Canary’s Cry for Sunday, Nov. 16

In light of the recent fires in California, The New York Times says “In Fighting Wildfires, People Concerned About Chemicals.” The concern is about the fire retardant dropped from planes. “Yet while many residents praise — and even demand — the use of retardant to protect their homes and neighborhoods, the potent mix of chemicals in the most common type can leave scars of its own, hurting watersheds and the fish and other animals that live in them. Increasing concerns over retardant are prompting opposition to its use in certain situations and further stirring the debate in the West over how much is too much when it comes to fighting wildfires.”

DelawareOnline reports on “Study: Steel mill dust may be toxic.” A preliminary report measuring specific air pollutants near the Claymont Steel mill confirms what some residents have long suspected: Metallic soot that settles every day on cars, windows and porches might be hazardous to their health.

The Canton Rep says “Outdoor wood burners raise a stink.” Legislation that would severely restrict, essentially banning, outdoor wood-burning appliances is expected to get a vote at Monday night’s City Council meeting. Councilman James Griffin, D-3, introduced the legislation in an effort to help deal with what he considers a neighborhood nuisance — smoke coming from an outdoor wood-burning appliance at 336 Arlington Ave. NW. Griffin said he also wants to prevent more of the outdoor furnaces from cropping up throughout the city.

The New York Times has a report on “Exxon, making the case for oil.” Exxon has moved away from its extreme position debunking CO2 emissions as the cause of climate change and has stopped financing climate skeptics this year. One of Exxon’s ads says the company aims to provide energy “with dramatically lower CO2 emissions.” Yet even though the company acknowledges that climate change is a risk to the world, it dismisses most green alternatives and continues with hydrocarbons. The report says, “Ultimately, the biggest test for Exxon’s long-term business model is the fact that rising energy use — whether in the United States or in China — will eventually have to be reconciled with reducing carbon emissions and finding low-carbon energy sources.”

JS Online says “BPA leaches from ’safe’ products.”

Products marketed for infants or billed as “microwave safe” release toxic doses of the chemical bisphenol A when heated, an analysis by the Journal Sentinel has found.

The newspaper had the containers of 10 items tested in a lab - products that were heated in a microwave or conventional oven. Bisphenol A, or BPA [link added], was found to be leaching from all of them.

The amounts detected were at levels that scientists have found cause neurological and developmental damage in laboratory animals. The problems include genital defects, behavioral changes and abnormal development of mammary glands. The changes to the mammary glands were identical to those observed in women at higher risk for breast cancer.

The newspaper’s test results raise new questions about the chemical and the safety of an entire inventory of plastic products labeled as “microwave safe.” BPA is a key ingredient in common household plastics, including baby bottles and storage containers. It has been found in 93% of Americans tested.

For the Exxon and BPA stories: Thanks, Linda!

Photo by Kevitivity.

HELP! How can I get ozone out of my house?

I received an emergency question in my email this morning from one of our flock. Who can help?

Does anyone know how to get ozone (from sanitizing/ionizing) out of your house?  Will opening the windows do it permanently? (it didn’t yesterday)  Is there a charcoal treatment?  If so…what form does that come in?  Anything else you can think of?  ..I’m horribly ill.

Hoping to get responses quickly - I’m not tolerating the house, just got back yesterday, working at finding way to stay….  The new furnace filter (the big hope solution) creates ozone as well, but not to the degree that we created in sanitizing it from the furnace installer.  Tell me anything you know, even if what you tell me is bad (ie: someone got ozone in their home and couldn’t remove it).  I just need to know how hard to keep trying tolerating this.

Thank you my excellent friends…thank you.
C

Recipe for nontoxic furniture oil

Leslie over at The Oko Box Blog invented a great recipe for a natural nontoxic wood oil. “I really believe there is a way to make what we need in a less toxic, chemical free way,” she says. “We just need some imagination and to stop buying into the marketing BS of big corporations.”

Leslie’s recipe:

Here is what you will need:

*Soy Oil
*Sunflower or Olive Oil
*Kosher Salt
*Vinegar (I use ume vinegar, but I think apple cider would work good too)

Doesn’t it sound too simple? I came up with this theory/formula knowing about treated wood being mainly salt and oil being a time tested preservative for centuries.

• Take all the ingredients and put them in a pot big enough to hold the amount you need (depending on whether you are doing wood floors or a chair…).
• You will use more soy oil then the others at approximately 50 -70% more in your recipe.
• Then add a ton kosher salt… meaning if you poured 1.5 Liters of oil in your pot, then you will want to ad at least 1.5 cups of salt.
• Then add a cup of the vinegar and bring to a boil.

The easiest way to apply the wood oil is with a sponge which will be able to be squeezed out and creates less waste. The cool thing is it won’t harm your skin, your brain, or your lungs & it won’t be outgassing any smell except one you might want to eat! If you would like to add a scent to your wood oil try throwing in a branch of lavender or rosemary.

Photo of stacked chair sculpture by jasoneppink.

And check out the holiday savings at Leslie’s hip clothing shop The Oko Box! If you are planning on buying green presents this season, some affordable and fabulous ideas are organic undies, hemp snow hats, scarves, and reusable shopping bags. With the coupon code “okoholiday” you can get an additional 25% off everything at The Oko Box - making shopping just a little bit easier!

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and truly clean energy

The development of truly clean, green energy is an important issue for people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. While those of us with MCS are forced to eliminate the toxicity of our immediate surroundings and of our basic consumer products as best we can in order to function and be productive, there are people out in the big bad world who are just as dedicated to eliminating toxicity of the larger environment. While the environmental activity of previous decades was more focused on the direct polluting of our air, waterways and soil (and therefore our bodies), the threat of climate change has shifted the focus to a much larger problem. And that larger problem is triggering greener critical mass thinking, finally.

