Oh my cotton!

I love when you are skimming through a book and an interesting factoid jumps out at you.  I just got The Balanced Plate by Renee Loux from the library.  A section about cotton caught my attention quickly.  I'll start with the first fact that I read, which is actually  at the end of Loux's list.

She states:

In California, it is  illegal to feed cotton leaves, stems, and short fibers to livestock because of the concentrated pesticide residues.  Instead, the short fibers are used to make mattresses, pillows, tampons, swabs, and cotton balls.

Now, if you sleep eight hours a day, that means you spend 1/3 of your life in that bed made of all those pesticides.  (Not to mention all the flame retardent chemicals on the mattress.) Doesn't exactly make me want to curl up in my nice warm blankets with a good book -  and trust me, that's saying something!   Cozy bed?  Ew...

Using organic cotton products is better for you and the environment.  Organic cotton, according to Loux, is grown in "fields where pesticide use has been discontinued for at least 3 years to rebuild the soil fertility and safety.  No synthetic fertilizers or pesticides are used to grow organic cotton."

Need more reasons to use organic cotton towels, sheets, blankets, clothes, cotton balls, and swabs?  How about these additional stats from Loux:

• 25 percent of all pesticides and insecticides used globally are on cotton - though cotton occupies only 3 percent of farmland.

• 600,000 tons of pesticides are used on cotton crops in America alone - that's 300 pounds per acre, or 1/3 of a pound of pesticides for every pound of cotton!

• An average cotton crop is sprayed 30 to 40 times per growing season.

• Five of the top nine pesticides used on cotton in the United States are known to cause cancer - all nine are classified by the EPA as "Category I  and II," which are  the most dangerous of all chemicals.

• The most acutely toxic pesticide registered by the EPA, aldicarb, is standard for cotton crops.  The number of states where aldicarb is detected in ground water?  Sixteen.

If aldicarb is found in the ground water of sixteen states and it is standard for cotton crops, does that mean cotton is grown in only sixteen states in this country?  So, is it then 100 percent contamination?  Any way the percentage comes out, it's not good!

That's what that nice , cuddly, fluffy cotton sweater is doing to your land, your water, and your body.  Organic sounds worth it now, doesn't it?

What about?

I said in my last post that this post would be about parabens; however, I wanted to post some thoughts and observations quickly tonight. A paraben post is coming soon, I promise. Okay,so my observations:

• Have you noticed in the malls any of those nail salons?  Have you noticed that the employees wear face masks?!  If the fumes are bad, why don't they hand the masks out to the customers, too?  Do they offer them? I wonder... 
• I know of a person that has a child with a peanut allergy.  He even reacted one time because he was riding in the shopping cart and holding onto the  handle.  A previous cart user had touched peanuts and then the handle.  Now that's another reason to wipe off your cart handle!
• If people are allergic to latex, I wonder how many businesses hand out or use latex-free pens on their counters?  I've seen some packaged and sold at the local office supply store, so that got me to thinking.  Think about the banks and restaurants where you may be likely to use the business' pen.  That would be an easy and considerate change we could all do.  And think about all the free pens we give away for marketing purposes!
• How many people have small first-aid kits in their offices - you know the small ones with a few adhesive bandages and wipes?  How many people have latex-free kits?  Now, presumable a person with such an allergy would know not to accept a bandage, but what do they do it they really need one?  Where is one to be found? 
• What kind of cleaners do you use in your office?  Are they strong industrial cleaners?  Are they really needed?  How many people off the street come into your business each day?  Could they be having a reaction and you not know it?  Are the employees having to endure toxic chemicals for over 40 hours a week? Can a few of those cleaners be changed to healthier cleaners?  Are we creating sick building syndrome by trying to kills germs to stay healthy?  Makes me appreciate my office window!
• I know a person that will have an asthma attack after a mechanic has driven his car.  You know that smell when you get back into your car after a mechanic has been in it?  Not so good for some people.  I haven't figured out an alternative for that one.  

Just some thoughts.  What have you noticed?

Your body is a . . . landfill?

A couple of years ago, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a comprehensive study of the degree to which the bodies of Americans age six and older are contaminated by 148 specific toxic substances. There was some good news: Lead levels in children have dropped significantly. But the bad news stunned environmental health experts: Most Americans, but especially children, have dozens of pesticides and other toxic compounds in their bodies, many of them linked to health threats. A source of many of the toxins? Common, everyday,run of the mill household consumer products. There's no polite way of saying this: your body is a landfill, a dumping ground for a mind-boggling array of toxic chemicals. So is mine. So is your child's. (Sloan Barnett in Green Goes with Everything).

