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Not everyone will have the incentive to make all these changes - however, every change you make WILL make a difference! This way of living is not only much better and safer for YOU - it's also much better for the environment! Switching to non-toxic living can be a very pleasant experience if we think of it as a return to the purity and safety of the way our ancestors lived. Many of the suggestions here were actually used by our ancestors before all the toxic chemicals were marketed to make life "easier". We pay dearly for that "ease" with the loss of safe, clean air to breathe and, in many cases, the loss of our health. Some of the products may take a little more "elbow grease" - others actually work BETTER than their toxic alternatives - either way, you can take major steps to cleaning up your environment and protecting yourself and your family from toxic chemicals by following these suggestions. General Recommendations 1. Avoid ALL scented products ("fragrance" as an ingredient) - including all perfumes, colognes, after-shaves, personal-care products, air fresheners, potpourri, etc. Be careful about certain "unscented" products that use "masking fragrance" to cover up the original fragrance - these are doubly toxic! 2. Avoid ALL fabric softeners, dryer sheets, Clorox, scented detergents, etc. These products are VERY toxic and very harmful to the environment as well. 3. Avoid ALL pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Pesticides are neuro-toxins (affect the central nervous system), and they do not know the difference between the BUGS and YOU! For fleas, roaches, ants, etc., use diatomaceous earth, boric acid, and nematodes. You can get these from health food stores and pet supply stores - or from some of the "Resources" listed on the MCS Resources page. 4. Use only non-toxic cleaning products and personal-care products (see below). 5. Drink and bathe in filtered water. Taking a shower in chlorinated water causes the chlorine to go right into your blood stream. You can purchase shower filters that easily attach to your shower nozzle from water-supply stores (check your Yellow Pages) or from many of the mail-order companies listed on the MCS Resources page. Also, avoid swimming in chlorinated pools. 6. Eat organic food (food grown without pesticides or fertilizers) as often as possible. Avoid processed foods, foods with colors and dyes, preservatives, etc. NEVER consume products containing "NutraSweet" (aspartame). It breaks down into formic acid ("ant-sting poison") and methanol (wood alcohol) in your body! (See "Links to Related Sites" for more information about aspartame.) 7. Wear only natural-fiber clothing (100% cotton, linen, wool, or silk). Make sure the clothes are NOT "permanent press" or "wrinkle resistant" - these clothes have been treated with formaldehyde that does NOT wash out! 8. Use only 100% cotton, wool, or pure silk bed linens and blankets. Avoid "no-iron" or "wrinkle-resistant". A good brand is "Simply Cotton", marketed by "Martex" and available at department stores like Dillards. Wal-Mart also now carries 100% cotton "T-shirt" sheets! 9. As much as possible, avoid plastics (store food in glass jars), particleboard, plywood, glues, inks, paints (use Glidden 2000 - least toxic), foam rubber, vinyl, carpet, synthetic rugs, varnishes, solvents, etc. 10. Open your windows as often as possible! Even in the most polluted cities, the outdoor air has been found to be less toxic than the indoor air! Amazing, isn't it?! 11. Certain houseplants are beneficial to remove toxins from the air, such as formaldehyde, benzene etc. The best plants for removing these and other toxins are philodendrons, spider plants, aloe Vera, English ivy, golden pothos, and boston fern. To learn more about this, there is a really good book available called: "How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants That Purify Your Home or Office" by B. C. Wolverton. (NOTE: Many thanks to Karen Snyderfor this information!)
