is that it'd be pesticide use.

- If having a child in the next couple years is on my radar,

it seems like something that's elevated

to the levels of the 90s and stays in my body

for three to five years is gonna be a pretty giant concern.

From flame retardants to pesticides,

plastics to solvents, they're all in me.

I feel gross, sad, and angry.

This doesn't necessarily mean I will end up getting sick,

but I definitely don't want them in my body.

Where exactly are they coming from?

And is there anything I can do to get them out?

- Some of these chemicals that we're exposed to

leave our body pretty quickly.

Now some other chemicals,

they're not only getting into our bodies

but they're also sticking around for years.

Dioxin, which is considered to be

one of the most toxic chemicals on the planet,

it'll take 7 to 12 years

for just half of that to leave your body.

And that's one of the reasons why scientists

are sounding the alarm that they're not only sticking there

but they're also dangerous

at extremely low levels of exposure.

- Many of these chemicals, they persist,

and then they bioaccumulate.

And what that means is that plants soak 'em up,

animals eat the plants, we eat those animals,

and so what happens is that

they become more and more concentrated

as they move further and further up the food chain

until they kinda come back to us when we eat 'em.

- But we're also concerned about a lot of chemicals

that have a short half life.

You might eat them in food

and they're gone from your body within 12 hours

and the exposure ends.

But then you eat the same food the next day

and you get a fresh dose of that exposure all over again.

So, just because it's only in your body

for a short period of time doesn't necessarily mean

it's not something we should be worried about.

- Several nonprofits have created buying guides

to help consumers like me avoid these exposures.

Today, I'm bringing in public health expert Nneka Leiba

to let me know possible sources of toxins found in my blood.

- EWG has some really, really good guides,

and a lot of them are based on the databases

that we have on the websites.

And it's all about empowering the consumer

to make better choices.

EWG amasses toxicity data from governments,

from academic agencies, from all scientific papers.

So, we have our Dirty Dozen guide for produce

that tells how much pesticide residue is on produce.

We have our Skin Deep guide,

we have our guide to endocrine disruptors.

- OK, starting to already be paranoid

with what I have in here.

- But I see some canned foods,

and we'd want to check that these are BPA-free.

Unfortunately, the company doesn't have to put

that it's BPA-free on the packet.

The bags that the popcorn is in

usually is lined with PFC, perfluorinated chemicals.

I think some of those were in your blood.

You don't have to go organic everything.

You wanna go organic fruits and vegetables

that are on the Dirty Dozen list,

and you do wanna go organic meats and dairy.

So, try to reduce bottled water consumption

as much as possible.

Nonstick tends to be coated with perfluorinated chemicals.

- What about these little guys?

- I would use glass and stainless steel wherever possible.

And if you do use plastic,

definitely, definitely do not heat it in the microwave

or don't put hot food in it,

because the plastic chemicals leach out in hot food.

- So, do you wanna come look at my skincare products

and tell me? - Sure, yeah.

- That's what I'm really the most worried about.

- That's what I'm most excited about.

- Alright.

Now, I'm a little worried at what's gonna happen up here.

I...

I don't know if you know that I was a makeup artist

for nine years.

- I did not know that!

- Yeah, so I have this intense fear

that you're gonna come in here

and tell me that everything has to go away.

- You wanna know if any of your products

have ingredients of harm

or ingredients associated with hazards.

And the best way to do that

is to use the Skin Deep database.

- I knew you were coming today.

- Mm-hmm?

- A little bird told me. - Yeah!

- So, I have the app right here.

And when I go in by entering the product name

or scanning a barcode, it will mark them as 1-10?

Yes, 1 and 2 are green, which means go for it.

It's kinda like a stoplight.

- Alright.

- 3 to 6 is yellow,

which means it has some hazards associated with it

and you must be cautious.

And above that is red.

- This is a thermal protectant,

and this is a red 8.

- Yeah, and this one has a few ingredients I can see

of concern already.

It has fragrance, which we know the term 'fragrance'

is an umbrella term.

It can hide any number of 3,000 ingredients.

The fragrance industry has 3,000 ingredients

that you can put into your fragrance.

Some companies use hundreds, some companies use thousands,

it depends on the company.

But you don't know what's in there.

- OK, so let's see the hairspray.

7, red.

- So, I would think about a new hairspray.

This is also an aerosol, which,

in a bathroom like this, has a lot of inhalation hazards

'cause you're breathing all of this in.

- This is just like a shave cream, so let's see.

OK, so this comes up as a 6,

and so that seems kind of like a waste to me

to have a shave cream that's a 6

because I could just use soap, my number 2 Dove soap.

- And again, I'm liking how you're processing the scores,

and that's what we want to do.

We want to provide you the information

and you process these things.

What means more to me, what means less to me?

I would agree with you, but you have to make that choice.

- Yeah, I mean, honestly,

my legs do not need to smell like raspberry rain.

- And what is in the raspberry rain fragrance?

I'm sure we don't know.

- The tears of children.

No, I'm teasing, sorry.