It’s important for those of us with MCS to understand and support the efforts of people like Al Gore, because the environmental trends that are taking root in response to climate change are going to help us in our cause of MCS awareness. As more people become educated and aware of the differences between dirty, polluting energy (the “drill-baby-drill” mind set) vs truly clean, green energy (wind, solar, geothermal), I believe more people will also begin to take a look at the toxicity in their own immediate environment: their homes and places of work, and the food, air, and water they consume. This is all good news for those of us with MCS.

People usually do not change habits without a strong motivation. In the case of those of us with MCS, myself included, we are motivated by health issues to turn toward an organic, nontoxic lifestyle. We have no choice.  Because of our health issue, most of us were way ahead of the greenie curve. We all have adjusted our lifestyle, which has by default lessened our foot print, and we have heralded the call for others to do the same. Of course, those at the front edge of a movement are often seen as the “fringe” element, kooky people not in step with the norm. Well, guess what? The world is catching up with us. Why? Because the toxic paradigm has hit critical mass and is now hitting everyone where it counts: in the pocketbook.

So, what I see happening is the perfect storm, the convergence of several strong micro and macro environmental and social movements, all of which just culminated in the election of a U.S. president who promises Change. Environmentalists, scientists, consumers (especially parents), politicians, and the global marketplace are now pretty much all on the same page, even if for different reasons. And they, along with a growing consensus in the general population, are demanding truly clean, green energy, and along with it, I believe, the elimination of toxic products in the marketplace and thus in our environment and in our bodies.

For those of you who are not already, I’d like to get you in the mood for fully participating in the discussion on alternative energy. To start us off here on The Canary Report, I’d like to share with you a publication from Environment America, a federation of state-based, citizen-funded environmental advocacy organizations. It’s called “Renewing America: A Blueprint for Economic Recovery.” Here’s the Executive Summary below, and here’s where you wonky types can download the full report.

Across the country, Americans are hurting. From the big cities of the coasts to the industrial heartland to our rural communities, the slumping economy is taking its toll in shuttered businesses, disappearing jobs, bankruptcies, foreclosures and an increased sense of anxiety about our collective future.

To revive the American dream, we need to rebuild our economy on a sound foundation—one that puts people back to work, contributes to long-term prosperity, rebuilds our communities, and protects our environment.

There is one path to a renewed economy that achieves all of those goals—one that is increasingly recognized by opinion leaders, politicians, investors and workers as our best chance to work our way out of our current economic troubles, while building a stronger, more self-reliant and environmentally responsible America.

It is the path to a clean energy future.

Clean energy in America is not some distant dream. We have the technology, the tools and the know-how to use energy more wisely and to get more of our energy from clean, renewable sources. What’s more, clean energy can be produced right here at home, creating new jobs in all sectors of the nation’s economy—including many jobs that can never be outsourced.

Americans are already beginning to see the benefits of clean energy in their local economies. Laid-off workers in the nation’s “Rust Belt” are getting back to work building wind turbines and solar cells; farmers in the Midwest are supplementing their incomes with royalties from wind farms; residents of economically distressed inner cities are learning how to install solar panels and weatherize homes for greater energy efficiency. Every part of the country has the opportunity to benefit from a transition to a new energy future.

But to turn this trickle of green jobs into a torrent of new economic opportunities, we need to act boldly—and fast. With a strong policy commitment to clean energy and the investment to match, we can:

• Embrace a future of clean power by making our economy more energy-efficient and getting 100 percent of our electricity from clean, renewable sources.

• Achieve energy independence, by cutting our consumption of oil in half—nearly as much as we currently import from all other nations.

• Speed economic recovery and create millions of new jobs in dozens of different occupations in every part of the country.

This report lays out a blueprint for how we can repower America for the 21st century, cleaning our environment while revitalizing our economy. A new president and a new Congress create a golden opportunity to chart a new future for America. The time to begin is now.

The hunt for nontoxic air fresheners and carpet cleaning

I worked on a question today from Ruth (at left), one of our flock with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, who emailed me about two problems she’s having in her apartment building. The first problem is about the toxic air fresheners used in the common areas, and the second is the landlady’s plans to have the hallway carpets professionally cleaned.

In Ruth’s first email, I could feel her frustration:

…after speaking with the assistant manager and the land lord late last week, they have decided that they would just remove one of the gel type fresheners…the one that is in the main entry that I come in from my car in the parking lot….they said that there are just too many odors in the building coming out of people’s apartments, so it is necessary for them to use these. They thought of other things (those perfume mounts on the walls that spritz out fragrance periodically, like in the nursing homes…that is one of the reasons I am not working now!) and they came up with having the hall rugs cleaned….I asked that they not use fragrance in the solution…they can’t honor that because the rugs are so dirty and stinky…thus they “have to use it.”

They asked me if I knew of an alternative….I thought perhaps there was an essential oil air freshener (solid?) that could be placed in the hallway instead, but have not found anything…

Luckily, Ruth’s landlady is open to alternative solutions. While I was researching air fresheners, Ruth emailed me with an update on the carpets:

The carpet cleaners are scheduled to come on Thursday, the 6th, and they will do just the halls. I spoke with my land lady just now, and she said she called them right away after I spoke with her the other day, explained my situation to them and they understood that there should be no fragrance used. It is a dry type of cleaning that they do, apparently…they don’t use water. Not sure what that is about. But it sounds like she did her best to let them know about  my issue with fragrance. So we will see what happens.