Puts things into a little different perspective doesn't it? If there are products out there that we can easily switch to in order to be healthier why not do it? You just have to know what to watch for, what to avoid. Why not decrease the load on your body?

One common item to avoid that most of us have probably already heard about: aspartame. Beth Greer states the following two facts in her book, Super Natural Home. They are quite startling :

There is a 41% increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day, according to Sharon P. Fowler, MPH, and colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio.

Aspartame contains methanol, which the body breaks down into formaldehyde - the same substance used in the embalming process. In a living person it can cause cancer, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. According to Dr. Blaylock, "Drinking even one diet cola a day can cause formaldehyde buildup in cells, so that the amount of the toxin increases daily."

Wow!

Okay,so that's food-related, which is not routine for this blog. However, I wanted to include that since it is something so common and it relates directly to why this blog started originally: formaldehyde allergy. But, back to the consumer products that we use around the house every day - consumer products that could possibly have harmful chemicals in them. Let's talk about parabens and the products in which these chemicals can likely be found. Parabens will be the next post.

April Fresh or Asthma Attack?

Since I wrote the last post, I heard about another dreadful fabric softener story, so I think it's a topic to spend a little more time thinking about. First, the new story. Then a couple old stories. Then something for everyone to think about – even those who do not suffer from allergies or sensitivities to fabric softeners.

Last night at dinner, one of our companions for the evening mentioned that his father finally figured out the fabric softener was bothering him. For months he suffered from a rash all over his body. Originally he thought it was mold in his washing machine, so he got a new washing machine. No luck. Eventually, the fabric softener sheets were discovered to be the evil cause of his misery.

Another friend and colleague can only use certain kinds of fabric softeners. She won't go near any clothes that have been washed and dried in the wrong detergents. Don't offer her your sweater when she's cold if you've used fabric softener - you'll cause more harm than good. She has to take her own towels and sheets on trips with her to hotels or friends' houses. In the morning when she is walking her dog outside, she can smell from a block away if someone is doing laundry.

My mom is very similar. As soon as she walks into a house, she knows if someone has done laundry. She'll start itching and her eyes start watering. If she gets into a car with someone who uses a fragrant detergent or a fabric softener, same thing happens. It'll take her a couple days to get straightened up. She also has to pack her own sheets and towels when going on trips.

This seems to be an incredibly frequent sensitivity and allergy for people. I know these folks have a hard time, and it makes me wonder what it would be like if they had to work in a little cubicle close to other people that use these items. Or what public transportation would be like for them if they had to commute every day via that method? What a potential nightmare.

I think it's something the rest of us need to be mindful of when we are doing laundry. Do our socks really need to smell April fresh? Many of us can't smell our laundry five minutes after we put it on anyway, so what's really the point? Are my April fresh jeans more important than someone else's health and/or comfort? Is my fabric softener worth causing someone else a migraine or asthma attack or itchiness or watery eyes? Would I want something I use for aesthetics to cause someone else to feel like they have poison ivy?

“We need to rethink what is clean – our idea of clean may be hurting us,” said Sloane Barnett in her book, Green Goes with Everything. "And what's clean? .... It's when I come home and smell absolutely nothing... Utterly unscented. That's when I know my house is clean. And safe.”

Soft laundry without the chemicals

I haven't found one green person yet – whether they are green for environmental reasons or health reasons or both - that says fabric softeners are okay to use. Many say the dryer balls are great to use. But I got to wondering – they are just a hard plastic and we're putting them in a heated environment. Is that good? I've only found one person, so far, who says not to use them. I have found chemical-free towels that are supposed to do the same thing as the balls. They are supposed to work by the weave of the fabric. Interesting. I wonder if it works.

Also some recommend putting vinegar in the washing machine to create softness without a fabric softener. I use this method along with the drier balls for now. Don't worry. You can not smell the vinegar afterwards - less that a 1/4 cup per load will do the trick. There are some fabrics where one probably does not want to use vinegar – the acidity breaks down the fibers, supposedly.

Just something to think about. . .

Dreaming of... Weeds?

Since the ground is covered with inches of snow, I'm already dreaming of spring. With spring comes the beautiful wildflowers and green, green grass. Within grass covered lawns comes those plants that many people refer to as “weeds.” I have been telling one of my relatives for years - and she continues to just laugh at me as she pays her bill for yard-treatment – that weeds are just misplaced wildflowers. After all, dandelions,violets, and mints are in the Newcomb's Wildflower Guide I had to use in my plant biology class in college.

