Water | Resources
Is Polyvinyl Alcohol Film Toxic?
Question from Kristen Conn
Hi Debra,
I’m wondering about the ingredient Polyvinyl Alcohol Film that is in many dishwasher detergent tabs. (Grab Green, Nellies, If You Care) Labels say it is completely biodegradable but the word “Polyvinyl” leaves me wondering if its going to leave something behind!
Debra’s Answer
Good question.
The thing that’s difficult about plastics is they are named in a way that can be confusing.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is very toxic, but polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is not. It is generally considered nontoxic and I see no information that would make me question that.
Steel Entry Door
Question from Karen Ann
Hi Debra,
A friend told me that you have a steel door on your house. All the ones i can find have polyurethane foam inside, or are solid steel (prohibitively expensive). Is yours a foam interior door, and do you know what kind of foam it has? have you ever had any problems with it out-gassing? Thank you so much for your help, in advance!
Debra’s Answer
Well, I don’t know if it has polyurethane foam inside or not. I’ve had it more than five years and there wasn’t anything on the label regarding this at the time.
The door is completely sealed. I can’t get inside to check without cutting the door open.
If it’s there, there is no exposure at all.
Felt Furniture Pads
Question from Catherine Triplettt
Hi Debra,
Hello, I have followed your advice for years-thank you!
I recently (one year ago) bought a nice Amish dining set as I have slowly replaced all my questionable furniture and toys with wood and domestic products.
My husband bought some felt furniture pads with the adhesive on them so the set wouldn’t scratch our 100 year old wood floors. They are the type bought at ace or home depot made oversees in China. It seemed a shame to stick these cheap pads with adhesive I am unfamiliar with on my furniture, but we did and they have been on for about six months.. He said he could find no other alternatives. I too have searched for a safe alternate. Do you think they are safe? I smell nothing, but I am afraid of the adhesive as I do not know what it is. Any suggestions would be great!
Debra’s Answer
I’ve used those too and smell nothing. I can’t evaluate them because I can’t get information on the actual materials. If I can’t get information, I go by if I can’t smell it and I feel fine when I’m around it, I use it. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s all I can do at the moment.
The only other thing would be to not use any product you can’t 100% verify.
It’s your choice.
Tales From Toxic Homes—A Household Toxicologist Shares His Experience
Today my guest is David Abbot, author of Healing Your Family With Practical Household Toxicology. We’ll be talking about his first-hand experience identifying toxic chemicals in homes, his observations of how these toxics affected the health of the home’s inhabitants, and ways everyone can reduce toxic exposures at home. David became aware he was sensitive to chemicals in the early 1980’s, but in retrospect he realized he had been chemically sensitive since he was a child. Like everyone born in the 1950’s, he had been exposed to DDT and many other highly toxic chemicals. A retired general contractor, David got formal training in a household toxicology program in the early 1980’s. The teachers included a PhD in toxicology, a mycologist for a public health department, a medical doctor who was board certified in environmental medicine and had a masters in public health, a chemist, an engineer, and various EPA experts. He also recieved informal training from a microbiologist, a few chemists, a nuclear inspector at the Bremerton Naval Shipyard, and an electrical engineer. He studied household and industrial vacuum and air cleaning technology at the engineering library, as well as buying many vacuum cleaners and air cleaners and using them and taking them apart, so he could understand how they worked and how many of them are improperly designed, do not really work right, and expose people to toxins and allergens. He then volunteered for about three years, going to the houses of people whose health conditions did not respond to medical treatment. In every case he found chemical toxins and/or biological allergens that are known to cause those medical conditions. You may email David at David healthy.environment@frontier.com for information on how to order his book.
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
Tales from Toxic Homes – A Household Toxicologist Shares His Experience
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: David Abbott
Date of Broadcast: May 07, 2015
DEBRA: Hi, Debra Lynn Dadd, and this is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world and live toxic free. It is Thursday, May 7th, 2015. It’s a beautiful day here in Clearwater, Florida. The sun is shining, no rain, no breeze, just a beautiful sunshine. We’ve got a lot of sunshine here.
So what we’re going to be talking about today is household toxics, which we talk about every day, but from a little different perspective. My guest today is a household toxicologist. He’s written a book and he has many years of experience. He was actually trained as a household toxicologist and he’ll be telling us about that, how he got trained. But he also has worked on many houses in many places in many ways to reduce toxic chemical exposures. So he has a tremendous amount of experience.
He realized that after working for many years as a household toxicology consultant, he started getting the symptoms from exposure to toxic chemicals that were in his clients’ homes. He realized that if his clients had had some written instructions and guidelines, that 95% of them could have solved their own household toxicology problems without him even going to their house. So he wrote this book.
So he’s got a lot to tell us about toxic chemicals in homes, how people react to them, and what you can do to fix them. His name is David Abbott, and he’s the author of Healing Your Family with Practical Household Toxicology.
Hi, David.
DAVID ABBOTT: Hi, Debra.
DEBRA: How are you doing today?
DAVID ABBOTT: I’m doing well. And you?
DEBRA: Good. Very good. I’m very interested in having you tell your story about how you got interested in this and in particular, household toxicologist, I’ve actually never heard that term before. Is there a whole field of household toxicology that I’m just not aware of?
DAVID ABBOTT: Well, actually, I may have coined that phrase.
DEBRA: And it’s a very good one.
DAVID ABBOTT: There are not very many people who do this although in China, they have started training people to do it.
DEBRA: Wow.
DAVID ABBOTT: The government actually does that.
DEBRA: There’s a whole field of [inaudible 00:03:32] biology, which I think may be slightly different from what you do because I think that you focus on the toxic chemicals and [inaudible 00:03:40] biology includes all kinds of things, electromagnetic fields, molds and all these other things. They include toxic chemicals, but they aren’t as trained as I think you are or as trained as – I mean, I’m not trained by somebody. I’m trained by 30 years of my own research. So I think that most people don’t have that.
So tell us how you got interested in this on the first place.
DAVID ABBOTT: Well, actually, before I do that, I think very highly [inaudible 00:04:13] biology. It’s total common sense and very practical.
DEBRA: Yes, it does.
DAVID ABBOTT: And it works. Around 1973, I started noticing that I was chemically sensitive. I started putting two and two together, “When I used this product, I start to feel this way. When I use that product, I get sleepy or confused,” and that sort of thing. And I found that if I didn’t use those chemicals, I felt better.
So I started studying the toxins in building materials and building practices because I was a general contractor. I spent most of my time building houses and repairing or remodeling or maintaining them. And I started reading all of the fine print on the labels of the materials that I use, and the MSDS sheets, the Material Safety Data Sheets.
I spent a lot of time at the University of Washington Engineering and Medical Libraries, studying indoor air quality, air flow in and around houses, the Ashray textbooks, and that sort of thing. I studied with a guy who has a Ph.D. in Toxicology from the University of Washington, [inaudible 00:05:36] to work for the Seattle Health Department and some chemists and biochemists, a physicist, electrical and biochemical engineers, medical doctors who specialize in environmental medicine and EPA department experts.
DEBRA: Yes, so you have lot of training. And you mentioned to me that there was a Household Toxicology Program in the 1980s that you were a part of. Do you know anything about how that came together? It sounded from your description there was actually a program or people were being trained to learn what you know.
DAVID ABBOTT: Yes, it was. And technically, I’m not supposed to mention it to you because they said they didn’t want anyone to use the training from that program to make money or to engage in other activities besides their program.
DEBRA: Okay. Is that program still existing because I’ve never heard of a program like that?
DAVID ABBOTT: Well, as far as I know, it is. I haven’t talked to them in some time. And I actually broke off with them because they were being funded by two groups that were using the program to collect data about homeowners’ use of toxic chemicals for their own studies. And so it turned out that that was actually the main goal of the program rather than teaching the program participants how to protect themselves from the exposures while they were doing the consultations.
DEBRA: Did you find that once you were trained – you had mentioned, I think, in your e-mail to me about your book that after you started doing these consultations that you became more chemically sensitive? Did you find doing the work actually affected your health?
DAVID ABBOTT: Yes, I did, very much so. Typically, when people have health issues that don’t respond to conventional or alternative medical treatment, they are being exposed to chemical toxins or sometimes mold and pollen and animal dander and that kind of thing in their own house. And sometimes their use of insecticides was so excessive as to be really frightening. Insecticides are usually neurotoxins and insects and human beings have brains and nervous systems that operate through the exact same basic biochemical mechanisms.
And so many insecticides that poison insects by attacking their brain and nervous system does the exact same thing to people. It’s frightening to use insecticides especially when we consider that most of the insects that we poison are not really dangerous to us.
DEBRA: That’s exactly right. That was something that I came to many, many years ago. I don’t remember the last time I used a pesticide because I’ve been doing this for so long. But I came to a point where I said, “Wait a minute. Do I really want to spray toxic chemicals in my house because I have flies?” I could put up screens. Are spiders so bad?
I think that we were trained to see insects as being pests that need to be eradicated by poisons just by watching television and general society. But when I started becoming more aware of nature myself, I started thinking, “Well, wait a minute. These insects, these are all part of the ecosystem. I just need to put up a barrier and say, ‘You stay out there and this is my house.’ I don’t need to spray them.”
DAVID ABBOTT: Yes. And you can get a spray bottle and fill it. What we have available here locally at the liquor stores is something called Diesel, which is not diesel oil or diesel fuel. It’s actually about 90% and under so pure grain alcohol. And so it’s the same type of alcohol that we drink in beer or whiskey or whatever.
But if you spray a fly or a bee or a wasp or a hornet with this stuff from one of those hand spray bottles, it just drops right out of the air. It’s much easier to deal with.
DEBRA: Much easier, much easier. And there are so many solutions. There are so many things that we can do instead of things that are toxic.
We need to go to break but when we come back, we’ll talk more. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. And my guest today is David Abbott. He’s the author of Healing Your Family with Practical Household Toxicology. And this is a brand new book. It’s just barely available. But if you would like a copy, you can e-mail David and just go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com. Look for the description of this show and you can get his e-mail address that way. We’ll be right back.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is David Abbott. He’s the author of Healing Your Family with Practical Household Toxicology.
David, could you tell us some stories about toxic exposures you’ve seen in homes and how they were affecting people?
DAVID ABBOTT: Sure. There was a girl named Amy, whose mother called and asked if I could help her. She kept getting lung infections and she had memory loss that was making her college work difficult. And her doctor said, “I don’t know why you keep getting sick because you have a good attitude, you have a good diet, you do 45 minutes of aerobics every day. You seem to be doing everything right.”
And he had her on a bronchodilating inhaler. It’s steroid inhaler. And she had to take cycles of antibiotics. But the lung infections kept coming back.
And in inspecting her apartment, I found a leaking furnace gasket and a leaking can of insecticide. And when she fixed the furnace and got rid of the insecticide, the lung infections disappeared. She started getting better grades in school with less effort, and her doctor took her off all of the drugs.
This actually makes sense because the carbon monoxide leaking out of the furnace is something that’s known to cause memory loss and the insecticide can make people more vulnerable to lung infections. It weakens the immune system. And so a lot of times, when people aren’t responding to medical treatment, it’s because they’re being exposed to toxins.