I was so happy to hear this! What I was most impressed with was the way Ruth got proactive, went to speak to her landlady. Brava, Ruth!

Meanwhile, I asked my Twitter community (an online social network) about any suggestions for nontoxic air fresheners. I received many suggestions, some ideas more suitable for home use than for an apartment building, but they are all good ideas. As always, people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity should be very careful when using any product; what might work for one person might be problematic for another.

Allie at Allie’s Answers recommends the Everyday Stain & Odor Remover from Earth Friendly Products. Is there a canary out there who has tried this product? Please give us your thoughts in the comment section.

Of the rest of the suggestions, some involve natural scents, which may or may not work for people with MCS.

Adonya Wong at Healing… Through the Eyes of Autism says she uses “Pure Citrus Orange by North American, it’s 100% natural & non aerosol. If the halls are carpeted, sprinkle baking soda on it. If not, mop with vinegar & water. Great odor fighters. Or dab your fave essential oil on a cotton ball & ‘hide’ it in several places.”

Recycle Your Day says, “We use Uni-Fresh, Air Freshner, Lavendar Scent by Earth Friendly Products - non toxic!” Lavendar is one of the very few natural scents that I can tolerate.

Two true Earth mamas recommend herbs straight from the garden. Arwen at Musings on the Tarot recommends fresh rosemary and sage (I grow both in my garden and LOVE them!), or DIY air fresheners with essential oil and distilled water. And Rose at A Little Bit of Green suggests fresh eucalyptus, which she says she’s always loved from her father’s floral shop, but would not work for me personally because I have a bad reaction to eucalyptus and other menthol type botanicals (up my nose and in my eyes!).

And in my hunt, I found natural Aromatherapy Refreshing Sprays at Vermont Soap Organics.

Your thoughts?

Photo from Ruth. Used with permission.

UPDATE!!!: Leslie, aka La Mama Naturale, at Recycle Your Day, has found just what we are looking for! It’s a nontoxic air freshener made my Method: no phthalates, in a container that 80% recycled paper, lavender scent (which as I noted is a botanical that I can tolerate).

I need to confess that the Method product was suggested on Twitter yesterday by the nice folks at Aquatic Eco-Systems, but I couldn’t find the link to the Method website to check the ingredients. And now we know! Yep, nontoxic!!

High level of toxic pesticide found in homes

Here’s yet another reason to go organic with your pesticides, use HEPA vacuums and air filters (and use them frequently), and remove your shoes before entering your home so as not to track toxic substances in from outside sources.

By the way, as the report below suggests, I use a boric acid and powdered sugar mix (50-50) for cockroaches and ants in the house, and diatomaceous earth for flies and mites in the chicken coops, all with great results.

(Beyond Pesticides, November 3, 2008) A new study, Pyrethroid pesticides and their metabolites in vacuum cleaner dust collected from homes and day-care centers (doi:10.1016/j.envres.2008.07.022), by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Exposure Research Laboratory finds concentrations of 13 synthetic pyrethroids and their degradates in indoor dust collected from homes and childcare centers in North Carolina and Ohio. The study results show the extent to which hazardous pesticides are present in indoor environments and threaten the public’s health, especially the health of children. With 85 vacuum cleaner bags analyzed, permethrin was present in all 85 dust samples, at least one pyrethroid pesticide was found in 69 samples and phenothrin was found in 36 samples.

[...]

Children are especially sensitive to the effects of permethrin and other synthetic pyrethroids. A study found that permethrin is almost five times more toxic to eight-day-old rats than to adult rats due to incomplete development of the enzymes that break down pyrethroids in the liver. Additionally, studies on newborn mice have shown that permethrin may inhibit neonatal brain development.

Although synthetic pyrethroids are often seen as safe alternatives to organophosphate insecticides, this study clearly demonstrates that when these chemicals are applied in houses, they do not disappear. Moreover, they are making their way into human bodies at alarming rates. At the same time, there are clear established methods for managing homes and schools that prevent infestation of unwanted insects without the use of synthetic chemicals, including exclusion techniques, sanitation and maintenance practices, as well as mechanical and least toxic controls (which include boric acid and diatomaceous earth). Based on the host of health effects linked to this chemical class, synthetic pyrethroid use in the home is hazardous and unnecessary.

Link to full release from Beyond Pesticides.

Photo by oneparticularwave.

Who’s chirping about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity today?

Glenda at Writing Stories About Real People, an eclectic blog chock full of interesting topics, writes about a tough week with her chemical sensitivity. In her post entitled “Indoor pollution is killing me!” she says:

This week, although I’ve gone as green as possible in my house, we are having a renovation done and after the plumber had come to put in the pipes for the washing machine, I had the worst attack I’ve had in many years. Turns out it was the glue used on the PVC piping. The harsh chemicals took my breath and I had to go outside to breath[e]. We closed off the new laundry room, placed an air filter machine in the living area but I had to retire to my little cubby hole of a room with my own air cleaner which runs day and night, close my door and hibernate.

The Windsor Star talks to Susan Jasper, vice-president of the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Fibromyalgia Society of Alberta (ME/FM), who has fibromyalgia.

Q: How are ME/CFS [Chronic Fatigue Syndrome], fibromyalgia and multiple chemical sensitivity related?

A: They are all distinct, but the reason we lump them together is we think they’re environmentally linked, in the sense that people are affected by their environments more than (with) other conditions. Usually ME/CFS is post-viral, while fibromyalgia is more commonly related to physical trauma, like a motor vehicle accident or a multiple head and neck trauma, and then the pain spreads. Multiple chemical sensitivity can start on its own, for example if you have a history of being in a sick building, where there’s little ventilation and chemicals from the office such as toner or paint. It starts as an exposure problem that generalizes.

