It’s Environmental
I've noticed a recent surge in my joking about climate change on social media with missives like “This Chinese conspiracy has gotten out of control” when my freesias have come up early after a spate of 70° days is in March only to be killed the next day by a snowstorm.
However, something else is happening to me that cannot be as easily dismissed with a tweet. I have been experiencing a bunch of health issues that have a common theme; my body is growing things that it shouldn’t.
A year ago I had to have fibroids removed from my uterus. I’ve just been through a protracted bruising bloody process to determine that the thing in my left breast is benign and will just have to be watched. Today I have to have an atypical mole (medical speak for that thing is heading to melanoma town) removed surgically from my face. I also have a cyst on one of my ovaries that also has to be watched.
After my gynecologist told me that my fibroids were caused by an excess of estrogen in my system, which is the opposite of what usually happens to women my age, I naturally asked why that was happening and how I could stop it? She said without missing a beat “ It’s most likely environmental.” She has seen a steep increase of women in my situation in her practice. “What could I do about it, never drink from plastic, don’t handle receipts, avoid processed soy, take supplements to try and regulate my hormones. Then the urbane New York Doctor shrugged her shoulders and said: “Look there so many endocrine disruptors in the environment that there’s really not a whole lot you can do about it.”
The mole removal, my latest adventure in” it's not cancer, but it has to come out” is most likely ( like really really likely) to be a legacy of growing up in Australia. I get a pretty universal confirmation of this every time I meet a dermatologist. They get a look on their face when they hear my accent followed with a quick intake of air when I confirm their fear, yes I grew up in Australia. Not endocrine disruptors this time but environmental. The ozone layer over Australia has significantly thinned. There has been a 5 to 9% depletion over Australia since 1966. It was at its worse during the 80s and 90s just in time for me to get that pre-eighteen childhood, cancer increasing UV sun exposure. You may remember that this coincided with the discovery of the Arctic ozone hole, well the good news is “Prospects for the long-term recovery of the ozone layer are good. Non-essential consumption of major ozone-depleting substances ceased for developed countries in 1996, and for developing countries in 2010. Scientists predict that if the international community continues to comply with the Montreal Protocol, the ozone layer should recover to pre-1980 levels between 2050 and 2065.” So yay look what we can do when humans get together and do the right thing. Unfortunately for me, the damage is done, and I am in a high-risk group that dermatologists recommend have full body checks every three months. Oh and hey did I mention ( I know I have) that when they scrape the cells off suspicious looking spots to test them, they then cauterize your skin with a mini blowtorch.
So I take my supplements and never drink from plastic or touch receipts. I exercise, I try to eat well and I do all my check ups like clockwork. I tell myself that this is just the price of aging. But these medical interventions take a toll. They cost time, money, peace of mind and sometimes actual flesh and blood. And that’s the cost to very privileged me, who has pretty good health insurance and can afford to never drink from plastic. Thinking about the costs to marginalized communities is overwhelming. When I think about the environment protections that we have now being rolled back and the EPA being decimated I just want to throw myself on the ground and cry. All I can think is that millions of us are going to pay dearly for a very few to make a lot of money in the short term, with catastrophic consequences for the future. I know this to be true on a cellular level because I am literally growing a body of evidence.
