Category Archives: Chemicals

Dust

“If you really look at what’s in your dust, particularly for some chemicals, it’s just as concentrated—or more—as what you’d find in sewage sludge,” says Heather Stapleton, associate professor of environmental chemistry.”

“The chemicals she’s talking about are flame retardants, which she has found in the dust of every one of the several hundred homes she’s tested. The chemicals come into our houses via treated furniture, electronics, and insulation. Over time they accumulate in our dust. And in our bodies. Virtually all Americans have flame retardants in their blood, and at much higher levels than people in other countries.”

So how can we minimize our exposure at home, until these toxic ingredients are removed from everyday products and materials?

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How to avoid toxins in fabrics – and other products

Another great post from O ECOTEXTILES!

How to avoid toxins in fabrics – and other products.

“The Big Fix”… Why We Need Peace, Not More Ecocide…

The Big Fix 

The BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Watch.

It’s explanatory.

The oil industry is not about peace. This film documents one of the greatest cases of Ecocide in our time, and the story behind it. Sadly, it’s not over yet.

Ecocide is the extensive damage to, destruction of or loss of ecosystem(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been or will be severely diminished.

Help make Ecocide a crime:

http://eradicatingecocide.com/what-you-can-do/

fish filters

Bucky

Some Weblinks:

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Monsanto’s reasons for fighting GMO labeling? It Loves You.

Thank you Joe!

Monsanto’s reasons for fighting GMO labeling? It Loves You..

Video: A Family Learns About The Products They Buy

Chemerical is a film about a regular family as they learn about what’s lurking in their products, struggle to come to terms with the new info, and then learn how to make safer changes in their lives.

“Chemerical” explores the life cycle of everyday household cleaners and hygiene products to prove that, thanks to our clean obsession, we are drowning in sea of toxicity.

The film is at once humorous, as we watch the Goode family try to turn a new leaf by creating and living in a toxic free home, and informative, as director Andrew Nisker works with many experts to give audiences the tools and inspiration to live toxic free.

Chemerical

Andrew Nisker weaves visits to the Environmental Health Clinic in Toronto,

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20 Petrochemicals to Avoid in Personal Care and Laundry Products

 

Re-posting with permission

20 of the most common Petrochemical Skin Care Ingredients to Avoid

The Organic Natural Beauty Directory urges all consumers to carefully read the ingredient labels on the products they intend to buy and be fully aware of what goes in them, that way you will know what to avoid. Ingredients are listed most used to least used (meaning that the first ingredient listed is what makes up the largest part of the product). It is extremely alarming to know that many major brands of skin care and personal care products contain petrochemicals in them.

It pains and angers me to see big beauty brands advertising on TV that they are ‘natural’ but when you look at their ingredients they may also contain some petrochemicals- so make sure you know your ingredients. This is why modern day consumers need to beware of ‘greenwashing’ and become educated on what the ingredients being used are.Your safest bet as a consumer is to choose products that contain all natural, whole and unprocessed botanical ingredients.

According to the ‘campaign for safe cosmetics website’.

“Many of these petrochemicals are known and scientifically proven to be toxic.”

“They can cause eye impairment, intestinal damage, kidney and liver problems, breathing problems, cysts, skin spots, rashes, premature aging and hair loss. Some are endocrine disruptors (that can cause hormonal disruptions and produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects), and some even carcinogenic (that can cause cancer, and in particular breast cancer)”.

Our skin is the largest organ in our body so it makes sense that we as consumers wake up & start taking control of what we feed ourselves.

Here is the A-Z list of the 20 most common petrochemicals used in personal care products:

toxic skull and bones

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No Fun in the Sun With Summer VOCs

Imagine being shut in, without air conditioning, without being able to open the windows to refresh the air, because the outdoor air is so full of VOCs as to be totally disabling

For some of us, this is a somewhat usual occurrence anyway, due to the prevalence of toxic laundry products blowing out of dryer vents everywhere, but during summer, things can get so much worse!

The heat makes many chemicals more volatile, and where do they off-gas? Into the air we breathe…

Here are just some of the things that affect summer air quality:

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How to Get Toxic Products Out of Stores

Would you like stores to stop selling everyday things that are full of harmful toxic chemicals?

What if you could feel better not only because you could be assured that the things you brought home were safe and healthy, but also because they were no longer full of the harmful chemicals that have been making you feel like crap?

In the absence of (and obstruction of) health protective regulations, we need to find other ways to get the changes happening that will allow ourselves and our grandchildren to live healthier lives.

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Still Have Doubts About Industry and Governance?

How Can We Lay Them to Rest?

WHY?

WHY?

Why aren’t we being protected from pollution, radiation and junk or GMO foods?

Why is there still a “controversy” mentioned in any mainstream media article about MCS/ES?

Why are corporations getting their way so often despite causing harm?

Here are more articles that add to what I shared in Are There Any Doubts?

Many thanks to Colin Woodard and The Portland Press Herald for this enlightening series:

By Colin Woodard

THE SERIES DAY TO DAY

SUNDAY: For two years, public servant Patricia Aho has overseen Maine’s environmental protection. But whom does she really serve? Our seven-month investigation points to her former corporate clients.

MONDAY: Led by a former chemical industry lobbyist, the Maine DEP has stalled efforts to regulate substances that are potentially harmful to children and to the development of unborn fetuses.

TUESDAY: So-called “product stewardship” regulations – even recycling efforts with industry and bipartisan support – find staunch resistance at the Maine DEP, where a former corporate lobbyist has taken the helm.

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Fireworks… Pretty Toxic!

Not only do they scare the living daylights out of so many dogs and other creatures, they also pollute our air, water and bodies!

Are We Celebrating Life or Death?

Let's find safer ways to celebrate

Let’s find safer ways to celebrate

Are these substances life supporting?

Aluminum, Antimony sulfide, Arsenic compounds, Barium , Cadmium, carcinogens, Copper compounds, dioxin, gunpowder, heavy metals , Lead Dioxide, Polychlorinated, dioxins, Lithium compounds, Mercury, Nitric oxide, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Perchlorate , radioactivity, Rubidium, Strontium, Sulfur Dioxide and others…

Perhaps we should celebrate with life supportive ways instead?

Read more:

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/are-fireworks-bad-for-the-environment

http://www.clearlakemuskoka.com/fireworks.htm

http://www.backcountryattitude.com/toxic_fireworks.html

The State Fire Marshall, an office within Cal Fire, has the statutory mandate to manage seized fireworks which are hazardous waste in most cases.
http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/technologydevelopment/opptd_fly_fireworks.cfm

“The toxicological research has shown that many of the metallic particles in the smoke from fireworks are bio-reactive and can affect human health,”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101116111715.htm

Note, some sites are including a campfire in their supposedly non-toxic alternatives suggestions, but woodsmoke is highly problematic as well.