Researchers: Perfume is “risk to unborn babies”

Pregnant women are told that using perfumes or scented creams may increase the risk of unborn boys developing infertility in later life

Anyone with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity knows that perfume and other synthetic fragrances are toxic. Effects of exposure can range from dizziness and coughing to total loss of cognitive ability (sometimes called “brain fade”) and serious trouble breathing. These overt physical effects alarm us and make us question what else the poison is doing to our bodies. We people with MCS are the “canaries” of the public, sounding the alarm that synthetic fragrance is hazardous to health– not just to people with MCS, but to everybody.

Slowly, peer reviewed research is catching up with us. Here’s a report at the BBC today about researchers at Edinburgh University who believe exposure to chemicals found in cosmetics between eight and 12 weeks of pregnancy may affect later sperm production in male children. Their recommendation: Do not use personal care products with synthetic fragrance while pregnant. Canaries’ recommendation: Do not use personal care products with synthetic fragrance EVER.

Testicular cancer

During tests on rats, [the researchers] blocked the action of androgens, which include male sex hormones such as testosterone.

The experiments confirmed that if the hormones are blocked, the animals suffered fertility problems.

Some of the chemicals which can block the hormones are widely used in the production of items such as cosmetics, household fabrics and plastics.

Prof Sharpe said the chemicals may also increase the risk of baby boys developing other reproductive conditions in later life, including testicular cancer.

He added that women planning on becoming pregnant should avoid putting any cosmetic products on their skin which could then be absorbed into their bodies.

He told BBC Scotland’s news website: “There are lots of compounds in perfumes that we know in higher concentrations have the potential to have biological effects, so it is just being ultra safe to say that by avoiding using them your baby isn’t at risk.

“If you are planning to become pregnant you should change your lifestyle. Those lifestyle things don’t necessarily mean that you are going to cause terrible harm to your baby, but by avoiding them you are going to have a positive effect.

“We would recommend you avoid exposure to chemicals that are present in cosmetics, anything that you put on your body that might then get through your body into your developing baby. [...]

Link

Blogger describes emotional response to chemical exposure

I stumbled on a blog this morning called Today, written by Janelle, who lives in the New England Tablelands in NSW Australia. It’s an incredibly sweet blog, and Janelle’s heart is on every page.

Today she writes about her struggles with chemical sensitivities; it’s a good read about her realization that her tolerance levels are becoming more pronounced. But what I found most fascinating was her description about crying after an exposure. She says about a particularly bad exposure to a chemical in a public toilet, “Alan realised that I wasn’t getting hysterical about it because I was angry…I was trying to explain what happened and that I was having problems breathing and getting the smell out of my hair and the hysterics WAS THE REACTION to the poison.”

You know, I have this happen also: suddenly starting to cry during or after and exposure. As I commented to Janelle: “I wanted to tell you that I have had chemical sensitivities for over 15 years and sometimes one of the side effects of exposure to a toxic chemical is suddenly crying and/or feeling panic. When it’s happening, I am very aware that the emotional responses are being directly caused BY the chemicals, i.e., the emotional response is being triggered directly by the chemical itself, NOT by an emotional response to the exposure.”

Here’s Janelle’s description of the experience:

[...] recently I was bombed 3 days in a row; Michael had a visit to the hair salon and the ‘product’ in his hair was revolting. The next day Alan and the boys decided to shoot deodorant cans with David’s hunting bow…I actually had to go bed, and I was in tears. The third day we went on bushwalk and one of our friends had his smelly boy’s deo on* and the cumulative effect was that I was much slower than the others getting up that climb.

To top it off though, last week on the way home from Sydney, we stopped at a roadside pit toilet, very conveniently put there by the Roads Dept. but an unsuspecting disaster site for me. There had been some kind of (deodorising?) powder put down the pit which was released when urine hit it from above. Great image I know, but I could see it vapourising! To tell the short story though, Alan realised that I wasn’t getting hysterical about it because I was angry…I was trying to explain what happened and that I was having problems breathing and getting the smell out of my hair and the hysterics WAS THE REACTION to the poison. This shocked us both and when I got home I had to ring my friend and tell her about it; not to gossip but as warning - if the same thing happened to her she would likely have collapsed in there!