OK, I've got some chemicals for you.

- That's a lotta cleaning products, lady.

- OK, well, you know what?

It's all about, this is the starting point.

- The first thing is, do we need all of these products?

That's the very first thing.

Vinegar and baking soda will go a long way.

- Yeah?

It kind of makes it smell like salad dressing, though,

in the house sometimes with the vinegar, no?

I go into a friend's house and she's like,

"I just cleaned with vinegar," and I'm like, "Mmm."

- Salad dressing versus chemicals in your body.

- OK, yeah. I guess it's all about a balance, right?

- It's relative. Yeah, it's relative.

- So, I just go on to EWG

and there is a guide to healthy cleaning?

- Yes.

- Let's try my Cascade with Clorox.

Oh!

So, yeah, that's an F.

So, developmental and reproductive toxicity of high concern.

- When they say 'stabilizer' or 'buffer' or 'color,'

you have no idea what they're using in there,

and some of those chemicals

have been linked to health harms,

which is why they get an F.

So, if you go and you search--

- Dishwashing detergents? - Dishwashing detergents--

- OK.

- And look for products that are As.

- Oh, that's super easy!

- And so, you can choose from any of these.

- And that is available right at Target.

- In cleaning products, the regulation does not require

the companies to list any ingredients on their packaging.

They can list absolutely zero ingredients,

and many do list zero ingredients.

- I started buying Method because "nontoxic,

"plant-based, powergreen technology."

So let's check these guys

because I try to err more on the side of using these.

Oh, wow.

There's my...

This has a D.

This has a flippin' D.

I can't...

That makes me...

'Cause I've been buying that, thinking,

you see "nontoxic" on the front.

- When you look at these claims, they don't necessarily mean

that the product is better or safe.

- After Nneka left, it was obvious I needed to change out

the majority of what I was using

for personal care and cleaning my home.

For 30 days, I'm going to make some very simple,

basic changes that anyone can make.

I'm going to avoid receipts and canned foods,

use ceramic pots and pans,

avoid styrofoam and plastic food storage containers

and bottled water,

buy organic versions of the Dirty Dozen,

use personal care products rated four and under

and cleaners rated C or above.

Of course, I can only control what's in my home.

I don't live in a bubble.

With the Healthy Living app and my best friend in tow,

it was time to see if I could swap out

some of my favorite products.

OK, so this one's coming up a D,

but it's coming up a D because of disclosure issues.

So, that's frustrating because this could actually be good

and not be a D if All would just tell us every ingredient.

This is my hairspray that I know I can't have.

OK, so that is a 6,

which I'm trying to not do.

Ugh, that is an 8.

Crud.

That is a 6?

- OK.

- So, we're striking out on hairspray so far.

- That's frustrating.

Despite the easy-to-use app, it was definitely a challenge

to find out what I should and shouldn't use.

Sometimes there wasn't a rating,

and other times there were no easy-to-find alternatives,

like hairspray and heat protectant.

So, this guy is an 8 and this guy is a 6,

and they're right next to each other

under the same exact brand, same exact colors.

It's like, how are you supposed to figure out which is which

if they're right next to each other?

After several hours of scanning and googling products

and help from Marcie, I felt pretty good

about what I found at Target for my home.

Hello!

Hi, girlie!

- Hey!

- After using the same cosmetics

and skincare for so long

it's a little more daunting to find alternatives,

so I enlisted some friends to try out new products with me.

- I brought the vodka.

- A little--

We're gonna try some of these different brands tonight

and see what you all think,

'cause you all like products like I like products.

Rick is going to take your look that you came in with

and then, like, zhuzh it up

using all-natural products.

- You want me to go first?

Alright. - Do it!

- Let's see the transformation.

- Do you guys pay attention to the ingredients

that are in the products that you all use?

- Try to. - Yeah?

- I'm guilty of a "No, I don't."

- Not my beauty products. - No.

- I don't think about my skin being my biggest organ

and, like, what's going into that,

but I'm really conscious about what I'm eating

and what's going into my body,

not thinking, actually, all the stuff I'm putting on my face

and on my body is going into my bloodstream.

I don't even think about that.

- Probably the craziest thing

after having my blood results come back was, OK,

I actually see the cosmetic products I use in my blood.

- In your blood, that's--

- At like the highest part of the scale.

- I never thought they could even sell a product

that would have those type of repercussions.

I didn't even think it would be possible.

- And what do you think, do you like it?

- I love it!

I mean, honestly, Rick and I were talking,

I feel like it actually matches my skin tone better.

It just feels better, doesn't feel as chalky.

- No, it feels so light.

Doesn't even feel like I'm wearing makeup.

- I can't believe this is all-natural!

- I just never thought that the alternatives

would've been this nice.

- I wasn't sure what to expect.

I wasn't sure if we were gonna muddle the blueberries

and then put it on our lips,

or bake some beets and put the beets, the beet juice--

- I'm really appreciative

that you guys came over and did this with me.

I know that--

- Sooz, I love this.

I wish more people were having this conversation.