MCS America posts an informational flyer on the Quick Environmental Exposure and Assessment Inventory, a standardized questionnaire developed by Dr. Claudia Miller that assists researchers and clinicians when evaluating patients for chemical sensitivity.  It measures exposure levels and symptom severity and estimates the life impact of a chemical injury.

Canary’s Cry for Tuesday, Oct 28

Blacksmith Institute in collaboration with Green Cross Switzerland issued a Top Ten List of the world’s most dangerous pollution problems [Urban Air Quality at left]. The report names pollution as one of the leading contributing factors to death and disability in the world and highlights the disproportionate effects on the health of children.

The Top Ten list includes commonly discussed pollution problems like urban air pollution as well as more overlooked threats like car battery recycling. The problems included in the report have a significant impact on human health worldwide and result in death, persistent illness, and neurological impairment for millions of people, particularly children.  According to the report, many of these deaths and related illnesses could be avoided with affordable and effective interventions. “Our goal with the 2008 report is to increase awareness of the severe toll that pollution takes on human health and inspire the international community to act,” said Richard Fuller, founder of Blacksmith Institute. “Remediation is both possible and cost-effective.”

Army Times reported that “Burn pit at Balad raises health concerns.”

Troops say chemicals and medical waste burned at base are making them sick, but officials deny risk.

An open-air “burn pit” at the largest U.S. base in Iraq may have exposed tens of thousands of troops, contractors and Iraqis to cancer-causing dioxins, poisons such as arsenic and carbon monoxide, and hazardous medical waste, documentation gathered by Military Times shows.

The billowing black plume from the burn pit at 15-square-mile Joint Base Balad, the central logistics hub for U.S. forces in Iraq, wafts continually over living quarters and the base combat support hospital, sources say.

Reuters INDIA picked up the Reuters Washington story “Does mold make you sick?” Fungus expert Joan Bennett did not believe in toxic mold — the cause of “sick building syndrome” and many lawsuits — until her New Orleans home was flooded during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. When she got a whiff of the foul air that the black goo had created in her home, she decided to change her research focus and try to find out how and if the fungi that took over most of the flooded homes on the Gulf Coast might make people ill. “The overwhelming obnoxiousness of the odor and of the enveloping air made me start to believe in something that I had never believed in before — sick building syndrome,” Bennett, of Rutgers University in New Jersey, told a news conference.

Canary’s Cry for Monday, Oct 20

Over the weekend:

The Marin Independent Journal reports that environmental scientist Sandra Steingraber, hailed by the Sierra Club as “the new Rachel Carson,” spoke Saturday at the 19th Bioneers Conference in San Rafael on the link between toxic chemicals in the environment and cancer. Marin has one of the highest rates of breast cancer in the state, and organizations such as Zero Breast Cancer are calling for accelerated exploration into its possible causes, including environmental factors. Steingraber’s book, “Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment,” won the Jenifer Altman Foundation award for “the inspiring and poetic use of science to elucidate the causes of cancer.”

MCS America posts an excellent article on environmental hazards around the house published at SFGate.

SFGate also reports on regulators in the Bay Area Air Quality Management District clamping down on fireplace wood burning between November and February as a way to meet a new federal law limiting the amount of breathable, fine particles. The report points out that “During the winter months and under certain weather conditions, burning wood in households contributes up to one-third of the total fine particulate matter in the air on the worst Bay Area nights and threatens health, according to regulators.”

CBC News reports that toxic status is possible for bisphenol A in Canada. “It is concluded that bisphenol A be considered as a substance that may be entering the environment in a quantity or concentration or under conditions that constitute or may constitute a danger in Canada to human life or health,” officials from Health Canada and Environment Canada wrote in Friday’s issue of Canada Gazette, the federal government’s official newsletter.

Greenpeace says new Macs less toxic but not perfect

Bravo to Apple for reducing toxic components in their new Macs; now let’s get them totally nontoxic so I can buy one!

I was just about to buy a new Mac but am going to wait now until the end of this year when they’ve totally phased out PVC and flame retardants.

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Greenpeace welcomed Steve Jobs’ announcement today that Apple’s latest set of notebook computers - the MacBook Pro, MacBook and MacBook Air - as well as the LED Cinema Display will now be free of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) internal cables and will no longer contain internal components containing brominated flame retardants (BFRs).

While not completely PVC and BFR-free, these new Mac models mark a significant improvement in toxic chemical phase-out for Apple, progress that is in line with the company’s pledge to phase-out all PVC and BFRs in its entire product line by the end of 2008. This commitment is in large part due to Greenpeace’s “Green My Apple Campaign.”

“Apple has raised the bar for other desktop and notebook companies, specifically on the phase-out of toxic Brominated Flame Retardants in internal components, whichsets a new industry standard for PCs,” said Casey Harrell, Greenpeace International Toxics Campaigner. “Now Apple competitors such as Dell, HP,Lenovo, Toshiba and Acer need to show that they can meet or exceed Apple’stoxic chemical phase-out.”

Electronic devices are a complex mixture of several hundred materials. Many of thesematerials contain certain toxic heavy metals, such as lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium, and hazardous chemicals such as BFRs and polluting PVC plastic. These dangerous substances cause significant pollution and put workers andrecyclers at risk of exposure when the products are produced or discarded. Ofparticular concern is the exposure of women and children to lead and mercury, metals that are highly toxic and can harm children and developing fetuses even at low levels of exposure.

