Question from Kristen

Hi Debra,

Indulging chocolates and chocolate ice creams while watching movies has become our stress-free Saturday evening routine. However, since I read your article stating that 68% of chocolate contain lead, we were not able to carry out our routine. I looked into your food list and found organic chocolates, but they are expensive and delivery time is lengthy. Can you help me find lead-free cholocates I can purchase at the local supermarkets?

Kristen

Debra’s Answer

Lead in chocolate is primarily found in chocolates that contain pesticides and Dutch-process cocoa. So as long as you choose an organic chocolate, and avoid products containing Dutch-process cocoa, you should be fine.

Generally organic chocolate is not sold in supermarkets (but things are changing all the time, I recently saw organic chocolate bars at Walgreen’s!). You can find a good assortment of organic chocolate bars at your local natural food stores and Trader Joe’s also has organic chocolate bars, if you have that store in your area.

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Question from Ellen

I read in one of your books and have read elsewhere that it is important to switch from gas appliances to electric appliances if you are concerned about improving health. My daughter has many food and environmental sensitivities and I am trying to make decisions about what to clean up in the house so that she has a good environment for maximal healing. I suspect that she is probably MCS. I saw in on your page about cookware that you seem to have a gas stove in the photos. That got me curious. Is there any way to make it safe to cook with a gas stove by increasing ventilation? Or is this not worth the gamble?

Debra’s Answer

Combustion by-products from gas heat and appliances are toxic, and the best recommendation for avoiding these by-products is to not use gas appliances.

However, I am a very good cook and I extremely dislike electric stoves. Yes, I do use a gas stove in my house (though no other gas appliances).

Complete instructions for reducing exposure to combustion by-products from a gas stove are in my book Home Safe Home on page 68.

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Question from JIm

I am an engineer so I end up being pretty facts oriented. I have read enough literature that I am concerned about chlorine in my shower and drinking water.

However, as I think about that, I wonder about swimming pools and swimnmers? I swam through high school and into college and only ended up with blond hair and no acne. But I swam a lot – does anyone have any information about studies or research on Olympic swimmers and their health? I should think that literally hours of exposure to swimming pool chlorinated water daily for 20+ years should have serious health consequences? For example, how are Mark Spitz and Gary Hall doing, health-wise?

Debra’s Answer

Interesting question. I have no such data, but that would be a good study. Anyone have any info on this?

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Question from LB

I’m going to be replacing a kitchen sink faucet, and noticed that many on the market today have a pull out sprayer. This is convenient, but I notice that the spray hose is made from nylon. I am concerned that there may be chemicals that leach out into the water from such a hose. We would be using it for both hot and cold water and drink from our faucet as we have excellent well water ( but a bit on the acid side)

Any advice would be appreciated.

Debra’s Answer

Nylon is a plastic, but it outgasses very little. I’m not concerned about sink spray hoses contaminating water that is rushing through them with only a fraction of a second contact time.

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Question from Melissa

I’ve been making homemade bread recently and have been using a Pyrex loaf pan. It works great, but I’m looking for a larger pan. I recently read on here something about coated ceramic being bad, is that right (I may have my facts mixed up)? I’ve found a few commercial stainless steel pans and a few enamel/ceramic pans, but I’m not sure which to choose!

Debra’s Answer

Let me suggest clay pans, as they are wonderful for baking. Romertopf is one of the best brands of clay cookware.

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Question from Michelle

My husband and I have been taking 15 drops of grapefruit seed extract diluted in juice or water for several years now as an immune system booster. In fact, when we’ve been ill, the amount we’ve ingested has been much higher.

Now, in my research to find non-toxic cosmetics, I found a study that grapefruit seed extract contains toxic chemicals, including benzothonium chloride and parabens. I’ve also read studies that it is not safe to ingest grapefruit seed extract. But, I’ve found no information on the adverse side effects/disease that may be caused by such ingestion. Do you have any information on the bodily harm we may have done by such frequent use of grapefruit seed extract, or natural remedies we can use to detoxify our systems and remove any harmful, residual chemicals?

Thank you!

Debra’s Answer

The two chemicals you mention are both common preservatives, and are not extremely toxic, relatively speaking. I’m much less concerned about your ingesting these than pesticides, for example.

