Water | Resources
How to Roast A Pumpkin . . . And Other Winter Squashes
First I want to tell you about pumpkins.
I used to make anything “pumpkin” with pumpkin, which is a winter squash. And then one day I was watching a cooking show on television and it was suggested that one make pumpkin pie with kabocha squash instead because they had more flavor than pumpkin squash. So I immediately went and bought a kabocha squash and made a pumpkin pie, and was very disappointed. I didn’t like the flavor at all.
But that got me thinking. Maybe there was a winter squash that was better than pumpkin for pumpkin recipes, and after trying many I found one: carnival squash. It’s denser than pumpkin, creamier in texture, and sweeter.
You can learn more about winter squash at About.com Local Foods: Winter Squash & Pumpkins. They have a whole list of winter squashes with links to individual pages for each one. No carnival squash, alas, but I have it at my local natural food store.
Carnival squash is now my winter squash of choice for all those pumpkin recipes.
If you want to use pumpkin pumpkin, choose a smaller “pie” pumpkin rather than a large pumpkin like you would carve for a jack-lantern. The smaller pumpkins have better texture and flavor.
Now, if you are going to make a pumpkin recipe, you’ll need to roast the pumpkin and process the meat, in order to get a pumpkin puree that is like what you would get out of a can. Please don’t buy canned pumpkin! Roasting your own is so easy and tastes so much better and there’s no BPA from the can lining, which can disrupt your whole endocrine system.
How To Roast a Pumpkin or Other Winter Squash
First you need to cut the pumpkin open.
For that, you need tools. Ideally a good cleaver and a rubber mallet. If you don’t have one in your kitchen, go down to your local home improvement store and buy one, because you can use it for all kinds of things around the kitchen. They are about $5.00. If you don’t have a cleaver, this might be a good time to buy one of those too, as you will use it often.
If you have these tools the job is easy. Just sit the squash on it’s bottom so it’s stable, position the sharp edge of the knife on the top point, and whack the knife with the mallet. The squash will crack open. You’ll probably need to continue to whack the knife on the ends as it is stuck in the squash until the squash cracks completely into two pieces. If you want quarters, do the same again.
If you don’t have a cleaver and mallet, use the biggest knife you have. Position the sharp side of the knife on the point of the squash and put a folded kitchen towel over the knife to protect your hand. Hit the knife hard with your hand or a heavy object. You’ll be able to open it, but if you want to make winter squash frequently, as I do, you’ll go buy a mallet and cleaver.
Then you want to scoop out the seeds. Again, easy.
I find roasting to be the best way to cook winter squash because it concentrates the flavor and you can easily scoop it out of the cooked shell, rather than trying to peel off the tough skin.
Once you’ve cut the squash in two, place the pieces cut-side down on a baking sheet lined with unbleached parchment paper. I always add a little water to make steam in the oven. Not much, maybe 1/2 a cup.
Bake the squash at 350 degrees F for an hour or more. Let it get good and soft. Don’t rush it. You’ll know it’s done when your tray looks like this:
When the pieces are cool enough to touch, scrape the squash out of the shell with a soup spoon.
Then puree the squash meat in a food processor and you are ready to make any delicious recipe that calls for pumpkin puree. I like to just keep this puree on hand during the season because there are so many sweet and savory dishes to make with it.
Root Canal Chemicals
Question from Bonnie Johnson
I may have to have a root canal. I go to the DDs tomorrow and will find out. Do you have any info on that? I know there is some sort of stuff they use to disinfect the root area and I have such bad reactions to that kind of stuff. I am just worried and wonder if anyone here has had one.
Debra’s Answer
Readers, any advice on this?
Organic Playmat
Question from Stacey
Hi Debra, I am looking for an organic playmat for my baby.
I found one by Nook Sleep Systems. The fabric is made from eucalytus and organic cotton. The interior of the playmat is made from PETE (recycled water bottles). Supposedly, the eucalyptus is antimicrobial.
Other playmats I have found are cotton but with polyester fill, or completely polyester. I did find one that is completely organic but is very expensive.
I also found playmats made of “high density foam,” supposedly phalate and lead free, and/or mats made of “high density non-recyled, EVA foam.” They are much cheaper, but would you use these for children/baby? Could these contain flame retardants? Thanks again!
Thanks so much for the great information!
Debra’s Answer
Well, first, I wouldn’t put an infant down on a eucalyptus cover. I haven’t seen one of these, but if they claim it is antimicrobial, there must be enough eucalyptus oil present to have that effect. I grew up in California where there are a lot of eucalyptus trees, and the smell often made me sick. I am of the belief that we should support and strengthen our immune systems to fight bacteria, not put antimicrobials, even natural ones, all over everything.
I’m curious why you think the 100% organic cotton playmats are expensive. I’m looking at one here that is 100% GOTS certified organic cotton with organic cotton fill. It’s only $68 and the Nook one is $120.
I would get the one that is 100% organic cotton.
Hair Color Ingredient
Question from HairCare
I understand the chemicals in standard hair dyes are not great to use. However, while pregnant the colorist put in TCA drops into the dye mixture to reduce free radicals.
It looks like the TCA drops are all natural (they contain Mineral Oil, Vitamin E, Jojoba Oil), however, do you know if this would be safe to mix with hair dye…would any other chemical mixture result that would be unsafe.
If this was used 1 time during my last trimester do you forsee this causing any issues? Thanks.
Debra’s Answer
First, mineral oil is made from petroleum, so that’s not a “natural” ingredient.
I looked at the website and I don’t think you have anything to worry about.
Birth Control the Natural Way
My guest today is Hannah Ransom, founder of Holistic Hormonal Health. We’ll be talking about a method of natural birth control called the sympto-thermal method of fertility awareness that Hannah teaches online. Hannah is passionate about letting women know that they don’t need to resort to toxic birth control, even if they want a highly effective method. She writes about many things related to fertility awareness on her website. holistichormonalhealth.com
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
Birth Control the Natural Way
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Hannah Ransom
Date of Broadcast: November 7, 2013
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 because it is a toxic world out there. It seems like sometimes everywhere we look, there are toxic chemicals, and all the consumer products that are on the shelves, and the water we drink, and the food we eat.
But not here—here we talk about what’s not toxic, how to create a toxic-free home, how to remove toxic chemicals from your body, how to not put them in your body in the first, and everything else that you might need to know about how to live a toxic-free life.
One of the things that I’m trying to do on the show is to bring in a lot of different viewpoints, and if what you’re wanting to do is move away from a toxic life, there are a lot of different ways that you can move away from a toxic life. And one is to simply buy a product that is less toxic than the ones that you’re using. And that’s a great first step.
And there’s a lot going on in the world right now about manufacturers and retailers wanting to move in that direction, to see what are their toxic products, and what can be done to have less toxic products for their customers.
