The EcoWaste Coalition, an environmental network on waste and pollution issues, lauds the Filipino women, especially our mothers, for their paramount role in mentoring us on ecological practices such as repairing, reusing, and recycling our discards.
In the process of turning households into homes, our mothers have instilled in us life-sustaining values such as caring for our surroundings, doing more with fewer resources, cutting waste, and even creating wealth from trash.
Above all, we thank our mothers for nourishing us with breastmilk  the best and healthiest food for human babies that requires no packaging and causes no pollution.
As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we would like to call attention to the need to protect our women from toxic chemicals that endanger their health and their capacity to bear, nurture, and sustain life.
With thousands of chemicals being manufactured and traded globally, it has become "normal" to find toxins in cosmetic products, household cleaning materials, consumer goods, toys and, yes, in the air we breathe and in the food and water we consume.
Many of these chemicals are lipophilic, which means they lodge in the body’s fat cells. As nature has endowed women’s bodies with extra stores of fat for their childbearing and breastfeeding functions, women tendto be more vulnerable to contamination by these chemicals.
So invasive are these chemicals that babies are born tainted with assorted toxics. In 2005, the Environmental Working Group and Commonwealreleased a report showing an average of 200 industrial chemicals and contaminants  such as pesticides, consumer product ingredients, wastes from burning trash, gasoline and coal  in the umbilical cord blood of 10 babies born in US hospitals in 2004.
To honor our women and protect our children from harm, let us prevent and reduce toxic contamination of our environment from smoke-belching vehicles, dirty factories and products, horrendous dumps andincinerators and other pollution sources. Let us work together to eliminate human exposure to toxic hazards.
Elsie Brandes-De Veyra
Treasurer, EcoWaste Coalition;
Commissioner, National Commission on the Role of Filipino Womenc/o EcoWaste Coalition, Unit 320, Eagle Court
26 Matalino St., Quezon City
It’s in the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, and the products we come into contact with at home and at work. And women, children, and the elderly are at higher risk than the others because they are less capable of metabolizing and excreting some chemicals. While the United Nations upholds women’s rights to enjoy "the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health" (including the right to bear a family and the right to control all aspects of their health, particularly their own fertility), such rights are being seriously compromised by women’s exposure to toxic chemicals. There are the chemical dusts, volatile organic solvents (paints), varnish, sealants, gasoline fumes, dry cleaners and recently dry-cleaned clothes, toilet bowl cleaners, the pesticides we use in our lush and lovely garden. A lot of household products contain toxic chemicals that are not listed on product labels. There are the video display terminals that, according to an Iowa research, may double or triple a woman’s risk of infertility.
Indeed, toxins have invaded women’s bodies, which may well be the chemical diaries of their lives.
On the other hand, children exposed to lead are at greater risk of developing ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and other developmental disorders such as autism. According to psychologist Sue Koger, the developing nervous system of children is extremely vulnerable to toxic disruption. In 2000, the National Academy of Sciences reported that 25 percent of neurological defects in children are most likely due to the interaction between chemical and genetic factors.
And believe it or not, Dutch scientists found more feminized behavior in boys and girls who were prenatally exposed to higher levels of dioxin (linked to a countless number of diseases, including skin disfiguration, leukemia, liver cancer).
So, how do we protect ourselves from these toxic chemicals or at least minimize our exposure to them?
A dash of homespun wisdom can save the day for women (and homemakers in general), according to seasoned broadcast journalist Lolit Lizano in her handy, full-of-wonderful-clean-and-green-tips book The Wonderful New World of Women.
Let Lolit share some of her recipes for clean and green living:
• Remove stains from cups and plates by rubbing them with calamansi halves and allowing to stand for a few minutes.
• Free cooking utensils from fishy smells by washing them in water to which 1 tbsp. of vinegar has been added. A substitute for vinegar is 1 tsp. of dry mustard.
• Remove onion-y aroma from knives by holding them over a flame for two minutes.
• A dash of vinegar in the dishwater will add an extra gleam to your dishes and keep your lovely hands as pretty as ever. Also, a good-sized sponge wrapped around the upper half of a scouring pad or steel wool will save your manicure from ruin.
• To remove badly burned food from pans and pots, fill the utensil with water while the pan is still hot and add a handful of salt. Allow to soak for several hours, then oil and pour out. Scrub traces of food with steel wool. Soap and rinse.
• To remove stains on plastic utensils, rub them with toothpaste. Use a soft, clean cloth to work in this unique stain remover.
• For tarnished silverware to recover its lost shine, place it in potato water (water where potatoes or potato peels have been soaked) for a while. Rinse and dry.
• Wash glass windows with clear warm water. If dusty, just wipe with crumpled old newspapers.
• Clean greasy stoves with a sponge dipped in vinegar.
• Disinfect toilets with hot soapsuds at least three times a week. Wipe the seat and lid with a solution of soap and warm water.
• Chill candles in the refrigerator for 24 hours before using them. They will burn evenly and will not drip.
• To remove cigarette burns on a carpet, brush or rub lightly with fine sandpaper.
• Stains on leather can be removed by rubbing it lightly with a piece of cloth dipped in eucalyptus oil.
• Remove scratches on the mirror tops of desks and TV screens by applying toothpaste on the area and wiping it with a piece of cloth.
• For general cleaning, use a solution of 3 tbsps. baking soda to 1 qt. water. For tough cleaning jobs, sprinkle soda on a damp sponge and use as scourer.
• Place an unopened box of soda in the refrigerator to absorb food odors. You can also use the baking soda to clean the inside and outside of your refrigerator.
• To deodorize your car, place a layer of baking soda in the bottom of the ashtray.
Belated (March 8) Happy International Women’s Day! Have a green day!