It is often difficult to get sympathetic responses to these issues because much of the research is anecdotal (and is often documented badly). But personal experience can’t be denied so I am sharing all of this kind of hoping I’m not the only one (I know I’m not) but also to hopefully get you to realise what it can be like for other people.

Link

Deep Tomato Quiche - Open Pie

We have chickens that give us fresh eggs every day, so I’m always on the lookout for new recipes that include eggs. I came across this recipe from one our island’s cooking divas, Sonia Martinez. She has a very fun blog called Sonia Tastes Hawaii with recipes and tons of photos of island life.

I like Sonia’s recipes because she uses fruits and vegetables that are easy to find locally, in our own yards or at the local farmer’s market. The goat cheese is also locally made– yummy!

The only things I change in this recipe are soy milk for the milk, and I’ll grab whatever cheese I have on hand.

Quantities are approximate as I didn’t really measure anything.
Ingredients are listed in the order in which I added them.

1 deep dish pie shell (*) or your own favorite recipe
1 heaping Tablespoon Dijon Country Rough mustard

Brush mustard over bottom and sides of pie shell and bake until light
golden - I do this while oven is heating up to 350o F

1/4 cup shredded medium sharp Cheddar
One layer ripe tomato slices
Sprinkle chopped garden onions
Sprinkle chopped fresh basil
Sprinkle chopped fresh chives
Dot with little mounds of chevre - about 1/2 teaspoon each (**)
One layer ripe tomato slices
Add another layer of the chopped onions, basil and chives
Top with another 1/4 cup shredded medium sharp Cheddar

Beat 4-5 eggs (depending on size)
Add milk and beat together
A touch of salt & fresh ground pepper

Pour over the pie filling and let it rest a bit so the liquid will go
all the way to the bottom. Add more egg/milk if needed to top it

Bake at 350o F until puffed and golden. Remove from oven, let rest
for a few minutes, slice and enjoy!

It was delicious!

(*) I keep some in the freezer for emergencies
(**) I used a full small 4 ounce log of chevre (creamy goat cheese)

YIELD: 6 servings for normal people - 4 for us

Link

Breathe Out

“Breathe Out”

Glass

Jan Singleton

Glass artist, Jan Singleton was happy to be exhibiting at the “Inside Out” exhibition. Jan has made a new stained glass window for “Inside Out’ Exhibition, entitled “Breathe Out.”

Inspired initially by the surrounding landscape, the colours and views around us have a profound calming effect. The window represents a mixture of the rubbish we all sometimes speak and hear others speak. Just pause, take a look around you and take a deep breath instead.

“Look carefully and you can see a man breathing out…”

Link

Barack Obama’s acceptance speech, 2008 DNC convention

“We are a better country than this.”

August 28, 2008

Mile High Stadium, Denver

Link

Link to John McCain’s acceptance speech, 2008 RNC convention.

New blogger on MCS has wicked sense of humor

I’d like welcome Lou Cheese to the blogosphere! Mr. Cheese just started a blog called Living w/ Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. But here’s the kicker: Mr. Cheese is HILLARIOUS. Those of us with MCS can truly appreciate such a refreshing perspective because when most of the world becomes hazardous to your health, a sense of humor is hard to find.

What I love about Mr. Cheese’s blog is not only the crazy ass humor, but also the way that he’s sharing his strategies at adapting to his disability. Inside the humor is a wealth of information that can help and encourage anyone with MCS: He was tenacious about finding the right doctor who could properly diagnose the problem, he’s now figuring out the right diet, and he has an arsenal of masks and respirators that allow him to get out and do things. Mr. Cheese is still enjoying life. Kudos!

I look forward to following the life of Mr. Cheese. Here’s his riff on eating a candy bar ( I *get* this story, my weakness is M&Ms, sans explosions).

Almond Joy Made My Ass Explode

[...] I was looking for my favorite candy bar, the Almond Snickers, but this place didn’t have any. I grabbed the Almond Joy instead because it had coconut and cocoa butter in it, leading me to believe that as far as candy bars go, this would be the better choice. Boy was I wrong.

