Question from Lisa Nyden

Dear Debra and Readers,

I recently purchaced an all purpose cleaning product called “Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day” I just have to say that I LOVE it. I chose the Geranium scent it is so nice and very refreshing. I was pleasantly surprised. It is made with safe ingredients and not tested on animals. I recommend it for anyone

Try it!

Debra’s Answer

I took a look at Mrs. Meyers for Debra’s List, and decided not to include them, because they do contain synthetic ingredients and there are plenty of all-natural and even organic cleaners (all the information I’m about to give you is on their website under “About Our Company”).

Mrs. Meyers uses “naturally derived ingredients whenever possible from corn, sugar cane, coconut and palm.” However, when they “cannot find a plant-derived ingredient that performs to our rigorous standards, [they] use ingredients from the world of safe synthetics.”

Their fragrances contain “natural essential oils and other non-natural ingredients.” Some companies, including Mrs. Meyers say they need to use these non-natural ingredients “to ensure safety, consistent performance and quality” however, other companies seem to be able to ensure these by using only natural essential oils. These are not suitable for people with allergies to fragrances or MCS.

Some good things about Mrs. Meyers:
* no ammonia, chlorine or phosphates, sodium lauryl sulfate, organic solvents (glycol ethers, butyl ethers) phthalates, mineral oil, animal-derived ingredients (except beeswax), or synthetic anti-bacterial or antiseptic ingredients
* recyclable packaging
* biodegradable
* concentrated
* not tested on animals

So Mrs. Meyers is better than a lot of what you will find on the shelf next to it in the supermarket, but not natural enough for me personally.

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Question from Michelle

Debra,

My doctor recommends I clean our baby’s cool humidifier with bleach and hot water. I do not use bleach for anything else because it is so toxic. Do you have any recommendations on how I can clean the humidifier and remove any mold in a less toxic way?

Michelle Clark

Debra’s Answer

My recommendation would be to use hydrogen peroxide instead, which will kill bacteria, but I don’t have personal experience with this. Readers? Your suggestions?

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Question from Nikki

I’ve been working on turning our apartment “green.”

Background: Our bathroom doesn’t have a window and the exhaust fan the manager had put in doesn’t work as well as the old one. Two showers are taken on a daily basis.

I’d like to get a hemp or cotton shower curtain. Which curtain type dries faster? Is one more resistant to mildew than the other? Will either curtain type completely dry overnight?

Thanks for your advice!

Nikki

Debra’s Answer

A hemp shower curtain will dry faster, however, it will still mold.

I’ve used cotton shower curtains in the past, and they seemed to mold to the point of having the mold eat holes in the curtain, rendering it unusable in 3-4 months. I finally just installed glass shower doors, which cost less than $100 at Home Depot and Lowe’s. And they are pretty easy to install if you are handy around the house.

If you don’t want to install glass doors, go with the hemp and pretreat it as described in Q&A: Controlling Mold on Shower Curtains.

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Question from SB

What is the best cookware for someone with mild sensitivities? Also is carbon steel cookware safer to use than regular stainless steel cookware. Lastly what is the best (in terms of safest) brand or type of stainless steel cookware out there?

Debra’s Answer

The best cookware for someone with mild sensitivities…Probably Pyrex and Visions are most inert, but if your sensitivities are mild, you can probably use any cookware.

For an overview of cookware, type “cookware” into my website search engine. There are a lot of Q&As on this subject.

Now, to answer your questions about stainless steel and carbon steel.

Carbon steel is used to make woks and I’ve also seen carbon steel skillets in restaurant supply stories. It is kind of greyish black. Made simply of iron with 0.1 to 1.2 percent carbon and even less manganese, carbon steel can be recycled and often contains about 25 percent recycled content whether it is so labeled or not.

Most pots and pans, cooking utensils, and flatware are made from stainless steel, which has a special ability to resist corrosion. The most extensively used type of stainless steel for household items is made from 71.95 percent iron, 18 percent chromium, 8 percent nickel, and 0.05 percent carbon. Stainless steel products can not be recycled and do not contain recycled material.