- I know, nobody's aware of this!

- I wish there was more people

sitting around having this conversation,

because I think it would really enlighten some people

to hear about this.

- I feel happy and made-up

and I think all of you guys look gorgeous.

- I love it.

- So, thank you for coming to play.

- Thanks for having us! - Thanks for having us.

- And letting us play with this stuff.

- And you have to take some home.

- Thank you, Rick, for real. - Yes, thank you.

- Thank you!

- I loved it.

- The most knowledgeable boy in the business.

For skincare and makeup,

I was excited about the new options.

I was worried it wouldn't have enough color or coverage,

and I was totally wrong.

Unfortunately, the best I could do

for heat protectant is a 6.

But according to Nneka, that was OK

since I am more than making up for it in other areas.

Almost all of my cleaning products

had to be replaced by alternatives

that have little to no toxicity.

My food was simple and surprisingly affordable to replace.

It wasn't the overhaul I had expected.

When I compared the prices of my cleaners,

skincare and food before and after,

I actually ended up saving $35.

Just one last thing to switch out

and I was set for 30 days of cleaner living.

Obviously, I don't want to be cooking on these anymore,

but I really wanna stick with Calphalon

because I know it's such a great product

and I know that you now have alternatives out there.

- Typically, we can't replace them

just because of the chemical preference.

It's just not under the warranty

or the warranty replacement.

- Eventually, despite their insistence

that the toxins in my blood were not from their products,

Calphalon allowed an exception

and my perfluorinated pans got swapped out

for new ceramic versions.

- There you are, there you go. - Thank you.

- And here's this whenever you're ready.

- Do you actually, I'm trying not to use styrofoam.

Do you have any foil by any chance?

- Uh, yeah.

- It would be much easier

if it wasn't up to regular citizens to figure all this out,

but the close relationship

between the government and chemical industry

makes any meaningful change challenging.

Just as good, and it won't go in my blood.

- The big problem in the United States

is that there is a huge amount of influence

by the regulated industry

over the regulation of their products.

They have come in the front door.

They have come in the back door.

They have friends in Congress.

They have congresspeople doing their bidding for them.

They have taken the federal agencies to task

when those federal agencies have tried to regulate.

- You've got very high-paid,

often former members of Congress who are lobbyists

for very financially well-to-do organizations

like the chemical industry,

and they will be paid millions of dollars per year.

A lot of them make political contributions

either directly themselves

or through the organizations that they work for,

and that's going to that reelection campaign.

Members of the House have to be reelected every two years,

so they have to raise about $10,000 a day.

That's not coming from the PTA.

That's not coming from Ma and Pa.

That's coming from big companies.

- The new legislation

is more smoke and mirrors than real action.

The lobby for 10 companies spent $125 million

in the last two years to get their law passed,

and more or less, they got it passed.

The corporate contributions have so poisoned

the decision-making process in Washington

that it's very difficult to get anything done

that is not stamped of approval by the corporate executives.

- Hi, Miss Cicily.

- Well hello, Miss Soozie, how are you?

- I'm good, how are you?

- Awesome.

- This time, there are only probably

a certain amount of things

that could've even moved out of my body in 30 days,

so we're gonna check those guys.

- Alrighty.

- I've switched out,

my makeup is all nontoxic that I have on,

my household cleaners I switched out

to be less toxic alternatives. - Mm-hmm.

- So, this is just a check to see,

could I buy my way out of exposures?

- Oh.

- Finding hair products--

- Is a difficult thing? - Yeah.

- Yeah, I could see that.

- Like the hairsprays and the heat protectants.

I cried.

- Did you? - I did.

I just cried once.

It was just one time, over hairspray.

As I learn more about the chemical industry,

I wonder exactly why someone would choose to work for them.

I thought this would be the perfect time

to pay a visit to my old man and ask him a bit

about his time repping industrial chemicals.

- I studied chemistry in college,

so I had a good background in all of that.

I saw an ad in the newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky.

They were looking for a outdoor salesman.

And I thought, "Well, I'm reasonably good

"and I'm so modest about it anyway

"that I get along well with people face-to-face,

"so why not?"

Here's a product that is one of the best spot removers,

and I use it all over the place and all over in the boat.

- Kaboom!

- That's it. - "I'm goin' in your blood!"

- I was trained to sell chemicals

and I was calling on maintenance people,

they were maintenance chemicals-- things like drain opener

and 1,1-trichloroethane to the United States Navy.

I sold railroad cars of parts cleaner to the US Navy.

- Water, film formers,

carrier, corrosion inhibitor, propellant, emulsifiers,

fragrance, thickener, and preservative.

Those are about the vaguest--

- Let's use the word 'generic.'

You'd go in with a sample, give a little sales pitch

and say, "Look, it absolutely will clean your drain

"and we guarantee that, but it also won't hurt you to use."

So, what we'd do is we would, as sales reps,

we would unscrew the top

and we would pour into our hand the drain opener.

Now, everybody, you'd watch the guy you were talking to

and his eyes would go crazy watching this.

