Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Want to stay healthy? Take fewer antibiotics...
"...Twenty-five years ago, Norwegians were also losing their lives to this bacteria. But Norway’s public health system fought back with an aggressive program that made it the most infection-free country in the world. A key part of that program was cutting back severely on the use of antibiotics."
Monday, June 21, 2010
The Dangers of Carpeting
Wall to wall carpeting has an allure particularly for a family home-it is cozy, insulates, is soft and nice to lay on, offers noise reduction and serves as the perfect play yard for little ones. Unfortunately, there are major draw-backs, particularly when you are concerned with environmental friendliness, and even more urgently with the immediate health of your children and family. As with many lovely things found on the market today, most manufacturers are more concerned with finding the cheapest alternatives than making a safe, healthy & "Green" product.
What is so bad about "regular" carpeting? 'Second to paint, carpeting is the leading cause of indoor air pollution' (sited: Organic Baby: Simple Steps for Healthy Living).
They are dangerous from top to bottom:
• The Carpet fibers are made with synthetic petrochemicals & covered with VOC's (volatile organic compounds)
• The backing material are made of reactive compounds and release toxins in the home
• Carpets are colored with chemical dyes
• Adhesives are toxic chemicals
• Pads are made from prime urethane and hydrocarbons
• Layers are treated with flame retardants (including Boric Acid and boric anhydride). Fire retardants often contain PBDEs which are known to cause damage to thyroid, immune system and brain development functions in humans.
• Stain guards (includes chemicals proven to cause miscarriages, neurological damage & other ailments)
• Contain toluene, benzene, formaldehyde, ethyl benzene, styrene, acetone and a host of other chemicals that are known carcinogens and produce fetal abnormalities in test animals. These chemicals also cause hallucinations, nerve damage and respiratory illness in humans.
• That 'new carpet smell' comes from 4-PC, associated with eye, nose and upper respiratory problems. 4-PC is used in the latex backing of 95% of US carpets.
• Mothproofing chemicals contain naphthalene, which is known to produce toxic reactions, especially in newborns.
One should also be aware that if you move into a house with existing carpets, you are taking on all the aforementioned toxins, but you will also be exposed to their dust mites, pesticides, toxins brought in on shoes, pets and more. Carpets can hold eight times their weight in toxin-filled trapped dirt that is well hidden in the fibers and underneath the carpet. The EPA has stated that 80% of human exposure to pesticides occurs indoors. If the house has ever been sprayed for bugs, the chemicals settle in your carpet and remain there for years. If you paint your room or put in new wood or laminating flooring in any part of your house, the carpet is very efficient at holding those toxins for you to inhale long after the work has been completed.
So what are the alternatives?
The good new is, you can get safe wall to wall carpeting.
• Choose 100% untreated (pesticide free) wool or hemp (most are chemically treated, so you will have to ask). Wool is a great choice as it's biodegradable, naturally fire-resistant, hypoallergenic, soft, resists dust mites better than nylon carpets, and purifies the air (even absorbs airborne contaminants like formaldehyde). Hemp is durable and great for high traffic areas. It is also resistant to mold and mildew. Hemp is great in areas where there may be moisture, where wool is not as it takes a long time to dry.
• Make sure that the carpet is installed using nails or staples-no glue.
• Look for the Green Label Plus Certification (In 2004, the Carpet and Rug Institute started the Green Label Plus Certification, which certifies that carpets are free from 13 toxic chemicals.)
• Make sure to remove your shoes and have guests do the same to keep outdoor and other contaminants from getting into your carpet.
If you can not remove the carpet due to time &/or money limitations, you can do the following:
• Steam clean the carpets to kill dust mites and bacteria
• Leave windows open as often as possible.
• Use a HEPA Vacuum cleaner
• Get a great air purifier that removes VOC's (Oreck.com)
• Have lots of great plants-many can actually reduce pollutants (Read a list here: avianweb.com)
Where to buy safe carpeting? Here are some local (D.C area) places to get safe carpeting:
Want to read more about this? Here are some articles:
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Breastfeeding saves lives
(CNN) -- If most new moms would breastfeed their babies for the first six months of life, it would save nearly 1,000 lives and billions of dollars each year, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
(Now imagine if they would breastfeed LONGER than 6 months!)
Read the Article here: www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/05/breastfeeding.costs/index.html
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
The Honest Food Guide
If you want the straight truth about which foods to consume and which foods to avoid, download the Honest Food Guide today.
What You Don't Know About Strawberries Could Kill You
According to a study by the Environmental Working Group, strawberries rank as one of the dirtiest fruits and vegetables, readily absorbing the noxious chemicals that are used to grow them conventionally and exposing the consumer — and far more so the field workers who grow them — to up to 54 known carcinogens, among other toxins. And things are about to get worse.
READ ON: food.change.org
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Shop no GMO? Yea, there's an APP for that!
ShopNoGMO, the new application for the iphone and ipod lifestyle has features that include:
• Clear Categories will make it easy to locate the brands you want in 22 food categories.
•Personalization ceasily create a favorites list and add or remove items every time you shop.
•General information will answer frequently asked questions about GMOs.
READ ON: www.examiner.com
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
President's Cancer Panel: 'Eat Organic, Ward Off Cancer'
The President's Cancer Panel says that the "risk of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated," that "nearly 80,000 chemicals [are] on the market in the United States, many of which are ... understudied and largely unregulated," and that "the public remains unaware ... that children are far more vulnerable to environmental toxins and radiation than adults."
The panel says "evidence suggests that some environmental agents may initiate or promote cancer by disrupting normal immune and endocrine system functions. The burgeoning number and complexity of known or suspected environmental carcinogens compel us to act to protect public health, even though we may lack irrefutable proof of harm."
