Organic pollutants in the home

[ellina]

Hey natural mamas!

I'm wondering if there's a thread on here for discussing how to minimize organic pollutants (pesticides, PFCs, phthalates, etc.) in the home. If not, maybe this could be it? I'd love to exchange ideas on products to avoid and healthy alternatives, the latest research, etc.

Anyone interested?

 

[ellina]

Not sure if anyone's interested, but this is the type of thing I'm talking about. Huffington Post also had a great headline piece on PFCs a couple weeks ago here.

It seems like some of this material about organic pollutants has gone from being conspiracy theory to headline news in a short period of time. I guess that's a good thing! Scary and kinda depressing though that we have to worry about these things. And poring over the literature to separate fact from nonsense is practically a full-time job...

 

[HopefulEm]

Hey Ellina, I spend a lot of energy to avoid such chemicals, and it's not easy! I buy organic when I can, I use soap nuts to wash my hair and the laundry. I avoid PVC like the plague and try to store food exclusively in glass. What country are you located in? I found good suppliers for organic flame ******ant free sofas, and mattresses, here in the UK.

 

[ellina]

Thanks for replying! I'm in Italy, but frequently purchase smaller items from the UK for the vastly superior selection. I've recently picked up some glass food storage containers as well, and try to minimize plastic in the house (even though it feels futile most of the time!). My son uses a sippy cup now and then, and I found an EA-free one here on Amazon.

Cleaning and personal care products are my big challenge now. I hope that soon I'll be enough of a supermom to make my own! But for now I'm going with the most natural options I can find.

So I was reading a study published by the FDA assessing the effects of BPA exposure on clinical outcomes, and it turns out that some of their results were inconclusive because even their control animals had BPA in their blood!

 

[misspriss]

I try and avoid what I can, but I try not to spend too much energy on it as I suffer from anxiety and I don't want it to become an obsession. We used glass and stainless steel bottles with silicone nipples for DS, he still drinks from plastic free sippy cups. We use glass for food storage almost exclusively, never plastic for anything hot (sometimes for fruit). I tried "natural" dishwasher tabs and laundry detergent and found them lacking. We do use laundry soap that is biodegradable and plant based though. I use natural hair care when I can afford it and real basic castile soap. I don't wear make up or use lotion regularly. We use vinegar for cleaning.

 

[misspriss]

We bought a new mattress which has no chemical flame ******ants, we only buy pajamas that are not flame resistant (they are close fitting), we buy used clothes as much as possible (wears off any pesticides and chemicals used in the growing, or I like to think) since we can't afford organic cotton clothes full time. We use cloth diapers and make our own wipes.

We only use ceramic non stick and most use full-stick (lol) stainless steel pans.

 

[ellina]

I try and avoid what I can, but I try not to spend too much energy on it as I suffer from anxiety and I don't want it to become an obsession. We used glass and stainless steel bottles with silicone nipples for DS, he still drinks from plastic free sippy cups. We use glass for food storage almost exclusively, never plastic for anything hot (sometimes for fruit). I tried "natural" dishwasher tabs and laundry detergent and found them lacking. We do use laundry soap that is biodegradable and plant based though. I use natural hair care when I can afford it and real basic castile soap. I don't wear make up or use lotion regularly. We use vinegar for cleaning.

For not spending too much energy on it, it seems like you're doing a pretty great job. I know what you mean about some "natural" products not doing the trick. Lately I've been trying different natural hair conditioners and they all leave my hair feeling heavy and waxy

 

[misspriss]

Lol well it seems that way on paper, but we still buy non-organic fruits and veggies, conventional raised meats and dairy, etc.

It is more of a cross between a pervasive attitude about not buying plastics, etc, and being cheap. I don't wear makeup by choice, because I am cheap and lazy. I make cleaners with vinegar because it is cheap. I don't use lotion because it is a luxury item here, not a necessity (due to humidity).

 

[HopefulEm]

I know what you mean about some "natural" products not doing the trick. Lately I've been trying different natural hair conditioners and they all leave my hair feeling heavy and waxy

The problem with conditioners is they are never going to work as well as your natural hair oil. (Standard shampoo + conditioner leaving your hair too dry, natural conditions as you mention too heavy/waxy.) I've found the trick is to find the best way to keep the right balance of natural oils in your hair. You don't want to have to "replace" them. For me right now that's washing my hair with soap berries and eating a good diet.

 

[Spudtastic]

I also store in glass over plastic and use natural products whenever possible. I have cloths for cleaning rather than paper towel.
I use cloth wipes for dd or a brand of wipes called water wipes which are chemical free.
Where I live we're really lucky to have plant based beauty and cleaning products that are chemical free. I'm keen to try soap nuts for laundry though.