Well, the secret was we'd take Vaseline

and rub it into our hand.

Then we were protecting ourselves.

But the person that was buying the drain opener

was just excited about, "Hey, here's something

"that's not gonna kill me and it's gonna work."

People use this and buy this

and put it on their furniture at home.

That's what it's for.

- "Keep out of reach of children and pets."

Did you ever think about the impact of human health

of the chemicals that you sold?

- Never.

- Never?

- No.

I'm assuming that if it's on the shelf,

it's not gonna harm me.

The reason the chemical was invented to do X was verified.

It was enough for the logic in my brain.

Primarily uses this in a dry cleaner's business.

- How often do you use this?

- Rarely as possible.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

- You try to stay away from these solvents?

- Oh, this stuff I don't like to use.

I know what it is.

I don't wanna use that stuff.

If you start thinking of all the things

that my body has gone through,

all the cancers that I've had, all the surgeries I've had

and all the chemicals I've been around,

they very well indeed could've been propagated

by the fact that I indeed was inhaling the odors

and had them in my skin and had basically the cancers

or the ill things that have happened to me

coulda been provoked or otherwise been fed

by the things that I've been around.

That's the magic stuff.

And a whiff of that is just absolutely--

will put you to sleep.

It's soothing, beautiful smell.

That's a great smell.

Here, I'll open a bottle for you.

- No, I'm not smelling that.

Daddy, I'm not gonna smell that.

- It has a nice fragrance.

- No, no, no! - That's the idea.

- That's not the idea!

- Aah.

Roses.

Aah.

- You're crazy, you're crazy.

- And then-- - You think that's real?

Nice.

I am eagerly anticipating our phone call to find out

if my last 30 days did anything at all

in terms of those-- not scary results I had,

but y'know I guess I would call 'em somewhat shocking

when we first met.

- Yes, absolutely.

So, in the initial testing

the phthalates were approximately

in the 50th percentile range,

average for what you'd expect for the population.

You levels were, by and large, relatively unchanged.

That's not necessarily unexpected.

Obviously, there's still some exposure.

- OK.

- In terms of the parabens,

you were extremely high the first time around,

and this time around at or near the detection limit,

actually way below the 50th percentile.

- I have to say, that feels pretty good.

- Bisphenol A or BPA,

your level was a significant change

from a very highly elevated level

to actually just slightly above the average level

in the US population.

And the question is, can that be reduced further?

Volatile solvents, on your initial testing

the ethylbenzene, styrene, toluene levels were elevated

over the 95th percentile.

And then this new round of test reports,

the levels of the xylene and the toluene

and the ethylbenzene were below the detection limit

and the level for styrene, benzene,

was still over the 95th percentile.

So, extremely high.

That indicates a continued source of exposure.

In the organophosphates, you had elevated levels

and all of those levels have decreased

to below detection limit, so no longer found at all.

And then triclosan was also reasonably elevated last time,

and there's a significant reduction

below the 50th percentile,

below average exposure across the United States.

- Huge.

- Yeah, so the levels dropped

a factor of 50, essentially.

- It's like, I know you're saying that they're still there,

but there is this side of me

that's like, "They're still here, but they're so few,

"so much fewer" that it feels, like, awesome.

It was empowering to see that making small changes

could impact the level of these toxins in my body.

To find out if I could minimize

the chemicals that were still sticking around,

including some that have much longer half lives,

I went to visit Dr. Hanaway at the Cleveland Clinic.

- You, like many Americans,

find that you have toxins in your body.

How can we help to optimize

your ability to get rid of those?

And that really is, I think, what you're here about today.

- Absolutely.

- So, the first thing that you have to do

when you're moving through detoxification at any level

is you have to make sure the gut microbiome is in balance.

The minerals as well as the amino acids

and antioxidants, things like alpha-lipoic acid

and various kinds of algae, are all necessary

for helping the body to detoxify.

And now, you're gonna be eating foods

that are gonna help with the detoxification process.

We call it the Renew Diet.

It's gonna be dairy-free, gluten-free,

eliminate processed foods.

It's gonna be low glycemic index, reduces inflammation.

The biggest thing is eating vegetables, lots of vegetables.

Broccoli and especially the things

in the Brassica vegetable family

are some of the best foods that help to promote

that detoxification process.

One way that is also effective is to sweat it out.

And so--

- So, exercise.

- Exercise or sauna-- a regular wood sauna

or the infrared sauna-- for about 10 to 20 minutes.

- Now that I know that this isn't going to be colonics

and foot baths and pooping all day while I shoot a film,

then that's-- I'm on board for this.

When Dr. Hanaway was explaining the detox,

I felt like I had a lot more options

than when I got home and started creating my shopping list.

Whoa, what am I gonna do?

No vegetables that are starchy.

No root vegetables.

OK, can I just see where I'm gonna have something to eat?

Cauliflower

and brussels sprouts.

I can do that if it'll make me feel good, feel successful.

It's crazy when carrots make you that excited

'cause I normally hate them.