For some reason, the most hated weed seems to be the bright yellow dandelion. Why do we hate the dandelion so much? It's a brighter yellow than those tulips and daffodils that we ooh and ah over every spring. And we pay to plant those beauties! And look at the flower of the dandelion? Does it really look that much different from a distance than those marigolds so many people plant every year? And after paying to buy those plants, then spending the time to plant them, watering them, “weeding” the flower beds... Now, that nice dandelion doesn't require any cost to plant or any time to maintain!

Then if you look closely at your yard you might find some violets. My grandma used to dig those up and transplant them to her flower bed. After all, do they really look that different from the impatiens and violas that we buy? And look at the variety of violets you have free in your yard! You might even find some white violets. Try to explain that to your three year old!

And if you look really closely, you'll see a small purple plant, the flower looks like a horn. The leaf is scalloped. Feel the stem. It feels like a square. Know what that means? It's part of the mint family.

Maybe instead of “taking time to smell the roses” we need to take the time to count the violets or feel the mints or take the time to make a dandelion bracelet. It'd be better for the environment and our health if we accepted these misplaced wildflowers. I mean, who wants to go out and play ball in the yard with the kids if you're having all those chemicals sprayed on the yard? Who wants Bowser or Furrball to lick their paws after walking across the lawn? Is a wildflower-less lawn really worth it?

Go Green for Better Health

Being green is better for your health. In Sara Snow's Fresh Living, Snow explains:

In 1995 the National Toxicology Program tested four hundred of the eighty thousand different chemical compounds currently in use for carcinogenicity. Based on results, researchers estimated that somewhere between four and eight thousand chemicals currently in use are likely to trigger cancer. Another study found that women who work in the home have a 55 percent higher risk of developing cancer or other chronic respiratory disease than those who work outside of the home.” [bold added]

They say our indoor air is much worse than the air outside. They aren't kidding!

A friend told me about a story she saw on he Veria television station. A young woman was sick until the age of 18. Doctors could not figure out what was wrong with her. Her mom kept the house clean from germs, what could be the problem after all the serious problems were ruled out? The girl went off to college and was the healthiest she had ever been. She graduated college, got an apartment of her own, and started her new, exciting life. Except she started getting sick again. This time, they were finally able to figure out what was wrong. When the young woman moved into her own apartment, she started cleaning like her mom had. The cleaners were making her sick.

Now, I'm a fan of a clean home! When I was in college my roommates would tease me because I was always vacuuming. (I would argue that they just never wiped their feet!) Anyway, what are some easy things to do and products to use to keep that clean home but that does not add to the toxicity levels in your home? Take your shoes off at the door... especially if you have your yard treated! Do you really want to track in all those petroleum products onto your floors where the kids play, toys go into mouths, and pets roam? I admit, I like really warm feet, so I'm not really good at this in the winter time if I don't have slippers handy.

Castille soap, vinegar, and tea tree oil can clean just about anything, I'm learning. This will also save you money, because a little of these items goes a long way. I think everyone has heard about vinegar to clean windows and the shower head. A few drops of Castille soap and tea tree oil in a spray bottle can be used to clean counters, door knobs etc. I've used it to dust, too. If you want specific recipes, I can direct you to those.

Breathe In... Breathe Out...

Because of off-gassing, chemicals are in the air.  I read a letter to the editor in one of our local papers recently where a man complained about the money NASA spends, but none of it helps you and me.  Well, here is some research they've done that does help:  research on plants.  They've rated the top indoor plants for their effectiveness cleaning the air.  The common and incredibly easy to grow spider plant is one of them.  According the Clean Air Gardening's website, "For an average home of under 2,000 square feet, the study recommends using at least fifteen samples of a good variety of these common houseplants to help improve air quality. They also recommend that the plants be grown in six inch containers or larger."

Renee Loux has written one of the best books I've found so far on living greener with fewer chemicals.  In her book Easy Green Living, she says, "Two small plants or one medium-size plant per 100 square feet will provide fresh air and healthy mold-free humidity in any room so everyone can breathe deeply with ease."

She also lists the following as the most effective air-purifying plants:

• bamboo palm 
• Chinese evergreen 
• corn plant 
• dragon tree 
• chrysanthemum 
• English ivy 
• peace lily 
• pothos 
• philodendren 
• snake plant

So, in my 13x18 office which I spend 8+ hours in a day, I have a Chinese evergreen, golden pothos, a palm (no idea what kind) and a spider plant.  Think about where you work.  How's the air in there?