And then it just goes on up the scale, where you can get less toxic, and less toxic, and less toxic, and less toxic. And then what I found in my own life, I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years, but what I found in my own life is that at a certain point, you fall out of the industrial consumer world, and you say, “Well, how can I do something that is just completely in harmony with nature that follows natural laws, and that it’s just me and nature?”
And if you get to that point in any subject—of course, I want to say no toxic chemicals, but I don’t want it to sound like there’s nothing toxic in nature because there are things that are toxic in nature. But for the most part, everything about nature—nature is a system that is designed to support life. The industrial system is designed to, well, to make money.
We won’t even talk about the industrial system right now.
What I want you to know is that nature is a system that is designed to support and perpetuate life, and the more we can do things that are according to nature’s ways, the better off we are, the healthier we are, the happier we are.
And my guest today fits right in that category. What she does is that she teaches women method of natural birth control that is a method of fertility awareness, and it is by becoming aware of your own fertile cycles, and she teaches these classes online, it is effective for birth control if you know how to do it, and do it right, and actually do it, it’s as effective as any other type of birth control, including taking hormones, which are toxic to your body.
And we’re going to talk about all this today, so that you can make your own decisions about what’s going on with your body, you make your own decisions about becoming pregnant or not becoming pregnant, and doing it all in the way that brings you more aware of the nature of your own body.
Hi, Hannah, are you there?
HANNAH RANSOM: Hi, Debra, yes. Thank you for that introduction.
DEBRA: You’re welcome. Thank you so much for being with me today. Many years ago, I learned this method and used it, and I have used it, and since have not used any, what I’ll call, commercial birth control. And the results were exactly what I wanted them to be.
And so first, tell us, how did you become interested in this subject?
HANNAH RANSOM: I personally began looking for some kind of long-term birth control. And I was, at first, one that did not go with this. I actually had a copper IUD when I first wanted a long-term method of birth control. And I always knew that hormones weren’t for me. I was always kind of a more eco-conscious, health-conscious kind of a person.
But I went with this copper IUD, and at the same time, I read a big, fat book on fertility awareness called “Taking Charge for Your Fertility.”
DEBRA: That was the book I learned from many years ago.
HANNAH RANSOM: Yes, it’s been around for a while now. And it’s much, much more popular with those who are using the method to get pregnant rather than for birth control. But it has all the information in there.
And I read that at the same time as I got that. And I was just blown away that wow, this is what my body does, and this is—I can’t believe I can do this. I can have so much control.
But at the same time, I also told myself stories about it being too hard. And I think that a lot of people don’t want to take all of that responsibility with something as important as birth control especially.
So it’s something that people have to warm up to a little bit, but it’s something that is amazingly effective. And I personally, when I decided why am I putting up with these side effects from the IUD that I have, I ended up transitioning to the fertility awareness method. And I absolutely loved it.
And I decided, because there aren’t enough teachers around, and most people who practice it do end up wanting to take a class at some time, or needing advice from a teacher. And there really aren’t a lot of qualified teachers
DEBRA: I would agree with you.
HANNAH RANSOM: Yes. I decided pretty much immediately, “Okay, I’m going to teach this,” and I ended up taking a two-year certification course to do that.
DEBRA: Well, I think it’s excellent. I’m very happy that you’re offering that online because a lot of times, in local communities, we don’t always have the resources for these natural things. And so now, anybody can get trained in the proper way to do it, and that you have all of these resources.
I just want to mention that, or maybe ask you, it’s my impression that doctors, gynecologists, don’t offer this, or clinics, birth control clinics, that they don’t really encourage women to use this method—that they want them to use the other methods. Do I have the right impression?
HANNAH RANSOM: For the most part, that is correct. There are some doctors that perhaps have used it themselves, or are very familiar with their own patients using it. And they know that the method works, and they are very encouraging of it because it is also a great way to track your health, be more in tune with your body.
But a lot of them, unfortunately, because of the misconception surrounding it, do not feel good about it because it’s been branded fertility awareness method, and of course, the umbrella term for everything having to do with methods that you use periodic abstinence or periodic something else, is called fertility awareness base method.
So that even includes the rhythm method, which, of course, isn’t great because it’s calculation-based on past cycles rather than what’s going on with your hormones today, and [inaudible 00:08:44] and if you’re actually capable of getting pregnant that day.
So because the rhythm method has such a low effectiveness rating, that’s one reason that there’s that bias against it in the medical community, just because of the confusion with all the methods.
And then also, there is the fact that it does take that consistency responsibility. You do have to be a relatively committed user if you’re using the method, and taking risks with it. Then it’s something that can be worth than taking risk with other methods because by definition, taking a risk, you’re having sex at a potentially fertile time.
DEBRA: We need to take a break. I have something else I want to say on this subject, but we’ll do it after the break. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio, and my guest today is Hannah Ransom, founder of Holistic Hormonal Health, and she’s at HolisticHormonalHealth.com. And we’ll be right back after this to talk more about fertility awareness and having natural birth control that you take responsibility for.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is Hannah Ransom, founder of Holistic Hormonal Health. That’s HolisticHormonalHealth.com. We’re talking about birth control, and specifically, fertility awareness.
But before we get into the method, we’re going to talk about the other options—the toxic options, and why you would want to not use them.
But first, I want to say, before the break, I asked a question about whether or not doctors recommend fertility awareness method, and specifically, this method that Hannah is going to tell us about.
And the reason that I asked that question is because all women go to a gynecologist at a certain point in their life, and get their exam, and the doctor talks to them about birth control. But my doctor did not talk to me about this. He gave me the birth control lecture, but he didn’t tell me about this method.
And I found out about it from a girlfriend of mine, who didn’t want to take the hormones. And so she found out about it, and she was using it herself, and she recommended it to me as a satisfied user.
And yes, it requires some abstinence at certain times of the month, but it really is about all those other days that doesn’t require abstinence, and knowing when those are. So it’s not restriction as much as it’s freedom.
And the other thing I wanted to mention about this is that I actually met a man who had learned the method himself, so that he could tell when women that he knew whether they were ovulating or not, and he could take responsibility. And I thought that was great.
So I think that men need to learn it too. That’s my recommendation.
Okay, Hannah. Let’s talk about toxic birth control methods.
HANNAH RANSOM: I think, of course, the hormonal methods are the most common, and obviously, the most recommended as well.
DEBRA: Because, of course, they’re a drug with a prescription.
HANNAH RANSOM: Yes, of course. And those are really the very worst culprits, in terms of our health. And they’re something that are designed essentially to take one of your healthy bodily processes, your cyclical fertility, away.
They’re taking that out.
And so without that, we do see side effects. Generally, there are longer term ones, there’s the increased risk of cancers like breast and cervical cancer. And a lot of people will just have low grade or even high grade depression, lower sex drive.
It’s really something that also eats up a lot of vitamins and minerals in your body. And taking these hormones all the time is using up more of that nutrition just to detox because your body is trying to get rid of them.
DEBRA: I agree.