Let's go with fancy mixed nuts.

Roasted and unsalted fancy mixed nuts.

I'm gonna eat the hell outta this.

If I could eat a frickin' plantain--

It's not on here, of course.

Of course it's not on here.

Thank you guys so much.

Have a nice day.

My bible.

For the next 30 days,

I'm gonna continue all the same protocol as before,

except now I'm adding in the detox component.

Gut-supporting supplements,

organic lean meats, eggs, veggies and berries,

weekly sauna visits,

and six servings of cruciferous veggies per day.

I like broccoli as much as the next person, but damn.

When I started thinking about doing this film,

never did I think, "Oh, by the way,

"you are going to be freaking out

"over finding hairspray and straightening products.

"You're going to be in a towel fit for a toddler

"inside of a sauna with your best friend."

So, thank you for doing this with me.

- You're welcome.

- This next 30 days is gonna be what's interesting

because I need to see,

by ramping it up,

will I be able to get some of those things out

that don't come out for 7 to 10 years?

Is there anything that I can do

that's above and beyond just buying stuff?

But those things that are gonna stay in me

for 7 to 10 years, can I move those out any faster?

And that would be awesome if that could happen.

The next 30 days, I'm gonna be a hassle for myself

and everybody I'm around,

but that is really a much grander scale.

That's not the "average American" test.

That's the, can we put it into fifth gear and get this out?

Yeah, so, we'll see.

But for now, we sit and sweat.

Sweat it out and then eat a lotta broccoli.

I was excited about this phase.

I knew I would go to the sauna sometimes,

but I wanted one in-house to keep it cheaper and accessible.

I will totally embarrass myself to save money.

Eating berries all day, every day, was the highlight,

despite the irony of how much plastic they came in.

I was eating daily omelets full of yummy organic veggies

and really loving the sauna.

I love the feeling of coming out of the sauna

and knowing that as soon as I'm done,

I get to feast on two cups of broccoli.

It doesn't seem incredibly refreshing,

but, strangely, it really is.

I must be hitting the point of delirium.

Broccoli all day, every day, was pretty tolerable at first.

But then came the sickness.

- How many times are you having a bowel movement per day?

- Four.

Four or six?

- OK.

And does it smell?

- Not particularly.

- OK, OK.

Is it loose or is it watery?

- It is watery.

- OK.

Like a faucet?

- Like sludge, like unformed sludge.

There's not much formation to it.

- You know, our focus with you was on detox.

There wasn't previous bowel issues,

so I believe that you're having a change

in your microbiome that's going on, which is fine.

I just don't want you to be in a place

where it creates an absorption problem.

- Thank you so much for this.

I just wanted to make sure it was normal more than anything.

Bye.

Ugh!

Despite the setback,

since Dr. Hanaway told me this was somewhat expected,

I just carried on with the protocol of sauna visits

and eating what felt like a never-ending supply of broccoli.

Even Lily became a fan.

Come on.

Good girl!

Can you tell how disgusted I am by broccoli now?

And my algae pills?

I'm gonna chase my broccoli with some algae.

I'm trying to be healthier,

but is this 30-day detox going to be worth it?

Maybe I wouldn't be existing off of nuts, berries, and algae

if there was greater transparency

and the government just listened

when scientists say something on the market isn't healthy.

- The industry lets loose with their barrage of lobbyists,

their pressure on Capitol Hill,

their attacks on regulatory agencies.

And it is also very much the standard operating procedure

for these industries to attack the scientists.

They go after them in whatever way they need to.

Herb Needleman was savagely attacked

when he suggested that lead was causing problems

for children's intelligence.

Tyrone Hayes, attacked when he suggested

that atrazine was a risk based on the studies he did

of frogs in wild populations and in the laboratory.

- About 15 years ago I was approached by the manufacturer

of the weed killer atrazine,

and asked to examine how atrazine might impact hormones

that might then affect amphibian development.

And, of course, they were also interested

in the implications for effects on human development.

The manufacturer, Syngenta,

they were the largest chemical company in the world.

Atrazine was their number-one selling product,

so I think the strategy was to capture a young scientist

to provide a lotta support and a lotta funding,

and then that way they have control over the data

and how it's presented and when it comes out, et cetera.

I would guess that they hoped that we didn't show anything

that was significant.

But we found that atrazine indeed interferes with hormones.

It demasculinizes exposed male amphibians,

so we get genetic males that grow ovaries

when they grow up, behave like females.

Those effects occur across vertebrate animals.

Atrazine affects hormone levels in fish

and amphibians and reptiles and birds and mammals.

It's associated with birth defects.

Choanal atresia, where there's actually a hole

in the baby's face.

Gastroschisis, where the baby's born

with the intestines on the outside.

Genital malformation.

Breast cancer.

Reproductive cancers.

Prostate cancer.

The only studies that I know of

that claim that atrazine doesn't do anything

were all designed and/or funded by

the manufacturer, Syngenta.

And so they really set off on a campaign to attack me,

and you can see this in Syngenta's own handwritten notes

that were just made public,

that their main goal was to "discredit Hayes."