Link

Link to MacBook Environmental Report and photo credit

Link to related story at InformationWeek

Mold: How to clean it up and keep it from coming back

Photo at left: Mold can grow behind wallpaper on walls if there is enough moisture. Bathrooms and basements are especially vulnerable. (The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restorat)

Excellent article out today on mold by columnist Glen Haege The Handyman at The Detroit News. The article includes info on defining mold, determining if you have mold, and cleaning & controlling mold, with tons of links to more information and product recommendations.

One of the more interesting points in the column is noting that the government no longer recommends bleach for mold clean up “due to its toxic fumes and the health risks involved for the homeowner,” instead recommending “that homeowners use a detergent-based solution for cleaning mold and mildew.” For clean up, Haege suggests Concrobium Mold Control (866-811-4148, www.concrobium.com), by Siamons International. On its website, Concrobium claims the product is “the only EPA-registered solution that eliminates mold and keeps it from coming back – without bleach, ammonia or VOCs.” We need a canary to test this product!

I appreciate that in The Detroit News article, Haege clarifies the difference between common and toxic molds, the common mold being the type that we have here in our homes in Hawaii vs the most toxic mold “being stachybotrys, which is commonly known as black mold.” While it’s not the best to breathe any mold, the stuff we battle with on our walls here is not toxic per se, as opposed to the stachybotrys, which is highly toxic and can create what’s called a “sick building” full of sick people.

Click on this link to read Haege’s full article.

New York to restrict use of bug bombs

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation moves to classify pesticide foggers as a restricted-use product in New York State, meaning that only certified pesticide applicators, rather than the general public, will be able to obtain them.

This is good, but not good enough. This highly toxic crap should be totally banned, not just restricted to use by certified commercial pesticide companies.

News from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Action Follows New Federal Report That Shines Light on Hazards, Injuries Linked to Indoor Foggers

ALBANY, NY (10/17/2008; 1226)(readMedia)– New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis announced today that the state will be taking action to address the risks posed by total release foggers, also known as “bug bombs,” in the wake of a new federal report detailing hazards and injuries related to the product.

DEC will move to classify foggers as a restricted-use product in New York State, meaning that only certified pesticide applicators - rather than the general public - will be able to obtain them. Simultaneously, DEC will explore the need to further limit fogger use and encourage the adoption of better pest management strategies. (DEC categorizes pesticides and regulates their use through its pesticide registry program.)

Total release foggers have caused numerous explosions and acute illnesses due to pesticide exposure. According to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 123 cases of bug bomb-related illness or injury in New York State (58 in New York City alone) from 2001-06. Information on New York’s incidents were part of a larger study published today in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which illuminated the hazards of total release foggers using data from several states. The most commonly reported acute health effects from bug bombs were respiratory problems and gastrointestinal reactions, such as nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In editorial comments accompanying the study, the CDC notes that these figures are most likely underestimated.

“The CDC report has shone a spotlight on foggers,” Commissioner Grannis said. “Over the past year, DEC has been in discussions with the New York State Department of Health and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene regarding the problems with these products. Fortunately, we have the authority to address these hazards and protect New Yorkers.”

“The CDC study makes it clear that we cannot wait for the federal government to restrict the use of foggers,” said New York State Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines. “We must act to protect the health of New Yorkers. Pest control should be accomplished without harming people.”

In each of the past several years, total release foggers have caused at least four to eight serious explosions in apartments in New York City, according to Fire Department data. Just last month, an apartment building in Manhattan was evacuated after a fogger caused an explosion. Ten people were treated at the scene, including six who were brought to the hospital.

“We commend the Department of Environmental Conservation for taking action on this issue,” said New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas R. Frieden. “By getting these products off the shelves, we will prevent avoidable illness and injury. There are far safer and more effective methods of controlling pests that do not put people’s health at risk.” The city health department recently created a guide to safe pest control for New Yorkers, available online at http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/pest/pest-bro-healthy-home.pdf.

To learn more about foggers and better pest control practices, go to:

http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/pests/insect_foggers.htm

http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/pests/docs/insect_foggers.pdf

http://home2.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/pest/pest-bro-healthy-home.pdf

http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/8531.html

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/pm2.pdf

Link

Photo by wonderous22

UPDATE 10/18:

Story also covered at chron.com and timesunion.com.

Poverty and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty

Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters to post about the same issue on the same day. The aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. Blog Action Day 08’s topic is POVERTY. Here is my contribution.

Coping with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is a challenge on every front in a person’s life. It impacts employment, housing, social activity, personal relationships, personal care, eating habits, exercise, recreation, and leisure. Health care becomes confusing and disorienting because medical doctors do not recognize MCS and therefore do not know how to help. To add insult to injury, some MDs believe MCS is psychosomatic, and either dismiss complaints or send the patient off to the shrink.

And when people with MCS are forced to seek out alternative health practitioners, it’s a crap shoot. While most practitioners– acupuncturists, nutritionists, dentists, and others– have good hearts and surely want to help, chances are pretty good that the patient will be led on a wild goose chase, and waste precious financial resources on alternative therapies and supplements, hoping for that magical cure.

But a cure for MCS is most likely going to be elusive. After all, MCS is not a disease or allergy, it’s a reaction to low level poisoning from toxic chemicals. So the more practical course of action might be for the sufferer to find safe housing and employment, stay away from toxic friends and family, dump toxic clothing and replace with natural fabrics, eat organic foods, buy a HEPA air filter and vacuum, find a good water filter, move to a place with cleaner air. But how easy is that course of action for anyone let alone someone who is sick with depleted resources?