(HFS = health food store - all items not designated with "HFS" can be found at your regular grocery store.) 1. GENERAL CLEANING: • White Vinegar (cleans windows, counter tops, chrome, grease, floors, etc.) • Bon Ami (sinks, etc.) - near the "Comet" • Borax (toilets, tubs, floors) - disinfects, deodorizes, kills mold and mildew, and great for laundry - in the detergent aisle • Baking Soda - sit around in small bowls to absorb odors; also cleans sinks, great for laundry, etc. • Lemons (clean windows, sinks, grease, etc.). You can also use lemons as an air freshener. Cut 4 lemons into 4ths. Put in a pot and cover with water. Simmer for about an hour and turn heat off. Will fill room with wonderful aroma! (Note: Some people react to the odors of lemons and oranges, even though they are considered "natural". Please be careful!) My personal opinion is that pure fresh air with no added scent is BEST - however, for those of you who simply must have some kind of "scent" in the air to feel like your air is fresh, this is probably the next-best thing, and is MUCH better than the toxic "air fresheners" (poisoners, actually)! • Furniture polish: any vegetable oil, lemon oil, etc. (2 parts oil, 1 part lemon juice works great!), Earthrite furniture polish (HFS), or any other brand that is all natural and fragrance-free • Nature Clean, Lifetree, Seventh Generation, or Ecover dishwashing liquids (HFS) • Nature Clean or Ecover automatic dishwashing detergent (or any that do not contain chlorine or fragrance) • Tip: To get stuck-on food off a pot/pan, just sprinkle salt and cool water in it and let it sit a while, then wipe clean!
• Baking soda (NOT "Arm & Hammer Detergent"!) - 1 cup per load • Sodium Perborate - a chlorine-free, natural bleaching mineral (sold as "Country Save non-chlorine bleach" - HFS) • White Vinegar - 1 cup in rinse cycle to soften clothes and remove odors and residual detergent • Use one of the suggested dishwashing liquids for spot removal - great for grease, ketchup, and other stains! • Dr. Bronner's Unscented Baby Castile Liquid Soap (HFS or NEEDS) • Country Save, Earthrite, Ecover, or Seventh Generation laundry detergent (HFS) • Granny's Old-Fashioned Concentrate (HFS or NEEDS) • All-Free, Cheer-Free, or Tide-Free if you feel you must use a "regular" detergent. These products at least do not contain fragrances, but they do contain other petrochemicals and are not the "best" choice if you are trying to reduce your toxic exposures. Personal-Care Products NOTE: Use nothing on your skin that you would be afraid to eat! Products are absorbed through the skin into the blood stream just as if you had eaten them! 1. SHAMPOO: • Pure Essentials Fragrance-Free Shampoo (HFS) - also makes a conditioner • Giovanni's Tea Tree Shampoo (contains no sodium laurel sulfate or propylene glycol!) • Granny's Old-Fashioned Shampoo (HFS) - also make a conditioner • Dr. Bronner's Unscented Baby Castile Liquid Soap
• Sirena Pure Coconut Oil Soap • Kiss My Face Pure Olive Oil Soap • Dr. Bronner's Baby Supermild Soap • Dr. Bronner's Unscented Baby Castile Liquid Soap
• Mineral crystal stones (or spray) - least toxic choice (HFS) • Queen Helene, Unscented Deodorant (HFS) - does contain propylene glycol, a petrochemical, but at least it is unscented! • Le Stick French Green Clay Deodorant (Unscented) • Baking soda • French clay powder (HFS) • Corn Starch (great for powder!) - in the baking section of your grocery store (do not use if you have a problem with yeast infections since corn can "feed" the yeast!)
• Tom's of Maine (HFS) • Weleda (HFS) • Tea Tree Oil Toothpaste - various brands (HFS) • Jason's (contains no sodium laurel sulfate or propylene glycol!) • Baking Soda
(Avoid "Quaternium-15", which releases formaldehyde!) • Plain almond oil or olive oil • Kiss My Face Fragrance-free Olive and Aloe moisture lotion • Granny's Old Fashioned Moisture Guard • Nature's Plus Vitamin E Cream • Cocoa butter, plain or with almond oil only • Any fragrance-free moisturizer from regular stores would be better than scented moisturizers.