And when I first got involved,

I thought it was just about the science,

that you show that a chemical is problematic

and then the EPA would ban it.

But they take many, many other things into consideration.

- So, I'm at my freaking house right now

in the middle of a detox,

and this guy is spraying everywhere.

Hey!

Hey, are you going back behind these places back here?

- I already have, yeah.

- That's why my house smells like chemicals?

- Yeah.

- OK, what kind of products are you using?

- Weed control and pre-emergent.

- Do you know which chemical?

- Three-Way.

- Three-Way?

- Yes ma'am.

- OK, thank you.

- And I've been doing this for a decade.

- So right now I'm at my home, inside,

I'm sitting here on my couch working and all of a sudden

I'm taken over by this smell of chemicals.

And it turns out that they are fumigating my community here.

Nobody warned me.

I had no signs or posters or anything letting me know

that they're getting ready to spray.

I feel really frustrated right now and really grossed out,

because it smells like chemicals inside of my home.

And then I open the window

and it only smells worse out there.

So, that's really freakin' frustrating.

There is no escaping some things.

And I thought it was gonna be like,

"Oh, when I go somewhere,

"I have to use soap that I don't like."

But instead, it's, "Oh, when I'm living in my own home,

"it's gonna be fumigated on the outside

"and then smell like shit on the inside

"and there is nothing I can do, and nowhere I can hide."

And that really, really makes me pissed off.

I was really mad my neighborhood got sprayed,

but I've been so focused on

what I've directly been putting into my body,

I didn't even realize that across America

there are hundreds of toxic waste sites

that make us trying to limit our exposure

to chemicals incredibly challenging.

- Greenpoint is a neighborhood in Brooklyn

that is at the border of Brooklyn and Queens.

And historically, Greenpoint was

one of the most industrial parts of New York City,

is adjacent to Newtown Creek,

which is a federal Superfund site

and is considered to be one of the most toxic water bodies

in the entire country.

A Superfund site is basically a hazardous waste site

or a toxic waste site.

Most Superfund sites, the soil underneath a former facility

is contaminated with harmful chemicals,

the groundwater may be contaminated,

chemicals may be present inside the building.

In more extreme cases,

Superfund sites will literally have dozens

or hundreds of barrels of toxic waste sitting in it.

There are hundreds of federal Superfund sites

all across the country.

And most Americans don't realize it,

but most live within a mile

or a couple miles of state or federal Superfund site.

Greenpoint is a neighborhood

that is undergoing rapid development.

And it's ironic that they're spending

tens of millions of dollars to build

these giant fancy condos, directly across the street

one of the most toxic sites in the state of New York.

There's a lotta people that are extremely concerned

about the new Harte Plastics site.

The site is located across the street from a public park

and also across the street from a school.

And there's a lot of concern

that as they're building these large condos,

all of the pile-driving and other construction

could potentially disturb the plume

of 40,000 to 60,000 gallons of toxic chemicals

that have migrated underneath the plant

and towards the community.

Unfortunately, many Superfund sites

are often located in low-income communities

and communities of color,

and it represents an issue of environmental justice

that those that are most vulnerable to chemical pollution,

that those that historically

have been politically most powerless

are at the front lines of chemical exposure.

- I planted 'em too early.

This was a row, this was a row,

and I musta planted 'em too early

while the frost was still around, what I mean to say.

- Oh, yes, it did frost late this year.

- Yeah. - Is that kale?

- Yeah, that's kale. - Yeah?

- There was a chemical company

in the building behind me

and they handled dangerous chemicals that's banned now.

Well, actually, I reacted like, "Come in and clean it up,

"or compensate, move us out or whatever you gotta do.

"Just come in and take care of the business

"that need to be done."

And they been draggin' they feet,

and so nothin' has happened.

- We had these 12 plants in West Louisville

and we had very high rates of cancer,

asthma, respiratory problems.

They didn't have anybody

dedicated to environmental regulations.

I was really, really shocked to see it,

the high numbers of arsenic and pesticides on their site.

The Environmental Protection banned DDT back in the '50s

and there's plenty of it on this site, plenty of it.

The runoff, it's gonna kill these folks over here.

- I got some kale, kale greens, and some turnip greens.

That whole little patch there was just full of everything.

Some watermelons over there and tomato plants.

For 20-something years, I've been eating outta that garden.

Right here.

- If they knew that this facility used pesticides,

they didn't do anything!

And that's what these companies do.

They go in the low-income areas of these cities.

And these folks, they don't have the resources

to go and fight these companies.

So, that's why I feel

that at least we're trying to keep these people abreast

of what's going on.

- Since one in three Americans

live near a site just like the one next to Marvin,

avoiding exposure isn't always up to us.

With this in mind,

I was anxious to see if my detox paid off.

Cic, I'm a little scared about today

'cause we're gonna have to go double.

- Oh.

- And the reason for that is we're gonna redo

the ones that we did on day one.