Stainless steel is generally considered the best choice for cooking because it is sanitary, nonporous, and the metals are highly stable. But stainless steel leaches nickel and chromium into food, which may be harmful to health, and environmentally, the mining and manufacture of steel is a highly technological, energy-intensive and polluting process. So it’s not one of my favorites, considering there are more healthful and environmentally-advantageous options available.

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Question from Van

Hi Debra,

I would like to get the most natural and safest carpets out there. Everything I’ve read seems to suggest that Earthweave amd Nature’s Carpet are the best natural wool rugs. The problem lies in there cost- too expensive. Are there cheaper alternatives? For example, Ikea and others carry natural wool area rugs but I can’t seem to find out if the carpet backings are treated with adhesives or if the carpets are treated with moth-proofing agents or other chemicals. Sisal or jute seem to be good alternatives as well, but again are these fibers tyically treated with chemicals?

Thank you.

Debra’s Answer

You are correct, The most natural carpets are Earth Weave and Nature’s Carpet. And they are expensive. But there are some other carpet resources as well, with lower prices. Take a look at Natürlich Natural Home for more wool carpeting, and The Carpet and Rug Institute Green Label Carpets for “low emitting” synthetic carpets that may meet your needs.

You can find links to all these at Debra’s List: Interior Decorating: Flooring.

It is very difficult to tell if natural fiber area rugs are treated with chemicals. Since they aren’t labled, it’s just kind of “buy and try.” I bought a 100% wool area rug for $39 from Lowe’s a few years back that’s covering up an unused heater vent in the floor–no odor at all. On the other hand, many years ago I bought a jute rug at Macy’s that had an odor I thought I could remove and was never able to. Try to sniff out odors on rugs in the stores and make sure you can return it if you get it home and find there is a strong odor.

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Question from Donna

Hi Debra

I’ve been wanting to ask you this for a while:

Crest White Strips, and/or other teeth whitening agents. Do you know anything about them? Are they safe? Can’t really tell by ingredients as I remember, but didn’t know if you had the inside scoop. I am most concerned as I do have an autoimmune illness that I have under control very well for the past twenty years and don’t want to do anything stupid to mess things up.

I appreciate any advice from you and your readers.

Thanks.

Debra’s Answer

The ingredients listed on the box of Crest White Strips are water, glycerin, hydrogen peroxide, carbomer 956, sodium hydroxide and sodium saccharin. These aren’t particularly toxic in the amounts used. For example, sodium hydroxide is lye, which will burn right through your skin if you put a wet lye crystal on wet skin, but it is very diluted in this formula. Sodium saccharin used to be thought to cause cancer, but has since been found to be safe. Glycerin can be made from petrochemicals or vegetables. In this case, it’s probably petrochemical.

Crest Whitestrips are thin, flexible strips coated with a tooth whitening gel, whose active ingredient is hydrogen peroxide, which is the same substance dentists use to whiten teeth. The reason you would use the strips instead of just putting hydrogen peroxide on your teeth is that the hydrogen peroxide needs to be held against the tooth for a period of time. The strips are designed to conform to the shape of your teeth, keeping the whitening gel on your teeth for 30 minutes at a time.

I don’t find this product to be particularly toxic to the degree that I would recommend against it for an average person. That said, if the glycerin is made from petrochemicals, it might be something you might not want to risk with your autoimmune condition.

Readers, what are your recommendations for natural ways to keep teeth white?

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Question from dg

Thank you for the sugar-free recipes, especially the Holiday Fruitcake. However, I did not find instructions for making my own candied fruit for this cake. Please tell me how to do this or help me find it on your website. Thank you for all the wonderful work you are doing. You are a “Godsend”.

Debra’s Answer

The recipe for making candied fruits is at Candied Citrus Peel. I found it by typing “candied” into my onsite search engine–access through the big purple SEARCH button on every page of all my websites–but there is also a link to it right where the ingredient is given in the recipe. You can use it to candy any fruits actually.