So you can see how MCS can catapult a person into poverty. When forced to leave employment because the air is too toxic to breathe, there is no paycheck. When there is no social or familial support system and no safe housing, a person is out on the street. If there’s not sufficient money for fresh organic food, nutritional supplements, air and water filters, and a HEPA vacuum, then a person’s health further deteriorates. And a life on that edge can very quickly spiral into poverty.

This is why too many people with MCS are sleeping in cars or in aluminum trailers in a friend’s back yard. Many who can’t find safe housing or employment hunker down, strip down, go zen, go without, and struggle to adapt to the newfound state of limited resources. This is the world of poverty, and if anyone with MCS thinks this scenario isn’t a heartbeat away, they are fooling themselves. There is no safety net for people with a health condition not recognized by the government or mainstream medical community.

Such is the life of canaries. It’s not just sensitivity to toxic chemicals that people with MCS live with, it’s acute sensitivity to the social injustice of a negligent health care and governmental system that refuses to even acknowledge there’s a problem.

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If you’d like to learn more about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and poverty, Grist: Environmental News and Commentary covered the topic in 2006.

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Experts say everyone is affected by chemical sensitivity

Some people are on the severe end, with their sensitivities so extreme that they can’t function in many public places where they can’t control their environment.

Cleveland Living and Lifestyles News has an interesting and well-written article about Environmental Illness and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity entitled “Environmental Illnesses are gaining attention, thanks to the green movement.” It’s one of the most balanced reports I’ve read in a mainstream paper about MCS and worth reading all the way through.

…environmental medicine is the study of how the reactions we have when we’re exposed to certain toxins affect our immune and neuroendocrine (nervous system and hormones) systems.

Still, the field is often misunderstood as “alternative” medicine. But with the growing popularity for “green” lifestyles and all things organic, and with illnesses that Louisiana residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina got after living in Federal Emergency Management Agency-provided trailers, environmental medicine is getting more attention.

“People just make such a quick judgment about those who are really, really sick,” said Dr. Lisa Lavine Nagy, who has been championing for heightened awareness since her own series of misdiagnoses several years ago for what turned out to be severe multiple chemical sensitivity.

Often, those quick judgments happen because the people more likely to report their chemical sensitivities are women over age 40, she said. Most “normal” women of that age have mild symptoms that are hard to explain, and thus easier to dismiss, she said.

Experts say that everyone is affected in some way by chemical sensitivity. No one quite knows why, but some think genetics may play a large role.

Some people are on the severe end, with their sensitivities so extreme that they can’t function in many public places where they can’t control their environment.

Others may have relatively mild symptoms — or none at all…. (Link to full story, go read it!)

[And some great tips in the side bar]

Possible signs of an environmental illness:

• Headaches while talking on your cell or cordless phone.

• Increased sense of smell, especially to items such as perfume, laundry detergents, cats, etc.

• Increased sensitivity to fluorescent light.

• A diagnosis of adrenal fatigue, or thyroid deficiency or overactivity.

Tips from Dr. Michael Roizen, Cleveland Clinic:

• One of the keys — especially here in Cleveland — is to air one’s house out. Over the course of a winter, the quality of inside air becomes worse than outside air, he said. It doesn’t hurt to open the windows periodically on good days during the winter.

• Avoid materials — household cleaners, rugs, air fresheners, even some furniture — that emit lots of volatile hydrocarbons. As Roizen put it, “You want to use cleaning fluids that are, in fact, safe enough to drink.”

Possible treatments to discuss with your doctor (from Dr. Lisa Nagy):

• Remove yourself from possible causes, i.e. a “sick” house or office. The culprit may be mold, or as unsuspecting as carpeting or fabric softener. A July study from the University of Washington revealed that six top-selling laundry products and air fresheners gave off toxic chemicals — none of which was listed on product labels.

• Decrease your total chemical load. Switch to organic food, filtered air and water.

• Detoxify with the help of intravenous and oral vitamins and supplements, under a doctor’s supervision.

• Investigate whether you have specific food or chemical allergies or hormone imbalances and/or insufficiencies.

• Consider treatment in a low-temperature (140 degrees) sauna, under a doctor’s supervision.

Link

Canary’s Cry for Monday, Oct. 13

WCSH6.com carries an AP release on Johns Hopkins scientists who report that high levels of a noxious gas from stoves can be added to the list of indoor pollutants that aggravate asthma symptoms of inner-city children, especially preschoolers.

The LA Times reports on how people in China also suffer from indoor air pollution because of stoves and smoking. The air inside lower-class homes is up to 10 times worse than the gloom outside, researchers say.

StarTribune.com in Minneapolis-St.Paul Minnesota reports on problems caused by people sitting around the back-yard fire pit: some neighbors are up in arms over the health risks from the smoke.

StarTribune.com also reports on biomonitoring to measure chemicals directly in people’s bodies: their blood, urine, hair and other body tissues and fluids. Studies are looking for arsenic in people in south Minneapolis and 3M chemicals in the east metro, another study will test mercury levels in newborns’ blood. A fourth test will check the urine of pregnant women for a group of seven compounds called phenols, found in a wide variety of items from plastics to personal care products.

Bloomberg.com carries a story on the mold problems in Galveston one month after Hurricane Ike.

SCTV news in Orange County, California, warns about unhealthful air quality caused by the wild fires.

Photo by Gypsy D

Keep yourself safe from fire retardant

News out this weekend says researchers found Californians to have higher levels of flame retardant PBDEs in their blood than people elsewhere, and levels in California homes can be 10 times higher. This is a story of unintended consequences: while trying to protect people from risk of fire by implementing the strictest fire retardant laws, California lawmakers exposed the public to PBDEs, a highly toxic chemical. The Envionmental Protection Agency has been very slow and very lame in responding to the growing research showing PBDEs “in human breast milk, fish, aquatic birds, and elsewhere in the environment.”