You know how we did a much larger test on day one

'cause those are the guys that are supposed to stay in me

for 7 to 10 years?

Now, we're checking this time

to see if they came out in the last 30 days.

- You're getting all these

plus 18 of these and 4 of these?

- Am I gonna be okay?

- Yeah, you just might have to drink a whole lotta water.

- So, these go off to three different labs.

One of the labs has to be in Canada

'cause nobody in the United States

will measure for some of these petrochemicals.

- I wonder why not?

They're scared they're gonna get sued?

- It's been said something like that.

- Hmm. - Mm-hmm.

- I've started my

less toxic life.

- Have you?

- Mm-hmm. - Since when?

- Last week.

- And what made you decide to do that?

- You did, of course!

Yeah, you made me really think about that.

I wanna protect my family.

- Is this really just all from me being in here and--

- Mm-hmm.

- Creeping into your life?

- Yes, ma'am, it is.

- That makes me really excited.

It's not too hard, right?

And it wasn't super expensive.

- No, it's not, that's the thing.

And I'm just like-- when I went to the store

I was afraid that it was gonna be, like,

$15 for some household cleaner and I'm like,

"You know what, I'll stick to this Pine-Sol."

But no.

You did great, awesome.

We only took half your blood supply.

- Think this is the most blood

I've ever drawn in my life.

In 17 years,

this is the most blood I've ever drawn on one person.

Can you imagine?

- I spent 60 days using new products

and 30 days on a sauna and omelet-filled detox,

lost over 20 pounds,

and felt better than I had in my entire life.

Though Dr. Hanaway suggested

a slow transition back to normal food,

I chose to jump as far off the wagon as possible,

right into a vat of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Yummers!

I'm so excited.

Thank you so much!

- Now, what are we hoping is gonna come back

with the blood results?

What's the best-case scenario,

it's coming back that you have no toxins at all?

- I don't think anybody

would ever be able to have zero toxins in their body.

- It would be impossible

unless you live literally in the woods, with--

- Not even then.

- No, not even.

- Yeah, probably not.

- 'Cause of the air, the pollution?

- Mm-hmm.

It's in the water, it's in the air.

A person can make an effort if it matters to them.

And I've been able to show, if you do X-Y-Z,

you will have a response in your body.

You can carry less.

This is gonna be my new life, right?

So, it's like, you can eat fried chicken,

but then you're gonna use glassware

for your take-home stuff.

I've decided that everything's

just gonna be about a balance.

I know they use styrofoam here.

Cue the styrofoam.

- Here you go. - Oh, cue the styrofoam.

- Mama, come on.

You can have Pyrex.

- May I?

- Of course!

Our 60 days is over.

So, I'm anxious to find out if the detox that I went on

actually did anything above and beyond

what trying to buy my way out of exposures did.

- Right.

It turns out, for most chemicals,

the best way to get 'em outta your body

is never get 'em in in the first place.

And then, even for the chemicals

that are already in your body,

the real key is not to continually be exposed.

So, in terms of the phthalates, the parabens,

the organophosphates, the BPA, and triclosan,

there's an incredible decrease in your levels.

So, in terms of volatile solvents,

they were really quite high on the initial test

and there was levels above the 95th percentile.

In this final round, volatile solvents came back down.

They're now closer to what you'd expect,

just slightly elevated for the population

but within the normal range.

In the initial round of testing, definitely detected

a number of these perfluorinated chemicals.

I'd say, overall, the results were somewhat mixed.

We saw slight decreases for some of them,

slight increases for other ones.

Most of these at this point are legacy pollutants.

- Calphalon said, "Oh, no, don't worry.

"We're using a different perfluorinated compound now."

And I'm like, "Oh, OK, thanks."

- Yeah, so these companies

have tweaked the chemistry a little bit,

but they're still as persistent

and many of 'em raise some of the same toxicity concerns.

And then, a few of the other longer-term chemicals,

some of the PBDEs, flame retardant chemicals,

many of these you can't entirely avoid

because they were used to make

our previous generation of furniture.

A few of the levels increased,

so likely being exposed to 'em.

It's nearly impossible to avoid all of these.

One of the other much more persistent chemical is the PCBs.

These are really a legacy pollutant.

In your original testing,

you had "not detect" for a number of the PCBs.

And this time, they were over the 95th percentile.

So, a little bit surprising in some ways, for sure.

- I'm excited and happy about some of the things,

and then, at the same time I'm feeling like,

I'm a little sad.

I'm not even thinking about

the 30 days so much of the detox

because that's neither here nor there,

and I felt really good on it.

But it's more the big picture of,

hmm, I really tried my hardest and some things did come out

and that's great, but these other things that didn't,

it does feel a little helpless.

It feels like I want somebody else to watch out for me

since I can't do everything, even if I tried my best.

The detox was able to get my levels

for many of these chemicals down ever further.

But to find out why some went up,

I headed back to the Cleveland Clinic

to ask Dr. Hanaway how this could happen.

- Let's talk about the results a little bit.

