National Safety Month

Happy Summer!  Bet you didn't know that it was National Safety Month, did you? Well, it is! And because of that, I just wanted to remind you of a couple of quick ways that you can make sure you and your family are living in a safe and healthy home.

Lead- homes built before 1980 may have lead in the paint and homes built between 1970 and 1985 could have lead sodder in the pipes, which can leak into your drinking water.  Lead can cause serious problems, especially in young kiddos. The only way to REALLY know if there is lead in your drinking water is to get it tested.. some cities (like Portland) will do that for you for free, so check and see if your city has a similar program. If you do find lead in your water, certain filtration systems can help to remove lead. Also, letting the water run for about 30 seconds before using it, and never using warm water for cooking can help get the lead out of your drinking water.

Asbestos- asbestos can be found in drywall and popcorn ceilings built before 1980 and can cause cancer and lung related problems. If you think you have asbestos in your home, you should have it professional evaluated and potentially removed.

All sorts of other chemicals can be released into your home when you use cleaning products, cook with teflon, bring dry cleaning into your home, bring home anything made of PVC, or bring home new furniture, sheets or products that contain fire retardants or formaldehyde. In short, lots of stuff you find in stores can be toxic for you health. So, research before you buy and buy products that are less toxic. Also, make sure to open doors and windows daily to air out your living space.

Lastly, be prepared. Have working fire extinguishers and know where they are stored. Be ready for whatever emergency could happen where you live. Here in Portland, we are at risk of a big earthquake, so at my house we have a couple of bins full of emergency supplies and food in our garage. Extra water on hand is great too.

So, have fun and be safe. If that doesn't want to make you do the safety dance, I don't know what will! And for those of you too young to know what the safety dance is-- you need to check out youtube.  I'm pretty sure that you will not be disappointed. Pin It Now!

My Favorite App....

 

OK people. I have a new favorite app. It's the Environmental Working Group's app called skin deep. At some point, I have mentioned their website, where you can go to find out how safe your personal care products are and can find safer alternatives to your current favorites. (Like sunscreen-- they currently have a list of the safest sunscreens on the market-- super handy!). I have been using their website for years, and love it. but...... I finally just downloaded their skin deep app and it is amazing. You just use the camera on your phone to scan a a product's bar code and up pop's their safety rating as well as a bunch of info on the product. Now, not every personal care product is in their bar code data base, but lots are, and if the bar code is not in there, you can still search by the product name. But, it is so very handy to have this with you while you are at the store shopping for a product-- you can just scan it in and see what the rating is. I am super excited and have already been using it to test all sort of things already in my home.

It's free. It's awesome. And no, I am not a paid sponsor. I just think their app is rad.

Do you have a favorite app?

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Toxin Toxout: A Review

Toxin Toxout: Getting Harmful Chemicals Out of Our Bodies and Our World by Bruce Lourie and Rick Smith is the follow up to their first book, Slow Death by Rubber Duck. I finished Toxin Toxout a few weeks ago, and kept not finding time to write up a review. So, it's not quite as fresh in my mind as I prefer. But, I think it was a worthwhile read, and so... I will dig up my notes, muster some courage, and give this a shot.
Slow Death touches on a bunch of ways that pollutants (toxins) get into our bodies. The authors said that Toxin Toxout was written as a response to all of the questions of "So, now what?" that they received from folks who read their first book. So,.. they decided to do some research, and find out the best ways to avoid being exposed to these toxins, as well as potential ways to rid ourselves of the ones already in our bodies.
The book starts with a synopsis of what was explained in Slow Death.  They talk about phthalates and how they are in, well, just about everything. How parabens in our personal care products are causing cancer. And how eating vegan can decrease your rate of cancer by 30%. Holy smokes! Almost makes me want to stop eating cheese. Almost. 
Th remainder of the book was focused on way to prevent and rid our body of toxins. Some of these were accompanied by anecdotes, some were researched by speaking with professionals, some was based on personal research that the authors tried. And, as in their first book, their writing style is humorous and keeps the reader engaged and entertained (while still being very informative). 
So, in short, here are their 10 take-home points. Very summarized:

1. Choose your personal care products wisely. There are lots of  (mostly untested) chemicals in our shampoos, lotions, deoderants, etc. Most of them are there to make the product (and us) smell nice, but they are causing cancer and a whole host of other problems while doing so. Smelling good is not worth that high price. So, simplify.... switch to more basic, more natural products with less ingredients. Choose products without fragrance, without triclosan, without parabens, without phthalates.  Read labels. Research your products. Choose ones that are the least harmful. Use less products in general. And remember that not all products labeled as natural are safe!
2. Eat organic. Yes, you all already know this. Organic foods have less pesticides residues on them, which is better for us. But did you know that more carbon is released into the atmosphere from conventional farming than from importing organically grown foods from far away? Crazy, right? I am one to always try and choose local, and still will, but I am now feeling the power of organic. It can be pricey, so do what you can.
3. Drink tap water, and lots of it. Water helps flush toxins out of your system. And bottled water is the pits, so drink it from your tap.  
4. In your home, choose safer products. Chemicals in your furniture, and well, basically everything you buy and bring home, off-gas into your house and then you breathe it in. Choose natural products. Avoid anything with vinyl (ewww). Looks for products without flame retardants (such as PBDE)-- ikea makes furniture without these nasty chemicals. Look for furniture without formaldehyde. Choose paint with low VOCs. Open the windows in your home and let air circulate every day... free the toxins! Clean and dust often as flame retardants and other particles stick to dust and then you breathe them in. But don't dust with nasty chemicals, or you will just make the problem worse. Vinegar and baking soda are your friends. 
5. Eat more veggies and less meat. Remember what I said about vegans having a 30% decreased cancer rate?  
6. Sweat. Sweat releases toxins. Saunas, exercise, hot yoga (which I tried today for the first time). The wetter, the better.
7. Exercise. See above. Plus you will decrease the amount of fat in your body which is where a lot of these toxins are stored. Plus exercise is just good for you and makes your brain feel happy too. And then you can eat more chocolate. ;) 
8. Chose a detox lifestyle. Rather than doing fad diets and cleanses all of the time, the authors suggest moving towards a lifestyle where you eat healthy, detoxing foods regularly. See number 5.  
9. Buy less and buy green. If all of these new things we bring into our home are poisoning us, why not just stop buying them. Let's buy less stuff in general and what we do buy, buy environmentally and health friendly. If you buy less stuff, then you can spend more money to buy high quality for what you do buy. And, I love buying used stuff. That way, it has already off-gassed somewhere else! (note-- this doesn't work for all toxins. Flame retardants, for example, are soaked into our furniture, and will still be in the foam for many, many years) 
10. Complain to the people in charge. Think this all sucks and is a huge pain? Write your representatives. Tell them we want to buy things that are not poisoning us. And work for change!  

Check out their website, for more great info and resources.
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Slow Death by Rubber Duck: A Review

 

I have had this book on my to-read list for awhile. Ever since it came out actually. Deciding to choose a new book for my class to read next term was the motivation I needed to actually get my hands on it and read it. And I'm glad I did.

The book is insanely scary, but also full of humor and easy to read. The book is written by two Canadian scientists who, in order to study how everyday products affect us, purposely try to increase their body burden of several chemicals that are known, or believed, to be dangerous to our health. They expose themselves to phthalates, BPA, mercury, teflon, flame retardants, and probably a couple other things I am forgetting about. They use normal everyday items to expose themselves (like eating tuna sandwiches), but do repeated exposures over a few days. Testing their blood and urine pre and post exposure shows how much they can increase their toxic body burden in a very short amount of time. And, in some cases, that increase is pretty incredible.