It went down OK. At the time the only thing I noted was that it was insanely sweet in flavor, which I attributed to the fact that I probably hadn’t eaten a candy bar in over a year, and had very little junk food during that time as well. The next morning, let’s just say that things were a little loose south of the border. Really loose. Imagine a reverse bidet with jet pressure (I warned you about the hyperbole, I wish someone could have warned me about what would happen after the candy bar). Afterwards I limped straight back to the candy bar wrapper and was absolutely shocked to find these two ingredients listed: Sulfur Dioxide and Sodium Metabisulfite.

Sulfur Dioxide is one of the six common pollutants in the air and a key component of acid rain. It’s one of the reasons why the air is so bad in Cleveland, and why the city often smells like a mix of rotten eggs and fresh asphalt. It’s also used as a bleaching agent, as a refrigerant, and to decholrinate liquids, which of course must mean that it TASTES GREAT in a candy bar. Imagine back to those times you went to Grandma’s for Christmas and there, sitting on the middle of the kitchen table was a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies waiting for you.

Grandma: “Ohh, look at you! You’re getting so big! Would you like some cookies? I made them just for you!”
Child: “I dunno Grandma, it doesn’t look like you put enough Sulfur Dioxide in them.”

Sodium Metabisulfite is a suspected tumorigenic and is considered LETHAL at a sufficient dose. Granted, the Hershey Corporation is probably putting in a small amount in each candy bar, but why put such a horrible chemical in a food product in the first place? Here’s what a standard Material Safety Data Sheet has to say about Sodium Metabisulfite:

WARNING! HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED OR INHALED. MAY CAUSE ALLERGIC
RESPIRATORY REACTION. CAUSES IRRITATION TO SKIN, EYES AND RESPIRATORY TRACT.
REACTS WITH ACIDS AND WATER RELEASING TOXIC SULFUR DIOXIDE GAS.

Potential Health Effects
———————————-
Inhalation: Causes irritation to the respiratory tract. Symptoms may include coughing, shortness of breath. May cause allergic reaction in sensitive individuals.
Ingestion: May cause gastric irritation by the liberation of sulfurous acid. An asthmatic reaction may occur after ingestion. Large doses may result in nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains, circulatory disturbance, and central nervous system depression. Estimated fatal dose is 10gm.

Skin Contact: Causes irritation to skin. Symptoms include redness, itching, and pain.

Eye Contact: Causes irritation, redness, and pain. Contact may cause irreversible eye damage. Symptoms may include stinging, tearing, redness, swelling,corneal damage and blindness.

Chronic Exposure: No information found.

Aggravation of Pre-existing Conditions: Some individuals are said to be dangerously sensitive to minute amounts of sulfites in foods. Symptoms may include broncho constriction, shock, gastrointestinal disturbances, angio edema, flushing, and tingling sensations. Once allergy develops, future exposures can cause asthma attacks with shortness of breath, wheezing, and cough.

Hmmm, it reacts to the water in your body creating sulphuric acid, and it can permanently blind you, just to name a few of it’s many dangers. Gee, I guess they forgot one thing: SODIUM METABISULFITE TASTES DELICIOUS!!!!!! (Actually, thats sarcasm, not hyperbole, but extreme sarcasm must count for something. Besides, you get rather angry when discovering that someone spiked your food with toxic chemicals).

The funny thing is, look at the precautions workers must take when handling the stuff:

Protection: Wear impervious protective clothing, including boots, gloves,
lab coat, apron or coveralls, as appropriate, to prevent skin contact.
Eye Protection: Use chemical safety goggles. Maintain eye wash fountain and
quick-drench facilities in work area.

So, they have to treat it as dangerous when handling it, but it’s OK for you to actually eat it and feed it to your children? I would bet the only reason why the Hershey Corporation is using it is because it’s cheap. I’ve written them today concerning the matter and will update the blog when I get a response, which will either be a lame form letter or a real nasty one from one of their lawyers. In the meantime I would recommend staying away from the mass produced candy bars or at least look up the ingredients before taking a bite.

Natural gas extraction assaults health of humans, animals and planet

Filmmaker goes to gas land for first-hand look: The Rage of Nature documents experience

I had absolutely no idea that this was happening to people in gas extraction regions: “potential human health impacts from drilling has indicated a correlation with multiple chemical sensitivity; gastrointestinal, liver and respiratory problems; neurological effects; and long-term effects on cardiovascular health.”