I haven’t done a lot of research on grapefruit seed extract, or used it myself. Grapefruit seed extract is derived from the seeds, pulp, and white membranes of grapefruit. Some natural products use it as a preservative. Recently, studies have identified synthetic preservatives in some commercial grapefruit seed extracts. Laboratory tests found the natural extracts that did not contain the synthetic preservatives to had little or no natural antimicrobial attributes of their own.

The confusing part of this is we don’t know if companies using grapefruit seed extract as an ingredient in another product are using grapefruit seed extract with or without preservatives, or if the companies using this as an ingredient even knew the chemicals were in the grapefruit seed extract.

If you are using grapefruit seed extract, or a product that contains it as an ingredient, I think it’s worth checking with the company on this.

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Question from R.S.

Hi Debra,

I try to avoid pre-packaged convenience foods to the best of my ability, but, like most people I have a very busy life and so I can’t make everything from scratch myself. I have two questions about convenience foods I frequently use. Are the bagged lettuces and pre washed vegetables (such as broccoli) safe? I do not mean in regards to salmonella, as much as the method in which they wash the produce, etc? While I realize cleaning a head of lettuce of broccoli does not take a lot of time- things add up, so I love using these products.

Second, I try to limit all the “health” food products with soy in them, mostly because and I don’t like the estrogenic like effect soy has and I have read that the soy used in processed goods is not high quality. However, I have noticed that almost all products (even health food brand products) now use soy lecithin as an emulsifier even in an otherwise soy free product (ex: graham crackers, bread, granola bars) Does soy lecithin also contain the estrogen type effect? Do you recommend avoiding it? Thanks!

Debra’s Answer

The problems with prewashed vegetables in plastic bags could be:

1) pesticides on the vegetables

2) pollutants in the water they were washed in

3) plastic residues from the bag

The ideal would be organic produce, not in a plastic bag, washed in filtered or spring water.

In the overall scheme of things, these contaminants in packaged prewashed vegetables are relatively minor, but can add up over time and increase overall load.

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Question from Donna

Can you suggest safe ear plugs? I have found ones made of polyurethane, silicone, or memory foam. There is a wax/cotton ear plug but it does not sound very comfortable. Thanks.

Debra’s Answer

Readers?

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Question from J. Gonzalez

I own a tour company in a small in Alaska. Our local storm drains dump directly into local waterways. We MUST clean & wash vehicles on a daily basis! I’m looking for an organic/natural alternative to using chemicals, and would appreciate any suggestions.

Debra’s Answer

You can actually use any plant-based soap or biodegradable dishwashing detergent to wash cars. No need for special car wash solution. BTW, Clean House, Clean Planet has a whole section on DIY car cleaning formulas.

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Question from J.F.

I know we are supposed to avoid buying pans etc with lead glaze in their paint. But how do we know if there is lead in the paint without driving ourselves crazy! For example, I called sur la table and the sales-person who answered the phone said we don’t use lead in our paint (she did not check with a supervisor), so is this really sufficient or should I go a step further? What confuses me is that for example, Le Creuset Dutch ovens are painted; even corning ware white collection is painted white? But you seem to recommend both those products. However, it would seem that even if le creuset does not have lead in their paint, that over the years the pain would chip nonetheless and get into our food.

Lastly, when I go to Target or Bed Bath and Beyond, for example, they always have cute, fun designed cereal bowls or mugs. Would you suggest just avoiding these products because they could be made with lead? Thanks so much!

Debra’s Answer

At this point in time, I don’t trust what salespeople say. I’ve run into too many who really don’t know the facts.

I just want to comment first on what you said. You said, “I know we are supposed to avoid buying pans etc with lead glaze in their paint.” That’s confusing right there.

There is lead in paint and lead in glaze, and those are two very different things. Lead is no longer sold in paint, but there may be old lead paint on walls in older buildings. There may still be lead in glaze on pottery items sold today.

So for you to ask the woman at Sur La Table “is there lead in the paint?”…the paint of what? You should be asking her specifically is there lead in the glaze of a specific item.

There is no “paint” on Le Creuset of the type that used to contain lead. Le Creuset has a baked-on enamel finish. Corningware is not painted white. The white is a pigment within the glass. It is not applied on top.

Lead in glaze has been an issue for many years. Still, one cannot assume that anything glazed is 100% free from lead–it may meet a federal or California standard which allows a very small amount of lead. Since there is no safe level for lead, and this is well known, to me no anything that comes in contact with food should be allowed to have any amount of lead in it.

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