DEBRA: And I think that that’s a very important sentence that you’ve just said. A lot of times when people aren’t responding t medical treatment, it’s because they’re being exposed to toxins. Because I’ve been saying for a long time that right now, today, people are being so exposed. Everybody is being exposed and all these illnesses that people are having. You can do all the medical treatment whether it’s standard medical treatment or alternative medical treatment, and if you are exposed to toxic chemicals, you’re still going to be sick. You still are going to be sick if you’re being exposed to toxic chemicals. And that’s just the fact of it today.
And so if anybody wants to be healthy, the first thing is to address your toxic exposures because everybody has them. And people say to me, “But I’m not sick.” Well, it’s only a matter of time. It really is only a matter of time because they’re there if they’re making your body sick. And that’s just the truth of the matter today.
DAVID ABBOTT: Yes. A lot of times what I run into is one of the people in the house will say, “I don’t know why you say you react to this chemical because I don’t react to it at all.” And their assumption is that everybody is going to react in precisely the same way to the same chemical. But truthfully, we each have a different balance of health in our liver, kidneys, lungs, brain, endocrine system, and all the rest. And so it isn’t really possibly to predict how a given person is going to react to a given toxin.
DEBRA: That’s right.
DAVID ABBOTT: In fact, a friend of mine who has a doctorate in chemistry from Berkeley told me that no government or research institute or private clinic or hospital or an industry has enough time and money and technical expertise to determine how a specific person will react to a specific combination of toxins. And this incredible complexity of the issue actually simplifies it because as you said, if we reduce our exposure to chemicals simply as a result, it can only help us.
DEBRA: I did a lot of research in the beginning when I first learned that my body was getting sick from toxic chemical exposure in my home which totally shocked me because at that time, I thought that the government was removing toxic chemicals from everything. But that’s not the case at all. And I did all this research because I was trying to say, “Okay, here’s my list of symptoms. I have headaches, I have insomnia, I have depression. And what are the products in my home that are causing those?”
And so, I could see that if I sprayed hairspray on then I would get a headache. As I did my research, I learned that formaldehyde on bedsheets causes insomnia. I had to put those pieces of data together to figure that out. But I found out in separate books and I put it all together and I went, “Oh, my permanent-pressed sheets have formaldehyde and formaldehyde causes insomnia.” And I changed my sheets and I could sleep. It just solved that just like that.
And on a larger scale, you can’t always make those associations that are that precise. And what I found was that if I were to just remove all the toxic chemicals I possibly could, then it would make my body healthier just in general. And I think that that’s what people need to do instead of saying, “Well, I have cancer,” or, “I’m impotent.” Sure there are causes of chemicals that relate to these things but say we removed all the carcinogens in your life but you still have all the neurotoxins.
DAVID ABBOTT: Yes. And another thing that we often run into is when people start hearing about all of these toxins, they say, “I don’t feel safe. I worry all the time. I don’t feel safe in my house. I don’t feel safe going out in public.”
The thing that we need to remember is that we just do what we can do at the time and take steps other than getting rid of toxins such as eating a good diet, having a good attitude, meditating ,doing yoga, Tai Chi Gong, this kind of thing. Even just going for a walk every day.
And these things can be really beneficial.
DEBRA: Yes, and there are all kinds of detoxing that I write about. There are so many things that we can do. Actually, I was just writing in my one my blogs, Toxic Free Body, I was writing about – you know that old song, Accentuate the Positive? I even put a video of that song in the blogpost because so many times we focus on what is the negative aspect of things. But there’s always something positive. There’s always a positive and there’s always a negative in any situation.
And so the negative is that toxic chemicals are all around us and poisoning us. But the positive is, there’s a whole lot of other things that we can do that aren’t toxic and we can keep making those choices, keep accentuating the positive, keep doing the things that remove toxic chemicals from our body, take them out of our homes, help remove these toxics in our communities. There is so much we can do. There’s so much we can do.
DAVID ABBOTT: Definitely.
DEBRA: I think we’ve come up to the break. So this is Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is David Abbott, author of Healing Your Family with Practical Household Toxicology. And you can go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com and look for today’s show and it has his e-mail address where you can e-mail him and get information on how to order his book.
We’ll be right back.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is David Abbott, and he is the author of a book called Healing Your Family with Practical Household Toxicology.
So David, let’s talk about some things that you have some solutions to these problems. You’ve looked at so many houses. What is the most common thing that you find and what do you tell people to do about it?
DAVID ABBOTT: Well, the most common thing I found that I think is the most dangerous is insecticide use. But there’s also a lot of just really simple stuff that actually doesn’t take any effort or any money to solve.
For instance, a woman told me that she always needed to use her asthma inhaler when she was cooking dinner. And so she had a gas stove. And I said, “You cook on the front burners, right?” And she said, “Yes.” And I said, “Okay, let’s turn on the front burner and take a smell of the air when that burner is on.”
And I showed her how to identify the smell of the combustion fumes from the gas flame. And then I said, “Now, you’ve got a vent soaked or a vent fan here above the stove. Let’s turn it on.” And she turned it on and I said, “Now, pretend that you’re stirring a pot on this front burner. In fact, let’s put a pot full of water there and stir the water with a spoon.”
And when she did that she could still smell the combustion fumes even though the vent fan was on. Because to be honest, there isn’t any vent fan that would remove the combustion fumes from the front burners when you’re stirring something on the stove.
So I showed her just to cook on the back burner and when she did that she didn’t need her asthma inhaler when she was cooking.
DEBRA: Well, now, that’s exactly the kind of quick and easy and practical thing that everybody should know and we don’t know. I’ve been studying this for more than 30 years and I didn’t know that.
DAVID ABBOTT: In fact, I didn’t know it until she asked me.
DEBRA: But then you figured it out because you had a background.
DAVID ABBOTT: And I was thinking about how can this happen? Why would she need her inhaler? Well, the only thing she is being exposed to here could be combustion fumes because that’s the only thing that changes when she turns on the stove. So yes, really simple.
DEBRA: But you figured out – here’s the thing that you figured out, I think, is – I would figure out that she was being exposed to combustion fumes. But it would never occur to me that how the hood vent is pulling up the fumes or not pulling up the fumes from the front burners versus the back burners. It just would never occur to me. But that opens the door. Just knowing that opens the door to people who are listening to us. It opens the door to being able to use a gas stove maybe for some people who can’t use them.
DAVID ABBOTT: Yes, I actually use an electric stove for that reason. But a lot of people assume that just because they have a vent fan that it works perfectly. That in all the years that I’ve done consultations, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one vent fan that was properly maintained. And when they’re not working right, they don’t work efficiently. And even when they are working as they were specifically designed to work, most of them actually still don’t get all of the fumes out.
And so I’d say, “You know, you got to figure ways around this sort of thing.” And a lot of times, even the building codes don’t really protect people against a lot of sources of toxins. As you pointed out in your books and on your show about toxins in building materials and they’re approved by the building departments. They’re fine with them.
DEBRA: We need building codes that protect us from toxics. I love that.
DAVID ABBOTT: Yes. We need new building codes.
DEBRA: Maybe I need to write my own building codes.
DAVID ABBOTT: That would be good. I think typically, the building codes are quite a few years behind common knowledge and they only catch up with common knowledge when enough people say, “Hey, come on. This doesn’t make sense.”
There is actually a building code here where I live where, before you put the drywall in your house, you had to put a solid layer of plastic sheeting all around the stud walls and then put the drywall on. And what was happening is the moisture from the air that people exhale and from showers and cooking and laundry was going through the drywall which it does. It goes through the paint and through the drywall, it would hit the plastic and condense there because the plastic was colder than the inside air. And then it would create mold. And so there were mold infestations in virtually all of the new houses in this area.
And the city got sued for it and then they changed the building code. These building codes, a lot of times, they’re not really efficient.
DEBRA: So I want to go back to insecticides for a second. So if insecticides are the most common, then obviously, you tell people to stop using them. But what about the insecticides that are already in the home?
DAVID ABBOTT: Yes, that’s really an issue. And a lot of parts of the south where they would take – I forgot the name of it, but it’s a really potent insecticide. And they would take 5 or 10 or 15 or 20 pounds of it and just put it on the building site in the center of the house on the dirt, and then build the house over it. And their logic was this will kill termites or fire ants or whatever other kinds of insects that might get into the house. But the problem is it hurts people too.
There’s got to be other ways to deal with this stuff.
One of my clients’ daughters had a brain seizure and the doctors at a major university hospital didn’t know why and they didn’t know whether she would have more. They prescribed a potent psychoactive drug that had very serious side effects. And when I inspected the house, I found four insecticides in the house. Three in the lawn care products that they stored in the attached garage and one, a leaking can of bee spray in the laundry room. And what people need to understand is that all of those spray cans of insecticides leak even when they’re brand new.
And in fact, you can walk down the aisle in any hardware stores and you can smell the insecticide in that aisle because the valves leak. They’re made out of very soft thermoplastic and they simply don’t work properly.
And so the girl, for her own reasons, she didn’t like the side effects. She refused to use the drug that they prescribed. Her parents got rid of the insecticides. And when the doctors read my written report, they said, “Yes, this is true. These four insecticides can cause brain seizures.”
And now eight years later, no seizures. She’s healthy and happy. She has good friends and getting good grades in school.
DEBRA: That’s so good. See, what a difference this makes.
You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is David Abbott. He’s the author of Healing Your Family with Practical Household Toxicology. And if you go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com, look for his show and you can see his e-mail address where you can write to him for more information on how to order the book.
We’ll be right back.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is David Abbott, author of Healing Your Family with Practical Household Toxicology.
David, I want to hear more about some of these easy fixes like you just told us about cooking on the back burners of your gas stove.
DAVID ABBOTT: Well, keeping the furnace well maintained is really vital because all the air in the house pretty except for in the closets and in some corners is cycled through the furnace, if you have a four-stair furnace. And most people use those blue or green-colored, really loose furnace filters. And what they don’t understand is that those filters are specifically designed to keep large clumps of dust out of the furnace blower motor. They’re not actually designed to keep dust out of the house. And there has been studies and virtually all samples of household dust in America had the heavy metal lead and the long-banned insecticides, DDT, and lots of other toxins in them because dust is like a sponge for toxins.
And they make high efficiency furnace filters that really do a pretty darn good job of filtering out dust and pollen and mold spores, yeast spores, this kind of thing. But the key thing is not only to use these furnace filters, they have to be changed when they’re dirty. And so you buy two at the same time and you keep one in the plastic wrap and you check it every month or so until you’re familiar with how it’s going. And you compare the filter that’s in the furnace to the new one that’s in the wrap. And you can see the difference in the color between the new one and the one in the furnace. It’s time to change it.
DEBRA: Another thing I didn’t know. That’s a really good tip.
