Heavy metals are present in the soil/water in many regions. It's often a natural accumulation. For example the arid production zones in California and Arizona were highly contaminated naturally (and salty). When they started irrigating the land they deep plowed it to breakup the caliche layers. They then continuously flooded it to push the salt and water soluable heavy metals lower in the soil profile. Much of it ended up in the groundwater.

Some heavy metals like lead and arsenic were used as pesticides for almost 90 years. Most productions zones were contaminated during this period. Of course once you apply them, they don't disappear.

At this point, pretty much all production areas are contaminated to some degree. We have no good way to remediate the issue in the soil. So regulators focus on limiting the contamination from controllable sources.

I hear you, I used to expect the government to protect the people as well. But I think it's kinda been shown it's more so operating from a stance of economic strength leading to more prosperity overall for its citizens. But also through out the years of meeting distraught statisticians and scientist and they have all seemed to have a common theme in that their findings have always either been stolen and fudged or they themselves have been forced to fudge their own work in order to continue having a job.

Also I know that a lot of tampons are bleached. So I think they are being treated (typically) in some way. But also cotton as a whole is a really fucked up crop when you think about it. Because it's full of stickers and the cotton is covered in pods and stuff. As for the acceptance. I think like, in general - I really don't have much power over how things are going because I seemingly never had much power over the way things have gone. I know it sound defeatist, but I'd rather say it's realist. I try my best to do the least harm I can do. But I'm no angel, and I'm not perfect. But if I sit around and eat all the doom and gloom in the world I think I'd kill myself tomorrow. So instead, I think you know - take off little bites here and there. Give it a think. But realize that there's very little influence you have over all this stuff. Unless you're hob-nobbing with someone who hob-nobs with others and you create a chain reaction to shift rich individual's focus towards it.

But that's also hard because I think a lot of rich people actually believe super hard into eugenics and lean heavily into whatever logic formed stuff like manifest destiny and what not.

Also on eating organically (and I thought about this because I do have some organic cotton bads for "cup out" days) I am not sure it's any better than non-organic. Although in theory it should be. And it's highly pushed among people who have excess wealth. But I also know (from when I was living a different kind of life) some organic farmers who would straight up cheat to get pests off their crops. But also watched this Vice doc on how farmers being given free compost (I believe it was) were actually poisoning their lands. And I know this can't just be an isolated thing, because waste management (even with farms) is really dodgy and that same kind of free-dirt stuff (is it run off? I can't remember) is offered all over the US. So eh. Damned either way? Eh.

Just keep trying to be a decent person, I guess? I always wonder what Lord of the Flies persona I'll take on if shit goes south. But I always figured I'd probably end up pill-bellied or dead pretty early on into all the chaos >_>...!