The recipe calls for using whole, brown, evaporated cane juice, so the color isn’t bright and sparkling like it is when you use white sugar. And evaporated cane syrup doesn’t crystallize or get hard and sticky like white sugar. But in a cake or pie, this candied citrus peel is lively and zesty and a great counterpoint to the sweeter fruits.

You could also use honey to candy fruits and it will behave more like white sugar.

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Question from Evie P.

Anyone lived through bedbugs and used eco means of getting rid of those little bastardos? We’re living on vinyl covers surrounded by chemicals and I’m still covered with bites. I tried vaseline on the legs (not so eco but better than the permicide) and I’m vacuuming. I am going to steam some things but hear that that doesn’t work so well anyway.

At this point I am ready to apply DDT directly to my body — but I am hoping there are some eco folks out there who have beat the bedbugs.

We live in NYC so putting everything in the sun is not an option.

And we do family bed, so there is a toddler in bed with us. We also have a dog.

Debra’s Answer

Readers? Any suggestions?

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Question from wt

hello,

i have been looking for a down or down alternative comforter for my two pre-teen boys (this alone, tells you…it’s gonna be thrashed in 3-6 months! so i don’t want to spend too much money on it. considering it somewhat disposable. 😉

i, myself, love the wool bedding products from Shepherd’s Dream, but i don’t want to invest that much money for something so short term for the boys. hence, i’m looking primarily at down alternative comforters.

are down alternative products considered “acceptable”? or are they BAD in terms of toxins etc. is there one ‘brand/type’ that is better than the others? or are they all bascially the same things with different names?

thank you very much.

Debra’s Answer

“Down alternative” is a tricky term because it can mean “an alternative to down,” such as cotton or wool or anything else that isn’t down, or it can mean a synthetic alternative to down. I think you are asking about the latter. Looking at websites, however, I see all these natural and synthetic choices listed on a “Down Alternatives” page.

The synthetic down alternatives are all made from 100% spun polyester. If the description on a comforter just says “down alternative” and nothing else, it’s polyester. They come in different brand names and have slight difference, but they are all basically polyester (I already reviewed one–PrimaLoft–in another question).

Whether or not polyester outgasses and how much it outgasses plasticizers is unknown. It’s not high on the list of toxic exposures in comparison to say, pesticides or water pollutants, but it has enough toxicity that I don’t recommend it. Plastics are also known to generally weaken the energy field of the body (one researcher found synthetic fibers can cause impotence), so it’s probably not the best thing to sleep under. And, of course, there are the environmental effects. Polyester is made from nonrenewable crude oil that often creates pollutants in mining and manufacture. The finished product is also not biodegradable and will sit in a landfill for centuries. So while this product may be convenient to humans, it’s not in the best interest of life overall.

Lyocell is a down alternative that is probably a better choice if you don’t want to spend the money on natural fill. It is a natural cellulose fabric, like rayon, which is made by processing natural cellulose from birchwood trees with various chemicals. It is considered by some to be an “ecologically friendly fabric”. Lyocell is more absorbent than cotton and more comfortable than polyester, as it wicks moisture away from the body and quickly evaporates it into the air (wool does this too) resulting in a more comfortable sleep.

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A few weeks ago I posted a comment on the question Cleaning Mildew about hydrogen peroxide. I said:

Last week, a reader wrote asking, “Is there really phenol in hydrogen peroxide bought in drugstores? Ever since I read your article in Natural Home magazine about vinegar and hydrogen peroxide, I’ve bought lots of big bottles of drugstore hydrogen peroxide and used it (and vinegar) all over the house. I even used it on everything except my papers and clothes to wipe the mold spores off. (I hope you think that was a good idea!) But now I’m concerned that I should not be using that kind?”

I thought I should do more research on hydrogen peroxide, since I and others have been recommending it as a natural alternative to more toxic chemicals. For years I thought the drugstore type was 100% hydrogen peroxide because I had no reason to think it wasn’t. And I didn’t know until we started using it in our chlorine-free pool that other concentrations even existed.

(click on COMMENTS to read the answer…)

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