DAVID ABBOTT: And if you have asthma or any other respiratory or immune system disorder, when you change the furnace filter, you want to wear a good dust mask. And the kind of dust mask to wear is the same kind that most dentists and doctors use. It’s the accordion fold, very soft, almost cloth-like filter with the ear loops. And because those harder cone dust masks don’t really work. They led dust in around the corners, around the edges. So you simply put the used furnace filter into a garbage bag and put it in the trash and put in a new one.
But you don’t want to use the anti-microbial furnace filters because those contain chemicals that are registered with the EPA as insecticides. And insecticides are not safe for us.
DEBRA: We don’t want them blowing all through. What you don’t want to do is take insecticides and put them in our HPAC system and have them blow all around the house.
DAVID ABBOTT: Yes, that’s right. I found that a lot of people say, “I use so many toxic chemicals for so long that it wouldn’t make any difference if I stop now. So why bother being careful?”
DEBRA: Oh, good. Answer that question.
DAVID ABBOTT: That’s like saying, “I’ve hit my thumb with a hammer so many times that it wouldn’t make any difference if I stop. And in fact, I think I’ll hit my thumb with a hammer right now just to prove it.”
And no one would do that with a hammer. And yet so many people do it with toxic chemicals.
DEBRA: Why do you think that we still have so many toxic chemicals when there is so much evidence that they’re harmful?
DAVID ABBOTT: Part of the reason is that we are genetically hardwired to be afraid of flier, to be afraid of falling, to be afraid of abandonment, these kinds of really basic, visceral, emotional triggers. But toxic chemicals haven’t been around long enough for us to have a genetically hardwired fear or concern about them.
And so it’s basically information-based. And a lot of people don’t have the information. And then when you get into insecticides and some weed poisons and moss poisons and things, then there’s the neurotoxic effect to be dealt with because actually, I have seen people who I believe who were using insecticides to self-medicate in the same way that many people use alcohol or recreational drugs where they have these issues that are difficult for them to deal with and face. And they’re not sure what to do about them. And they found through experience that if they spray some bee poison or some ant poison or fly poison or whatever, that they feel better that those emotions disappear.
The reason they disappear or seem to disappear is because the insecticides attack the nervous system and prevent certain circuits in the brain from functioning properly.
It’s not the best way to deal with those issues.
DEBRA: No, it isn’t. I’ve heard that about painters in the past. The painters get addicted to the toxic chemicals in paint. And so they actually get withdrawals and things. And so they have to keep painting and then they just get sicker and sicker and sicker. Kind of like with any drug or cigarettes or anything like that. These are all related chemicals and that our bodies can get addicted to them.
I think that’s actually a thing that we should be considering more is how people are getting addicted to the toxic chemicals in their homes that all talked about much.
DAVID ABBOTT: And there’s a neurologist named Barry Sterman, S-T-E-R-M-A-N, and he found that when he – he was hired by NASA because the astronauts were getting exposed to rocket fuel, of course, when they were shooting up into the atmosphere. And the exposure to rocket fuel was causing epileptic seizures. And that’s the last thing you want an astronaut to be having.
And what Sterman found is that when he did neuro feedback on cats and then exposed them to that particular toxin, the cats didn’t react to the toxin. They had no apparent reaction whatsoever. And what he was training them to do was to exhibit strong SRM sensory motor brainwaves. And those are the brainwaves that a cat has when it’s sitting by a mouse hole and patiently waiting for the mouse to pop its head out. The cat’s totally relaxed but totally alert.
And that brainwave state helps people apparently to resist the effects of toxic chemicals. And I have found that to be true in my case. Although I certainly wouldn’t advise anyone to get neuro feedback and then say, “Now, I can use chemicals.”
DEBRA: No.
DAVID ABBOTT: But I would advise people who are having symptoms of chemical exposure to try neuro feedback and see if it can help them deal with the symptoms.
DEBRA: Well, I hear people saying, “I’m chemically sensitive.” Or that they’ve been poisoned by something and they say, “How can I be tolerant to be around these toxic chemicals?”
Now, I understand where they’re coming from because having been in that situation myself in the past. I understand that you want to just be able to be a normal environment and not react to it. But the thing that I think that most people aren’t realizing is that when they ask that question, they’re saying, “How can I be around poison and not have the normal reaction to it that would tell you that it’s toxic and you shouldn’t be around it?”
DAVID ABBOTT: Yes.
DEBRA: And I think that people are confused. There has been so much information about multiple chemical sensitivities and I did believe that there is such a thing as people being sensitive to a chemical. But if we think of it only as a sensitivity, we miss the whole picture that their poisons, and we’re all being poisoned. We’re all being poisoned.
DAVID ABBOTT: You are right. Yes. I have a friend that I’ve talked with a lot about this stuff. And he found for him the perfect solution. When I talk about this stuff, he says, “Oh, yes. You are chemically sensitive.”
And what I say is just what you said, “Now, wait a minute. These are actually poisonous chemicals. And even people who think that they’re not reacting almost undoubtedly are.”
I know a guy years ago when I was construction, he was 6’4″, built like a football linebacker, one of the most powerful people I’ve ever met in my life and just full of life. And he was exposing himself every day in his work to these toxic chemicals and one day, he visited me and he was skin and bones. And I say, “What’s going on?” And he said, “Well, I’ve got cancer.”
And a couple of months later, he was dead. And I found myself thinking, “That was a gamble that didn’t work.”
DEBRA: I don’t tell this story very often but when I was much younger and – actually, I’m not going to tell this story because we only have 30 seconds left. So thank you so much for being with us, David. And your book is very interesting. I’ve been reading bits and pieces of it. There’s a lot of information in there. Remember listeners, you can go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com, get David’s e-mail address and find out how you can order his book.
This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. Be Well.
DAVID ABBOTT: Thank you, Debra.
DEBRA: Thank you, David.
How Inactivity Leads to Illness and Drug Use—And How Exercise Can Get You Off Drugs and into Health
My guest today is Pamela Seefeld, R.Ph, a registered pharmacist who prefers to dispense medicinal plants and other natural substances instead of prescription drugs. We’ll be talking about the latest studies that show how inactivity contributes to illness (and subsequent drug use) plus how simple exercise can help your body be healthy more than expensive drugs. Pamela has more than 25 years experience choosing and selling top quality medicinal supplements, so she’s seen it all. Pamela is a 1990 graduate of the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, where she studied Pharmacognosy (the study of medicines derived from plants and other natural sources). She has worked as an integrative pharmacist teaching physicians, pharmacists and the general public about the proper use of botanicals. She is also a grant reviewer for NIH in Washington D.C. and the owner of Botanical Resource and Botanical Resource Med Spa in Clearwater, Florida. www.botanicalresource.com
LISTEN TO OTHER SHOWS WITH PAMELA SEEFELD
- Vaccines: Harmful or Necessary?
- Evaluating A Study and Testing a Test
- Seven Deadly Drugs
- The Hidden Dangers Affecting Your Heart and How You Can Protect It Naturally
- What We Can Do About Cancer
- The Power of pH
- How to Protect Your Health From Toxic Mercury Dental Fillings
- Pharmacology 101: How to Use What Pharmacists Know to Take Supplements to Best Advantage
- Are You Heading For Kidney Failure? Natural Remedies Can Help
- How to Keep Your Blood Vessels Open and Flowing With Supplements
- How to Protect the Environment from Pharmaceutical Pollution by Using Natural Medicinals
- Hidden Toxic Dangers in Common Dietary Supplements
- See More Clearly with Natural Remedies
- Hidden Mental Health Dangers in Common Drugs
- Different Types of Detox
- Getting Off Prescription Drugs with Natural Remedies
- How Natural Remedies Could Have Saved A Life
- Natural Alternatives to Sleeping Pills
- Natural Back Pain Treatment Options That Work
- How Toxics Age Your Body & What You Can Do to Stay Young
- You CAN Lose Weight—Even if You’ve Had Difficulty Losing Weight Before
- Calcium—Is There Really a Deficiency in America?
- It’s Cold and Flu Season—How to Support Your Immune System and Why You Shouldn’t Get a Toxic Flu Shot
- How Eating Fruits and Vegetables Help Your Cells Create Health
- Toxic Psychiatry and How to Have Mental Health Without Drugs
- Why You Should Take Fish Oil and How To Choose the Right One for You
- Medicinal Plants Can Replace Toxic Drugs
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
How Inactivity Leads to Illness and Drug Use and How Exercise Can Get You Off Drugs and Into Health
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Pamela Seefeld
Date of Broadcast: May 06, 2015
DEBRA: Hi, I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and this is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world and live toxic free.
It is Wednesday, May 6, 2015, and I’m here in sunny Clearwater, Florida. And today is every other Wednesday so my guest is Pamela Seefeld. She’s a registered pharmacist who prefers to dispense medicinal plants and other natural substances instead of prescription drugs. She knows so much about how we can use natural substances to heal our bodies that I have her on every other Wednesday. And today’s the other Wednesday. And so here she is again.
What we’re going to be talking about today is inactivity, how inactivity leads to illness and drug use because when are inactive, as most people are in the modern world, then we get illnesses that lead to us taking drugs and then we start going down that drug spiral.
So today we’re going to be talking about how inactivity leads to illness, how exercise makes you healthy, and what we can do so that we can be drug free. For anybody who is still taking drugs or knows anybody who is taking drugs but is close to you, this is important information.
Hi, Pamela.
PAMELA SEEFELD: Hey, it’s great to be here.
DEBRA: Thank you. You sound so bright and healthy. You always do.
PAMELA SEEFELD: I feel healthy. I feel great.
DEBRA: I have to tell everybody. I said this before but I just want to say it again that Pamela is the number one, healthiest-looking person I’ve ever seen. When I first saw her, I thought, “This is a healthy person. I want to be healthy like this.”
PAMELA SEEFELD: Yes, I feel really great. I really do. I’m very blessed. Great health.
DEBRA: Yes, you are. But you do so many things to be healthy. And so we’re talking about inactivity today. So I’m sure that sometime during the hour, we’re going to talk about how active you are.
PAMELA SEEFELD: Correct. How we want to try and get America and everywhere else as well, try and get everybody to get up and start moving because the new statistics don’t look very good for what we’re actually doing right now.
DEBRA: So why don’t you tell us about this statistics? I think you have some studies to tell us about?
PAMELA SEEFELD: Correct. The Wall Street Journal, two days ago, had a report and they published this, and they were talking about this brand new survey that took place that’s called the Physical Activity Council that took the survey, and it found that one in four Americans didn’t exercise at all in the past year.
So that’s one in four. That’s a lot. So that’s 25% of the population and we know that – and actually, it’s closer to 28%, it says here, but more than a quarter of the US population, 28% did not participate in a single physical activity last year as defined by the Council. And the definition of physical activity is simple stuff, even yard work, walking around the block. It’s not going to the gym and working out for an hour and running a marathon. It’s simple activities that people just are not doing even at all and these inactivities are not just because of people always so concerned about their weight. That’s a factor. But also the fact that it causes metabolic syndrome and allows for diabetes, hypertension and other things took place, even if the person is of normal weight.