When I saw them,

the first thing that flashed through my mind was,

"Oh, there's some things

"that are going up that are lipophilic."

So, that means those are compounds

that tend to be in the fat tissue.

So, I thought, "Gosh, I hope Soozie's lost some weight,"

because that would totally explain what's happening here.

With lipophilic agents that have been used as pesticides

and those things that have been used as flame retardants,

they stay in the fat tissues.

And when we release the fat,

they're releasing that into your bloodstream.

So, it's circulating.

And now, slowly, if I keep eating the phytonutrients,

sauna, and just living more of a moderate, normal life,

I should pass those? - Yes.

It's so important for women preconceptually

to do a detox.

So, what you've done in optimizing your health

and wellbeing before pregnancy is exactly what we want.

- This is like the reverse of my younger days, right?

You don't wanna get pregnant until a certain point.

And then, when you wanna get pregnant, you're like,

"OK, now I need to know how to make this happen."

- Your vigilance is important.

Having the consciousness and awareness

will reduce your exposure by anywhere from 50% to 90%.

- What I've really realized through all of this

is that while I can control some exposures,

I can't control others.

And so, if my day-to-day is really just spent obsessing,

then I'm not really living.

So, it's about that middle ground.

- Be mindful, with heart awareness, and go from there.

- I was well on my way

to getting long-lasting chemicals out of my body.

And after I got back from seeing Dr. Hanaway,

I learned I would be keeping them

out of my neighborhood, too.

The pesticide spraying had stopped

and I was asked to put up a bat house

for natural mosquito control.

- We have to make the change.

I also have a three and a half year old son that--

Y'know, I wanna give him a better world.

It may be that the rules were stacked against us.

But at some point,

we have to believe in the mantra of "people power."

- I feel a real responsibility

to demand corporate accountability

and to say to the corporations

that are making the toxic product, "You can do better.

"You have kids."

But retailers aren't gonna make these changes

until consumers demand them.

- There have been consumer campaigns

that have really gotten rid of some dangerous chemicals.

I mean, one good example is BPA,

where it used to be routinely added to baby bottles

and sippy cups and some other kid's products.

And consumers were in an uproar when it became clear

that they were posing risks to the kids,

and they pushed back against some of the big companies

and companies like Target and Walmart

decided to pull those products and no longer sell them.

And that backed up into real improvements

at the national levels.

- Americans spend more than a trillion dollars

on food, personal care, and cleaning products every year.

If we focus more of our spending on less toxic products,

big corporations will see the dollar signs

and meet our demands.

- The trend is to move toward safer, healthier chemicals,

and the people who are leading that trend

are not our politicians, not our regulators,

not our bureaucratic scientists in Washington,

and certainly not the companies.

The people who are leading that trend are consumers

who are saying, "I've had enough.

"I don't want this stuff in my blood

"and I definitely don't want this stuff in my baby."

- Long before this journey began,

I knew I could have reproductive challenges ahead of me.

I went back to my OB/GYN to see if anything had changed.

Come in!

- Hi there!

How are you doing?

- Really well, how are you?

- I'm good, I'm excited to take a look today.

- Me too!

- We're gonna do another ultrasound

and take a look at your ovaries

and see how they look in comparison

to the last time we did this.

OK, you ready? - That's awesome, yes.

- OK, great. Come on down for me.

- I mean, as ready as a person can be

to have an ultrasound on camera.

- Alright.

So, let's take a look over here.

- Alright, so this is like the culmination

of everything, right?

- That's right.

- Most toxins are out, feeling good.

- Exactly.

- Now-- - Now, let's see how it all--

- Now, let's see.

- Looks.

- If there's some payoff.

- Excellent.

- Yes? - Very awake ovaries.

Lots of follicles.

- That's awesome.

- And it looks beautiful, looks very awake.

And at this point in time, fertility is yours.

So, you've gotta decide when you're ready.

- In the very beginning,

I came into this just thinking about

how I wanted to have the healthiest baby possible.

And then, when I started learning more

and I realized that--

- "I just wanna have a baby."

- I just wanna be able to have a baby,

and you learn more and more.

I have so many friends that can't get pregnant right now.

And so, it might not just be the toxins,

it might not just be the birth control,

it might not just be the food,

but when you put everything together,

I realize now, especially over the past few months,

that I do have some kind of control over my health

and my future. - Absolutely, absolutely.

- Thank you so much, I'm so excited.

- Absolutely, it was great to see you again.

- I'd hug you, but I have no pants on.

For the most part, my social experiment worked.

And all the people I've met while making this film

have made my love story with everyday chemicals

a little less toxic.

What started as a question of whether or not

I can impact my own exposure

has ignited a personal fight

against the barrage of petrochemicals

polluting our bodies and environment.

The reality is that we can't rely on our government

and corporations to put people before profits.

It's going to be up to us as individuals

making little changes within our lives,

homes and communities.

Enjoying a less toxic life isn't as hard as I imagined,

which is a great thing,

because while we can't change the past,

it's up to us to make healthier choices for ourselves,

our planet, and future generations.