For organic fruits and veg I try to buy where I can but if not I go by the clean fifteen and dirty dozen list (easy to google). I also use vinegar to clean fruit before eating if not organic.

My god this post makes me sound great but I'm not...I just try to do as much as my energy allows.

I did make a natural stretch mark cream tonight. I ordered the stuff about a month ago and finally got around to making it. It only took 5 minutes. It's just whipped shea butter, coconut oil, rosehip oil, argan oil and apricot kernel oil.

The chemicals in beauty products concern me too. There is a site called ewg. If google doesn't work I'll try to post a link tomorrow as I'm on my phone. It gives products a toxicity rating. So bio oil has a very high toxicity and is cancer causing. So many people (me included until I read more) feel that because it's ok to sell it it must be safe. I was shocked to discover that many baby products are carcinogenic.

Oh and guess what I found out recently. ...there's lots of chemicals in toilet paper too.

 

[ellina]

I also store in glass over plastic and use natural products whenever possible. I have cloths for cleaning rather than paper towel.
I use cloth wipes for dd or a brand of wipes called water wipes which are chemical free.
Where I live we're really lucky to have plant based beauty and cleaning products that are chemical free. I'm keen to try soap nuts for laundry though.

For organic fruits and veg I try to buy where I can but if not I go by the clean fifteen and dirty dozen list (easy to google). I also use vinegar to clean fruit before eating if not organic.

My god this post makes me sound great but I'm not...I just try to do as much as my energy allows.

I did make a natural stretch mark cream tonight. I ordered the stuff about a month ago and finally got around to making it. It only took 5 minutes. It's just whipped shea butter, coconut oil, rosehip oil, argan oil and apricot kernel oil.

The chemicals in beauty products concern me too. There is a site called ewg. If google doesn't work I'll try to post a link tomorrow as I'm on my phone. It gives products a toxicity rating. So bio oil has a very high toxicity and is cancer causing. So many people (me included until I read more) feel that because it's ok to sell it it must be safe. I was shocked to discover that many baby products are carcinogenic.

Oh and guess what I found out recently. ...there's lots of chemicals in toilet paper too.

There's also an app for the dirty dozen and clean fifteen! I mean, it's really nothing more than the lists themselves, but still handy at the supermarket. I often wonder to what extent those lists apply outside the US... they're probably similar, but I'm thinking that if growing conditions and local pests are different in Europe, for instance, then maybe pesticide use will vary as well. I've found a blog post here that summarizes and compares reports on pesticide use from the US, Israel and Germany.

I also love water wipes. It's shocking to me that they cost double the price of wipes with thirty ingredients, but that's life.

 

[Spudtastic]

I also store in glass over plastic and use natural products whenever possible. I have cloths for cleaning rather than paper towel.
I use cloth wipes for dd or a brand of wipes called water wipes which are chemical free.
Where I live we're really lucky to have plant based beauty and cleaning products that are chemical free. I'm keen to try soap nuts for laundry though.

For organic fruits and veg I try to buy where I can but if not I go by the clean fifteen and dirty dozen list (easy to google). I also use vinegar to clean fruit before eating if not organic.

My god this post makes me sound great but I'm not...I just try to do as much as my energy allows.

I did make a natural stretch mark cream tonight. I ordered the stuff about a month ago and finally got around to making it. It only took 5 minutes. It's just whipped shea butter, coconut oil, rosehip oil, argan oil and apricot kernel oil.

The chemicals in beauty products concern me too. There is a site called ewg. If google doesn't work I'll try to post a link tomorrow as I'm on my phone. It gives products a toxicity rating. So bio oil has a very high toxicity and is cancer causing. So many people (me included until I read more) feel that because it's ok to sell it it must be safe. I was shocked to discover that many baby products are carcinogenic.

Oh and guess what I found out recently. ...there's lots of chemicals in toilet paper too.

There's also an app for the dirty dozen and clean fifteen! I mean, it's really nothing more than the lists themselves, but still handy at the supermarket. I often wonder to what extent those lists apply outside the US... they're probably similar, but I'm thinking that if growing conditions and local pests are different in Europe, for instance, then maybe pesticide use will vary as well. I've found a blog post here that summarizes and compares reports on pesticide use from the US, Israel and Germany.

I also love water wipes. It's shocking to me that they cost double the price of wipes with thirty ingredients, but that's life.

Me too. I use that app and have wondered the same thing about how it applies outside of the us. I figure that fruit with skins you eat are the worst and the ones you peel and eat are a bit better but thats an uneducated guess.