Josh Fox wears a protective mask to minimize exposure to contaminated water being sprayed into the air over an evaporation pit in Wyoming.

When filmmaker Josh Fox, a resident of Milanville, PA, first heard that gas exploration might be on the horizon for the Upper Delaware region, he began gathering information on the subject. The more he learned, the more concerned he became.

When he began to have trouble sleeping, Fox decided to see for himself what the industry and its manifestations looked, sounded and smelled like, as well as how it affected the humans exposed to it. Eight thousand miles and 90 days later, Fox had visited Texas, Colorado and Wyoming, and concluded, “It was far worse than I imagined.”

“I was hoping it wasn’t such a big deal,” said Fox in an interview with Dick Riseling, whose show, “WJFF Connections,” is broadcast on WJFF 90.5 FM radio. “But this is a big deal.” The interview stirred such interest that the station aired it a second time and will broadcast it again (see sidebar on page 4).

What Fox encountered on his travels he likened to a “war zone”-uninhabitable and unsellable homes permanently contaminated with hydrogen sulfide; severe health impacts, such as lesions on the brain, neuromuscular effects, loss of the sense of smell; endless truck traffic seven days per week; hundreds of new roads; a foul stench in the air; and seemingly ceaseless noise. During the trip, he interviewed endocrinologist Theo Colburn, whose research on the potential human health impacts from drilling has indicated a correlation with multiple chemical sensitivity; gastrointestinal, liver and respiratory problems; neurological effects; and long-term effects on cardiovascular health.

Fox is in the process of turning his experience into the film, “The Rage of Nature,” which will document his personal journey and perceptions. As a result of what he learned, Fox has concluded that the process of natural gas extraction is “a comprehensive assault on the health of humans, animals and the planet.” He acknowledges that a small number of people and businesses will prosper, but adds, “The majority will not benefit; they will suffer.”

And while Fox says he respects landowners’ rights to do what they choose with their land, he notes, “It’s everybody’s air. It’s everybody’s water. These should fall under the jurisdiction of the community.”

Based on conversations he had in areas where drilling has been occurring, Fox anticipates the Upper Delaware region will experience “a wave of regret,” and a sense of “being swindled or cheated” by the process. “In terms of tourism and recreation, this will no longer be that kind of area once drilling starts,” he said. Fox also believes that the region’s second-home industry will be jeopardized by the presence of drilling rigs and associated activities.

“We’ve got what money-can’t buy-quality of life and peace of mind,” he added.

“The Rage of Nature” is currently being edited and is expected to be completed in January 2009.

Fox is also the founder and artistic director of International WOW Company, a theater group with a membership of over 100 actors, dancers, musicians and technical and visual artists spanning 28 countries on five continents.

Hear it. See it.

• Hear Riseling’s interview with Fox on WJFF 90.5 FM on September 1 at 7:30 p.m. or visit www.wjffradio.org, then click “archives” and scroll down to “WJFF Connections,” then click download to listen online for the next several weeks.
• Visit www.internationalwow.com to learn more about Fox’s work and to access a link featuring clips from “The Rage of Nature.”
• Attend Black Bear Film Festival’s Envirofest at the Grey Towers Historical Site in Milford, PA on Sunday, October 19 ( www.blackbearfilm.com ). Fox will present clips from the film and answer questions.

Link

Can we repair this world? Yes we can!

Link

A message from Beyond Pesticides

On August 15, I posted about a U.S. Department of Justice (Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division) rule making proposal that failed to recognize Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and environmental illnesses as disabilities that may require specific access standards. I learned about it from Beyond Pesticides, an awesome advocacy and educational group on the front lines protecting the public from poisonous pesticides. Beyond Pesticides was encouraging people to submit comments on the omission directly to the DOJ, and also was asking people to add their names to Beyond Pesticides’ own comment to DOJ, which I did (hope you did too if you heard about it in time!).

Today I received an email update from Beyond Pesticides on the progress of the initiative.