I can't say that I learned anything surprising from this book, but I also teach about these things for a living, and sadly, have heard these types of stories before. Nonetheless, the authors do a great job of intermingling history, politics and current science and wrapping it up into a neat little humorous package. The last chapter focuses on some simple ways that you can help your family avoid some of the burden of these everyday toxic chemicals. This is a great read, especially for folks with children at home.

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Chemerical: A Review

Chemerical: Redefining Clean for a New Generation is a film that takes a look at the multitude of toxic products that we buy, store and use in our homes. From cleaners to personal care products, the average citizen surrounds themselves with chemicals that have not been adequately tested for safety, even though we are made to believe that these products are perfectly safe.

This film follows a Canadian family as, over the course of 2 months, they eliminate all chemicals from their home. The family first gets rid of all of their toxic housecleaning supplies and replaces them with safer, natural versions. Next task is eliminating chemicals form their personal care products. This includes shampoos, deodorant, toothpaste, lotions, make-up and more. Initially the 2 older children were opposed to veering from their normal routine.... but, after a few weeks, they were happy (or at least happy enough) with the safer alternatives that they were using. By the end of the film, the family is making all of their own laundry detergent, cleaners, shampoos, toothpaste, and even hair gel and lipstick. They found that not only were the products safer, but making their own only cost a fraction of the price.

Aside from safer and cheaper, they also found that the air inside the house was cleaner. Levels of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) inside the family's home were at unsafe levels before the switch, but were well within safe levels after the chemicals were removed from their home. The family also felt healthier... less headaches and less sickness with the new regiment. 

The film also addresses safety issues with these chemicals... why they are problematic and what is being done to address safety concerns (not much). But most importantly, the film shows that an average, everyday family IS capable of eliminating toxins from their home without eliminating modern day conveniences. I enjoyed this movie because the results are tangible; they show how a family (begrudgingly at first) changed their entire cleaning and personal care routine. They were eventually happy with the results, they were providing a safer living environment for themselves, they were being kinder on the environment, and they were spending much less money. This film is worth a watch-- It's like reality tv with an environmental twist....

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Herbicides and A Toxic Environment for Our Babes

Atrazine is one of the most widely used herbicides in the US and the world. It has been banned in the E.U. because it easily contaminates groundwater, and has been connected to cancer, low sperm counts, and the de-masculinization of males. It has been shown in labs to cause male frogs to grow ovaries and to lay viable eggs.... and all at concentrations that are commonly found in our drinking water. Yikes! This ted.com talk discusses atrazine, as well as the myriad soup of other toxic that we are exposed to on a daily basis. Our environment and our bodies have become so contaminated that when a woman becomes pregnant, these chemicals circulate throughout the amniotic fluid, keeping the fetus awash in a toxic soup. How terrible. Yet, as mothers, there really isn't a whole lot that we can do to change our body burden of chemicals. What we can do is to raise awareness of the chemicals that are being put in our environment, and work to get these toxins out of our environment, out of our bodies and out of our children. If the E.U. has banned atrazine, why can't we?