So that’s very, very important to realize that it’s not just okay – I’m telling people to get active because I want them all to get skinny. It’s not necessarily about your body habit as in your weight. Though sometimes with activity, of course, that can help to lose weight. But the fact that these people are all going to be at risk for a lot of metabolic diseases is very, very dangerous.
DEBRA: I think about prior to the industrial age when people used to live out in nature and they had to get everything that they needed directly off the land. People were incredibly active that they were – there were no cars and so they walked everywhere. And if they wanted to eat, they had to go hunt a wooly mammoth or whatever they were hunting. And there’s this whole period of time that’s called the hunter/gatherers. And so the men were off hunting animal which they had to run after and chase and go to the areas where the animals were, and the women were to gather everything. They had to walk around and find berries and carry them home. And they were walking to the stream and carrying the bottles of water, the jugs of water I should say.
And people were just moving around all day long doing the basic stuff of life. And we don’t do any of that anymore. And I think that most people just sit at a desk and they go home and sit in front of the television.
PAMELA SEEFELD: This is what the Physical Activity Council is really saying. And they’re saying also that the number of Americans, whom we describe as totally sedentary, and that’s in quotations, has risen to its highest level since 2007. So we’re talking about the epidemic of lots of diseases and most of the people listening to this are probably interested in improving their health and doing some simple things. Obviously, not being on a bunch of medication is one of them. And if we’re totally sedentary, we’re not walking to do things and do the yard work, maybe go to the gym, it doesn’t mean you have to be working out, per say, on an exercise equipment all day long. That’s not what we’re talking about.
But even mild activities – and I really have to think that a lot of people I know really outsource a lot of the things that they used to do, their housework, the washing of the car. All these things that used to be activity we don’t want to do, especially in Florida. People don’t want to sweat so they hire people to do everything.
Look at everybody here in Florida. I have yard service. I have lawns. And I have a pool guy. You have people for everything.
DEBRA: Hello, I don’t.
PAMELA SEEFELD: You don’t because you probably don’t have a pool to take care of, a yard maybe. I have all these people doing all this stuff. Now, I’m still very active, but I see this everywhere I go. You look in Florida, how many yard services are out there? There must be a million. Everyone has a yard service.
DEBRA: I think part of it in Florida because it’s hot and humid most of the year that you don’t want to go out there. It’s hard for me actually in the summertime that it’s so humid, it’s difficult to breathe.
PAMELA SEEFELD: I mean, if people haven’t come to Florida, we can tell them from firsthand experience that it’s like walking into an oven.
DEBRA: It is. Or like walking around in a sauna all day long, all night long. If I don’t close my windows for six months of the year and run the air conditioning while I’m sleeping, I wouldn’t be able to breathe at night because it’s so 85 degrees and humid for six months of the year.
PAMELA SEEFELD: Absolutely.
DEBRA: And that’s what it’s like. So that’s why I think people aren’t doing their yard work. But some people are out there, really sweating and exercising. And they’re getting plenty of activity doing our yard work for us.
PAMELA SEEFELD: That’s right! Well, it’s true. [Inaudible 00:08:11] I’m always was like, “Can I offer you some water?” because it’s really hot.
But the thing about the sedentariness and really, I really do think the study is very valid. Wall Street Journal is pretty upfront about publishing things that are not bogus. We see this in activity level has gone to such a crisis level here in the United States. And in looking at physical education in schools has been really pretty much phased out in many cases. A lot of times, it’s just really not important to them to do these things.
I think it’s really important to look at little things that we can do in our daily live to increase our activity level and of course, going to the gym. And I think we need to focus on the fact that a lot of the medications that people are taking from high blood pressure, maybe for diabetes, for a lot of these different disorders are really related to inactivity.
And don’t forget too, exercise. When you exercise and you have your heart rate go up, what it does, it really boosts the immune system. And how this works is the white blood cells are hanging on to the side of the blood vessel just during inactivity. And then when you get this rush of the blood moving through, what happens is, you get this process called demargination of the white blood cells. And what this means is the blood cells come off of the blood cells where they’re hanging out and doing nothing and they become very active.
So if you’re sick (and you’re not definitely sick, I’m not talking about someone that’s really, really sick, but you maybe have a bad cold or something), you can really boost your immune system by just working out.
DEBRA: That’s so good to know. That’s very good to know because [cross-talking 00:09:45]
PAMELA SEEFELD: There’s a physical process involved and this activity, you will see a transit increase in white blood cells after a person has done cardiovascular exercise. And that’s why I always make sure that when I’ve been sick, unless I’m running a high fever, I used to go out and run all the time doing that because you cough all this stuff, you’d feel a lot better and your fever eventually would just go away because you have the transient boost in white blood cell activity that’s very reproducible and it also works for the differentiation of the different white blood cells like lymphocytes and macrophages.
They all have a little, special assignments. Some go after viruses, some go after bacteria. It’s really important to realize that even small amounts and burst of activity can increase your immune system tremendously besides fending off the fact that we’re talking about these metabolic diseases which a lot of it is a result of inactivity of people.
DEBRA: And we’ll talk more about this after the break. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is Pamela Seefeld. She’s a registered pharmacist who prefers to dispense medicinal plants and other natural substances instead of prescription drugs. And today, we’re talking about how inactivity leads to illness and drug use and how we can turn all that around by getting a little exercise.
We’ll be right back.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is Pamela Seefeld. She’s a registered pharmacist who prefers to dispense medicinal plants and other natural substances instead of prescription drugs. She has a great, little shop here in Clearwater, Florida called Botanical Resource. And she also has a med spa there in the back of the Botanical Resource Natural Pharmacy where they do all kinds of natural facials and things like that.
And Pamela, tell us a little bit about what you do and tell us about your consulting services, your free consulting service that you can help people get off drugs.
PAMELA SEEFELD: Yes, absolutely. I’ve been doing this probably 20, 25 years, at least. And my store here in Clearwater is a homeopathic pharmacy but we also do natural supplements. I actually teach this and I grant review for the National Institute of Health in Washing DC as well on alternative medicine.
So my consultations are free. You can call here at any time. My hours are normally here at the store is from 10 to 5, Monday through Friday, 10 to 2 on Saturday. But I’m always here pretty much between noon and 2 before I go to my other thing. And I would be very honored and happy to help your family if you want to get off prescription medications, if you’re interested in something alternative to narcotics, high blood pressure medications. And I also do a lot of veterinary work as well in the homeopathic realm.
But I would be very happy to help your family. My number here at the pharmacy is 727-442-4955, and I’m very sure that I would be very successful with you and your family. Any quick questions you might have about the medications you’re on or trying something else.
DEBRA: And she is very knowledgeable. She helps me and many other people here in Clearwater, Florida. Doctors send their patients to her. I once said to my medical doctor that Pamela had recommended something and he said, “Absolutely. Take it. Do whatever she tells you to do.”
PAMELA SEEFELD: That’s great. I feel very assured that we can provide excellent service for you and you’ll be very satisfied.
DEBRA: Yes, I feel that way exactly too.
So Pamela, in that study from the Wall Street Journal, were there any other categories of how much exercise people were getting? Or were they just looking at that one?
PAMELA SEEFELD: They were looking at the one study and talking about the metabolic syndrome. But also, I have to think that – this is kind of an aside, but it’s really funny – apparently, we need to look to the fact that a quarter of Americans are completely sedentary. And if you realize, Chipotle will now deliver.
So if you can’t go and get your Chipotle, they will come to you, which is really to me, absolutely insane. And they were saying that there are 90,000 Chipotles in New York. And people can pretty much walk to any of them and they’re going to deliver your food for you now.
DEBRA: I don’t think there are 90,000 Chipotles in New York.
PAMELA SEEFELD: It does sound pretty [inaudible 00:16:43]. But the fact that people can really – they made things way too easy. I want to go back again to talking about the metabolic syndrome and what happens when people are sedentary.
The fact that detox is very important for having your body move. So you know how you feel really sluggish and you feel tired and not well when you’re sitting for long periods of time? The problem is most of our desk jobs are very sedentary. And so we can’t get around that. So it’s just important to stand up, move around, so on and so forth.
But what I would like to mention to the listeners is that when you start moving around, you’re not only moving the blood, but you’re allowing the fat to start mobilizing fat-soluble chemicals. And they go to the liver and they become metabolized, and they’re water-soluble, and they go out in the urine. And it’s really important.
If you think about the detoxification processes of a lot of people, if they’re sedentary, a lot of that process is not fully taking place and we now know that the study show that people, especially with diabetes, that they’re testing very high for urinary pesticides. And a lot of this might be because the fact that maybe their detoxification process to the liver and the way things are handling, the way the fat is releasing these chemicals is impaired to a great deal because of the sedentary activity of the person.
DEBRA: Well, that makes sense to me because I’ve actually studied, and I’m sure you have too, a lot about the detoxification system in our bodies. And one of the things that I learned is that if we’re not doing things like – we have to sleep. We have to sleep at night in order for the detox system to work. So it would make sense to me that we also need to move our bodies. One of the things I know is that the lymph system that carries a lot of these things around in the body in order to be detoxed, that doesn’t move unless you move your body. It just doesn’t move. It doesn’t have a pump like the heart. And that’s very important, the lymph system, to our whole detox.
And so I really, even though I grew up not liking exercise at all, I had one very positive exercise experience in my early 20s when I lived in Downtown San Francisco, and I went to Jane Fonda’s Workout. Do you remember that? Jane Fonda’s Workout?
PAMELA SEEFELD: Yes.
DEBRA: I went to Jane Fonda’s Workout and I had my own private trainer who was just adorably cute, a very cute, young man. And then I went to aerobics class and my teacher was a male ballet dancer, the aerobics teacher. And it was great because I went every day. I had professionals absolutely telling me what to do every minute, and I lost weight and I felt great. And it was the best shape I think I was ever in, in my entire life.
But then they closed. They closed and I could never duplicate that experience. So I just went back to not getting much exercise. But more recently, I’m really paying a lot more attention to exercise and one of the things that I started to do that was the easy thing was that I just got a little bouncer, mini-trampoline. And then I just get up from my desk once an hour, and I go bounce on the trampoline. And I could only do 20 bounces and I got up to a set of 300 bounces at once.
The next hour, I get up and bounce a little more. And it just gives you arrest and clears your mind, and gets your blood moving, and all of these things. And it doesn’t take a lot of time.
PAMELA SEEFELD: No, it doesn’t. I want to bring back a point. You were talking about the lymphatic. The Body Anew, the detox product that I use a lot, has a lymph gland drainer in the kit. And one of the bottles is specifically to increase the lymphatic drainers. And it’s about 40% increase, very significant, as far as moving things out.
So when we’re thinking about that maybe we have to spend a certain part of our day at the computer working, it’s important to maybe be taking the detox. And I used to have a lot of my patients drinking it whether there are their desk or even when they’re working out because [cross-talking 00:20:29]
DEBRA: I’m drinking it right now, actually, I got my bottle [cross-talking 00:20:59]
PAMELA SEEFELD: Good for you.
DEBRA: And it’s got Body Anew in it.
PAMELA SEEFELD: That makes a huge difference because what we want to acknowledge is that a lot of us have desk jobs and we have to be on the computer for certain period of a time for the day. Maybe it’s a significant time and we really want to move things out.