Dear Friends of Beyond Pesticides, Thank you for signing on to Beyond Pesticides’ comment to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the proposed rulemaking for accessibility standards in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We received a tremendous amount of support from both organizations and individuals, all advocating for stronger protections for those with chemical sensitivity (CS) or environmental illness. The final version of our comment, including the names of all those who signed on is available on our website here. Beyond Pesticides has worked since its founding in 1981 to identify the hazards posed by toxic pesticides and advocate for non-chemical and least hazardous management alternatives. The organization provides useful information on pesticides and alternatives to their use, topics also covered in Beyond Pesticides’ quarterly news magazine, Pesticides and You, Daily News blog, and the bi-monthly bulletin, School Pesticide Monitor. The organization also publishes a wide variety of brochures, information packets, and reports. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions that affect them directly. We believe decisions should not be made for us by chemical companies or by decision makers who either do not have all of the facts or refuse to consider them. To this effect, we utilize comment periods to make our voice and others’ heard by government agencies. The majority of our comments are addressed to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agency responsible for pesticide regulation. However, on occasion we address comments to other regulatory agencies, such as DOJ, when we the issue is central to the work we do. Chemical sensitivity often occurs as a result of the use of toxic pesticides, and we strongly feel that the government needs to do more both to prevent pesticide poisonings from happening, and to accommodate people who are chemically sensitized. Thank you again for joining us in this effort. Please take the time to explore more of the work we do, from our Pesticide Gateway (a guide to pesticides and their health and environmental effects) to our alternatives fact sheets (guidance on least-toxic ways to manage household pests) on our website. We look forward to working with you in the future. Sincerely, Jay Feldman, Executive Director Natalie Lounsbury, Research Fellow

Beyond Pesticides’ Americans with Disabilities Act comment to the Department of Justice.

Employees say mold in hospital causing illness and death

Complaints dating back to 2006 from workers in Atlanta’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at MCG Children’s Medical Center have led to a lawsuit. Workers have complained for years about illnesses that appear to them or others to be related to mold and mildew.

The Metro Spirit has done an expose on the problems, the details of which will make you wild.

The hospital denies it’s a problem. Deborah Humphrey of the MCG Health public information office said the hospital would not grant an interview on the subject because none was needed. “Problem identified, problem solved,” she said.

However, Metro Spirit has obtained documents in which a hospital employee has accused MCG Health of having such serious mold and mildew problems that it has contributed to the death of a patient.

Todd Brandenburg first made a documented complaint about mold and mildew in April 2005. He was later written up by MCG Health for “improperly reporting a mold issue.”

MCG Health said the complaint caused a waste of manpower, even though mold was later discovered and remediated as a result of his complaint, Brandenburg said. He was fired a few months later.

“All I wanted to do was be a good employee and alert the hospital to a potential problem,” he added. “I did not know it would lead to me being fired.”

As part of his grievance against that firing, a grievance that has now grown into a lawsuit, Brandenburg laid out his concerns about mold causing health problems at MCG Health.

“I was told that the suspected mold problem was simply a housekeeping issue and that the mildew I saw growing was only dust,” Brandenburg wrote in his grievance. “The mildew smell remains prominent in that area.”

He spoke directly to the seriousness of the matter. “There was a patient death due to environmental issues with the facility carpet (notably in the CMC [Children's Medical Center]), not to exclude the infection rate from the growth of bacteria in the five NICU sinks. This lends evidence to the fact that the ‘mold’ issue has (in all likelihood) not been fixed.”

Link to complete story.

Related posts in The Canary Report:

Mold at the center of controversy

Missy kicks ass, forces former employer to fix building

A message from Missy Gluckman: The fox is watching the hen house

Superfund sites off the radar

Government confirms elevated cancer level in Pa.

It’s a mystery to me why we don’t hear much about Superfund sites anymore. It’s as if the problem was so huge and insurmountable that it dropped off the public and media radar as we turned to the global crisis of climate change. But Superfund sites are a huge problem that’s not going away, even in the areas where the site was cleaned up.

Here’s a report on a Pennsylvania Superfund site that although cleaned, is in an area of other sites along with exisiting dirty industry, and the lethal combo appears to be causing a cancer cluster.

HAZLETON, Pa. - Nearly a year after federal epidemiologists first sounded the alarm over a cluster of rare blood cancers in northeastern Pennsylvania, their research has zeroed in on a hardscrabble region 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia that is home to several Superfund sites as well as a power plant fired by waste coal.

The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said Monday that it confirmed a cluster of polycythemia (pah-lee-sy-THEE’-mee-ah) vera, or PV, in a 15-mile stretch between Hazleton and Tamaqua.