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Having Faith: A Review

Having Faith, by Sandra Steingraber is an amazing book. The entire time I was reading it, I kept asking myself why I hadn't read it already. Published in 2001, it is already slightly outdated, but to me it felt like the modern day Silent Spring.... this is a book that is disturbing, depressing, and inspiring.. a call to action for all of us parents out there. Except, unlike Silent Spring, it doesn't seem like this book motivated much action. I guess in this day and age, folks are sick of hearing about everything that is poisoning us, giving us cancer and slowly killing our planet. I think we have started to feel frustrated that we have no control over our environment and so for most, it is easier to just try not to think about it.
Steingraber is an ecologist who becomes pregnant when she is 40-ish (after winning a battle against cancer in her earlier years). The book documents her journey through pregnancy, as well as her days of nursing her little daughter, but does so from her point of view as an ecologist. She explores the relationships between pesticides and other chemicals that a mother is exposed to and physical or developmental issue that commonly occur in children.
This book really hit home to me, as 2 of the physical issues she speaks of were problems that Finn was born with. The first is un-descended testicles. When Finn was about 8 months old, he had to have surgery to pull one of his testicles, which had not descended, into place. Having Faith talks about the correlation between this problem and the mother's exposure to pesticides during the first few months of pregnancy. Finn was conceived in March (or sometime near March) in Montana, in a small town just west of Missoula, where plenty of land around us was used for farming. The water we drank was groundwater that could easily have been contaminated with pesticides sprayed on the local farms.
The other issue is Finn's teeth. His 4 back molars are missing a lot of their enamel (the enamel is discontinuous around the teeth, which leaves about half of each tooth surface completely vulnerable to decay). Steingraber's book shows an association with this issue (which I had never even heard of before Finn was diagnosed with it) and the mother's exposure to dioxins, which are a by product of industry (PVC manufacturing is one big source).
I can say that this book did make me feel a bit guilty, knowing that these issues that Finn will deal with for his entire life are likely a result of chemicals that I was exposed to before he was even born. But, on the other hand, I only have so much control of my life. I don't spray pesticides (and try not to even eat food grown with pesticides), and I certainly don't produce dioxins (which are a by product of PVC production, among other things).. yet, I am exposed to these chemicals whether I like it or not, just by breathing air and drinking water. But, like Steingraber says, this isn't an issue of mothers not making good decision while pregnant or nursing, but rather an issue of the government not protecting its citizens.
Having Faith also talks about breast milk, the magical-like qualities it has, the perfect balance of nutrients, the antibiotics... in essence, everything a newborn needs. Yet, because of biomagnification through the food chain, breast milk is also one of the most toxic substances known to man. This is something that is wrong at the most very basic level, and something that needs to be changed.
Every time I have nursed little Miss P since reading this book, I have watched her sweet face, and her tiny hands that play with her hair while she nurses, and wonder just how many chemicals I am pumping into her sweet body at that very moment. Something so little and so tiny and so innocent, and yet she is being dosed with poisons. How can we be OK with this?
Having Faith is an amazing book and one that everyone should read (however, I would not recommend reading it while pregnant, because I think it would have stressed me out-- even reading it while nursing was a bit distressing). I just can't figure out why this book didn't cause more of a stir? Why aren't we, as mothers and parents, fighting for the right to have a pregnancy free of chemical exposure? Why aren't we demanding for breast milk that is 100% safe for our babies? So read this book and be inspired. Let's make this world safe for our babes, yes? Pin It Now!

Fleas? Oh Geez....

So, with 5 animals in our house, and in a climate that is very supportive of fleas, we are no strangers to these gross pests. But, for the past year or so, the fleas have seemed to leave us alone, and I forgot what a huge pain in the butt they are to deal with.
About 2 months ago, Moshi, our puppy, started to itch. And I mean itch. Really bad, non-stop, itching. We thought she was having an allergy to something she was eating. We decided it couldn't possibly be fleas, because the heart worm meds that our dogs take also prevent fleas from reproducing. So, while fleas may come in contact with them, they can't have babies and the population should be self limiting. Or so I thought.....
Eventually, after Moshi was so itchy that she had scabs on her back and her face was swelling, I brought her into the vet for help. Fleas, they told me. She has fleas. They found one on her. Only one. Hmmmm. So, my first question was how does one flea cause a reaction like this? Answer: an extreme flea allergy. Lovely. We have a dog that is extremely allergic to fleas. My second question was how is she having this reaction when she is on a flea preventative? Sadly, since we also have cats in our home, that we were not treating for fleas, they were acting as the reproductive hosts, and then the fleas could bounce back and forth from the dogs (but could only breed when on the cats). I was told that I would have to constantly treat all 5 animals with a flea medicine, otherwise Moshi would continue to have serious reactions to the few fleas that were in our environment. An hour and a couple hundred dollars later, I left the vet with a couple months worth of flea treatments for our zoo.
I was told that these spot-on topical treatments (we chose Advantage) were completely safe for our dogs, as well as for us. In fact, the vet said, some of the drug reps even come in here and lick this stuff to show us how safe it is. I thought that that sounded like a very stupid idea, and still thought the medicine posed some risks, but what else was I going to do? My dog was allergic to fleas. The vets assured me it was safe, gave me no warnings or precautions... how bad could it be?
We gave the animals the first round when I got home, the itching subsided, and everyone seemed happy. Well, today the animal's monthly dose of flea meds was due. Todd put it on the pets, we made dinner, and as we sat down to eat, we noticed a big "stain" on our leather couch. Upon closer inspection, that "satin" was really an area where the leather finish had been stripped away.... by the topical flea treatment after the dogs had laid down (see photo below).
This of course, freaked me out, and I ran to the computer. Yup, these treatments could act as solvents and strip away finishes.. if it was doing that to the couch, what is it doing to the skin on my animals? Further research suggested that these flea treatments are in fact not benign, like I was told, but full of potentially dangerous chemicals that could harm my pets or the people in my house!
So, I spent the next half hour or so researching some completely natural methods or keeping the fleas out of house... without any toxins. I thought I would share what I found here.