DEBRA: We need to go to break. When we come back, we’ll talk more about inactivity and activity, and how we can be healthy without drugs by being more active.
I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio, and my guest today is Pamela Seefeld. She’s a registered pharmacist and she has her own natural pharmacy, Botanical Resource. Her website is BotanicalResource.com, and you can go find out more about her. We’ll be right back.
= COMMERCIAL BREAK =
DEBRA: This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is Pamela Seefeld. She’s a registered pharmacist who prefers to dispense medicinal plants and other natural substances instead of prescription drugs. And you can go to her website at BotanicalResource.com.
So what else would you like to tell us, Pamela, about inactivity and activity and good health?
PAMELA SEEFELD: So exercise does some other things to the body that’s very important. When we think about atherosclerosis and we think about people trying to get healthy as far as preventing cardiovascular diseases, we know that cardiovascular disease, heart attacks and so forth, is the number one killer of people in the United States. That’s an epidemic problem.
And the reason why we want to label it as endothelial dysfunction – the endothelium is the inner lining of the blood vessel. Endothelial, the area, is sensitive to several things, and especially, it is sensitive to reactive oxygen species. They abbreviate that ROS. And reactive oxygen species, why this is important to recognize is that’s why you want to be taking antioxidants. You want to be using vitamin E, vitamin C, maybe a multivitamin with antioxidants. Reviratrol is a great antioxidant, grape seed extract and things like that.
Because when we have reactive oxygen species, which can be present in the body – and let me tell you where they can be present from. Fish oil that’s old, fat vitamins that are old, old olive oil, things you’re cooking with. You’d be surprised. Reactive oxygen species, especially in fats, are really prevalent in different areas. But the reactive oxygen species are necessary for endothelial damage. So when there’s a damage to the inner part of the blood vessel, then what we find is we start to get sticky, is inflamed, and as a result, the plaques are adhering to these areas. And then subsequently, we start having heart attacks when in fact, we don’t need to have them. Going in there and cleaning things up, so to speak, having a cardiac test.
So all these things are a process, and let me explain that when you exercise, reactive oxygen species are taken down significantly. So doing that has a huge effect on cardiovascular disease. It’s not the fact so much we have multiple things. It’s the fact that reactive oxygen species are happening. It supports the healing of the endothelium or that inner part of the blood vessel, and at the same time, remember I was talking about the immune system, how the white blood cells are being kicked off and basically saying, “You’re lazy. We’re going to make you start being active.”
All these things are doing, so there’s a lot more process. So when people think, “I guess I have to do all those heavy exercises.” But we’re not even so much that. It’s the movement and moving around and taking the antioxidants which are so important. When you’re taking these antioxidants, reactive oxygen species are made to a very, very small amount. And as a result, you really decrease your cardiovascular significantly.
So it’s important to think about this. I don’t want people to think, “Oh, my gosh. I have to go out and run. I have to do all these heavy, heavy execises.”
It’s really not so much about that. It’s about taking the antioxidants, doing the detox to make sure you’re getting these chemicals out of the body, and the pesticides that might be due to metabolic syndrome, and acknowledging the fact that these reactive oxygen species can be contained with exercise.
DEBRA: So I just recently changed my exercise a month ago. And I want to talk about a bit about that because it’s made a big impression on me. And I actually started doing this because I watched a friend of mine just get fit right in front of my eyes by going to the gym. And as I said earlier, I had this one good gym experience many years ago. Many, many years ago.And I saw such progress with him and when he got down to this – he looks like he lost 10 years, not just losing pounds. He just looks so much younger. And he looks fit and attractive. And he said, “You should come to the gym with me.”
And so I went and what I learned was that when you do certain type of exercise that it builds what’s called a lean muscle mass. And that you can do other kinds of exercise but they’re just burning calories and they’re not creating lean muscle mass. And what the lean muscle mass does is that it actually is burning fat while you sleep.
PAMELA SEEFELD: That’s exactly right.
DEBRA: And so if you put in your time building the lean muscle mass on your body, then – most people, they try to reduce their calories and whatever. But they’re not turning their bodies into fat burning machines. And I really didn’t understand this. I’m an intelligent woman and I really didn’t understand this until I went to this gym, and they started explaining to me about building lean muscle mass and how to do it.
And so I started going three times a week.
PAMELA SEEFELD: Good for you.
DEBRA: I do lean muscle mass building on the machines. I do four machines. It takes me maybe 15 minutes. And then I ride on the stationary bicycle. And when I started, I could do maybe 4 minutes, and now I’m doing 12 minutes. And when you do it on a stationary bicycle, you can push up the strenuousness and it just is a very organized thing.
But what I found was that I’m only doing – it’s not like I’m lifting these big weights. I’m only doing enough weight so I can get resistance. That’s all.
PAMELA SEEFELD: That’s what you need.
DEBRA: Yes, it’s just resistance. It’s not a big push. And you can push and it can be like pulling on a rubber band, when you’re not pulling it, it’s just clobby. I don’t know how to describe this. But then if you put a little more weight on, there’s a point where you have to push without straining. And all I’m doing is just doing this easy push and I’m doing my little 15 repetitions. And it’s not a big deal, it’s not a big sweat, I just go in with my shorts and my tank top, and my little tennis shoes. And I push these weights. And that’s it. I just go and do it for three times a week. And I’m starting to build muscle. I can see the muscle.
But the most interesting thing was that this past week, I’ve had a virus so – I should have continued to go to the gym, listening to you. But I didn’t go to the gym. And what’s happening is that I’m starting to feel like my muscles are actually burning fat while I’m not exercising. And I have more strength and it’s just like I can see the results for very, very little effort. And that was the thing that was amazing to me. So little effort, and I’m getting such a big result.
PAMELA SEEFELD: That’s what I’m saying to people. Physical activity, even small amounts, are really important. Now, I was looking here at a new study, and this is really important. Physical inactivity – and they have a diagram. This just really explains it really well. If we have physical inactivity, you get abdominal adiposity. So you start putting on weight around your middle. And what happens is the macrophages, these particular white blood cells that go after infections, they start going into the visceral fats. They actually start going into that area there and become chronic systemic inflammation. That’s what’s really happening.
DEBRA: That’s very good to understand. We’ll talk more about this when we come back from the break. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is Pamela Seefeld, registered pharmacist. And she has a natural pharmacy here in Clearwater, Florida. You can go to her website, BotanicalResource.com. And we’ll be right back.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is Pamela Seefeld, registered pharmacist, and she dispenses medicinal plants and other natural substances instead of prescription drugs. She can help you get off prescription drugs. She can tell you what prescription drugs are coming up in your future by looking at your blood test. She’s just able to do so much around prescription drugs and natural substances that she can help you with.
Pamela, give your phone number again.
PAMELA SEEFELD: Yes. So you can reach me here at my pharmacy. It’s 727-442-4955. That’s 727-442-4955.
DEBRA: Thank you. So what are some things that people can do that are small, easy to get started with movement things? How can people incorporate more movement into their lives?
PAMELA SEEFELD: Well, very obvious things like taking the stairs, parking your car a little farther away at the grocery store. Just looking for opportunities or physical activity maybe instead of having always somebody clean your house or do your yard work. Maybe you can do some of that at some time as well.
It’s important to find small amounts and we know that little spurts, if you’re going to go walking and then do a run, if you do small spurts of running between walking, it’s called interval training, that you get better results.
The thing that I wanted to focus on too is that if you’re going to do detox and do Body Anew, even regardless of your physical activity or if you’re physically active, it’s going to make it better. A lot of these things are going to start moving out and it’s going to facilitate your weight loss but also helping to get rid of the adipose amount that are in your abdomen, as far as how much it’s storing. That’s important because we now know that when we start having chronic inflammation and we have increases in visceral fat, we are at risk for breast cancer, type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and also depression and dementia and colon cancer.
So there are so many diseases that are associated with the physical inactivity. And it doesn’t mean that you have to be at the gym. I really want to stress that because I don’t want people to feel – a lot of times, when people aren’t exercisers and they hear these types of talks, they feel overwhelmed and they get more depressed. It’s like, “Oh, my god. I have to do this now.”
That’s not what we’re trying to accomplish here today. We’re trying to say that I really think small burst of activity can be very helpful. I think getting up from your desk and walking around can be very helpful. And I think doing a detox to try to remove some of these things out of your body that maybe are in a static form, it’s very important.
DEBRA: I think so too. I constantly am saying that I think that detox is the number one most important thing anybody can do for their health because as long as you have those toxic chemicals in your body, you would do everything else and none of it is going to work if it’s the chemicals that are causing the health problems. And in many cases, it is.
Pamela, tell us how many years you’ve been taking Body Anew.
PAMELA SEEFELD: I would say 15, maybe longer, close to 16. Really, when you think about it, most of my clients – sometimes, they’re like, “Well, I only want to do it twice a year” and that’s fine. But I think it’s extra insurance. When you’re taking the detox on a daily basis, you’re not in a bathroom. It’s not laxative. It’s not the kind of a detox [cross-talking 00:42:11] body. And what’s important about that is you think you have control over everything. You have a lot of control on what you eat, but you don’t have control environmentally of things that you’re exposed to just randomly. Going to the store, walking along the road, you’d be surprised. Most people are saying, “Well, I’m all organic.” They’re very proud of all the different things they do but you really don’t control everything.
DEBRA: That’s right. I think that’s a really important point to make because I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years. And at first, I thought if I just remove all the toxic chemicals from my home, and I did a really good job with that, then my body would naturally detox. But I wasn’t considering all the things that I’m being exposed to outside. Unless you’re in your home 24 hours a day, and you removed every single chemical from your home, and you’re filtering the incoming air, you are being exposed to toxic chemicals.
And you do need to do something about those. And they’re getting built up in your body. In addition, there’s all the toxic chemicals that you’ve been exposed your whole, entire life until now. Everybody has what the CDC calls body burden. Every single person on the planet needs to be detoxing in some way.
Pamela likes Body Anew. I’ve been taking Body Anew since I’ve known her. It’s so easy to take. You don’t even know you’re taking it. You just put little drops of water in a bottle and little drops out of a bottle, into a bottle of water, and you just siphon it. It’s just easy. I have no detox symptoms from taking it and I know that it’s working every day.
PAMELA SEEFELD: It’s an easy, inexpensive way to detox in a long term basis without having to worry about not feeling well. It’s safe for children. I use it pretty much for everybody. I think the idea of increasing your activity in small burst, if people are able to do that and doing the Body Anew, and also realizing that when the chemicals are in effect, the cell signals are messed up. And as a result of that you get increases in circulating cytokines and these inflammatory components. These things feed on each other. We’re just starting to learn about cell signaling and different things that affect the way the cell signal each other, and they communicate with these little messengers. And these messengers definitely are very sensitive to the environment which they’re living in. And if they signal each other and there are other things that are in the way, that’s called extracellular matrix, the area outside the cell where things need to be drained out. And if you have the extracellular matrix that’s full of, I don’t want to use the word toxin so much but just full of chemicals, full of debris, cellular debris and so forth, you’re going to get congestion in those areas and you know what you’re going to end up with? Inflammation, pain, trigger point.