HANNAH RANSOM: So hormones are something that they’re definitely not good for you, and a lot of people though, they will come into it even from a non-contraceptive standpoint. They will take birth control pills to so said regulate their cycles. But the thing is that they have hormonal imbalances from one thing or another, and what they’re doing is they’re just [inaudible 00:14:10] with these hormones.
DEBRA: The thing that I think really is striking for me about this is that women have a natural cycle of fertility. And what these hormones do is they impose an artificial cycle. And so you don’t have your natural body function anymore.
I’ve never taken them myself, but I have taken, in the past, other drugs that make your body do something according to what the drug tells it to do, instead of you being able to have your own body doing what it does.
And that’s my biggest concern, is that it takes your body out of its natural state into a constantly-drugged state.
HANNAH RANSOM: Yes, it’s plenty of perfectly healthy women will pick a drug every day because that’s what they’re told is the responsible thing to do for contraception. They think that maybe even if their cycle is 36 days or something, “Oh, no. It’s not the 28th day cycle, but it’s supposed to be,” which it doesn’t need to be. But they’ll take it.
So we’re tricked into believing we need this, and we always hear the benefits outweigh the risks. But do those benefits outweigh the risks if there are other viable alternatives?
DEBRA: Exactly, and with anything else in your body that if you have a regular period, and then your period becomes irregular, that’s a sign that something is going wrong with your body, and if you just take a pill to make the symptom go away, then you’re not addressing what is the underlying cause of why you’re having that symptom.
And it’s the same thing if you take a pill to not have a headache, or you take a hormone pill to regular your period. It’s the same thing. You’re handling the symptom instead of handling the cause.
And those symptoms are there to warn us that we need to do something to improve our health. And that’s another reason not to take them because then you just don’t ever see if there’s an irregularity in your body.
So talk about some of the other forms of contraception.
HANNAH RANSOM: So commonly, a lot of hormones are used, obviously, but then there are also condoms that are commonly used. And some of them aren’t terrible options, but most of them that people end up getting are, and they have the spermicides on them that if you’re getting common spermicides, they’re not good. And they’ll have lubricants as well.
And a lot of these are just made just like every other product in our life. If you’re getting this common, generic stuff, it’s made with terrible, terrible ingredients—the chemical stuff.
DEBRA: Yes, I agree. We need to take another break. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. My guest today is Hannah Ransom. She’s at HolisticHormonalHealth.com, and we’ll be back right after this.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is Hannah Ransom, founder of Holistic Hormonal Health. And she teaches classes about a specific method of fertility awareness at HolisticHormonalHealth.com, so women and their partners can be responsible themselves for their natural fertility.
Hannah, let’s talk about the actual method now.
HANNAH RANSOM: So I don’t know how much you want to go into it.
DEBRA: Just start at the beginning. We have some time. You can go into it. First, tell us how the method developed.
HANNAH RANSOM: Well, the method was originally started with them trying to figure out when women ovulate. And it was found that women ovulated about 14 days before their last period. And with that, they developed the rhythm method.
And then they started learning more and more about women’s menstrual cycles. And so they figured out that with ovulation, there was associated cervical fluid, and this cervical fluid was actually keeping the sperm alive, helping them swim, and actually, preparing them to fertilize the egg. If the sperms don’t go through the cervical fluid, they can’t fertilize an egg.
And then they also found that there is the temperature increase after ovulation.
And these are the two main signs that we use in this method, and they are associated with the hormones of the cycle, instead of calculations based on how long your previous cycle was, or anything like that because your cycle can change, even if you have very healthy cycle. What happen is you get stressed out one month, you have a lot on your plate, and your body will hold off on ovulation, like, now is not the time to get pregnant.
So it’ll hold off, and then make it longer. And if you’re going off, “Oh, I always have a regular cycle,” and think you already ovulated, that could be a problem.
And that’s why the rhythm method has really been a less effective method. But now, we have other things to track that are associate with our hormones, and we know what hormones happen around ovulation, how our body works, and what signs that are producing in our body.
DEBRA: Good. It does require responsibility, but talk about what are the steps that somebody needs to do in order to do—obviously, we’re not teaching it here because there’s more to it than just the whole outline.
But I want my listeners to get an idea of what it would be like to do the method.
HANNAH RANSOM: So it’s actually something that does generally [inaudible 00:20:59] but overwhelming at first for most people. So I just want to warn you that if it does sound overwhelming to you, you’re not alone. Most people do think, “Wow.
That sounds difficult. Could I really do that?”
DEBRA: Let me tell you. Yes, you can do it. Actually, it becomes second nature.
HANNAH RANSOM: Yes, it’s so second nature once you start doing it. But what you do every day is you take your morning temperature. Like I mentioned, that is something that goes up after ovulation. So it’s something that’s only telling you after you ovulate. But it’s the second sign that we use.
And then you also check your cervical fluid. So that’s fluid of your vaginal opening. And those fluids tend to come in a cyclical pattern, and if they don’t, then it’s possible that you might have an infection, or something like that, which is another reason that this method is great.
It’s just being familiar with what your body is like in a normal state. You really have a lot more info for when something funky happens to you, knowing immediately if that it’s off. But you check that and I personally recommend that you just notice it every time you go to the bathroom because you could have days you’ll have a lot of cervical fluid at just one time.
But it’s something that becomes so second nature, and you just notice it, and especially when you’re already going to the bathroom. You’re ready to check it.
Those are the two main signs. There is another optional sign for if one of those things is different, if you’re not sure. You can also check your cervical position, and your cervix is at the bottom of your uterus, which is at the top of your vaginal canal. So it does require you to check internally your cervical position. But that is something that will [inaudible 00:23:15] and raise around ovulation, while your cervical fluid is getting wetter, and more like egg white, rather than either there being nothing, or being a white, more dry kind of secretion.
DEBRA: And my experience has been that when you start being aware of those hormonal changes, that there are other indicators that you might become aware of. It’s just a matter of how much awareness you start to develop about where you are in your cycle, how you’re feeling. There could be changes in how things taste when you eat certain foods.
You might notice, “This tastes different. Chocolate tastes different,” or whatever.
Or you might have more or less energy, or things smell differently, or your body smells differently.
There are just all kinds of changes going on because as you go through the cycle every month, it’s this big change of hormones. It really is a major change of hormones, almost like black and white. It’s so different.
And as you start tracking what’s going on with that, you just become so much more familiar with your body, and how your body changes on a day to day basis.
And I really like that awareness that you start seeing in nature, everything is different at any moment. If you look at the environment, every moment is different—the air is different, the light is different, the plants are different, and yet, this is a very different orientation than our industrial orientation where everything comes out of a factory exactly the same.
And so part of this is just getting accustomed to that beautiful variation of nature.
I just think it’s a beautiful experience, and I think that it’s a totally viable method of birth control that is worth exploring.
We need to take a break, and we’ll be right back again with Hannah. And we’ll be talking more about natural fertility awareness. This is Hannah Ransom, founder of Holistic Hormonal Health at HolisticHormonalHealth.com. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and this is Toxic Free Talk Radio.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is Hannah Ransom, founder of Holistic Hormonal Health, and that’s at HolisticHormonalHealth.com.