Residents of these ZIP codes were four times as likely to suffer from PV as residents living in outlying areas, according to the government.

Researchers cautioned, though, that their investigation was not designed to uncover an environmental link to PV, a cancer that results in the overproduction of red blood cells and can lead to heart attack or stroke. PV’s cause is unknown.

“We don’t want to give the message that there are no connections,” said ATSDR researcher Vince Seaman. “We just don’t have the data.”

Some residents blame their illnesses on a recycler called McAdoo Associates that accepted hundreds of thousands of gallons of paint sludge, waste oils, used solvents, PCBs, cyanide, pesticides and many other known or suspected carcinogens.

Environmental officials shut down the site in 1979, and it was later placed on the federal Superfund list and cleaned up. Other Superfund sites dot the area, too, along with a power plant that burns waste coal that some residents also suspect has caused health problems.

Link

Photo of Cranberry Breaker, Hazelton, Pa. (coal breaker, circa 1905).

Related post on The Canary Report, “Environmental Amnesia: While questioning what we buy, we’ve forgotten where we live.”

My apologies to my loyal readers

My bad.

Early this morning at 2 a.m., bleary and exhausted, while trying to figure out how to control the massive amounts of spam comments that were flooding the site, I accidentally deleted ALL the comments of the past few weeks. MAJOR BUMMERS. I got so mad at myself because there was so much information in the comments that loyal visitors had left: info about air filters and kitty litter and childhood trauma from chemical cleansers. I know the commentors took time and thought to write these comments and as host it’s my responsibility to protect and honor your input, a bloggers creed. I’m so sorry!

There’s a possibility that the comments are hiding somewhere in a cache that I don’t know how to access. But I have a bad feeling that the cache function wasn’t activated. The loss of your thoughts is especially annoying because, with the help of a member of the Canary flock, I had improved the comments a bit yesterday by fixing the avatar function so that people with Gravatar accounts have their photo show up with their comments– I was so happy about that.

Anywho, thanks everybody for your patience while I learn how to do this. Thank you so much for your support and encouragement, it means a lot to me. I’m not very geeky, so it’s a steep learning curve. I look at the pages of code and settings and have immediate brain freeze. So please continue leaving comments and I promise not to accidentally check that stupid little box that marks a whole chunk of good comments as spam and sends them to to the ether.

PS I hope to have a link to the comments function under each post on the blog page soon (right now you have to click on the individual post to access the comments). And I have lots of other plans for more user-friendly widgets and information… stay tuned!

How to make a detox bath

I’ve taken my share of detox baths. A detox bath is a little different from a plain everyday bath because you need to make the water hotter than usual and rather than using froo-froo additives like essential oils (if you can tolerate them) you use salts that draw out toxins.

I close up all the doors and windows in the bathroom to keep in the heat. I like to use a generous amount of Epsom salts in the water: I buy it in half-gallon milk carton type containers and use half a carton for one bath. It’s good idea to use filtered water (my water is double filtered at the main pipe before it comes in the house).

The key is to get the bath water as hot as you can without getting burned. I make a kettle full of boiling water, wrap it in a towel and add it to the bath water periodically to keep it really hot. I keep a large towel draped over my whole body to hold in the heat. The goal is to sweat and sweat and sweat for about a half hour.

After drying off, I take a special body brush and brush my limbs in an invigorating sweeping motion from the tips toward my heart to get the lymphatic system stimulated– it feels great! You can get a dry body brush at your local health food store (it’s different than the type of brush for washing yourself).

More on Epsom salts with some history and recipes.

Photo and more good stuff on Epsom salts and detoxing.

Select mold mitigating materials when renovating your bathroom

Second post on a bath and bathroom theme. Here’s some good advice from Planet Green for nontoxic bathroom renovation materials that will help with mold problems before they start.

Select Mold Mitigating Materials

Use materials that don’t promote mould and mildew growth, are eco-friendly, and are easy to clean. In Japan, a lot of baths are lined with cedar and wood; cork and water resistant woods have natural mold inhibitors in them. For floors and walls go with recycled glass or ceramic tiles, Marmoleum (a good old fashed linoleum material), low-VOC paints, and natural plasters like American Clay, which absorb and release moisture, mitigating the potential for mildew. For countertops, consider those made from recycled glass cullet, or compressed, sealed, recycled paper, such as Paperstone and Richlite.