All of these things that are really very avoidable. You’d be surprised. The general body habit is in the health of the individual by moving these things out. Activity helps a lot. Massage helps a lot. But really, having a homeopathic product that facilitates the extracellular matrix kind of cleaning up and mopping up all the stuff with the huge difference as far as the trigger points and for pain for a lot of people as well.
DEBRA: Yes, I think that everybody should find some detox product that they’re happy with and just continue to take it.
PAMELA SEEFELD: I agree. The conversation here today is talking about inactivity, the fact that 28% of Americans really are doing no activity at all. None. Zero. And that the inactivity we know is associated with, obviously, gaining weight, but we have to think about these macrophages going into the visceral fat. They’re causing systemic inflammation. It’s chronic inflammation. And as a result, you get insulin resistance, you get atherosclerosis, neurodegeneration, tumor growth, and it puts you at risk, especially for these things that are – obviously, type II diabetes, breast cancer and cardiovascular disease, but realize that depression is also a side effect of this and dementia, which is a horrific problem here in the United States with all the people getting older.
These things are preventable to some degree. I understand genetics do play a role but the genes have to be turned on by something. And the something is the chemical.
DEBRA: Right. And then this exercise helps with the good genes?
PAMELA SEEFELD: Yes, because when you exercise, there are thousands of genes that get turned on as a result of the cardiovascular exercise. And those genes have healing properties. When you are continually exposed to inactivity and to chemicals, you don’t have an active process of removing them out thoroughly, as a result of that the chemicals are what instigate and turn these things on. That’s why people when they get older, it’s not just because their genes are more active as far as turning on dementia and these sorts of things. It’s because the chemical compound and the net amount in the body is so much higher as you get older.
Think of a big tuna. That’s why we worry so much about tuna. It’s a huge fish. It has a time to accumulate all of these metals and toxins. Small fish like sardines don’t. That’s why they use sardines for the higher quality oil.
DEBRA: So we only have a couple of minutes left. Any final words you want to give?
PAMELA SEEFELD: The final words are that when you look at type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, dementia, depression, these are just some of the disease we know that having activity, increasing small amounts of activity can be actively prevent these things. If we can keep systemic inflammation down and off from the road, we’re talking about the endothelium inside the blood vessels, a lot of this is preventable by taking antioxidants, by taking the Body Anew, and also having some kind of activity every day.
DEBRA: Activity is just so important. And I think that it gets talked about a lot. But I think that people don’t really understand what’s going on. I know I’ve heard it my whole, entire life. But when you start getting older and you start seeing that things are getting older in your body, you just start saying, “What can I do?” And exercise is really the thing. I live in Florida where a lot of people are retired. And I see all these senior people walking around my neighborhood. They’re just all walking and walking every day. I see the same people walking around.
And it is great. They have on their little visor hats and their little shorts. And some of them walk their dogs and they’re just out there saying hello to their neighbors and walking around and getting some exercise. And I really see when I exercise more how much better my body feels. And it really cuts down on how many supplements I need to take, it increases how well I fell, and it’s just a matter of, if you can’t do it yourself, get a friend. Find a friend who is going to the gym or going for walks, or ask a family member to do it with you. Or just find a way to start moving. It will make all the difference and it just shakes up things in your body so those stored chemicals start releasing and then they can be detoxed. It’s so important to the detox process. I can’t even say how important it is because it’s just so important.
PAMELA SEEFELD: Immune system moving chemicals out. I’m talking about the white blood cell activity. All these things are intimately affected by what you do. And you have control over these things. It means walking to your car. It means walking upstairs. It’s some simple, simple lifestyle changes.
DEBRA: And I’m going to say thank you, Pamela, because the music is going to come on in about two seconds. Thank you so much.
PAMELA SEEFELD: Thank you so much. Have a great day.
DEBRA: You too. This is Debra Lynn Dadd with Toxic Free Talk Radio. Be well.
A New Line of Products that Remove Fragrances, Tobacco Smoke, Pesticides and other Toxic Pollutants Throughout Your Home—Inspired By MCS
My guest today is Kyle Knappenberger, Director of Applications at Timilon Technology Acquisitions LLC, in Fort Myers, Florida. Today Timilon is launching a new product line called EnviroKlenz that removes toxic chemicals and odors all around the house. These products all use a unique technology that captures and destroys toxic chemicals by taking apart their molecular structure. We will be talking about harmful chemicals around the home and how to use EnviroKlenz products to eliminate toxics and odors from spaces, surfaces and laundry. For over a decade, Kyle has been working on using safe metal oxide technology for odor control and toxic chemical neutralization applications. He has a Bachelors of Sciences degree in microbiology from Kansas State University, and co-holds six patents related to the mitigation of chemical and biological contamination. www.enviroklenz.com
Toxic Free Talk Radio: How to Remove Toxic Chemical Odors Around the House
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
A New Line of Products that Remove Fragrances, Tobacco Smokes, Pesticides and Other Toxic Pollutants Throughout Your Home
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Kyle Knappenberger
Date of Broadcast: May 05, 2015
DEBRA: Hi I’m Debra Lynn Dadd and this is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world and live toxic free. It is Tuesday, May 5th 2015. I’m here in Clearwater, Florida where it’s a beautiful day. I think we’re going to have some rain later, but it’s a beautiful spring day. It’s getting warmer getting closer to summer.
Today, we’re going to talk about indoor air pollution and what you can do about it because indoor air pollution, it actually has been called the nation’s number one environmental health problem by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA.
Actually, we have more pollution inside our houses than we do outdoor air pollution, even in the smoggiest cities like Los Angeles. There’s more indoor air pollution inside homes than there is outside because we have so many more toxic products that are being used inside the home and they give off toxic chemicals and it’s an enclosed space.
We need to do something about these things. And most of what I talk about on this show is about how we can remove toxic chemicals at the source that are emitting various pollutants into the indoor air. But there are times when you can’t remove it. When you have something where there is an odor coming off of something.
An example I’ll give you is a lot of times people call me and say, “I live in a house where somebody had put mothballs in the closet and I can’t get that mothballs smell out and it’s making me sick“ or somebody wants to buy a car, but somebody’s used some kind of scented cleaner and they can’t get the perfume smell out.
These are the kinds of things that we are going to talk about today because now, there are new products that actually break down the molecular structure of the chemicals and odors, so that you use the product and it’s gone completely. The odor is gone completely, it never comes back. That’s it! It’s just gone. It doesn’t get absorbed into some carbon or something and then you have polluted carbon that you have to take to a hazardous waste dump or something. No, I’m kidding. You don’t really have to do that.
But carbon, when you use carbon, it can release the pollutants back into the air. And these new products that we’re going to talk about today, in fact, they’re being launched today right here on this very show. This is the first time that they’re available and that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
So my guest today is Kyle Knappenberger. He is the director of applications at Timilon Technology Acquisitions LLC, in Fort Myers, Florida. Hi Kyle!
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: Hello, Deborah. How are you?
DEBRA: I’m fine, how are you?
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: Fantastic! Glad to be on the show today to talk about the EnviroKlenz line.
DEBRA: This new line is called EnviroKlenz. Kyle has been on the show before talking about another line called OdorKlenz that was also made by this company. But what’s really special about the new EnviroKlenz line is that it was specifically designed to remove certain chemicals. They have this great technology that he’s going to tell us about that can be tweaked and formulated to remove very specific chemicals.
But first, Kyle, tell me about how Timilon came to create this new line, EnviroKlenz.
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: It’s a fairly long story, but I’ll give a shorter version of it here for you. As we got involved in this technology and acquired it a few years ago – we mentioned the OdorKlenz line of product, it was a broad line of products that we launched and wanted to really solve a wide variety of different consumer odor issues. That’s what it really came down to. We weren’t targeting folks with with chemical sensitivities or anything at that time. We know we were focused on pet or athletic odors, things that the average population is going to encounter on a daily basis.
As we we’re doing that, one of the interesting side benefits that we really started to see with these products is that folks dealing with environmental illnesses or multiple chemical sensitivity started to find our products, started to learn about them or using them and telling us all these wonderful feedback and testimonials about, “You know what, this is allowing me to live my life in a better way. I can now take my clothes to the laundromat or leave town because I don’t have to worry about having to wash my clothes in a family member’s laundry machine or washers.” We can use these products to mitigate some of these fragrances and perfumes and pollutants that we could encounter.
That was something that we set out with our original products, just to solve a broad variety of issues. But we really started to see, “Hey! There is a great need that these products, that if we design them in a way that is a more systematic approach and really hone them in to address different aspects that folks with multiple chemical sensitivity, folks that are afflicted with that, we can really design a program to really help them out and to hopefully make their daily lives a little easier.”
It’s one of those wonderful things that we stumbled on. And then, as that happened, we started working with people more in depth in this market to really hone the products for this new line of product that we’re launching today.
DEBRA: I think that it’s wonderful that you’ve done this because this is something that has been a problem for people with multiple chemical sensitivities for many years. And I’ve experienced this problem where there are specific chemicals that are the top three or four or five chemicals that we ran into all the time, things like fragrance specifically.
Let’s just start with fragrance because I think that is the biggest one that people are most concerned about. People want to do things like buy clothing at used clothing stores, for example, and yet, it’s got these fragrances on it that are from a detergent and you can’t get them out or like I mentioned earlier, that there’s mothballs in the house or maybe they want to buy a house that’s perfect in every way, except that somebody has been spraying perfume all over the bathroom.
And so trying to get fragrances out of any kind of product has been a huge problem in the past and your products are really designed specifically for this. That’s one of the things that they’re designed for. And people who are sensitive to perfume or just don’t like it can now get that odor out of products.
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: Yeah, they can . And that is one of the things that we obviously wanted to focus in on with this new EnviroKlenz line with our multi part system. Our laundry enhancer is key for that.
One of the very first call, if you don’t mind me stepping back a few years here, was with an individual who — and again, this was my very first exposure to multiple chemical sensitivity. It was a gentleman who came across our product and he had the exact story that you just told us about. They’re trying to live somewhat on a budget, he and his wife would try to pick up clothes in second hand stores when possible because they’re trying to save money, trying to live within their means. And they always have had difficulty with that because of the fragrances from who knows, from who owned that article before them. This gentleman says, “It would take us several wash cycle to get it out. And during that process, it may contaminate our washing machine and dryer as well…”
DEBRA: Yes, that’s exactly what happens.
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: And when we realized that our products really could start to do this, we started investigating. And that’s, again, many years ago, looking into the aspects of multiple chemical sensitivity or environmental illnesses. And really over the course of quite a long time, but more so over the last year or so, we’re starting to understand to really have a product and a product line that could help these folks out.
DEBRA: Well, you do. I applaud you greatly for doing it and accomplishing it, having done such a great job with it.
We need to go to break, but when we come back, I want you to explain the technology because you’ve got this great technology that goes across all the products in your product line, and so I want you to explain this because this is so wonderful.