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Aubrey Organics Ultra 15 Natural Herbal Sunblock • Mountain Ocean Sun Screen • Kiss My Face Sun Screen • Physician's Formula
• For the most part - AVOID!! Most hair sprays contain nerve gas and propane or butane (yes, the stuff that goes into your gas heater and lighters!) and are VERY toxic. Cut hair in style that does not require sprays. You can also make a homemade gel by dissolving 1 package of unflavored gelatin (not "Jello"!) in 2 cups of hot water. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator. • Plain Aloe Vera gel! • There is a hairspray made by Naturade (HFS) called "Aloe Vera 80" that is tolerable to some MCS patients - be sure to get the kind without alcohol!
• Glad Rags- organic cotton menstrual pads, tampons, and other non-toxic products. (NOTE: FDA studies have shown commercially bought pads and tampons to contain harmful substances. The traditional cotton used in these products has been grown using as many as 35 different pesticides and chemicals and is then chlorine bleached creating dioxin in the process.) • Natural and re-useable tampons: Use a couple of fine-holed sea-sponges (about as big as a palm - you can always cut them if too big). Clean and boil very carefully (they shrink a bit when boiled) and then thread a string through. Once wet, they turn very soft and are effective absorbers. (Many thanks to Inger for this tip!)
• Kiss My Face • Plain aloe vera gel can be used for after-shave - works great! • Homemade Recipe: 1/4 Cup Pure Aloe Vera Gel, 1/4 Cup Pure Coconut Oil, 1/4 Cup Vegetable Glycerin, 1/8 Cup Pure Castille Soap, Liquid. Stir gently together and either put in a spray bottle or apply by hand. Apply a nice coating and then shave away! MISCELLANEOUS TIP: Plant mint around the house to keep mosquitos away. Rub some mint leaves on you to keep them from biting you. |Top| 5 Hidden Dangers of Toothpaste Many name-brand toothpastes and mouthwashes contain potentially harmful ingredients, which penetrate through the tissues of your mouth, enter the blood stream, and build up in the liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, and tissues. Just read the label on almost any toothpaste or mouthwash. You'll see they are loaded with dangerous toxins and chemical ingredients that have been proven to be harmful to humans. Yet, no one is ever told - until now. Sodium Fluoride: One of the main ingredients in rat & cockroach poison. Most people are probably aware that most toothpaste and many mouth rinses contain fluoride because that's what dentists have recommended for years to help prevent cavities. But did you know that most popular toothpastes contain enough fluoride in four ounces to kill a small child. In children, minimal ingestion of sodium fluoride causes salivation, nausea, vomiting, epigastria pain, and diarrhea. Large doses may cause paralysis, muscular weakness and clonic convulsions, followed by respiratory and cardiac failure. In addition to being one of the main ingredients in rat and cockroach poisons, sodium fluoride is also a key component in anesthetic, and psychiatric drugs as well as SARIN NERVE GAS! Fluoride has been used throughout history to alter the behavior and mood of humans. It is a known fact that fluoride was added to the drinking water of prisoners to hamper non- compliance with authority, both in Nazi and Soviet prison camps. The walls within these camps were also coated with a fluoride treatment for the same reason. Not surprisingly, fluoride has NEVER been approved by the FDA. The reason being that, fluoride has NEVER been shown to reduce cavities. Scientists are now linking fluoride to dental deformity, arthritis, allergic reactions and at least 10,000 unnecessary deaths each year. FD&C Blue Dye # 1 & 2: Studies indicate that these dyes can trigger a wide number of behavioral, learning, and health problems. They may also cause potentially severe allergic reactions, asthma attacks, headaches, nausea, fatigue, nervousness, lack of concentration, and cancer. Using these dyes is just like ingesting crude oil as it to, is synthesized from petroleum. These dyes were originally made from coal tar oil. Their components have been classified as active carcinogens, leading to government regulations and restrictions. Today, some coal tar dyes are synthetically engineered and have come under even greater scientific and government scrutiny due to their own carcinogenic and mutagenic activity. Even if the toothpaste is never swallowed, these dyes are absorbed through the lips and the mucous membrane in the mouth. Here the lining has an absorption efficiency of over 90 % allowing these carcinogens to get into your blood, your brain, and your cells. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS): The most dangerous ingredient in personal-care products! SLS has a foaming property, and is added to toothpastes to generate foam and give the impression that the toothpaste is working. SLS is also used in products such as garage floor cleaners, engine degreasers and car wash soaps. Some of these uses have already been banned by the EPA. Laboratories use SLS to irritate skin on test animals and humans so that they may then test healing agents to see how effective they are on the irritated skin. The journal of the American College of Toxicology reports that SLS can penetrate and be retained in the eye, brain, heart, and liver with harmful long-term effects. Also found in most shampoos including "no tears" baby shampoos and bubble baths, SLS can keep children's eyes from developing properly, can cause cataracts in adults, can retard healing, and can impair hair growth. Triclosan: A pesticide/chemical used for its antibacterial properties, is an ingredient found in many detergents and toothpastes. According to Tufts University School of Medicine, the formulation of this ingredient are similar to some of the most toxic chemicals on earth. The EPA has registered it as a “dangerous pesticide and a human health risk as well as an environmental risk”. It is a chemical that is suspected of causing cancer in humans. These type's of pesticides can be stored in body fat, often accumulating to toxic levels. Fact is, repeated use can damage the liver, kidneys, heart and lungs, suppress the immune system, and cause hormonal disruption, paralysis, sterility and brain hemorrhages. Hydrated Silica: A whitener/abrasive that actually damages tooth enamel. It is made from a crystallized compound found in quartz, sand, and flint. Tooth enamel re-mineralizes daily from compounds found in the saliva. Scratching the surface of the tooth with this abrasive harms the enamel and prevents re-mineralization.The public is cautioned against excessive use of products containing dioforms, which are abrasive substances that can cause the breakdown of tooth enamel. While these ingredients can remove tartar and make teeth whiter in appearance, they can also do harm to dental health by altering the acidic balance of the mouth, gums and tongue. Article by Trusted Health Products |Top| Check the ingredients listed on your shampoo bottle and see if they have a substance by the name of Sodium Laureth Sulfate, or simply SLS. This substance is found in most shampoos, and the manufacturers use it because it produces a lot of foam and it is cheap. Sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, sodium acetyl sulfate are synthetics used in shampoos, toothpastes and bubble baths for their detergent and foam-building properties. Those chemicals are known irritants. They tend to cause eye irritation, skin rashes, hair loss, dandruff-like scalp scurf, and allergic reactions. Sometimes disguised under name "comes from coconut" (very deceptive with its hint of being natural substances). Carcinogens: Azo colors and azo compounds (common, also colorings in some processed foods), -carboxymethylcellulose
(cellulose gum), all of which are often contaminated with nitrosoamines known to be very carcinogenic in animal tests; TEA and DEA are very common in mass-produced hair and skin products and even in brands self-advertised as "natural". An FDA test of 124 cosmetics showed half with such contamination. |Top| The TOXIC dangers of Fabric Softener Many people will remember a famous TV ad where a woman races to her washing machine, fabric softener in hand, only to arrive just as the wash ends. This woman who "forgot to ad the fabric softener" was actually doing herself and her family a favor. Although they may make your clothes feel soft and smell fresh, fabric softener and dryer sheets are some of the most toxic products around. Chances are that 99.8 % of Americans who use commercial detergents, softeners, bleaches, and stain removers would think twice if they knew they contained chemicals that cause cancer and brain damage. Here is a list of just some of the chemicals found in fabric softeners and dryer sheets: *
