GreenSage E-zine 04/2008

Taking Control: Prevent Toxins From Getting In
By Elaine Ireland

The cost to both quality of life and economics from chronic disease, disorders, and other disabilities being linked to environmental chemical exposures are enormous and increasing. I know this one well, having experienced severe Multiple Chemical Sensitivities beginning a couple of decades ago. Lucky for me I recovered. Not everyone does. The medical community, however, remains all too unknowledgeable and dismissive about this issue not unlike the guy next door who says he likes his new car smell.

I've learned first hand some very important things about how we take in toxins, how to prevent them coming in, and what you can do once they've come in.

How we take them in
There are three ways we take toxins into our bodies, not counting those acquired in the womb.

1)What we breathe
2)What we ingest — eat and drink
3)What we put on our skin

Breathe
New and newly remodeled homes can emit as many as 300 VOCs — compounds such as formaldehyde, vinyl chloride, 4-PC, styrene, benzene, acetone or toluene — vaporizing (and being breathed in) by you and your family. Typical materials with the most commonly found sources of VOCs include pressed wood and composite wood products, mattresses, furniture and finishing products, floor coverings, fabrics, drywall products, taping compounds, wallcoverings, paints, adhesives, sealants and caulks. Air fresheners and fragrances. Dry cleaning, and many cleaning products.

Sounds like just about everything, doesn't it?

Outdoors, depending on where you live and what may be going on at any moment, isn't so bad — unless you're downwind from emissions like burning wood or other materials.

Prevention by priority: Buy organic mattress and bedding, Address the largest surfaces like flooring and walls, then furniture, cabinets and fabrics. Select zero-VOC or low-VOC paints and adhesives. Avoid frangrancces. Eliminate fragrance in your laundry products since they too stay on your clothing and bedding. If you can't find a 'green' dry cleaner in your area, hang your dry-cleaned clothing outdoors, in the basement or garage until the VOCs have diminished significantly (I prefer a month). Make sure there's plenty of air circulation in your home, replace your HVAC filters often, and when the weather's cooperative, let those windows open.

Eat & Drink
You are what you eat. Your cells absorb what you put into your mouth. From mouth to small intestine where absorption takes place to liver filtering things out. The 'parts per million' limits on chemicals recommended to be in our food, combine with other chemicals we take into our system. Yet, no tests have been done on the combinations of all these chemicals to come up with 'parts per million' combination chemicals. Its all too many.

Prevention by priority: Be kind your system and allow it to work less hard by eating organic, eating the right amount and slowly. Eat protein to keep your immune system strong. Drink plenty of pure water.

Absorb through your Skin
We absorb about 60% of what we put on our skin. Many reports are finally coming out about phthalates in our cosmetics. But there are hundreds of other chemicals allowed in our skin products that have no business being there. Fragrances are a double whammy because we also get to breathe them in. Breast cancer cases have shown accumulation in the breast of such ingredients as Titanium, Zirconium, Benzalkonium, Bismuth, Antimony, and Aluminum. Other ingredients you may want to avoid include DMDM Hydrantoin and Propylene Glycol (Petro-chemical and Petroleum by-product used as an ANTI-FREEZE), Synthetic coloring (such as labeled FD&C or D&C, followed by a color number are usually coal-tar based and have been linked as cancer causing agents).

Watch the synthetic and/or dyed clothing you wear.

Prevention by priority: Read the labels. Select organic ingredients whenever possible. Avoid the items listed above. Get informed about other chemicals to avoid by going to the Cosmetic Safety Database by Environmental Working Group and check out their 'Skin Deep' searchable database that analyzes thousands of beauty products and ingredients.

Almost every day we receive phone calls from people who are experiencing some kind of chemical sensitivity. Things like 'I just bought a new mattress and I can't stand to go in the bedroom anymore,' 'I just bought a new carpet and I'm getting dizzy and having headaches.' or 'I'm a professional tradesman with a polyurethane specialty. I'm not feeling well and I can't get rid of the smell now, it just eminates from my body 24/7.'

Here's what you can do at home to help get the toxins out. It likely won't eliminate them all, but it will certainly help. It may help prevent you from getting some of the chronic diseases and disorders associated with these chemicals.

1)Don't allow in any more toxins. Control as much as you can using our prevention ideas above.
2)Breathe clean air outdoors. Go for a walk for as long a time as you can fit in and breathe deeply.
3)Drink pure water. Get at least those 8 recommended glasses to keep your internal system moving those toxins through.
4)Take saunas, or do some other form of sweating every day to get those toxins out. Your skin is your biggest organ. Sweat it out. Longer saunas at lower temperatures are preferable over short hotter ones. Be sure to check with your doctor to ensure saunas are healthy for your particular body.

Here's to your health!