Is There Mold In your Life

Mold can live and grow almost everywhere. Common building materials like sheet rock and cellulose insulation are perfect foods for mold. Sometimes mold infestation is visual to the eye and obvious but mold likes to hide behind walls and also in air conditioning and heating vents so you may not be aware that you have a mold problem. Mold loves moisture so if you have any type of water leakage in your home or if the weather has been particularly wet you are likely to have mold. It is estimated that 80-90% of all buildings have a mold problem.

Mold can cause many health problems, including allergies, asthma, flu like symptoms, mental fogginess, chronic coughs, headaches, sleep problems even death. While modern medicine can prescribe medications to help you deal with some of your symptoms, you will not truely solve your mold related health problems unless you can get rid of the mold.

How do we get rid of mold. The most commonly used solution is chlorine bleach.While chlorine bleach will kill mold on contact- chlorine bleach is toxic in itself. In addition because bleach is liquid, cleaning with bleach gives mold the moisture it needs to regrow . There are other chemical fungicides that can be used on mold but even if they are 99.999% effective, since mold can have 1 million spores per square inch, they will still leave behind 10 pores per square inch that will regrow the mold colony A third solution is an ozone generating machine. However ozone generators can cause lung irritation and create unsafe levels of ozone in your home (and are not that effective in controlling mold) In fact the California Department of Health Services strongly recommends that you NOT use an ozone air cleaner in any occupied space

So is there a safe solution to mold problems? Dr. Edward Close, a recognized expert in environmental science, has found certain theraputic essential oils to be a safe and effective way to kill mold. Studies done by Dr. Close indicate that diffusing this blend of essential oils not only destroyed mold spores, but also removed mold spores, dead and alive, from the air. For more information of ridding your home of mold using this nontoxic method see http://www.blissfullymoldfree.com/

In Lies We Trust

Do vaccinations really keep us healthy or are they flawed by design. Watch this video" In Lies We Trust" for a scary perceptive of the vaccination issue http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8674401787208020885&hl=en

Audio Chemicals in Body Care

Confused about what products are safe and which ones are not. Listen to my talk on Chemicals in Body Care http://neshha.org/MP3/MonMetAud/CherylRounds.mp3

Help - Olympic's Dirty Secret

Imagine you are an elite athlete. You have spent your entire life training and dreaming of the Olympics. You work hard to keep your body healthy and in superb physical shape so that you will have a competitive edge. You are hopeful that when you make the Olympics you will be able to break the records of those that have come before you. Then it happens - the dream finally comes true, you are accepted to the Olympic team . However, because the Olympics are being held in Beijing, China this year it soon becomes apparent that the dream is really a nightmare. If you decide to accept the challenge of competing, you will be forced to run the marathon in some of the dirtiest air on the planet. This may adversely affect not only your current health but also your future health for many years to come. And because the conditions will be so harsh, it is doubtful that you will be able to break nay records. As a natter of fact some countries like Australia will not even let their athletes run. Read Stephen Fox'(of the Santa Fe Sun News) full expose of this Olympic outrage here http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=52987&ret=AccountDtl.aspx

Then take action and tell Jacques Rogge in Lausanne Switzerland and the Olympic Committee that if we want to expect the best from our Olympic athletes then we need to provide our athletes with the best conditions possible. This means moving the marathon out of the city far away from the city smog!

The Body Care - Chemical Shuffle

California recently filed a lawsuit Against Whole Foods, Avalon, and others whose products tested positive for the carcinogen 1,4-Dioxane in a study done by the
Organic Consumers Association (OCA) Under California Proposition 65 any substance that contains a known carcinogen must carry a warning label or face prosecution.

Most people are under the assumption that body care products are regulated by the FDA or some other federal agency that assures safety and purity. In fact in 1938, the Cosmetic Act made manufacturers of body care responsible for regulating the products they produced. At the time it was assumed the skin was impervious to any of the chemicals they may have used in their beauty formulas. Today with the introduction and effectiveness of skin patches for drug delivery, we are more aware that chemicals placed on the skin’s surface will be absorbed into the body. Even worse every chemical our body is exposed to may not be totally eliminated and may be stored in the body’s fat and tissues. The storage of chemicals in the body is called “body burden” and there is not a person alive today that does not have some sort of body burden. Additionally each child born today will inherit some of their mother’s body burden and then will add to this burden throughout their lifetime.

There are over 30,000 different chemicals used in body care products today. At least one third are known to be carcinogenic, estrogenic, teratogenic or to cause various problems in human beings. The strategy of the chemical companies who produce these substances is to deny and/or minimize the problems they may cause. One of their key arguments is that these chemicals are in such minute quantities in their products that they couldn’t possibly cause harm. This argument negates the fact that these chemicals are in multiple products that are used daily along with multiple other chemicals that could cause synergistic effects.

The chemical named in the lawsuit is 1.4-Dioxane. 1,4-Dioxane is not added directly to body care products but rather it is a by product of the chemical process that turns Sodium (or Ammonium) Laurel Sulfate (SLS) to Sodium (or Ammonium) Laureth Sulfate. Sodium Laurel Sulfate.is a very harsh and powerful sudsing agent and degreaser. Sodium Laureth Sulfate is a slightly larger molecule that is little less harsh on the skin. To make the Lauteth version Ethylene Oxide (a petroleum product and known carcinogen) is added to the SLS .in a process called ethoxolation. Chemical companies like to confuse us and claim that one chemical is safer than the other but in truth the safety of neither has been proven. And while only certain manufactures were named in the current lawsuit any body care product or cleanser that has Sodium or Ammonium Laureth Sulfate as an ingredient will also contain 1,4-Dioxane.

There are other unintentional ingredients such as nitrosamines and formaldehyde that also show up in body care products. However, aside from these chemicals we also need to look more closely at the chemicals that manufacturers intentionally put into our personal care, . Many such as phthalates and parabens have been associated with cancers and have been outlawed in Europe. Our manufacturers continue to use these chemicals because they are cheap and effective for the uses they want and manufacturers value profit above safety.. They also choose to confuse us, often by noting the natural source of the chemical in parenthesis as (coconut oil) and by noting the words natural or organic somewhere on the label. But be aware that unless accompanied by a third party certification seal such as USDA organic, these words are just marketing terms designed to have us think these products are greener than they really are. This is a marketing technique called “greenwashing” .

The bottom line is most commercially sold body care products contain chemicals that can harm our health and that of the planet. There are good products available but we have to educate ourselves as to how to read labels and what to look for. As long as our laws allow manufactures to use questionable chemicals in the products they sell us, buying these products in a store such as Whole Foods or a high end department store, .is no assurance of quality. The quickest way to get good products to the market place is to vote with your purse and stop buying products with chemical ingredients. You can also go to www.safecosmetics.org and sign the petition to urge our legislatures to take action

For organic and chemical free body care products, check out www.blissfullyorganic.com , and also http://www.theoilsolution.com/bliss Also for chemical free mineral make up www.itvsmiles.com

BTW: Whole Foods shame on you. Many people trusted you to do better.

Cheryl Rounds