Therese Markow
speaker
1,706 appearances
12 recordings
1 series
first heard May 2026
last heard 11 Aug
Therese Markow’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 12 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 5.
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Welcome to this week's episode of Critically Speaking, where we explore issues at the intersection of science and society, issues central to individual and societal health and well-being. I'm your host, Therese Markle.
Well, the last decades have seen a continuing rise in really serious and often fatal health problems. The list is long, you know, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, infertility, autoimmune diseases, autism, just to name a few. And you know, while vulnerability to disease often has an underlying genetic predisposition, boy, there have to be environmental triggers to set these diseases in motion.
So what's changed in our environments and lifestyles that might serve as triggers for illness? Actually a lot. Our environment, our lifestyles, they've gradually changed over the decades in ways we probably don't even notice. You know, in fact, we may even embrace some of these changes as they make life much more convenient. So where do the dangers lurk?
Well, it's great to have today Dr. Ailey Cohen, and we're gonna discuss where these dangers do lurk, how to identify them, how to protect ourselves and especially our children from the negative consequences.
Dr. Cohn's an award-winning board-certified rheumatologist and integrative medicine specialist who's co-editor of the textbook Integrative Environmental Medicine. And she's also the creator of the Smart Human podcast and newsletter, co-author of the best-selling public guidebook, Non-Toxic, Guide to Living Healthy in a Chemical World.
Dr. Cohen lectures regularly at educational programs and elementary schools, all the way as well as to physician training programs. So it's exciting to have her here to discuss what to look out for on a daily basis. Ailey, welcome. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
into the idea that there is such a thing called environmental health, how environment affects human health and animal health. And really that began my journey over a nine-year period to understand the data, the literature on this major topic. Yeah. So isn't it interesting how our pets can open our eyes about things? And so then after thinking about your dog, you were really looking at environmental toxins and things. And so where are these toxins? Can you tell us where they are?
Yeah, so it's interesting. I was really referring to your TED Talk because I thought it was a great way to get people to look at what they're doing. So for 24 hours, if everybody could just make a list, right, of how many things they expose themselves to, whether it's through a frying pan or a
Yeah, that has to be very frustrating for a clinician. And maybe if everybody that listens would write down how many things they're exposing themselves to in a day, it might be a real eye opener. I don't know. You know, I'm aware of a number of studies on particular chemicals like phthalates.
And they clearly link exposure to phthalates to, you know, a pretty wide range of health problems. And I don't know, can you tell us more about particular things in our homes or products that affect us and, you know, our health and developmental issues? Yeah. So you started with phthalates. So phthalates with a P-H to begin with. It's actually P-H-T-H-A-L-A-T-E-S, phthalates pronounced with a T-H.
those chemicals can go into the food and the drinks. Yeah. So Ailey, that's the problem, right? Is that with the plastic containers, you know, that once they're in contact with the food or the beverage that they're containing,
Not only for our environment, of course, and waste, but because I don't see the value of it using it so that it gets into my body. Right. And people sucking on a plastic straw, right? You may go to Whole Foods or whatever, and you may order some organic smoothie, and it comes to you in a plastic cup or glass, or I wouldn't say glass, but a plastic container, and you get a plastic straw to suck on.
Well, that makes sense because it's, as you say, not everybody's going to get on the ledge and it's not good. But so if these ingredients, whether they're in plastic or food additives or whatever, I mean, how do they get into the products that people use? From what you were saying, it sounds like nobody reviews and regulates them in the United States, that we have so few that are prohibited. So why is that? I mean, who's responsible for...
It's amazing to me that the companies that put these chemicals in their products, whether they're containers or food or personal care products, that there's not more oversight and regulation. But given that there's not, we have to do it ourselves. We have to do it ourselves. And that's exactly why Dr. Vamsal, my co-author, who, by the way, is largely responsible for taking or having bisphenol A taken out of plastic baby bottles.
people are getting cancers younger. Yeah. And infertility. I mean, there's a big increase in infertility. You've got more people going for assisted reproductive techniques and things like that. Yeah. People have to do it on their own and protect themselves. You know, you're a scientist. I'm a scientist. I remember when I was an undergrad, you know, we had to take organic chemistry and learn how these chemicals are named by their structures, like
two, three dichloro, four ethyl, two hexane. And then being able to actually visualize, well, what does this molecule look like? And, you know, in the classes, you know, we were told, yeah, this is associated with something bad. So suddenly I started reading
the labels on things like shampoos. And it was like, this is really frightening. All these organic products in one compounds in one product. And I was thinking, well, why are they there? You know, I was just a kid and I didn't know a lot, but I figured at that time, if you can't pronounce it,
Or you don't know what that is, don't buy it. But look, most people don't read labels. I mean, they can't. They can't expect even the most educated people to have taken an organic chemistry class. And I think most people, they don't read labels. Usually the print's too damn small. But they probably figure that if it's for sale, that it's safe. But you were saying that this is really based on, it's sort of like the honor system from
Know how to figure it out. I mean, for me, when I discovered the environmental working group, I just thought, oh, my God, this is amazing because they've got everything on their site just about. And you can and you can look it up. And so, you know, I certainly think that's a that's one place people can start. But I also think, you know, some of these things, it's just a matter of convenience and that it's like the exposure.
Right, right. Yeah, so this has been a real eye-opener talking about this. And maybe some of our listeners are going to write down everything they use or ate in a 24-hour period and then look into what they've been exposed to and see if any of these substances, I mean, they can look it up, right?
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