1. Use herbs to repel fleas. Fill a squirt bottle with essential oils of clove, eucalyptus, lavender, peppermint, rosemary, cedar, or citronella (or your favorite combination) and spray pet with it every week or so to keep fleas away.
2. Bath animals regularly. For dogs, rinse with water that has been steeped overnight with lemons to repel fleas. I heard cat's skin was too sensitive for this.
3. Add brewers yeast and garlic to their food to repel fleas
4. Add zinc (10 mg for cats and 20 mg for dogs) to their food daily
5. Keep the house clean! Vacuum the floors and furniture and then empty vacuum bag outside into trash. If you leave it in the vacuum, or dump it in the inside trash, any eggs could hatch and re-infect the house. Wash all pet bedding and dry on hot cycle in dryer on regular basis.
6. Use diatemaceous earth. This is basically small pieces of silica that will kill fleas without being harmful to pets or kids, even if swallowed. You can sprinkle it around house, especially into cracks, sprinkle onto pet bedding, and even rub into your pet's fur.

I am ready to stop using these chemicals and try some natural methods for keeping the fleas away. Do you have pets? Do you have to treat for fleas in your area? If so, how do you do it? Do you have any great natural remedies to share?

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The Truth About Fluoride?

This past summer Finn went to the dentist for the first time. The entire experience was miserable, and although I could write an entire rant post on that, I will just say that he was extremely scared/overwhelemed/freaked out, and there was absolutely nothing positive about his experience. However, while there, we did find out that Finn has defective enamel on all four of his back molars. Essentially what that means is that the enamel is splotchy, and doesn't cover his entire teeth; hence, about 50% of each molar has no protective coating on it and 3 or those 4 molars already have cavities on them. The dentist recommended not even bothering with filings, as with no enamel, he will continue to get cavities. Our current plan of action is to hold out until he has pain, and then put a crown on the painful teeth, and hope that he does not have defective enamel on his permanent teeth when they come in. Yikes, right? And, I happen to have the world's worst teeth anyways. No amount of flossing/brushing has seemed to prevent me from constantly needing dental work done. It is unpleasant and so expensive, and I can only hope for Finn's sake that he has better teeth luck than I.
So, the point to this long story is that the dentist recommended doing fluoride treatments every 6 months and brushing Finn's teeth with a fluoride toothpaste. Before going to the dentist we had avoided any toothpaste that contained fluoride as I had heard some negative things. I asked the dentist about the risks of fluoride; he looked at me like I was crazy, said it is perfectly safe, and that it is very important to maintain tooth health.
Portland does not fluoridate our public water supply. I however grew up in a town that did, and I had a slew of cavities the first time I went to the dentist. Plus, I always used toothpaste with fluoride as a child and apparently it did me no good. So, to put it lightly, I am not convinced of how much it helps... Doing some web base research resulted in many sites that claim the complete safety of fluoride. However, more than a few sites had a lot of negative things to say about this chemical that seems ot be present everywhere.
Several websites said that fluoride is extremely toxic; more toxic than lead and only slightly less toxic than arsenic. Some of the risks associated with fluoride are: acute poisoning, cancer, birth defects, depressed immune systems, formation of brittle bones, lowered IQ, and gastrointestinal problems. Several websites also talked about how prominent fluoride is, and that come companies are even adding it to infant formulas and other products geared towards children. Hmmmmm.
How can something that is said to be so toxic be everywhere and be allowed to be in my child's water, food and toothpaste? And why am I supposed to be taking him in for mouthfuls of it twice a year? But if I don't give it to him will he have teeth problems for the rest of his life?
I guess I am still fairly torn about this. Since we had that terrible dentist visit in August, I have had Finn brush his teeth with fluoride toothpaste only at night, and the other daily brushing are with a paste that does not contain the chemical. I always make sure he spits it out at night, but I have to wonder how much he is actually swallowing... I don't want his teeth to get any worse (of all people I know how horrible dental pains can be) but I would also rather see him need dental work than get cancer. I don't think I will bring him back for another fluoride treatment anytime soon, but then start to wonder if I am being neglectful.
What are your thoughts on fluoride? Do you give your child fluoride toothpaste or take them in for fluoride treatments? Did you have fluoride as a child? Pin It Now!