Hannah, during the break, I was looking again at your website, and I just want to tell the listeners that if they go to your website, the first thing they’re going to see on your homepage is the opportunity to register for a free live webinar to learn more about this. The next one is December 10th, at 6:00pm, PSD.
So you can register for that.
And then right below that, there’s a link that says, “What I Teach Here and Why It’s Amazing.”
And it will explain all of the things that we were just talking about in the last segment and more.
And at the bottom, there’s a list of pros and cons.
So let’s talk about those.
HANNAH RANSOM: So obviously, big pros are that there are no side effects. And then also, what we were getting into was the positive things about it that you really can become more empowered using this.
I think, personally, and my experience has been with working with other people who have used this method, it gives women another reason to appreciate their body. We’re so much focused on looks, especially, with women’s bodies. I think that getting in tune with your body that way and having another thing to care of, seeing your health in that way rather than, “Oh, I just am focusing on the looks of my body,” I think that that can be a super empowering thing for women.
DEBRA: Another thing too—I totally agree with you because I’ve experienced that. Another thing about it is that what you’re doing is that you’re taking the responsibility for finding out what’s going on with your body, so that then you can make a choice about what your actions are going to be.
And if you’re doing something that supports the health of your body by doing that, particularly, the hormonal contraceptives, they’re harming your body, and it’s about, “Don’t get pregnant. Don’t get pregnant. Don’t get pregnant.”
And you’re taking those pills even on days when you wouldn’t get pregnant anyway.
And so there’s all this attention on don’t get pregnant, and now, we have huge amount of infertility in our culture today. And to take on a daily basis something and have that intention to not get pregnant, not get pregnant, that goes against what life is about.
Our bodies are designed to continue to perpetuate [inaudible 00:28:48] species, to have the pleasure of doing the activity that does perpetuate the species, that we’re supposed to be having children unless we decide that we don’t want to have them.
And so this method supports that intention of life rather than working against it. And that’s, I think, a beautiful, bigger picture.
HANNAH RANSOM: Yes, it’s interesting that you mentioned the infertility and that aspect of it. Of course, there are the parts of it that are related to perhaps young girls who are having hormonal imbalances and problems with their cycles taking these pills to mask that. And then they come off the pills, ready to get pregnant, and while they still have that hormonal imbalance, plus all the years of taking the hormones.
But there’s also that emotional aspect to it.
If you’ve subconsciously, your whole life, been thinking, “Don’t get pregnant. This body is not a place for babies. This body is not a place for fertility,” no matter how much you want a kid, there could be—and I’m not saying this is everyone, but there could still be a little bit of subconscious thought in you like, “Don’t get pregnant. This is not a place to get pregnant.”
So yes, there is so much to it.
DEBRA: And then another point that you made is that it’s good for the environment because artificial hormones are getting into our waterways, and they are affecting—the water that we drink that comes out of our tap, those hormones don’t get removed at the water treatment plant.
So not only are all the animals and birds and insects and everything in the environment, now, drinking water with those artificial hormones in them, which they don’t need at all, we’re getting them in our tap water whether we want them or not, unless we filter them out.
And that’s not good. That’s just not good.
These drugs are designed to be given to women by prescription, by a doctor, and because there are inadequate ways to control what happens after they flow out of the body, and into the system of life, everybody’s getting them now.
And that’s something that we need to be concerned about.
So let’s see. What else? What are some other benefits?
HANNAH RANSOM: I think one of the big benefits is that control and personal responsibility, even though as we covered, it does tend to be one of the things that holds people back. Having that amazing amount of control and intention with everything really did lead to birth control and your reproductive choices can be a really amazing experience for people.
DEBRA: I think so too. I think it’s good for couples, for them both to know what’s going on and when is the fertile time for the couple, and not just the woman, but the fertile time for the couple, and for the man to be aware of that too, and cooperate with the women when they have sex.
I think it’s a beautiful thing for two people to make that decision together, and not to have a woman feel like she has to be available all the time.
HANNAH RANSOM: Yes, it’s definitely something that can enhance communication in a relationship because there is both that more open door of communication with every cycle, having the intention of conceiving or not.
And also, being able to talk about where you are in your cycle.
And those are intimate things that some people will just choose not to get into with their partners if they can handle not getting into it with some other method.
DEBRA: Well, it requires some willingness to communicate for sure. So what are some of the cons that people object to about this?
HANNAH RANSOM: I would say that the biggest one is just that you do need to use it correctly and consistently. It’s something that you should learn well and you should also make sure that you are very conscious about your choices around it.
A lot of times, if you are a little more unsure about whether you want to have a baby or not, that could translate into taking risks.
And this is a method that if you are taking risks, you are having unprotected intercourse in the time that you’re likely to get pregnant.
So basically, just having that and also taking the time to learn it, it’s something that as we talked about, it becomes second nature for sure. But it’s something that in the beginning, it can seem a little overwhelming, and you want to wait generally at least a couple of cycles until you use it as a birth control method because you want to make sure that you know what’s going on in your body and that you have a handle on the rules that you need to apply and all of that stuff before you really use it.
So it’s something that you want to learn well, and you want to take some time to get to know before you use it. And a lot of people are impatient.
It’s definitely something that can be [inaudible 00:35:08].
DEBRA: Hannah, tell us more about the various resources you have available on your website.
HANNAH RANSOM: I write every single week about things related to birth control, effectiveness, fertility awareness, getting more into it. Right now, I’ve also been running some books giveaways, also fertility awareness and birth control resources. And
I have a free webinar coming up that you talked about.
And you can see that right on the homepage.
I also have resources in terms of books, really great books in terms of learning more about your fertility, about hormonal health, since many people [inaudible 00:36:04] to getting of those hormones is really upping their hormonal health.
And I’m sure people listening to this radio show, they’ll probably have that pretty covered since they’re toxic-free folks.
DEBRA: Well, maybe, maybe not, despite [inaudible 00:36:25] for some people. We’re almost to the end of the show. I just want to thank you so much for being on the show. And I’m so glad that we could talk about this, and let more people know about it.
I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. And you can find out more about Toxic Free Talk Radio at ToxicFreeRadio.com. You can listen to other shows in the archives, or listen to this show again. Thank you for being here.
Cyanotype on a T-shirt
Question from Cecilia
Dear Debra, My daughter participated in a Photography class recently and they used a technique called “cyanotype”. In this case I am talking about a t-shirt. Would it be toxic for my daughter to wear a t-shirt with a design made using this technique and this chemicals? Thank you!
Debra’s Answer
This wasn’t hard to find.
Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that gives a cyan-blue print that we know as “blueprints.” The process uses two chemicals:
It’s basically ammonia and iron. The ammonia smells bad in blueprints and is toxic there, but in a t-shirt, once you wash it there should be no ammonia remaining.
I think it’s fine once it’s washed.