Link to Top 10 Green Bathroom Renovation Tips.

Photo by massdistraction at flickr.

Bath best way to smell good

Here’s the cutest letter to the editor ever, in response to an op/ed piece on perfume at YumaSun.com.

Thanks, Natacha Dannenberg, for writing about perfume. I am allergic to perfume and after shave lotion. I pass out from it. Besides it being a chemical, there are so many additives in it. It causes cancer. I’ve been told that by a doctor.

I have been around people who get asthma attacks from perfume and people who lost their voice from it. And yes, if people have trouble concentrating, they should try doing without perfume and after shave lotion.

I am wondering why they don’t have “hazard to your health” on the bottles. It is worse than second-hand cigarette smoke.

The best fragrance is a bath - you can smell if you are dirty or clean.

AGI MONTGOMERY
Yuma

Link

Photo by Daniel KJ at flickr.

Breathe in & breathe out

Link

Beautiful, natural jewelry from The Oko Box

I’ve found a kindred spirit in Leslie over at The Oko Box, a fun, hip e-shop featuring environmentally sound, green products ranging from everyday T-shirts to sassy, revealing clubwear. Leslie’s bio could be mine; she says, “When I’m not working on The Öko Box, I organic garden, cook organic meals, love my cats, and exercise.”

I first discovered The Oko Box when researching natural fabrics, and blogged about a cute top made from bamboo fabric. Now I’ve discovered these darling necklaces: simple discs of natural materials hung on a fabric cord. Perfect for people with multiple chemical sensitivities who can’t tolerate metal against their skin.

100% organic cotton fabric cord, that you can wear long or short (as a choker) depending on how you tie the cute little bow in back! Each Oko Necklace is an exclusive one of a kind, handmade gift-perfect for those who prefer not to wear metal, have chemical sensitivities, or just have fabulous fashion sensibilities Each necklace pendant is made of natural stone, gemstone or glass. Comes in a gift box floating on a cloud of organic cotton.

Link

Link to The Oko Box blog where Leslie explores everything from spiders at her writing desk to yummy treats for vegans. Go visit!

Housecleaners form green cleaning cooperative

Professional housecleaners are frequently exposed to hazardous cleaning products and have a higher incidence of asthma compared to other workers This week on the radio show Living on Earth, which is a weekly environmental news and information program, reporter Catherine Elton reports on a group of Brazilian immigrant housecleaners in Boston who have joined together to form a co-op that makes their own environmentally-friendly and safe cleaning products, and educates other housecleaners as well. The group is called Vida Verde Cooperative.

GELLERMAN: You’re listening to an encore edition of Living on Earth, I’m Bruce Gellerman.

Many of the things we use to wash bathrooms, unblock drains, and make ovens spic and span contain toxic ingredients. Lurking underneath many a kitchen cabinet are chemicals hazardous to your health. For professional cleaners - many of whom are women, and many of them immigrants - daily, repeated exposure can make them sick.

There are safer alternatives. Clean and green are the new watch-words for many household products advertised on TV these days, but getting the word out to non-English speaking workers can be difficult. That’s where a house-cleaning coop in Boston comes in, as Catherine Elton reports.

[SOUND OF WOMEN SPEAKING IN PORTUGESE]

ELTON: In the basement office of the community organization the Brazilian Women’s Group, several Brazilian housecleaners sit around tables and discuss the agenda for an upcoming meeting. The women are part of Vida Verde, a new green cleaning cooperative that began last December.

Monica Chianelli, a housecleaner and the coop’s coordinator, helped launch Vida Verde. She says housecleaning is the number one occupation for the women of Massachusetts’s large Brazilian immigrant community.

CHIANELLI: It’s because the flexibility of the hours and the money, the payment is good.

ELTON: But along with those benefits, coop member Carla de Castro says, came some problems.

CASTRO: I felt a headache all day long and dizzy, and the end of the day you can’t smell anything because you just lost your sensitivity to smell. I can feel better if I stop to use. But I know if I continue to use for months and years, I know it’s going to make me feel very sick.

