Question from Mary

Hello Debra,

I would like your input…..we are removing carpet & putting in hardwood flooring . The challenge for me is the stairs. I feel somewhat unsteady when I think of hardwood , not carpet on the stairs…a little too ‘slippery’.

A frind suggested we put a runner on the stairs….but I am not sure how this would be any safer ( as in not slipping).

My husband says, ‘just put new carpet’, however, we have not researched the non-toxic avaiablitly of carpet.

any suggestions for a healthy AND safe treatment for our stairs ?

thanks…as always!

Debra’s Answer

I’ve never lived in a house with stairs, so have never had to address this myself.

You can research natural and less-toxic carpet at Debra’s List: Interior Decorating: Carpet.

But there may be another option for you. Skidding is a big problem in workplace safety and there are many products designed to make surfaces anti-skid and anti-slip. You can explore them at http://www.noskidding.com and other sites. They are probably sold at hardware stores too.

I don’t know anything about the toxicity of these products, but I can’t imagine they are any worse than new carpet.

Readers, any other suggestions?

Add Comment

Question from Natalie

Just wondering if you have any opinions about “food grade EVA” found in the wrap-in-mats. I bought one for my son for his lunch bag and am now wondering about the inner lining of EVA touching his food. I’m considering purchasing another (for snacks) but am a bit put off by the lining. I’d love to know what you think about it and if you think it is “safe” to use.

Thanks! Natalie

Debra’s Answer

EVA is ethylene-vinyl acetate, a polyethylene plastic (one of the least toxic of the plastics).

It’s no more toxic than a sandwich bag.

Read more about food-grade plastics here.

Question from Pat Habeck

Dear Debra

I am a chemically sensitive person ( I’d say moderately) and I recently pulled up an old, worn out rubber backed carpet and replaced it with an “Earthweave brand” carpet that is made of all natural wool,hemp/cotton back & natural rubber adhesive. They also installed an all natural wool pad. The ad said it was good for chemically sensitive people.

After it was installed, I found, much to my chagrin, that it affected my eyes and respiratory tract. I could not stay in that room! For me, it also had an odor like “rubber”. My husband who is not chemically sensitive smelled nothing.

We kept airing out the room for 5 weeks and my reaction did not become less so we pulled it up. I wonder if any other chemically sensitive people have had a similar experience with similar carpets?

We are now faced with the dilemma of what to do next. There is old linoleum tile on that floor now that needs to be covered up with something. After reading one of your respondent’s letters, cork probably would not be a good choice. We sure could use some guidance as this sure was an expensive mistake!!!

Debra’s Answer

Your experience is an important reminder that 1) people with MCS in particular have individual reactions to products that are not inherently toxic and fine for healthy people and 2) if you have MCS always, always, always test materials before making a large purchase like this.

I can’t tell you what you are going to tolerate. All the healthy, nontoxic flooring I know of is on this blog or Debra’s List. You’ll need to do your own testing to find out what you tolerate.

The one material I know that I would consider to be the safest would be ceramic tile. See Q&A: Safe tile grout and backerboard for safe installation.

All that said, readers with MCS, do you have any suggestions of flooring you have tolerated that she might tolerate too?

Add Comment

Question from Tracey from Chicago

I just got married the day before we closed on our new house. It’s already been five months, and I have not been able to live in it. I’ve been living with relatives out of state. The new house makes me so sick, I can only visit for a few days here and there, and only when all windows are constantly open and the hvac system is off. My last visit ended with me in the emergency room with difficulty breathing and chest pains. The doctor said it was inflammed bronchial tubes.

It may be left over residue from Ethyl Mercaptan, since there was an undetected propane leak in the home for over two months, before we bought it. OR…it might be the formaldehyde, as I seem to smell it the most when in the basement and near the kitchen cabinets.

We hired odor experts to come in and blast the place with Hydrogen Peroxide Generators for over 24hrs, which cut the fumes by 90% or more, but three months later it is building up again.

Our basement is unfinished with wooden beams on the ceilings, exposed plywood from the floors above, concrete slab foundation and blown-in insulation that is held in place with some sort of a fabric stapled to the studs. The basement is 2,000sf, and the entire house is 6,000sf.

We thought about carbon filtered air purifying systems, but the off gassing has to pass me as it comes out of the materials before it can reach the system…so there will still be exposure to it.