All About BioPlastics
Today my guest is Brenda Platt, Director of the Sustainable Plastics Initiative, Co-Chair of the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative, and co-director of the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance, based in Washington, DC. She has worked 26 years on waste reduction, recycling and composting issues. Today we are talking about complostable bioplastics, made from renewable resources instead of fossil fuels. Brenda is the author of several groundbreaking reports including Beyond 40 Percent: Record-Setting Recycling and Composting Programs and the U.S. EPA’s Cutting the Waste Stream in Half. Her 2000 report for the GrassRoots Recycling Network, Wasting and Recycling in the United States 2000, includes a 10-page zero waste agenda for action. Her 2003 report, Resources up in Flames outlined the economic pitfalls of incineration versus a zero waste approach. Her report, Stop Trashing the Climate, documents that aiming for zero waste is one of the fastest, cheapest, and most effective strategies available for combating climate change. She currently directs ILSR’s Composting Makes $en$e project and Sustainable Plastics project and co-chairs the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative, a coalition spurring the use of biobased products that are sustainable from cradle to cradle. The Collaborative has developed environmentally sustainability criteria for biobased plastics, and recently released purchasing specs for biobased compostable food service ware. www.sustainablebiomaterials.org
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
All About Bioplastics
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Brenda Platt
Date of Broadcast: November 06, 2013
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.
We need to talk about this because there are so many toxic chemicals out there in so many places – in the food we eat, the water we drink, even in our bodies from past exposures – that we need to know what to do to make good choices. We need to be able to tell what’s toxic and what’s not, and to choose the less toxic things to have in our homes, how to get those toxic chemicals out of our bodies, and all those kinds of things. It’s a big subject and there’s a lot to learn.
So I’m here every day, Monday through Friday with people from different parts of the whole field of what’s toxic and what isn’t in order to share their information and knowledge with you so that you can make better decisions.
Today, it’s Wednesday, November 6th, 2013, and it’s a beautiful day here in Clearwater, Florida. We’re going to talk about plastics. I actually heard my guest speak about the subject that we’re going to talk about today on a webinar. She explained everything so clearly that I wanted to have her on.
Her name is Brenda Platt. She’s the director of the Sustainable Plastics Initiative, co-chair of the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative, and co-director of the non-profit, Institute for Local Self-Reliance. She does a lot of things.
Now, the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative, let’s see if I get this right, has developed environmentally sustainable criteria for bio-based plastics. And they recently released a purchasing spec for bio-based compostable food service ware.
So when you see that a label says bio-based plastic, we’re going to learn about what that means today, and what’s the difference between bioplastics and plastics that are made from fossil fuels. And if you are looking at a product made from bioplastics, what kind of criteria should you be considering and looking to see? Is it really bio-based?
Hi, Brenda, thanks for being with me.
BRENDA PLATT: Hi, Debra. It’s a pleasure.
DEBRA: Thank you. Well, first of all, tell us about all these organizations you’re part of.
BRENDA PLATT: Well, the one that butters my bread is the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. We have offices in Minneapolis and D.C. and Portland, Maine. We’re a national organization, we’ve been around since 1974 and we provide research and technical assistance on recycling, zero waste planning, renewable energy and other policies to protect local main streets and other facets of what we call a homegrown economy.
So we have a staffer fighting big-boxed stores like WalMart. We have another staffer who’s working on community-owned internet broadband networks. The overall work that we do is focused on really supporting local economies and healthy communities.
So your topic of healthy community is certainly one of the key criteria of being a healthy community that’s free of toxic. So I’m delighted to be here, joining you.
DEBRA: Absolutely. I totally agree.
BRENDA PLATT: And I’ll just say that I’ve been a huge fan of yours since 1986 when I first read your Non-Toxic Home book.
DEBRA: Oh, my God! Thank you. A lot of my guests say that, that they’ve been familiar with my work for a long time. So I’m very happy to hear that from you because I admire your work as well. When I heard the webinar, you just made it so clear. But of course, I already understood a lot of what you were talking about.
So tell us more about what the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative is doing.
BRENDA PLATT: Yes. The Collaborative is a network of organizations and we’re working together to spur the introduction and use of biomaterials that are sustainable from cradle to cradle. And what we mean by that, let me just say first, what is a biomaterial?
Well, a biomaterial is a material or product that’s made from biomass, let’s say, or what we might call plant matter. So you might have seen corn-based plastics on the market. If you’re lucky enough to be in a community that has food waste collection for composting, a lot of those communities like San Francisco, Seattle have been moving away from Styrofoam, polystyrene, which is one of what I consider a bad plastic from a toxic perspective, to compostable food service for items.
So we’re seeing really the growth of plates and cups and forks and take-out clamshells and things of that nature. That would be an example of a bio-based material. Not all of them are made from corn. Some of them are paper-based. Some of them are made from the waste of sugarcane production. And there’s potato starch. There’s a wide range of materials, plant matter-based materials that can go into these products.
But what we mean by sustainable is that they’re sustainable from the field or forest. So if we’re growing corn, which as we know is a monoculture crop that uses genetically-modified organisms as feedstock and conventional corn-growing uses a lot of toxic herbicides and pesticides, we would like the biomass to be growing sustainably according to certain criteria. And then when it’s manufactured – just because it’s a bio-based plastic, let’s say, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t additives or softeners or plasticizers or other chemicals that might be added to the material to enhance its performance characteristics.
So during the production, you can have chemicals added. And then at the end of the product’s original intended use, we want to make sure there’s an end-of-life recovery option.
DEBRA: We can talk about all of that throughout the show. But let’s just start. I just want to have you introduce yourself to our audience so that they know what organizations you’re working for, and how did you get interested in this subject.
BRENDA PLATT: Good question. I’ve actually been at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance for 27 years. I cut my teeth in the organization in the ’80s fighting trash incinerators. There were almost 200 planned around the country. And some of them were built, but most of them were actually defeated. In their stead, we promoted reducing trash, of course, but also we used recycling and composting.
I helped institutional curbside recycling. I documented some of the best programs around the country. Now, we’re helping cities with zero waste planning. And I’m doing a lot of work on composting, particularly, locally-based composting.
The work on plastics is just really, really important now because so much of the plastics that we produce are really for single use products or packaging. And if you look at what we set out of the curb, probably one-third of what we set out of the curb every week as trash is packaging. And a lot of that is plastic.
So one of my recent mottos is single use has got to go. We have to really move away from single use products.
DEBRA: I recently – well, not recently, but some time ago, I have been no longer married and no longer having a husband to take the garbage out. I’m pleased to report that living by myself, I – they usually come and pick up the big garbage can. The city comes and picks it up twice a week. But mine doesn’t get filled twice a week. Mine takes me almost a month before my garbage can is full enough that I’m willing to drag it out to the street and have them pick it up. And I think that’s much, much less waste than most people are producing.