I have a horrible reaction to flame retardant: my eyes itch, my throat gets scratchy, my chest hurts, and then brain fade and confusion kicks in. And it stinks! Not fun. I’ve known for years that the stuff is toxic, my body tells me so, and if you’re a canary, I’ll bet your body tells you the same thing. The most common exposures I encounter are from living room furniture in other people’s homes, but I’ve also had bad experiences from night gowns that were given to me as a gift and new TVs when they heat up.

My living room furniture is a futon couch and chair, with solid wood frames and cotton stuffing with organic cotton covers. I searched high and low to get quality frames at a good price, and the stuffing and covers were not cheap, but well worth the expense to keep the house nontoxic. I stay away from any fabric with flame retardant (or other chemical additives), and my last new TV was put in a well ventilated room until the chemicals burned off.

Here’s some info on fire retardants from MomsRising.org:

THE FIRE RETARDANT TOXICS LOWDOWN:

Recent tests have found that highly toxic fire retardant chemicals are present not only in furniture throughout California, but in baby products such as portable cribs, strollers, playpens, swings, nursing pillows, high chairs and changing table pads—items that infants and young children come into repeated intimate contact with on a daily basis. These products are required to meet California’s flammability standard, Technical Bulletin 117 (TB 117).

This standard, which regulates all furniture products (including children’s products), has led to the annual use of tens of millions of pounds of brominated and chlorinated fire retardants (BFRs and CFRs) in California since 1975.

Brominated and chlorinated fire retardants have been linked to endocrine disruption, neurological and developmental impairments, cancer, birth defects, learning disabilities such as attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity, and a host of other health disorders.1,2

Today, virtually every Californian tested has been found to have these fire retardants stored in their bodies, with babies showing the highest levels. High levels have also been found throughout the food chain, including breast milk, dairy products, meat, poultry, and fish. 3,4 AB706 seeks to modernize TB 117 through the use of safer chemicals and fire safety methods that not only protect human and environmental health from fire, but hazardous chemicals as well.

THE PROBLEM:

Toxic flame retardants threaten human health & the environment:
• Children are at greatest risk from exposure to brominated and chlorinated flame retardants.

In 1977, brominated Tris, which had been used to make children’s sleepwear fire resistant, was banned after it was found to be carcinogenic in animal tests and to leach into children’s bodies.5 Its replacement, chlorinated Tris, was also phased-out after it was found to be a mutagen, meaning it changed DNA. Today, chlorinated Tris is the second most-used fire retardant in furniture, and was recently cited by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to be “a likely carcinogen that could pose both cancer and non-cancer chronic health risks”.

• Brominated fire retardants known as PBDEs have been found in breast milk, in humans and animals.

PBDEs have increased 40-fold in human breast milk since the 1970s. Women in North America on average have ten times the levels of women in Europe or Asia. Recent studies found that pet cats in the U.S. have very high levels of PBDEs in their blood. Researchers have identified an association between PBDEs and the spike of hyperthyroidism rates in cats which emerged after PBDE’s began to be used in significant quantities in the consumer marketplace.

Link to full information

Nurses confer to fight hazardous exposures

Environmental Working Group advises nurses to learn about chemicals in their hospitals, form chemical policies, and overall, “help get hazardous chemicals out of your facility.”

Policies and practices are finally changing to better protect hospital nurses from exposure to hazardous chemicals, said leading experts to the more than 80 nurses and nursing students of 15 hospitals attending the ‘Nurse Greening Their Hospitals’ conference at the University of Maryland School of Nursing on Oct. 2.

The conference came on the heels of a groundbreaking, nationwide survey of 1,550 hospital nurses, which revealed that nurses with long-term and intense exposures to environmental hazards developed above-normal levels of cancer and asthma, had more miscarriages, children with birth defects, and other serious medical conditions.

Conference co-organizer Barbara Sattler, RN, DrPH, FAAN, [pictured] at the School, said nurses are exposed daily to repeated, low-levels of hazardous mixes of residues from medications, anesthetic gases, sterilizing and disinfecting chemicals, radiation, latex, cleaning chemicals, and mercury escaping from broken medical equipment.

Keynote speaker Jane Houlihan, vice president, Environmental Working Group, (EWG), in Washington, D.C., said, “For the first time in a generation, major reform in policies are underway,” at national and state government levels.

Houlihan, whose group advocates for health-protective policies, also said despite the role of governments to regulate the workplace, “the situation is still very much in the hands of nurses in their environment.”

She advised attending nurses to learn about chemicals in their hospitals, form chemical policies, and overall, “help get hazardous chemicals out of your facility.”

Link to full story at University of Maryland, Baltimore

Jury awards homeowners $903,000 for mold in new house

BARTOW | A Lakeland woman who contracted pneumonia six times in 18 months because of mold in her newly built house won a $903,000 jury verdict late Thursday against the home builder.

Jurors deliberated about five hours before deciding that Lakeland builder Rudy Brown was responsible for the problems in the house.

They awarded $718,000 to Janice Martin Arnett so she could repair her house in Eagle Lake, and another $185,000 to compensate for the time she couldn’t use the house.

Bartow lawyer Tom Saunders, speaking on behalf of Arnett, said they were pleased with the verdict.

“It’s been a difficult time, but we are pleased with the outcome,” he said.

Brown did not return telephone calls for comment Friday.

During the two-week trial, Saunders told jurors that Arnett and her husband, Mike, moved into the $1.4 million, 8,500-square-foot lakefront house in July 2002.

