Monthly Archives: March 2013

There’s WHAT in my Baking Soda?

Fragrance chemicals….

Yes, I said it… There are fragrance chemicals in much of the baking soda sold now… Even in the baking soda you bake with. Unless you are extremely lucky… and there’s no rhyme or reason as to when it might be fragrance free, because no-one who might know will tell as to why there are any problems with it in the first place.

For months now, I haven’t been able to get any baking soda that isn’t fragrance (or otherwise) pre-contaminated… and I use it instead of soap products, which I don’t tolerate, to clean me, my teeth, my clothes and everything else that needs cleaning… Because my body doesn’t tolerate soap, even organic olive oil soap, probably because there’s something about modern lye that doesn’t agree with me…

If I lived in a cave, it might not matter, but I’m stuck here in the suburbs, and despite being housebound, there are people who make assumptions on my rare appearances outdoors, like when I have to go to the recycling and garbage bins… And I am just well enough to notice, and to care… And it just doesn’t feel good physically, or emotionally…

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My local Bulk Barn store owner picking up 50 lbs of fragrance contaminated baking soda during a February snowstorm

The most recent Arm and Hammer bulk sample, was even worse than the previous one, although the type of contamination is different…
The owner/manager says he took the sample from a brand new bag he just cut open and used the jar I had given him when he picked up the 50 lbs of fragrance contaminated baking soda I’d purchased in December. He was even so kind as to deliver the jar full.

Arm and Hammer is saying there is no way their stuff is contaminated before it goes in the bag, Bulk Barn won’t tell me who the middle man is, and the bags are really unlikely to pick up contamination during the time between anyway – but I’ve had fragrance contamination on the INSIDE of the bag, when the outside had no fragrance residue.

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Tax Time: Medical and Disability-Related Expenses

Tax time is approaching yet again, and there are some disability related tax credits available in Canada, even for people with MCS/ES (some of which I will post below).

There are also tax credits offered to people who need to retrofit their homes for medical reasons:

Renovation or construction expenses – the amounts paid to make changes to give a person access to (or greater mobility or functioning within) their dwelling, when that person has a severe and prolonged mobility impairment or lacks normal physical development.

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Worth Reading: Other Bloggers Write About MCS/ES and ME/CFS

Worth Reading

Fergiemoto wrote about the challenges she faces due to having MCS and fragrance chemical proliferation. I love her illustrations!  See Human Canaries and Friendship.

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Sharon, a writer and service dog partner who also has Lyme Disease and other disabilities, wrote about how MCS affects her life here: How MCS Affects Sharon

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Phoenix Rising posted this great piece by Carol Schmid who examines what it is about the nature of ME/CFS that makes it likely to generate skepticism. There are many similarities with MCS/ES. See:  The ME/CFS Stigma

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Ecocide as a Crime Against Humanity

Do you live in the EU? If so, please sign on to the current campaign to end Ecocide in Europe. Opportunities for  global involvement also exist (see below).

This short video describes the issue, please watch and get involved. We need legally binding laws for things to change, and this would be a good one.

“Ecocide is the extensive damage to, destruction of or loss of ecosystems of a given territory.  Ecocide should become a crime for which companies and individuals can be held responsible according to criminal law and the principle of superior responsibility.”

The Problem: Ecocide

Ecocide, the extensive destruction of ecosystems, is occurring today. For example:

  • Large-scale land use change that causes the direct destruction of habitats – as is the case with deforestation in most tropical rainforests;
  • Significant pollution whether deliberate or incidental – such as oil dumping and spills;
  • Open cast mining where entire landscapes are removed – as is the case with oil sands and some coal and gold mining;

http://eradicatingecocide.com/overview/what-is-ecocide/

Wish to End Ecocide

See  End Ecocide in Europe for more information on how you can get involved there.

Eradicating Ecocide has more information on global efforts.

Everyone can sign on here

Phthalates in Supermarket Foods

Finally.

Someone tested it.

And just like many of us who have MCS/ES have been saying for years:

Supermarket food is contaminated with fragrance and plastic chemicals.

supermarket food contaminated

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