BRENDA PLATT: Yes, and congratulations. That’s good news. It underscores the ability for all of us to reduce our trash. Florida is not exactly leader in this area where you’re based because the state has really embraced new trash incinerators.
But other areas of the country are really passing –I would say really at the local level, which is just very exciting. A number of cities have passed restrictions on the use of Styrofoam, particularly for food service ware.
Seattle is probably the leader in this area. Not only do they ban Styrofoam but they’re in phase 2 of their packaging regulations. They require that all food service ware has to be reusable, recyclable or compostable. And anywhere you go in Seattle, even if you’re buying food at a food truck, you’ll see the recycling bin and the composting bin. And it’s pretty much institutionalized.
So I think it really is important to not only lead by example. There’s a lot people can do on their own, certainly like you, but I think what we really need is also policies at the local level to enforce that, yes.
DEBRA: Totally agree, yes. We need to take a break. But we’re going to talk a lot more about plastics after with my guest, Brenda Platt. I’ll just make it shorter and say that she’s from the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative and that’s at SustainableBiomaterials.org because that’s what we’re talking about today. And I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. And we’ll be right back.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. Today, my guest is Brenda Platt. She’s co-chair of the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative. And you can go to her website at SustainableBiomaterials.org.
And we’re mostly going to be talking about bioplastics. But first, Brenda, could you give us a general overview of plastics? I know that that’s a big question but I’ll tell you a little more about –
BRENDA PLATT: Absolutely!
DEBRA: Yes. When I have been writing and learning about plastics, I found that there were two – basically, there are fossil fuel plastics and there are bio-based plastics. But if you’re looking at plastics that biodegrade, some fossil fuel plastics biodegrade, some don’t. And some bioplastics biodegrade and some don’t.
So if you could just give us a general idea – I think most people are familiar with different types of plastics. If you say Styrofoam, they think of a Styrofoam cup or they know PVC is a pipe. So if you could just tell us which ones are the toxic ones that are made out of fossil fuels that we should be concerned about, if there’s any fossil fuel ones that are less toxic, and then get into which ones are the bio-based ones.
BRENDA PLATT: Absolutely! It might be helpful to actually start with the common dictionary definition of plastics, if you will.
DEBRA: Yes, let’s do that. I really want people to understand.
BRENDA PLATT: If you look up what is plastic, you will find a definition something like, “capable of being molded or shaped into different forms under pressure or heat,” as opposed to non-plastic materials, which must be cut or chiseled.
But chemically, plastics are polymers which mean they’re substances composed of long chains of repeating molecules, which are the monomers. So you have the monomers and you repeat. You get a plastic that’s a polymer, and they’re usually, largely made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms. And there can be other elements in there too.
So to have a plastic, you have the conventional fossil fuel-based plastic, as you mentioned, Debra, made from carbon and hydrogen. And then you might have the bio-based plastics. And really, the only difference is that the carbon comes from new sources, renewable sources like plants that are grown every year, renewably every year, whereas fossil fuel is old carbon, dinosaurs, let’s say.
Probably the most widely-used bio-based plastic in the market today is Coke’s Dasani water bottle, single use water bottle. Some are not a big fan of it. But that, the Dasani bottle is made in part from some bio-based material. Not 100%, but made in part.
That bottle is, number one, PET, which is the most commonly collected type of plastic in our Curbside Recycling Programs. If you have a Curbside Collection Program, more than likely, that’s something you can put in.
Now, that P-E-T or PET water bottle is the same as a PET that’s derived 100% from fossil fuel plastics. So it can be recycled like other fuel-based PET, but it is not biodegradable.
And there’s a big difference between something that’s bio-based and something that’s biodegradable.
DEBRA: Yes, explain the difference.
BRENDA PLATT: What’s really interesting is that you can have a product that’s biodegradable that is made from 100% fossil fuel plastics. So the fact that it can biodegrade, which means it’s food for microorganisms basically, eventually, then it doesn’t have to do with where the source of the carbon is coming from, whether the source is new or old. It has to do with the chemical structure, whether it can break down and become food for the microorganisms.
So if you see a product that’s labeled as compostable, it doesn’t mean necessarily that it’s made from 100% plants. And if you see something that says it’s plant-based or bio-based, that could mean it’s made from some plants, but it’s not biodegradable, like the Dasani water bottle.
So it is confusing and I think for the everyday person, if you want to be promoting more composting and more composting for organic materials, and you don’t like Styrofoam takeout containers because you can’t do anything with it when you’re done using it – and like I said in Seattle and San Francisco and other communities that have moved to compostable products like those clamshells – then look for the compostable label. That would be the thing to look for. I think the bio-based label is interesting, but from an end-of-life perspective, it does not indicate that it’s compostable just because it says bio-based.
DEBRA: I think that there’s a natural tendency to think that fossil fuels are not biodegradable in general and that renewable resources in general are biodegradable. And so you think plastic made from fossil fuels versus biomaterials, they’re going to be the same in terms of biodegradability. But they aren’t. When I found that out, that was really a surprise to me.
What is a compostable? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a compostable symbol. What does that look like?
BRENDA PLATT: Well first, let me just say that the Biodegradable Products Institute, so anybody can Google that, they list something like a catalog of 3000 products that meet their Third Party Certified Compostability Process Certification. It used to be a few hundreds, just even two years ago. And now, there are thousands. So this field is really growing.
The Biodegradable Products Institute is an independent third party certifier of products to ensure that they are compostable. And let me just clarify, compostable in a commercial composting facility, not necessarily in somebody’s backyard system.
But I will tell you that the key thing is for a commercial composting facility is that they optimize the conditions for composting. They get it to the right temperature, they have the right moisture, they know how to blend the materials to ensure that the microorganisms are really happy. And we don’t always do that when we do it in our backyard.
But you can. You can do it correctly in your backyard instead of just being a rot pile, if you will. You can actually do active composting.
But the certification, when you see that logo on there that says BPI, certified BPI, being the Biodegradable Products Institute, that indicates that it will break down under optimum composting conditions.
DEBRA: We need to take a break in a second, but I want to ask you. So I’ll ask you the question and you give me the answer after the break. If something is certified compostable, does that mean it’s also non-toxic or could toxic plastics be compostable? That’s the question for after the break.
We’re talking to Brenda Platt. She’s a co-chair of the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative, SustainableBiomaterials.org. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd and you’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. We’ll be back in a minute.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Brenda Platt, co-chair of the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative, which is at SustainableBiomaterials.org. And we’re talking today about bioplastics.
Brenda, during the break, I did go to the Biodegradable Plastics Institute website, and I do see that they have a compostable logo. It’s a really tiny picture. But it does say compostable on it and it has a logo that looks like a tree bent over, like an arrow going around to be recycled, and a little leaf on the other side of the circle going around. So that’s something that you can look for and it’s on all kinds of products – basically, the ones made out of plastic like food service ware, films, bags, things like that.
So my question before the break was, are there are any toxic plastics that would be compostable?