Are there any kinds of really super strong sealants that can be sprayed on…but what about insulation? Is there anything in concrete that would off gas?

Debra’s Answer

This is a fairly complex question that is difficult to answer from a distance. I would really need to come look at it.

What it sounds like is that you have had various treatments to “clear the air” of the pollutants, but the source of the air pollution is still there, continuing to emit.

My advice would be to figure out what is emitting the chemicals and remove or seal it, otherwise it is going to be an ongoing problem.

Also, did something happen between the time you purchased the house and it closed? Was it always this way? Was the problem not apparent when you were initially looking at the house?

It is very very important to consider toxic exposures of a house BEFORE you buy it. Best is to find a home that is nontoxic to begin with, or be sure you know how to remediate any toxic problems before you buy.

Add Comment

In our consumer-oriented industrial culture, the orientation we are given is to let things break down and then hire an expert or buy a product to fix it. Nature, on the other hand, continuously renews and maintains life forms. And so, following Nature’s inspiration, I continuously am looking for ways that I can continueously renew and care for my body, rather than letting it get to the point where there is a problem, and then trying to solve it.

This kind of self-care maintenance includes things like brushing teeth, eating nutritious food, etc.

For some years I have been looking for this kind of self-care instructions regarding my eyes. Some things are obvious, like don’t look at the sun, don’t poke your eyes with sharp objects, and the like, but I haven’t been able to find information on how to care for your eyes to keep them in good health and to maintain optimum vision.

I use my eyes every day for my work as a writer. It would be very difficult to do what I do if I couldn’t see.

Over the past year or so, for the first time in my life I began to have styes on the edge of my right eyelid. Stys develop when a gland at the edge of the eyelid becomes infected. It is like a small pimple on the edge of the eyelid. When I looked up stye on the internet, all I could find was that they are caused by bacteria. Nothing about how to prevent them. Styes are not a big thing. They come and go in a few days, but they are uncomfortable and not very attractive.

At the beginning of July, I got what I thought was another stye, but it didn’t go away. When after a few weeks it was still there, I went on another internet search and found there is another similar bump called a chalazion, which is an enlarged blockage of the same gland. This can last one to three months.

After two months, I finally went to an eye doctor to get a proper diagnosis and see what I could do to heal it or have it removed. And I got some information that surprised me.

Apparently styes and chalazions are quite common. They are caused by the build-up of oil and debris that gathers around the eyelashes. Our eyes are self-cleansing, but debris that is removed from the eye itself can gather around the eyelashes.

Now, around the rim of the eyelid there are meibomian glands, which are responsible for the supply of sebum, an oily substance that, among other things, prevents evaporation of the eye’s tear film. There are approximately 50 meibomian glands on the upper eyelids and 25 glands on the lower eyelids. When these glands are malfunctioning, the result is not only styes and chalazions, but also dry eyes, a very common eye condition for which millions of dollars worth of eye drops are sold.

When I went to the eye doctor, first a technician tested my eyes before I saw the doctor. I asked her if there was any self-care maintenance I could do for my eyes and she said no. Then I asked the doctor the same question, and she said no. It wasn’t until after the doctor examined my eyes and diagnosed the chalazion and I asked, “What causes chalazions and how can I prevent another one?” did she tell me about the meibomian glands and recommended washing my eyelashes as both a treatment and ongoing preventive measure. In fact, she told me that everyone should wash their eyelashes every day–at least once, if not twice–just as we brush our teeth! And, of course, she recommended an expensive product to use to wash them (I purchased it only because I wanted to heal the chalazion).

Now that I understand how the eye works, that these glands can get clogged, and how important it is to eye health that they function, it makes sense to me to take a minute to clean my eyelashes every day. But it makes me wonder, why is this not as widely known as brushing teeth? Especially since there are so many particles in the environment that come into the eye on a daily basis. Instead of maintaining eye health through simple self-care, we are taught nothing about our eyes and then sold myriad problems to relieve the symptoms that could have been prevented.

I have ordered some books on natural eye care and will be doing further research on this. I welcome any tips and comments or resources any of you have on how to care for our eyes naturally to maintain eye health and excellent vision.

Here are a few websites I found on the subject:

• Hanna Kroger: Natural Eye Care


• Natural Eye Care


• Ayurvedic Eye Care