Benzyl acetate: Linked to pancreatic cancer The chemicals in fabric softeners are pungent and strong smelling, so strong that they require the use of heavy fragrances just to cover up the smells. Furthermore, synthetic fabrics, which are the reason fabric softeners were created in the first place, do not smell good either when heated in a dryer or heated by our bodies, hence the need for even more hefty fragrances. Fabric softeners are made to stay in your clothing for long periods of time. These chemicals are slowly released either into the air for you to inhale or onto your skin for you to absorb. Health effects from being exposed to the chemicals in fabric softeners include: *
Central nervous system disorders Soften Your Clothes Safely With These Tips Even if you don't feel the effects of these chemicals today, they can affect you and your family gradually over time. There is no reason to expose yourself to these chemicals when natural alternatives exist. Not only are they safer for you, your family and the environment, but they are much more economical too. *
Add a quarter cup of baking soda to wash cycle to soften fabric It is likely that fabric softeners and dryer sheets are not the only toxic products in your home. Many household products that consumers regard as safe are also full of toxic chemicals. Past articles on SixWise.com will make you more aware of the pervasiveness of harmful chemicals that can be eliminated from your home. |Top| Breast Cancer & Antiperspirant If an aluminum compound, such as aluminum chlorhydrate or aluminum zirconium, which is very soluble, is used as an antiperspirant, that compound is readily absorbed. Once in the body, the aluminum portion of the molecule ionizes, forming free or radical aluminum (Al+++). This passes freely across cell membranes, and forms a physical plug, that when dissolved is selectively absorbed by the liver, kidney, brain, cartilage and bone marrow. It is this concentration of aluminum that has been the source of concern in the medical community and has prompted the research being done on ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE and BREAST CANCER victims. Potassium alum molecules have a negative ionic charge, making it unable to pass through the cell wall. THEY ARE NOT ABSORBED. This is why our deodorants are safe to use and will not cause high levels of ALUMINUM in your system. ALUM and ALUMINUM are two different substances, with distinct chemical signatures. They possess different chemical properties, which create different chemical attributes. The thing that is so upsetting, is the fact that the medical community tells you to throw away aluminum pans, cans and not to use antiperspirant once you are diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Breast Cancer or Lymphedema. Why not warn the public prior too? The answer for them is simple, $. Elizabeth Morin Dept. of Medicinal Chemistry, Merck Frost Canada & Co. Some time ago, I attended a Breast-Cancer-Awareness seminar. During the Q&A period, I asked why the most common area for breast cancer was near the armpit. My question could not be answered at that time. The leading cause of breast cancer is the use of antiperspirant. What? A concentration of toxins leads to cell mutations, a.k.a. cancer. Yes, ANTIPERSPIRANT. Most of the products out there are an antiperspirant/deodorant combination, so go home and check. Deodorant is fine, antiperspirant is not. Here is why: The human body has a few areas that it uses to purge toxins from the body; behind the knees, behind the ears, the groin area, and armpits. The toxins are purged in the form of perspiration. Antiperspirant, as the name clearly indicates, prevents you from perspiring, thereby inhibiting the body from purging toxins from below the armpits. These toxins do not just magically disappear. Instead, the body deposits them in the lymph nodes below the arms since it cannot sweat them out. Nearly all breast cancer tumors occur in the upper outside quadrant of the breast area. This is precisely where the lymph nodes are located. Additionally, men are less likely (but not completely exempt) to develop breast cancer prompted by antiperspirant usage because most of the antiperspirant product is caught in their hair and is not directly applied to the skin. Women who apply antiperspirant right after shaving increase the risk further because shaving causes almost imperceptible nicks in the skin, which give the chemicals direct entrance into the body. |Top| In
recent years, we have been bombarded with reports on the dangers
of the sun, and the need for sunscreen to protect ourselves from
skin cancer. Sales of sunscreen and products containing sunscreen
have skyrocketed; yet the incidence of skin cancer in the U.S. has
tripled in recent years. Misc
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