You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Kyle Knappenberger. He is the director of applications at Timilon Technology Acquisitions. They have a new product line called EnviroKlenz, which you can see at Enviroklenz.com. We’ll be right back.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Kyle Knappenberger. He is the director of applications at Timilon Technology Acquisitions. They have a new product line being launched today called the EnviroKlenz, which you can see at Enviroklenz.com.
Kyle, tell us about the technology. This is a basic technology that — listeners, this is a basic technology that is the core of all the products in the line. It does a very specific thing to chemicals that is quite wonderful. Wonderful is just the best word for me. So tell us about that technology.
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: The technology is a metal oxide based technology. This is a process that is a patented process as well. Metal oxides are actually very common. They are earth minerals. They are basically a major component in dirt along with clays and other things. But the metal oxides inherently are safe materials, generally speaking.
They also have the ability in many cases to break down a variety of chemicals. But what we’ve been able to do with our technology through this patented process is make them far more efficient at neutralizing and what we call destructively absorbing pollutants, chemicals, all the different things that they may encounter.
And this technology is very non-discriminating in terms of what types of chemicals it wants to react with and break down. Our technology is also based off of different types of metal oxide compounds. We have multiple metal oxides where they each have broad capabilities, but they may have an area that they’re better at than perhaps another metal oxide. So that allows us to have a multi component product.
We can talk about those products in a moment, but in essence, by having these different compound we can, in different ratios, put them together to target specific —as we are talking about earlier, different types of fragrances or pollutants to make sure that we’re addressing the classes of chemicals or compounds that we need to for that particular application.
So if we have something like our EnviroKlenz mobile air system with an air cartridge, and we’ve got that in a home, we want to be addressing fragrances and VOC types of compounds. So we’ve got the right blend in the cartridge, so that we can best address those types of chemicals that may be offgassing in that airspace.
Other types of technologies that are out there may use different chemistries, but we really like to be able to use a broad chemistry, then we shift them toward the specific need or application. Multiple chemical sensitivity, it’s not just one or two chemicals. It’s a whole host of different things that can trigger folks. So yes, we want to point them in the right direction for the chemicals we need, but not limit to those chemicals.
DEBRA: So, I want to make sure that we say that this basic technology, you’ve mentioned the laundry product and you’ve mentioned the mobile unit, I want to make sure that the listeners know that you’ve actually created a line of products that address the three different areas of how it can be applied.
One is for airspaces. So there’s a mobile unit that is in a metal box and has wheels on it. I like that term ‘mobile unit’. Other people would call it an air filter, but I understand. This is the mobile unit for the technology delivery.
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: Yes, that is correct. It is a three component system. When you talk about your personal environment you’re living in, you’ve got the airspace and you’ve got the various surfaces, whether they’re carpet, rugs, just that content in your house, your laundry. That’s the three components — your airspace, your surfaces and your content. We wanted to address all of those things because surfaces, the contents, are all contributing to the air quality issues perhaps. And by utilizing all these products in harmony really, you can attack the different problem to build up a much better personal environment.
DEBRA: Yes, I think it was very wise that you did that because you do –when you’re looking at indoor air quality problems, you really want to look at the source. I was talking earlier about removing a source altogether by taking a plastic item that is offgassing VOCs out of the space altogether. But sometimes, you can’t do that. And so if you can then eliminate the odor right there on the countertop or whatever, it’s a lot better than having it emit and then running an air filter.
And so EnviroKlenz is giving you three different tools to be able to use whichever one is best to handle the odor that’s going on.
We’re going to need to go to break pretty soon, but I think I can ask you this question and you can answer it within a minute and a half. I want to ask you specifically — about one of the metals is titanium dioxide. I know some people are going to look at those and go, “Oh, titanium dioxide, we’re not supposed to use that” because of things that are going on in the world of personal care products and toxicity things.
But you said something interesting to me about testing things in different ways and that we shouldn’t always be looking at the MSDS sheets and expecting the product to be having the same – you go ahead, I think you know what I’m talking about.
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: Yes, yes. That is one question we do often get about different compounds. Metal oxides though, generally, they’re safe materials. The one that you mentioned there, the titanium dioxide, there are some titanium dioxides out there that some folks may have some issues with.
But what’s important is not every compound — even if it’s the same compound, it’s not the same. They come from different places, they come from different sources, they have different physical characteristics to them. All of these things (size, purity, form) impact the safety of a material. And we have gone above and beyond what most folks do with their compounds.
We’ve had independent testing done on these materials to verify their safety to all routes of exposure. But most importantly, the way the products are used, folks are not going to even get exposed to them anyway.
DEBRA: They’re not. Because first of all, you’re not exposed to the actual stuff. It’s mixed with other things. But also what happens is that it reacts with the pollutants. And then neither of them are there anymore. Right?
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: Well, do we have some more time to talk about that?
DEBRA: You can answer after the break.
You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Kyle Knappenberger. He’s here to talk about a new line of product called EnviroKlenz that remove toxic chemicals and odors all around the house. You can go see those products at Enviroklenz.com. We’ll be right back.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Kyle Knappenberger. He is from Timilon Technology Acquisitions and they have a new product line being launched today on this very radio show called EnviroKlenz that removes toxic chemicals and odors all around the house by destructive absorption. I think I got that right. I don’t have it right in front of me.
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: That is correct.
DEBRA: I had asked a question right before the break about what happens when the metal oxides come in contact with the chemicals.
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER:That’s right! And I appreciate you letting me carry that over because I think it’s an important aspect of how our technology is different. I don’t know if 15 seconds would’ve done it justice, but…
DEBRA: Well, take your time.
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: So the way the metal oxide work — and as you’ve just said, through our destructive absorption process — is our materials, when they come into contact with these chemical pollutants fragrances, they’re attacking different chemical functional groups on those particular compounds. And in many cases, it’s actually tearing apart those materials, again, by attacking those different functional groups and immobilizing them on the surface, the interior surface area of the metal oxide material.
It is rendering them useless in terms of the chemicals and the fragrances because now they are immobilized on the material. We have effectively taken them out of the air or the carpet or the item that’s being washed in the laundry through the destructive absorption process.
And there are a lot of different odor materials out there, different chemical treatments out there. And a lot of times, they’re working through the concept of encapsulating or covering it up. And in many instances, things like air fresheners or fragrances or even certain types of generators, they’re releasing things out to the environment. While with a product like our OdorKlenz mobile air system, through circulating that air through that air unit, bringing it through our cartridge, we’re breaking it down in our cartridge and not releasing anything back into the room or to your environment.
So what we want to do is mitigate those chemicals and take them out of your personal environment space. And that is what our product and technology can do.
DEBRA: It does, and it does it in a really effective way. I actually asked if there were some people who wanted to come on the show and talk about their experiences using these products and we have one of them on the line, Kathleen from Michigan. Kathleen, are you there?
KATHLEEN: Yes, yes.
DEBRA: What would you like to tell us about your experience with EnviroKlenz?
KATHLEEN: Oh, I’m going to tell you that George and Kyle saved my life. I had a laundry detergent that I used for 20 years and it had changed its formula. And now it has a perfume scent. I tried everything I could. Vinegar, baking soda could not get the smell out of the clothes.
I found OdorKlenz (now EnviroKlenz online), I talked to George and Kyle and they said this would work. So I bought some laundry additives and it worked in the first wash. And even when I went back to smell the shirts thinking that the smell is going to come back like it did in the vinegar, there was no smell.
So I called them back. I said I’m now in a condo where a lady who wore perfume and the carpeting in the bedroom reek, I said, “What do you got for that?” and he just said “We have source treatments.” So I used that on the carpeting and that worked.
So in the same condo, I now had an incinerator smell that seeped in from outdoors. I had to have a bug company come and spray for ants and both smells were overpowering. So I called them back. I said, “What have you got for that?” They said, “We have a purifier.” I said “Well, I’ve had purifiers in the past because my family smoke and after a while, they quit working.” And they very patiently explained to me, “Our purifier will absorb the odor and neutralize it.” And so the magic word was neutralize. He says, the charcoal filters will absorb it and then eventually offgas it. And I said “You’re right.”
I’ve used the purifier for everything from service men with aftershave to everything that comes into the apartment and it works perfectly. I can’t say enough good about them and how kind they were in explaining everything and calling me numerous times whenever I had any questions. So, I tell everybody about this.
DEBRA: Thank you so much for being on the show and telling everybody about it today. I know I’ve been using these products too. And I know that they’re the products that have been missing for years.
I had a situation where a friend of mine came to visit and all his clothes were washed in Tide with Downy. It got the smell out of the clothes. I mean, they were just horrible, horrible, horrible.
KATHLEEN: It’s a miracle.
DEBRA: Yeah it is, it actually is. I mean, this is just something that I know I’ve been waiting for for years. And so I’m really happy that they’re here. And thank you so much Kathleen, for talking with us today.
So were coming up in a break in a few minutes, but I’m going to tell you now, you can go to Enviroklenz.com and see these products. And they are giving us special discounts today. If you go between today and the following week, you can get 20% discounts on buying these products when you use the coupon code “toxic free 20” I’ll say that again at the station breaks, it’s “toxic free 20” If you have any problem with these fragrances and odors, these are the products to try. I‘ve never seen anything like these in 30 years. They’re very specifically designed to work on things like perfume, tobacco smoke, pesticides. Kyle, we’re getting close to the break, so tell us what chemicals this have been specifically designed for?
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: When we were – to take Kathleen’s example, she has used a lot of our different products. When we were looking at this, we really wanted to target those things that the people would generally describe as fragrances, perfumes. Pesticide is another one. But then also various VOCs and other components that are in things like cigarette and smoke. Those are the ones that, through our research and working with folks in this industry, knowledge from influencers and knowledgeable folks, those are the things that really trigger some of the issues for folks that are dealing with multiple chemical sensitivity. There are a lot of different compounds, lot of different classes, but those are the areas that we specifically wanted to target.
DEBRA: Yeah, and those are the ones that I hear about day after day too.
And we need to go to break. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Kyle Knappenberger. He is with Timilon Technology Acquisitions who has just launched today EnviroKlenz products at Enviroklenz.com. And if you go there and make a purchase today or tomorrow or any time between now and midnight next Monday, you can get a 20% discount on your next purchase by entering “toxic free 20” at checkout. We’ll be right back.
DEBRA: This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Kyle Knappenberger and we’re talking about EnviroKlenz products. It’s a new product line they’re just launching today that removes toxic chemicals and odors from around the house — it’s not adding anything, just removing the toxic chemicals and heaters.
Kyle, here we are at the last segment. The hour goes by so fast. But I want to make sure that we talk about the mobile unit and the difference between using your technology and using carbon. Carbon has been the technology used in air filters for as long as I’ve known about air filters, for more than 30 years. But tell us why people should not be using carbon, the toxic aspect of it, and how your mobile unit is different.
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: Sure! I’d like to perhaps start with the mobile unit first here. Through the use of our metal oxide, through that destructive absorption process, we’re bringing in these chemicals and pollutants that are in the airspace. And we are immobilizing, breaking them down and retaining them on our cartridge, which will ultimately is what I think we all want to achieve in our personal environment space, get rid of all those chemical air pollutants.