I have five plants in my living room, four in my kitchen, but several of them are small.  Perhaps I should get Chinese evergreens for my bedroom and bathroom.  Chinese evergreens don't need much light, so that seems to be my best bet.  We had a large one in an indoor foyer at work that was not exposed to any natural light and lived by only two lamps. It did fine.  I need easy-to-grow plants! 

Your Skin

Your skin is your largest organ, and sixty percent of what is put on your skin is absorbed into your body. All those lotions and potions on your bathroom counter? Look at the ingredients. Your body is absorbing sixty percent - that means your other organs, like your liver, are having to detox your body from those items. Do you need all those chemicals in your lotions? No.

I now use 100% olive oil soap. Kiss My Face makes it.

I put a filter on my shower to reduce the amount of chlorine. You can find these at your local home improvement store, and they are incredibly easy to install. Even I had it done in less than two minutes.

I will not use shampoos or conditioners with sulfates or parabens. These are known skin irritants as well as possible carcinogens. At first I really missed the softness that the old shampoos provided, but a week with the filter on the shower head changed all that. I couldn't believe the difference in softness because of decreasing the chlorine with the filter. Parabens deserve their own post one of these days, because there are countries that have banned them from cosmetics and toiletries completely.

Natracare feminine products are great for women with skin sensitivities. No plastics! No chlorine used in the manufacturing process! (If you have endometriosis, limiting your exposure to chlorine products might be something to consider. Doesn't hurt to try! There is research that shows it can affect endo. Of course, there are those who argue with the research.) According to the ALAA, these are latex-free.

My mom now uses Vanicream's products. The lotion is free of formaldehyde, lanolin, dyes, fragrances, and parabens. She likes the cream and the soap. When she starts really itching, Grandma's Lye Soap helps her. She got the Vanicream sunscreen in her stocking at Christmas, but hasn't quite had the chance to use that considering it's been snowing for days. You can buy Vanicream online (drugstore.com or amazon.com). We haven't found it in our local stores yet, but pharmacists have offered to order it for her.

The Beginning

You hear the word organic frequently these days. Pretty common, right? I'd heard about organic cotton, for example - about all the environmental effects of pesticides and how organic is better. Heck, I'd even taught elementary students about bio accumulation (how the higher up the food chain an animal is, the more chemicals in it's body because it had eaten something that had eaten something that had eaten something... lots of chemicals.) I've heard about the advantages of using simple cleaners like vinegar. Yes, I've even been known to do that, too. And I've been sensitive to certain products and known others that reacted to strong smells or chemicals. I've been an advocate, I hope, for those in the workplace who can not tolerate perfumes, candles, and the like. But I never really – I mean really – appreciated or truly connected all of those things. Until this year.

After years of misery, the doctor finally figured out my mom is allergic to formaldehyde. The only way to truly handle the allergy is to decrease exposure to it. Formaldehyde is in everything! Carpet, furniture, paint, permanent-press clothing, wrinkle-resistant clothing and sheets, polyester... it's used in the tanning process for leather. Lotions, shampoos and conditioners, laundry detergents, fabric softeners, household cleaners. Are you getting the picture yet?

If you want to see a grown woman cry, make her eyes water so badly tears are running down her face, watch her go into a store. Watch her spend five minutes in a car with someone who uses fabric softener. Watch her open the door and walk into a house where someone has just done laundry.

If you want to see someone's skin over their entire body turn read and leathery, make the person wear leather shoes.

If you want to see someone itch all night so badly she can't sleep, put sheets on the bed made of polyester – even a small percentage of polyester.

If you want to see someone itch all day during the winter, have her wear fleece.

It's miserable.

So. I've been on a mission the last few months: read and research as much as I can about chemicals in the environment around us and how to decrease exposure to them. I've learned surprising and downright pitiful information about our country's use of chemicals compared to usage in Europe. I've learned how these chemicals are harming us, safe/safer products to use, how to read labels, how to use plants to help clean the air, and so much more.

This blog is a way for me to keep track of what I'm learning and also to help others. There is not a single person I've talked to in the last several months who does not have or know someone who has chemical sensitivities or allergies to things like latex. Through hours of searching and continued searches, I've found some great sites and manufacturers. Even if you do not suffer – or know you suffer – from these chemicals, leading a cleaner, more chemical-free lifestyle will be healthier for you, the people around you, and the environment.

And maybe, if folks are lucky, my writing this will help keep me from talking about it constantly. They can read this anytime they want instead of me adding some new fact to every conversation. You're right. It might not be possible.