I find it so scary how chemicals have remained in our system...friends think i'm a bit nuts but slowly they are realising Im not that crazy.
My husband and i are trying to get a big garden going this year but i'm overparanoid about soil etc being pregnant so i'm directing dh from the sidelines lol.

 

[ellina]

Me too. I use that app and have wondered the same thing about how it applies outside of the us. I figure that fruit with skins you eat are the worst and the ones you peel and eat are a bit better but thats an uneducated guess.

I find it so scary how chemicals have remained in our system...friends think i'm a bit nuts but slowly they are realising Im not that crazy.
My husband and i are trying to get a big garden going this year but i'm overparanoid about soil etc being pregnant so i'm directing dh from the sidelines lol.

See, what really convinced me on this topic is that there's a real scientific literature behind the danger of many of these pollutants. It's not just a bunch of hearsay you find in forums and blogs, there are many studies that support the potential danger of phthalates, PFCs, organophosphate pesticides, etc. When you have i) in vitro studies demonstrating mechanisms of action, plus ii) animal case-control studies, plus iii) human observational studies, the evidence is all there.

There are many who say that there's nothing to worry about because "the poison is in the dose". That is absolutely right in theory, but the point is that we simply do not know how small of a dose of a given substance can be considered negligible for clinical outcomes, especially in small children, and especially when considering the combinatorial effects of the many substances that we're exposed to on a daily basis.

 

[Spudtastic]

Absolutely. There's so much evidence there and it seems it's easier to bury your head in the sand for many. Or my friend once said 'if it's not safe why would they sell it'. Well you could write a thesis on that.

I read a study many years ago....and I must look it up because I can't recall the actual facts....but it shocked me. In the usa they found the presence of a chemical in peoples blood that was banned over 100 years ago. Scary that it's passed through the generations.

 

[ellina]

Let me know if you find the link to that study!

Here are a couple that I thought were especially eye-opening:

Organophosphorus pesticide exposure of urban and suburban preschool children with organic and conventional diets: Right in the abstract they say "The dose estimates suggest that consumption of organic fruits, vegetables, and juice can reduce children's exposure levels from above to below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's current guidelines, thereby shifting exposures from a range of uncertain risk to a range of negligible risk."

Endocrine Disruptors and Asthma-Associated Chemicals in Consumer Products. This studies shows that you're a lot better off using green rather than conventional products, but that reading labels is important no matter what.

And one that might be especially relevant to women on this forum: Maternal exposure to perfluorinated chemicals and reduced fecundity: the MIREC study.

As for the idea of 'if it's dangerous why would they sell it', that's a crazy position to take! The American Toxic Substances Control Act, for instance, should safeguard consumers against toxins. But apart from being completely impotent as a law, literally tens of thousands of substances were grandfathered in, assumed to be safe since they were already on the market... which is essentially the position taken by your friend.

 

[DaisyDreamer]

Hey natural mamas!

I'm wondering if there's a thread on here for discussing how to minimize organic pollutants (pesticides, PFCs, phthalates, etc.) in the home. If not, maybe this could be it? I'd love to exchange ideas on products to avoid and healthy alternatives, the latest research, etc.

Anyone interested?

Sounds great! I use vinegar and baking soda as my main two all-purpose cleaners and dye free/perfume free soaps. I make my own body soaps that don't have any heavy metals in them (titanium, aluminum, seriously??) as well as a lovely all natural shea-butter coco-butter blend for lotion, because marketed brands contain antibiotics and other materials I don't want to be slathering on. We buy all natural deodorant like Tom's. Homemade cosmetics have really reduced the amount of pollutants I'm literally absorbing through my skin.

Personally I don't wear makeup ( maybe once or twice a year) but if you do I recommend doing some research on eco-brands of cosmetics. Even the ones that advertise their minerals still have hundreds of unregulated ingredients in them (remember nuclear concealer from the 50s?)

Though it's not always easily done, I try to find organic cotton or naturally dyed clothing, flame-******ant free furniture, etc. We put our garbage in a Tupperware container and empty it outside frequently and compost all of our food wastes, which we then use in our veggie garden as fertilized soil.

Try to eliminate as much plastic as possible! There are so many endocrine disrupting pollutants in that material that literally just seeps out of it. Glass containers, tin foil, wax paper tied off with elastic rubber bands seem to do the trick just fine. Also we only drink distilled water and are trying to find a fluoride-free resource.

Buy organic foods.... Surely you can find the "dirty dozen, clean fifteen" list that emphasizes what foods will absorb more pesticides if 100% is too expensive (for a lot of people it is).

Cloth diapers and wipes to minimize waste and exposure to who knows what!

If you really want to go all out one can always purchase a nice air-filter that clean the air around you as well. These were just some ideas for reducing nonairborne exposure to pollutants.

Hope this helps~