BRENDA PLATT: That’s such a great question. Yes, let’s get into the toxic question.
So compostable products that are third party certified, one of the things I advise people whether you’re a hospital or a school and you’re buying these products or an individual like you and me, is to look for that third party certification because to meet that third party certification, the product has to meet three different aspects of a test. And one of them does relate to toxicity.
Now, it may not cover all of the toxic chemicals in the world, but it does cover certain heavy metals and part of the test is that the product that’s made into compost, the compost has to be able to sustain plants.
So let’s say you have a sugarcane-based plate and it’s compostable, it breaks down. But if that plate then is in compost and it won’t allow, let’s say, a tomato plant to seed or germinate because it’s toxic, then it does not meet the standards. So it’s pretty robust.
DEBRA: I like that standard.
BRENDA PLATT: Yes. So if you see a claim that just says compostable or biodegradable, and it’s not third party certified, it’s not going to be as good.
But one thing I really want to emphasize is that these compostable-based products are really replacing a wide range of conventional plastics that have a much more toxic profile. Just the production of fossil fuels, petrochemicals to make our plastics throughout the total lifecycle, involves so many toxic chemicals. And I’m certainly not an expert on that, but I think you asked earlier in the program what are the ones folks should stay away from.
One of the worst is vinyl, PVC, polyvinyl chloride. If you’re familiar with the resin number identification codes that you might see within a chasing arrow symbol that’s very small, that’s number 5. So vinyl is number 5. And that, I think, people should stay away from. It’s the most toxic plastic for children’s health and the environment. It’s manufacture uses and releases hazardous chemicals including vinyl chloride, ethylene dichloride, mercury and dioxin, which we know are harmful to communities and the workers who make it.
There was just actually a study that was released a few days ago by the Center for Health Environment and Justice which has a big –
DEBRA: I saw that.
BRENDA PLATT: Yes. And it showed elevated levels of phthalates in Spongebob Squarepants’ vinyl rain ponchos. And the studies were seven times above the Federal Safety Standard.
Vinyl is one of the bad ones. The other one I mentioned several times already is polystyrene, which is number 3, which is Styrofoam. Styrofoam is the expanded foam version of polystyrene but what people don’t know is that polystyrene can look like a clear plastic. If are on a college campus and you go to one of your local campus keg parties and you’re drinking beer in one of those solo cups, the blue, red or yellow cups, those are polystyrene. Polystyrene is produced from styrene, which is a known human neurotoxicant and known animal carcinogen. It was up until a few years ago, a suspected human carcinogen and it was elevated a couple of year ago to reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen, which basically means there’s a huge body of evidence now tying it to human cancers.
And we’re eating off of this stuff and we’re letting our kids in the schools eat off of this stuff.
On the positive side, there are dozens of communities that have restricted polystyrene use.
So those are two that I consider among the worst types of polymers, especially when we’re exposing our kids to them. I would say that even number 1, PET, which is what we see in water bottles, that there have been some health issues potentially associated with those. Antimony is a catalyst that use in its product that type of polymer and there has been a number of studies that have shown that in water that’s been on the shelf in those types of water bottles have an order of magnitude higher antimony in them than in natural spring water. And of course, it’s below all considered safety standards but we know often how inadequate our safety standards are. It wasn’t even 20 years ago, it wasn’t widely recognized that bisphenol A could impact – be linked to a whole range of health issues at the parts pavilion levels.
I actually do not let my kids drink out of single use water bottles if I can help it, out of PET, for that reason alone, for the health reasons.
DEBRA: I actually don’t drink out of them at all unless it’s the only source of water. If I’m traveling and I have a choice between tap water and water in a PET bottle, I’ll drink the water in the PET bottle but whenever I can, I’m drinking my water at home or carrying it in a glass bottle because it’s toxic.
BRENDA PLATT: I think there’s been very little study on that issue for the PET, the number one type of water bottle in this country, but the Switzerland Office of Public Health has done some studies, and in Germany, there has been some studies at the university level. And I wouldn’t be surprised if in 10 years, it’s more widely recognized as an issue.
DEBRA: I think so too. I think one of the things that I’ve seen over the past 30 years of doing this work, 30-plus years of doing this work, is that there are a lot of things that were not known to be toxic, and then now we know 30 years later that they’re toxic. And we didn’t know that 30 years ago. And so there’s a lot of things that I suspect are going to turn out to be more toxic than people think as the studies come in. But at least I see over the years, this growing body of tests being done and studies, and that we’re finding things out, that even though we know a lot more about what’s toxic now, it’s still in a lot of products, these chemicals are not regulated, and it’s still something we need to watch out for as consumers.
We’re going to talk more about bio-based plastics as a safer alternative when we come back from the break. My guest today is Brenda Platt from the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative. That’s at SustainableBiomaterials.org. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and you’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest is Brenda Platt, co-chair of the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative, and we’re talking about bioplastics today.
Brenda, give us an overview of what are the bioplastics. How do we recognize them? What are their names and what are they made of?
BRENDA PLATT: What a good question. Well, one thing – let me just start by saying that the first plastics were bio-based plastics. A hundred years ago, most of our products and materials were based on plants. Think celluloid film, that’s cut and dried celluloid. So that’s made from – and that’s a plastic. Horn and amber have been used and molded into many different shapes for centuries. Those are probably the oldest, natural plastics.
One of the things I found interesting looking into plastics was this long history of bio-based plastics. Some of them might include ones that might be like natural leather. Gutta Percha is a relative of rubber. It comes from trees native to Malaysia, and it could be shaped by softening over heat and pressed into mold. And it has excellent insulating capabilities. And one of the things it was used for in the mid-1800s was it was used for the first transatlantic cable that was laid.
This gives your listeners some examples of how long we’ve been using bio-based plastics.
Another great example, and I think it was probably the first ubiquitous plastic product was the gramophone record. And the gramophone record was used to make 78R RPMs back in the late 1800s, is in part derived from shellac.
You and I may have heard of shellac but you may not know it’s based on the secretion of a beetle which lives on certain trees in India, Burma and Thailand. Shellac has been harvested since ancient times.
And then, of course, I mentioned celluloid. There has been a whole range of cotton cellulose-based plastics that was first developed in the mid-19th century. And there are some interesting stories there, but really, it wasn’t until after World War II that plastics really became available to the ordinary public. And in fact, after World War II, there were huge queues that formed when the first nylon stocking appeared in British shops after the war. And that of course – what was it, in the ’50s, where Earl Tupper made Tupperware.
And that’s when we really began to see these kinds of plastic use in everyday uses.
Following the 1950s, of course, we had this explosion of fossil fuel-based plastic.
But one of the things I find interest in looking at the bio-based industry today, as I do think the pendulum is swinging back now to bio-based products, with climate change and cities and countries and businesses really taking the lead on reducing the carbon footprint and moving away from fossil fuels. We’re seeing a really skyrocketing interest in bio-based products, which is why with the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative, we’re really interested in helping to push that market towards sustainability and non-toxic products.
