Dangerous Chemicals verses humanity.

Over recent years, increasing numbers of environmental campaigners have been trying to raise awareness of the dangers of chemicals being used in everyday life. Some experts believe the cocktail of chemicals we're exposed to in modern life could have serious effects on our health. And worryingly, it's not just people working in jobs where they come into contact with chemicals that are affected. One recent study showed the average woman will absorb almost 5lb of chemicals through her skin every year from make-up and personal hygiene products.

Tests have been carried out on individual chemicals, pesticides and other compounds that are used to keep our society clean, extend the shelf life of foods, and produce new technology, products and even medicines. But what campaigners are concerned about is the effect the combination of these substances could have. And Lucy believes this is what caused her illness. She started to strip chemicals out of her life. "My body felt toxic," she says. "There was no treatment for my ME, so I started looking at my diet - and reading the ingredients of everything I was putting in to my body. "I stopped drinking and smoking, and switched to mineral water. I discovered milk had hormones in it, and the fruit I'd been eating had been sprayed with chemicals. I stopped using a lot of cleaning products because I could feel I was inhaling chemicals." "I stopped drinking and smoking, and switched to mineral water. I discovered milk had hormones in it, and the fruit I'd been eating had been sprayed with chemicals. I stopped using a lot of cleaning products because I could feel I was inhaling chemicals."
She embraced a green lifestyle, and within a year she was well enough to work again. Two years ago, she and her husband, Richard, set up an organic skincare company, . A year later they had a baby boy, Thomas. Now, Lucy, from Battle, East Sussex, says she lives her life as chemically free as possible - and feels healthier for it.