Homo Toxicus: A Review

Homo Toxicus is a film that discusses the connections between chemicals found in our environment and health problems, and in some ways is the the modern day Silent Spring. The films starts out with a Canadian women getting her blood tested for contaminants. Even though she feels that she lives a fairly healthy lifestyle, her results find 110 contaminants in her blood, including DDT, PCBs, mercury, and many more. The problem with directly linking these toxins to health problems is that everyone is exposed to so many chemicals that it is hard to tease out which ones are causing what. So although we have some pretty good ideas of which chemicals are problematic, it is hard to prove it.
This film suggests that exposure to some toxins can cause the immune system to become weak, while others cause it to overreact (causing allergies and auto-immune disorders). Toxins like fire retardants (found in a lot of children's sleepwear) can be linked to ADD and hyperactivity. Pesticides have been shown to lower sperm counts and to cause sex changes in fish and amphibians. Hormones found in beef have been linked to cancer. It seems that everywhere we turn, there is yet another substance that we are exposed to that is a likely culprit for cancer or other illnesses.
According to the film, the scariest part is that since the time span between human generation is fairly large, we are just now starting to see the consequences of these chemicals on human health. Amphibian populations, which have seen huge die-offs due to environmental pollutants, have very short generation times and so problems are expressed more quickly in these species. The film suggests that we could be headed for a similar fate as the frogs, but we just haven't had enough time for gene changes to be expressed yet. I hope that's wrong, but I do think all of these toxins in our environment are going to have some consequences, and I can't imagine those consequences are going to be good.
What the film doesn't really touch on is how we can avoid this fate... from my personal research I know that it is important to be careful of the foods you select, the personal care products you use, and the things you surround yourself with. However, I also know that so many of these toxins are present in the water that we drink and bathe in, as well as pollutants in the air. We can't avoid water or air, so until these toxins are regulated and/or banned, we are all going to continue to be exposed to them. Pin It Now!

Toxic Toys!

Did you know that PVC, a type of plastic, is called the "poison plastic"? It is linked to asthma,  obesity, learning disabilities and cancer. The worst part is, PVC is found everywhere, including toys we give to our children.

Toys R Us has committed to reducing toxins in toys, yet continues to sell toys made form PVC. Check out toxictoysrus to see how you can help get PVC removed from Toys R Us shelves and our children's lives. Pin It Now!

Toxic Chemical Lobby Video

Here is a quick video that shows some of the dangers of common chemicals found around our households. Watch the video below and then go here to take action and help build stricter policies for these harmful chemicals. Pin It Now!