Check out these examples selected from the recommendations:
- Parents and child care providers should choose foods, house and garden products, play spaces, toys, medicines, and medical tests that will minimize children's exposure to toxins. Ideally, both mothers and fathers should avoid exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
- It is preferable to use filtered tap water instead of commercially bottled water.
- Exposure to pesticides can be decreased by choosing ... food grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers [translation: organics] and washing conventionally grown produce to remove residues.
- Exposure to antibiotics, growth hormones, and toxic run-off from livestock feedlots can be minimized by eating free-range meat [translation: don't eat feedlot meat].
-Marion Nestle, professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, and the author of Food Politics, Safe Food, What to Eat, reporting in the Atlantic, May 12, 2010, on a new report from the President's Cancer Panel.
Read On: www.organicconsumers.org
Here is more: www.thedailygreen.com
Friday, May 14, 2010
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics : No More Toxic Tub
Getting Contaminants Out of Children's Bath & Personal Care Products
March 12th, 2009
Despite marketing claims like “gentle” and “pure,” dozens of top-selling children’s bath products are contaminated with the cancer-causing chemicals formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane, according to the March 2009 Campaign for Safe Cosmetics report, "No More Toxic Tub."...
I want safe, non-toxic cosmetic Products!
I feel like it's always: No, no, NO! Every time we turn around, there is another product we should fear using because it is going to kill us! ...Ok, not right away, and maybe indirectly, but it is cumulative and we should definitely be trying to limit our exposure to toxins when we can.
The fact is that cosmetics are not regulated at all. And 450 ingredients that are used in the United States are banned for use in cosmetics in the European Union. It is 100% up to us to make sure that the products we are putting on our skin is safe.
Here is a GREAT website you can go to and type in the product, ingredient, or company-then it will give you an overview of what chemicals are in it, and what potential harm they can cause:
Here is a list of cosmetic companies that you can feel safe buying from. YAY!
These companies are great because they have makeup-even foundation.
And here are some links to get more info about the risks of many cosmetics:
Even Perez Hilton, the famous blogger is talking about it!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics : Not So Sexy
The Health Risks of Secret Chemicals in FragranceMay 12th, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Very popular Ice Cream Company Full of Crap
I had a hankering for some ice cream the other day, so I sent my husband out to pick some up. He called me from the store and said that they did not have the Ben & Jerry's flavor that I wanted, and wanted to know if he should pick up another brand. The brand he suggested (which I will not mention and spare myself the danger of getting sued) was one that I knew was good, but was not sure if they used rBST/rBGH (the same thing) hormones in their ice cream.
I looked on their website and saw no mention of it, so I just sent them an email to ask.
In the meanwhile, my husband brought home a very good Ben & Jerry's selection :)
I received a response from the ice cream company a couple of days later, and I was pretty surprised at what they said:
Dear Ms. Aarden,
* rBGH makes cows sick. Monsanto has been forced to admit to about 20 veterinary health risks on its Posilac label including mastitis and udder inflammation. * rBGH milk is contaminated by pus from mastitis induced by rBGH, and then antibiotics must be used to treat the mastitis. * rBGH milk is contaminated by the GE hormone which can be absorbed through the gut and induce immunological effects. * rBGH milk is chemically and nutritionally very different from natural milk. * rBGH milk is supercharged with high levels of a natural growth factor (IGF-1), excess levels of which have been incriminated as major causes of breast, colon, and prostate cancers. * rBGH factory farms pose a major threat to the viability of small dairy farms.
Thank you for requesting information on the use of milk from cows that have been treated with Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin, or rBST, in our Ice Cream products.
Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin increases a cow's milk output by supplementing the animal's own natural rBST hormone. Extensive FDA study has shown that milk from treated cows has the same nutritional value and composition as milk from untreated cows. The decision to feed this supplement is made by the farmer and cannot be independently verified, since there is no method of differentiating between the hormone fed as a supplement and the hormone produced naturally by the cow.
Questions or concerns regarding the use of rBST can be addressed directly to the FDA. The agency responsible for the approval is the Center for Veterinary Medicine at:
Center for Veterinary Medicine
Communications Staff (CVM)
Food and Drug Administration
7519 Standish Place
HFV-12
Rockville, MD 20855
240-276-9300
Email: CVMHomeP@cvm.fda.gov
Thank you for taking the time to contact our company.
Sincerely, Jane Consumer Response Representative
Seriously? Do they think people are still that gullible, really? With all the evidence and research out there to make it pretty darn clear that this hormone is a danger to our health, do they still think they can get away with a response like that?
If it is so safe, why is it banned all over Europe and Canada? They are talking about a hormone that is injected into cows to make them produce and unnatural amount of milk. That is clearly unnatural, and used only in the interest of greed.
The facts are:
We need to cast our votes with our dollars and vow not to support the use of this hormone.
Here is a list of Producers who do not use this hormone:
& here is a great website that helps you shop GMO free:
Friday, May 7, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Infant, Children's Tylenol, Motrin recalled
One reason to stay away from drugs is that you never know what they are going to recall next!
When children, especially infants, are given these types of drugs, it robs their little bodies of the opportunity to make itself better. For example, if you give an infant tylenol or another drug for a fever, the body loses this early opportunity to strengthen his/her immune system by reducing the fever on it's own. It's always best to stick to Vitamin C and lots of liquids as much as possible. But if you must use one of these, it is best to save it for a last resort.
Here is more info on the recall: Infant, Children's Tylenol, Motrin recalled
rGBH in Dairy - Institute for Responsible Technology
A very important article and video. Informative and well put:
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics : What's In Your Products?
Some of the MANY chemicals to avoid when shopping for cosmetics:Friday, April 30, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Psychiatric Drugging of Infants and Toddlers in the US - Part I
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
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