“There were problems with the windows leaking and cracks in the stucco,” he said. “The builder tried to fix it, but by August 2004, he said there was nothing else he could do.”

By January 2005, Arnett had to move from the house because the mold was making her sick, Saunders said.

Link to full story at theledger.com.

Seventh Generation’s guide to non-toxic cleaning

Here’s another book to help you on your way to a clean and green house free of toxic chemicals.

Did you know that the Greek root of the word “ecology” means “house”?  If everyone created a healthy, green environment in our homes, it would extend to the greater good for the planet.  My evolution into environmentalism began with caring about endangered species issues to natural beauty products to vegetarianism to green cleaning.  Seventh Generation and the Children’s Health Envrionmental Coalition’s Blue Buttefly.org have teamed up to create a green cleaning guide for safer homes titled Naturally Clean:  The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe & Healthy, Non-Toxic Cleaning.

Naturally Clean is written by Jeffrey Hollender, Geoff Davis, Meika Hollendar, and Reed Doyle. The book is divided into seven sections:

1. Case for Change at Home: These chapters are about the chemicals in household      cleaners and the negative effects they have on our health, including cancer, asthma, hormone disruptions, and multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS).

Like almost anything else, there is a good side and a bad side to all the molecular manipulation chemists practice. There are safe chemicals, and there are unsafe chemicals. Our problem today is that we don’t really know which are which.

2. Household Chemistry 101: This section examines the chemicals found in our homes.  The “bad behavior” of household chemicals are discussed from biodegradability to persistence to bioaccumulation to synthesis to potentiation.

What happens, for example, when you use a petrochemical spray cleaner around your bathroom and rinse its remains down the sink? What happens in your home’s atmosphere when you install a rug and fill your home with that “new carpet” smell?

3. The Dirty Secrets of Household Cleaners: There are many loopholes in cleaning product labeling, and many of the ingredients have not been subjected to adequate testing to determine chronic exposure risks. For example, antibacterial cleaners’ active ingredients are actually classified as pesticides by the EPA.

In fact, these products work so well, it’s impossible to imagine cleaning without them. Yet perhaps we should, because behind their cheerfully sparkling labels of crystal mountain streams and field of wildflowers waving in the freshest breeze, all too many household cleaning products hide a dirty little secret:  they’re made from synthetic chemicals that are toxic to people and dangerous to use.

4. A Better, Healthier Way to Clean: From baking soda to olive oil, a core list of do-it-yourself natural cleaning ingredients is explored. Other simple ideas are given to limit your exposure household chemicals, such as keeping your dishwasher closed for an hour after it has completed its cycle.

Nobody wants to come home to a castle that’s anything less than clean. On the other hand, it’s abundantly clear that the modern cleaners we’ve been relying on to make short works of all our housework are dangerous at best and downright deadly at worst. Where exactly does that leave us?  The answer is simple:  in the hands of Mother Nature.

5. Kidstuff: This is why I clean my house with natural ingredients: the kids!  Children experience greater exposures to household toxins than adults.

Simply put, children are most susceptible to the dangers presented by the chemicals in consumer products.  Compared to adults, they have a far greater chance of developing health problems as a result of exposure to toxins hiding in everything from cleaning products to toys.  If we’re vigilant when it comes to our own health, we need to be hyperprotective when it comes to safeguarding our kids.

6. Breathing Easier Indoors: Indoor air quality is of course affected by household cleaning chemicals. There are approximately 900 contaminants found inside American buildings. “In fact, the air inside our homes is often far more polluted than the air just outside its walls.”  The good news is Naturally Clean lists the “Top 20 Air-Purifying Plants” so you can clean the air in your home naturally.

7. Recommended Products: The toxicity, including acute and chronic, of many natural brands of cleaning products are listed in table form.  Knowing what brands are safest is the first step to changing your cleaning habits at home.

There is so much information in Naturally Clean:  The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe & Healthy, Non-Toxic Cleaning! Even though this book is a guide from Seventh Generation, it is not a book promoting their products. It provides compelling evidence for switching to safe cleaning products and room-by-room guides to help you make your home healthier for your family.

Link

Mac Pro emitting toxic benzene?

Mac Pro owners, listen up.

Nothing is confirmed on this, but I just wanted to red flag it. I’ll try to track for you as things progress.

A french newspaper Liberation.fr has published a report (English translation) stating that Mac Pro owners run the risk of getting diseases as dangerous as leukemia (blood cancer) simply by using their computer. The newspaper was warned by a national agency scientist that the smell (already detected by many Mac Pro users on Apple forums) is actually toxic, composed of several toxins, including benzene.

An Apple Core reader requesting anonymity, sends the following details:

Here’s a proof that the smell problem was previously known, check this page.

The real news here is that the smell is toxic… but still no official answer from Apple. I’ve submitted this piece of news to let english-speaking Mac Pro users know about it (since it was published in french). Libération is a very well known newspaper in France, it’s not a blog or anything like that, so normally you should be able to trust this article.

I just called AppleCare (in France). They confirmed the problem but they told me it only concerned Mac Pros built before 2008 (without mentioning if being built in China was a condition, as suspected by users on the Apple forums). Mine is early 2008 so I should not worry they said.

When I asked them to send me this answer in written form, even by e-mail, they refused. They put me on hold for 40 minutes to forward me to the customer relations service, but apparently they didn’t want to talk to me so I got instead a level 2 technical agent who told me the exact same thing: don’t worry, we guess your Mac Pro is safe, but we can’t confirm in written form which Mac Pro have toxicity problems until Apple decides to communicate about it. Apple did nothing since they knew of this problem, which may be in the beginning of 2007, so we can still wait very long for any change in their policy…

Link

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