GREEN HOMES AND GARDENS
By Eve Prang Plews
Licensed Nutrition Counselor
(Originally published in Sarasota's Natrual Awakenings magazine April, 2011)

You don’t just eat what’s on your plate.  Everything you eat becomes you.  The external intrudes continuously.  The external is all through us.  It doesn’t matter if you eat it, drink it, breathe it or rub it in your skin, toxins can affect your health and future no matter how they enter your body.  It’s one thing to clean up your diet by moving to more organic and whole foods, but it takes a deeper commitment to clean up your house and surroundings.

Start with the most prevalent poison:  pesticides.  Most everybody hates bugs in their house.  Ants, yucky roaches, silverfish and others threaten our very comfortable illusion of hygiene.  We think all bugs are dirty and carry disease.  Yet much more damage comes from the chemicals to control pests than the pests themselves.  Pesticides exposure can initiate cancers, cause developmental challenges, alter the nervous system and create reproductive problems.

Easy natural pest deterrents start with bay leaves placed behind every switch plate or electric outlet and shoved into every crack around plumbing.  Boric acid sprinkled around baseboards, the attic and garage deters more critters.

Pesticide exposure has been clearly connected to Parkinson ’s Disease, the thief of mobility.  Frequent users of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides used by landscapers and farmers increases their risk of Parkinson’s Disease.  When we spray outside, we carry it inside on our shoes.   Then it’s on our carpet for the next time the kids or the dog lays on the rug.

Natural Pest Control companies abound.  There is a choice to go the non-toxic way.  Exposure to neurotoxins, endocrine (hormone) disrupters and nerve gas doesn’t do a body good.  With 100 toxic pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and algaecides listed in the FDA list of potential poisons, it’s important to reduce your toxic load by keeping pesticides and the like off your yard and out of your house and workspace.  Since you can’t control what the neighbor or golf course sprays, you’ll still get exposure even if you don’t use poisons yourself.

Building materials from dry wall to bath and kitchen cabinets can off-gas formaldehyde and more bad news.  Carpet glue, paint fumes and foam sofas and beds contribute even more headaches, literally.  Pressed wood products from plywood to particleboard used to make furniture, cabinets, shelves, paneling and countertops are common sources of formaldehyde.  Burning eyes and throat, asthma, and other breathing difficulties as well as nausea can be formaldehyde exposure symptoms.

The laundry room can be a major source of harmful toxic exposure form seemingly benign items like fabric softener. You may not have heard of benzlacetate and pentane but likely have heard of chloroform, all fabric softener ingredients made more dangerous in the heat of the dryer.  Slow release of these chemicals from the clothes fibers can affect the health of the wearer.  Concentration, memory, fatigue, rashes, headaches and dizziness have all been attributed to fabric softener exposure.  Who knew? 

Indoor air quality can be hazardous from exposure to the natural radioactive gas, radon.  After smoking, it’s the second-leading cause of lung cancer.  Happily, Sarasota County is a low-risk area for radon exposure.

 Personal care products with so-called “anti-bacterial” properties contain an ingredient more harmful than the germs they’re designed to kill.  Triclosan is not just found in hand sanitizers, soaps, cosmetics, toothpastes and clothes; it’s also in children’s toys.  Now it can be found in rivers and streams and the sewage sludge used to fertilize crops.

Another endocrine disrupter, triclosan imbalances estrogen and testosterone levels and impairs thyroid function.  Yet it is no more effective at killing germs than washing with soap and water.  A class action lawsuit was filed against Dial Corporation for false claims claiming triclosan-containing products kill 99.9% of germs.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not protect consumers when under current law, chemicals are innocent until proven guilty.  This is a failure to protect from the Protection Agency.

“Fragrance” may be the most common ingredient in a myriad of household products.  From cleaning supplies to disinfectants, soaps to sunscreens, candles to dryer sheets, fragrances are everywhere.  The listing can include hundreds of carcinogenic and toxic chemicals that can be shielded under the term: fragrance.  Go the unscented route whenever possible.  Avoid any kind of air freshener be it spray, disk or oils.  A dish of white vinegar will dispel a funky odor quickly without exposing you to harm. Awakening awareness requires a constant vigilance to reduce your risks of repetitive toxic exposure.  It’s worth the effort.  It’s about your health.

Vinegar, steel wool and baking soda can replace more than half of the sprayer bottles and aerosol cans under your sink.  Ironically the very things that clean your house don’t leave you or your liver cleaner.  The opposite is true.  Seemingly harmless fragrance may be the most carcinogenic (cancer causing) ingredient in everything from scented candles to plug-in air fresheners.  Clean doesn’t actually smell like “lemon-fresh” whatever or like a mountain stream.  Clean smells like, well, nothing.  That’s the point.  Why trade “the smell of the sea” in your home for lungs that are polluted, glands imbalanced and a nervous system misfiring.

Make a change the next time you replace a product, be it window cleaner or dish soap, fabric softener or cosmetic.  Seek out non-toxic alternatives.  Food and Water Watch, Beyond Pesticides and Environmental Working Group are just a few organizations designed to inform you and protect both personal and planetary health.  Don’t count on industry or government to remove profitable toxic products from the marketplace.  Becoming informed is the first step to protecting your health.

Eve Prang Plews, a licensed Nutrition Counselor, has been in practice at her Sarasota clinic, Full Spectrum Health, for 22 years. You may contact her at 941 952-1200 or www.fullspectrumhealth.com.  Her previous articles are available at eveplews.com.  Eve’s radio show,  No Nonsense Nutrition, airs Mondays at 9 AM on WSLR 96.5 FM, or stream it live at wslr.org.  Alternate Mondays at 11AM she answers callers questions on WMNF, 88.5FM  Alternative Health with host Rob Lorei.