ELTON: Castro wasn’t the only one feeling this way. Monica Chianelli worked with immigrant activists, interviewing hundreds of Brazilian housecleaners. She heard many complaints like these and about respiratory problems, nose bleeds, fainting and skin rashes. Some of the women said they felt so bad they considered quitting the business.

So Chianelli and the activists started promoting green cleaning products. Their work caught the attention of epidemiologist David Gute of Tufts University. When he received a grant from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to study immigrant occupational health issues, a chunk of it went to jumpstart the Vida Verde Cooperative.

GUTE: What we hope to get is a group of coop members who will take seriously the responsibilities of protecting their own health and also protecting, obviously, the environmental heath of the clients homes in which they work. I think that there will be a greater sense of control in their own lives and businesses as a result of this.

ELTON: Research shows there’s a higher incidence of asthma among professional cleaners as compared to other workers. And other studies examine indoor air pollutants that could affect human health. A four-year study recently completed at the University of California Berkeley looked at whether routine use of common cleaning products and air fresheners affect indoor air quality. Researchers studied solvents called glycol ethers - a toxic air contaminant and common ingredient in cleaning products. They also looked at other solvents called terpines. They’re the seemingly innocuous ingredients which give products lemon or pine scent. But terpines can create dangerous formaldehyde when they mix with ozone found in indoor air.

Link

RealAudio for this Story
(Requires RealPlayer)

Local schools to be evaluated for vog emergency plans

The volcanic emissions from our active volcano got very nasty this year with high levels of sulfur dioxide or SO2. There are several schools (and communities) within close proximity of the source and it’s been a growing concern about the impact on people’s health.

A team from the Hawaii state Occupational Safety & Health Division will visit schools next week to see how well they’re prepared to deal with the volcanic emissions. The team is charged with the safety of employees, but in reality everyone is most concerned about the impact of the vog on the kids.

At Mountain View, more than 20 percent of the school’s students and 26 percent of staff list respiratory conditions on their health cards. The school has established safe rooms in its cafeteria, health room and counselor’s office. The rooms can be sealed and stocked with filters when the air becomes toxic.

The school received 15 new air filters this summer, each capable of cleaning the air in a 500-square-foot area. A new SO2 monitor from the Fire Department allows Vice Principal Ken Watanabe to track levels and issue warnings when gas rises into the hazardous range.

Previously, the school had only three filters, but ordered more after consultations last school year with the state Department of Health, Watanabe said.

The school’s vog action plan is based on the Department of Health color chart for SO2 levels. At the yellow (light) level, the school begins monitoring kids with respiratory problems. At the orange (moderate) level, students are kept indoors. As SO2 concentrations rise into the red (high) level, monitoring is done approximately every half hour, reports made to administrators, and continued monitoring of sensitive kids. Students affected by the vog go to the health room for a check of their medical paperwork.

Safe rooms are available to students and staff at the red and purple (severe) levels, and the school begins consultations with the DOE complex area superintendent, the Fire Department and Civil Defense. Those entities decide what should be done as the levels reach hazardous markers.

Link

Photo: Mountain View Elementary Vice Principal Ken Watanabe checks one of 10 Fasco air filters stored in the school cafeteria, one of several designated safe rooms that can be sealed and stocked with filters if vog conditions reach the toxic levels. Each of the school’s 18 filters can clean the air within a 500-square-foot area. - Photo By William Ing/Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Related posts on The Canary Report:

Volcanic gas invading island

Vog and health problems

Living in a haze

A shot of fresh air: A safe place at the airport

I recently traveled from Hawaii to the mainland on about 12 hours notice to help my dad recover from an illness. Air travel is scary for people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity because we know there is no way we’ll escape the journey unscathed. While I do wear a mask on the plane, I tough it out through all the terminals and gates. But for the time between flights in Honolulu, I have a secret place that I visit: a beautiful garden tucked away between the breezeways.

The air in the garden can be a challenge with the jet exhaust, but I still find some respite when I have a long wait between planes. It’s become a familiar place even though I only visit once about every four or five years. For me, even if I am anxious about the travel and my body is reacting to the onslaught of chemicals encountered during the journey, this garden helps me stay grounded. As I sit peacefully on one of the benches, I’m reminded that even in the middle of jet fumes and the crush of humanity, a person can find a peaceful interlude, a Safe Place.

Next Page »