And carbon is a number one thing that we often are going to be compared to because it is an absorbent material that has been around for quite a while. A lot of carbon based filters or even units that utilize often maybe a couple pounds of carbon granules in them are what people are used to.
And again, as I mentioned earlier, talking about metal oxides, you don’t want to always just lump them all together into one thing. I don’t want to do that with carbon either. But the way the activated carbon and the coconut shell carbon and the way these things work is they – again, this is a simplification. But a lot of times, they are working kind of like a sponge. And a sponge can be wrung out. It’s not a destructive process like our materials.
And the way that the carbon sometimes will try to overcome that is by adding chemical additives to their process to try to target different compounds or different classes, which may make them more effective against certain things or make affective against certain things. But then, they don’t have necessarily the broad efficacy that our metal oxide technology does.
But again, in order to do this, to have that chemical reaction mechanism, they may be adding something like potassium permanganate or various other compounds, which themselves may not be the safest things to be putting out in your environment or having them in your personal environment space.
So it’s kind of the thinking that, of course, that we all want to go with, “Let’s get rid of those things, lets break them down and let’s get them out of the home” or our workspace or wherever we’re living. And that’s what our technology is able to do.
It’s not going to wring them out. It’s not going to fill up and then want to offgas something to be able to take in the next thing. And that’s really kind of the key difference between us and the carbon technology.
We‘ve had a lot of experience with this even prior to EnviroKlenz and predecessor products and different lines because we really got this technology rolling into the home space through disaster restoration situations. Then that was a market that was utilizing a lot of carbon technology and that’s where we really started to bring out this air filtration technology. It was by looking at what folks are using in some of the most polluted environment .
What are the carbons they’re using there? How are they affective? Are they addressing all the different aspects of negative air quality on those jobsites which allowed us to, several years ago, help those situations, those disaster situation? Now, we’re bringing them into a different type of disaster situation, one that affects people that are affected by a whole host of different chemicals and have different chemical sensitivity.
So it’s been very rewarding to evolve that over time. And then you get to hear stories like Kathleen or others like her that are dealing with these things. We had an individual who contacted us here recently that got to utilize the air cartridge that we have that can actually go into a home air filtration system. She said “You know, I’ve kind of been so fatigued lately just due to all those chemical sensitivity.” She said, “I installed your HVAC Cartridge and I could feel,” she described it as “I could feel my head was clearing. It was no longer foggy after a period of time.” It’s just very rewarding to hear those stories and that’s why we want to do this with EnviroKlenz.
DEBRA: Well, it’s interesting to me, listening to the story about how you started in disaster cleanup, which is probably the most difficult place to be removing odors and then moving into, as you said, the disaster of indoor air quality. It is a disaster and people shouldn’t be breathing this. Nobody should be breathing these things, but you’re working with the most sensitive people. So if these worked for people with MCS, they’re going to work for everybody else as well.
And I just want to make sure that people who are listening understand that indoor air quality affects everyone. And these products are super for people with MCS, but also so useful for people with asthma or allergies or anyone who is affected. Children with autism are affected by toxic chemicals in their enviroqnment, all kinds of illnesses have now been associated with indoor air pollution problems.
And so, if you have any kind of illness and you want to be cleaning up your air quality, these products can certainly help you. And for many, many years, I was just always saying to people, “Clean up at the source, clean up at the source, clean up at the source,” but I do recognize that it’s sometimes difficult to – it’s always difficult, I should say – to identify everything that is toxic in your home and clean it up all at once.
And while you’re going through that period of time, products like these can really help. You could put in a mobile unit in your home and immediately have a lot of relief from your toxic exposure while you’re identifying what are the things, the sources that you need to be changing.
So I think that there really is a place for these products to clean up these chemicals. And if you’ve got odors, then you need to have some kind of odor remover that doesn’t put toxic chemicals back into the air. Air fresheners will either use toxic perfumes or they’ll actually use nerve deadening agents. The smell is so bad, but you can’t smell it because it’s so deadening your nerves. You don’t want to have that kind of stuff in your house. Things like these products are really working to destroy those toxic of chemicals and those odors, so that you can have a healthier, cleaner indoor health environment.
So Kyle, we’ve only got about three minutes left. Is there anything you’d like to say that you haven’t said yet?
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: Well, I do want to thank you for letting me be on here to talk about these different products and the technology because I think you summed it up pretty nicely there. It’s about addressing the sources. It’s about attacking them. It’s about minimizing the different chemicals, pollutants, fragrances that are in the environment and utilizing these different things together, such as our EnviroKlenz Everyday Odor Eliminator or Odor Neutralizing Granules, using those on your different surfaces, washing your towels and your beddings and your clothing in our EnviroKlenz laundry enhancer.
By doing those things, you’re minimizing what you put into your home. Having something like the OdorKlenz mobile air system or HVAC cartridge filter, those products are going to work even better because you’ve got less than the air. You’re then removing them in all different ways that you’re living with these types of things.
So this really is a system where we’ve taken what we’ve learned many years of just dealing with general consumer odor issues and putting them into a process and a program to help folks that are dealing with environmental issues — multiple chemical sensitivity or just general pollution issues, maybe from the environment they live in.
Not everybody could afford to build a chemical free home or not chemical free, but a home that has surfaces and contents specked out to be perfect for them. Oftentimes, you live there because it’s close to work, it’s where you’re form or you’re moving into an apartment or a home and you have to make certain concessions. But you just don’t want to make concessions when it comes to chemical exposure and we’re here to help with that.
DEBRA: Well, I think that you’re just going to change the whole situation about indoor air pollution now because you’ve given us these tools to really take care of a lot of it. And as I said at the beginning of the show, the EPA said that indoor air pollution is the number one environmental health problem, number one. And so anybody interested in improving their health should be looking at what’s going on in their indoor environment. And as I said, you can just put in a mobile unit and immediately, you’re going to have better indoor quality and it’s going to be removing those chemicals so they never come back into your home.
Well, end of show. Thank you so much, Kyle.
KYLE KNAPPENBERGER: Thank you.
DEBRA: You’re welcome. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. Be well.
Enviroklenz Odor Control Products
Products specifically designed to remove odors and chemical pollutants from surfaces around the home: counters, walls, floors…even car interiors! They were inspired by the special needs of people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS), who require a home environment as free from toxic chemicals as possible. These products remove both natural and chemical odors. They do not contain perfumes or fragrances, but instead capture and destroy chemicals that cause odors for true odor and chemical elimination. They are made from safe, natural earth minerals.A unique and advanced manufacturing process greatly enhances the beneficial odor neutralizing properties of the earth minerals and retain their natural safety characteristics. The earth minerals include Magnesium Oxide (MgO), Zinc Oxide (ZnO), and Titanium Dioxide (TiO2). Safe for use around children and pets. Comes in liquid and powder form for all household needs. For a 10% discount on your entire purchase, enter coupon code “toxicfree10″ at checkout.
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Listen to my interviews with Kyle Knappenberger, Director of Applications at Timilon Technology Acquisitions LLC |
Enviroklenz Laundry Enhancer
Products specifically designed to remove odors and chemical pollutants from laundry. Yes, they remove scent and tobacco smoke from clothing, bedding, and other fabrics such as curtains and upholstery. They also remove scented detergent residues from the washer itself, allowing you to wash clothes safely in public machines in laundromats and apartment buildings (this product also prevents colors from running). They were inspired by the special needs of people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS), who require a home environment as free from toxic chemicals as possible. These products remove both natural and chemical odors. They do not contain perfumes or fragrances, but instead capture and destroy chemicals that cause odors for true odor and chemical elimination. They are made from safe, natural earth minerals.A unique and advanced manufacturing process greatly enhances the beneficial
odor neutralizing properties of the earth minerals and retain their natural safety characteristics. The earth minerals include Magnesium Oxide (MgO), Zinc Oxide (ZnO), and Titanium Dioxide (TiO2). Safe for use around children and pets. Comes in liquid and powder form for all laundry needs. For a 10% discount on your entire purchase, enter coupon code “toxicfree10″ at checkout.
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Listen to my interviews with Kyle Knappenberger, Director of Applications at Timilon Technology Acquisitions LLC |
Enviroklenz Mobile Unit Air Purifier
The EnviroKlenz Mobile Unit is specifically designed to remove odors and chemical pollutants from air spaces in the home. It was inspired by the special needs of people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS), who require a home environment as free from toxic chemicals as possible. The metal housing holds two filters: a HEPA filter to remove particles and a filter made from the EnvrioKlenz “core techniology,” made from safe, natural earth minerals that remove both natural odors and volatile toxic chemicals. This technology captures and destroys chemicals and odors for true elimination. A unique and advanced manufacturing process greatly enhances the beneficial neutralizing properties of the earth minerals and retain their natural safety characteristics. The earth minerals may include Magnesium Oxide (MgO), Zinc Oxide (ZnO), and Titanium Dioxide (TiO2). For a 10% discount on your entire purchase, enter coupon code “toxicfree10” at checkout.
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Listen to Debra’s 2015 interview with Kyle Knappenberger, Director of Applications at Timilon Technology Acquisitions LLC |
Chipotle is NOT 100% GMO-Free
7 September 2015
Four months later…Chipotle is being sued in a class action suit claiming that Chipotle has been using GMOs in their food despite advertising that is is GMO-free.
Eater: Chipotle Sued for Using GMOs After Declaring It’s Food GMO-Free
Last week the fast food Mexican restaurant Chipotle announced that they were “the first to cook only with non-GMO ingredients.” They did a great job educating their customers about GMOs at www.chipotle.com/gmo. They even said, in a big headline, “CHIPOTLE SHOULD BE A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE CAN EAT FOOD MADE WITH NON-GMO INGREDIENTS.”
But is it so?
First I want to say that I love Chipotle. The food tastes great and the ingredients are a lot better than other fast food restaurant chains. www.chipotle.com/food-with-integrity
And they have done a lot to remove GMOs from their food.
But no, you can’t walk into Chipotle and choose anything off the menu and have it be GMO-free.
About their GMO Ingredients they say:
The meat and dairy products we buy come from animals that are not genetically modified. But it is important to note that most animal feed in the U.S. is genetically modified, which means that the meat and dairy served at Chipotle are likely to come from animals given at least some GMO feed. We are working hard on this challenge, and have made substantial progress: for example, the 100% grass-fed beef served in many Chipotle restaurants was not fed GMO grain—or any grain, for that matter. www.chipotle.com/ingredient-statement
And then there are the sodas, made with GMO corn syrup.
Kudos to Chipotle for reducing their GMOs, and kudos for disclosure, but it’s deceptive to advertise they are gmo-free when they are not. And the disclosure was on a completely different page from the GMO claim.
As a consumer, I would have preferred a headline like “Chipotle Takes Another Big Step Toward GMO-Free” and then state what they did and what they are still working on.
Thanks to Max Goldberg for this consumer alert: Don’t Believe the Hype: Chipotle is NOT 100% GMO-Free.