An example of one bio-based product that I think is really exciting and it gives people a flavor of this emerging new, more modern industry, is a new building block. There are new bio-based building blocks that are being developed. And one company [inaudible 00:42:29] that is doing a new bio-based building blocks, so a whole range of polymers and products based on levulinic acid.
And what levulinic acid is, is they’re hydrolyzing cellulose, which right now, is coming from corncobs, of all things. But they can use other sources of cellulose. And they’re forming levulinic acid to through this process, and it’s showing really broad utility as building blocks of all kinds of chemicals and materials, and think trademark under the Javelin name.
But what I find interesting is that some of the product lines include plasticizers and solvents and polymers. And it’s basically a new molecule that could substitute, for instance, bisphenol A and bad plasticizers which are showing up in the vital products.
So it’s a good solvent. It has low volatility. And so these are the kinds of, I think, what we’re going to see in the near future, these new bio-based chemicals that are more toxic free, have a less carbon footprint because they’re made from renewable carbon and are going to be introduced in some conventional products. But they’re going to overall have a less toxic [cross-talking 00:43:50]
DEBRA: I think that’s where we’re going too. I see that as well. But now, I want to ask you because I’m not a chemist but I think you might be able to answer this question. So in the beginning of the show you said that the plastics whether they’re bio-based or fossil fuel-based, are basically made up of carbon and whatever else. And that it doesn’t matter to the plastic if the carbon comes from a renewable source or a fossil fuel source because fossil fuels are just ancient, renewable resources anyway. So if there are so many toxic chemicals that are coming from fossil fuels that are turned into chemicals, why is it that the renewable counterparts would be less toxic? Do you understand what I’m asking?
If the manmade chemical is, for example, not to name any chemicals, but a chemical that is a chemical formula that doesn’t exist in nature and is toxic and it’s made from fossil fuels, if you were to just replace those fossil fuels in that same chemical with renewable resources for the carbon, would that make that chemical not toxic? Or are these entirely new formulas being made from these renewable resources that would be less toxic?
BRENDA PLATT: Let me first say that I am not a chemist either, so I’m probably not the best person to answer this question but let me take a crack at it anyway. My understanding of this is that –in fact, I think the example, the levulinic acid is probably a good one, the one that’s trademarked under the Javelin name. That’s a new chemical. That’s made from bio-based materials. And that chemical has a lower toxic footprint, if you will.
Now, if you take something like polyvinyl chloride, vinyl or polystyrene, that chemical, in and of itself, is – that polystyrene is produced from styrene. So that chemical has issues and is toxic no matter where the carbon comes from, the nature of that chemical.
DEBRA: That’s what I was asking.
BRENDA PLATT: So I think it really does depends. So if, for instance, the polystyrene industry says, “Okay, we want to move away from using petroleum or natural gas, both fossil fuels, to make polystyrene,” or, “Now, we’re going to make it from corn or sugarcane waste.”
If it’s polystyrene, it still needs to be avoided.
DEBRA: Right. That was the point that I wanted to make.
BRENDA PLATT: Yes, and the same with polyvinyl chloride. Now, the thing with polyvinyl chloride is, that’s a little different. So this is a nuanced answer to your question is that one of the things that makes PVC toxic is that phthalates are added to it. Softeners.
The irony there is that the harder polyvinyl chloride, that’s stiffer, has less softeners added to it. And the ones that have more softeners added to it, the ones that used to be use for everything from baby bottles to pacifiers, or tubes for floating in the pool. Those are the more toxic.
With a chemical like PVC that needs softeners to improve its performance or their physical characteristics of it, if you can substitute a non-toxic softener – and that’s actually another use for this levulinic acid, then it can make PVC less toxic.
So it depends is the short answer. It really depends.
DEBRA: So we’re getting near the end of our hour. We only have a couple of minutes left. So I want to make sure that we do mention one thing, and that is that you do have on your website, and I’ll give that again, SustainableBiomaterials.org. You have a report called Guidelines for Sustainable Bioplastics. And anybody that wants to go to the website and take a look at this, there was so much to talk about today. We didn’t get in to all these things. But I’ll just say that there are guidelines here for what a bioplastic should be. And one of them, for example, is how the material was grown. Is it organic feedstock, or is it organic corn, or is it non-organic corn, is it GMO corn?
There are all these different steps down as you go through the process of making a bioplastic where you can be asking questions about how toxic it is or not toxic, and what ends up happening at the end.
And so you can go and read these guidelines, and they’re quite detailed as to all the different things that you might be looking for in a bioplastic.
So not all bioplastics are the same, and there are some questions we can be asking as consumers. But I think that we’ve gotten a good overview today.
We have less than a minute. Are there any closing words you would like to give, Brenda?
BRENDA PLATT: Well, I’ll just end with thank you, Debra, for having me on the show. And again, I’ll just emphasize that I think no matter what products we’re using, aim for durable products, aim for ones that can be reusable, recyclable or compostable, and do what Debra does. Reduce your trash and stay away from single use products no matter what they’re made from.
DEBRA: I totally agree. Thank you so much for being with me today, Brenda. And I think everybody should go to SustainableBiomaterials.org and see what’s going on. Check out Guidelines for Sustainable Bioplastics.
I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and this is Toxic Free Talk Radio, and you can find out more about this show or listen to this particular show again or any of the past shows by going to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com.
Fabulon Floor Finish
Question from HG
I recently read an article about a 2008 study conducted by the Silent Spring organization suggesting that floor finishes, particularly one called Fabulon, used in the 1950’s and 1960’s contained high levels of PCBs that continue to out-gas and contaminate home dust for decades. Do you know if it is possible to identify floors that could have been treated with finishings that had PCBs and if there is something people can do to mitigate this exposure pathway?
Debra’s Answer
Here’s the entire article from Environmental Health journal: “PCB-contiaining wood floor finish is a likely source of elevated PCBs in residents’ blood, household air and dust: a case study of exposure”. It says:
I don’t know how one would identify such a floor.
If you have a wood floor with a clear finish and your home is vintage 1950s or 60s, you might have a Fabulon finish. If you are concerned and want to remove any possible danger, put a layer of foil over it and put down an new floor.
Trisodium Phosphate
Question from Irene
Hi Debra, Is trisodium phosphate a natural additive? Is it safe? I see it listed as an ingredient in cereal. Thank you very much for your help!
Debra’s Answer
It’s natural in that it is a naturally occurring mineral, it’s not manmade. But it is considered a poison and is found in many cleaning products. It is commonly used to clean walls before painting.
But there is also a food grade trisodium phosphate that is used as a food additive. Apparently trisodium phosphate is added to cereals that go through an extruder–that’s anything that has a shape, like chex– to help them maintain their shape. Better to just eat the whole grain if you’re going to eat cereal (I don’t eat grains at all).
Is this Water Filter as Good as a Berkey?
Question from Matthew
Hi Debra, I am wanting to buy a Berkey water filtration system, but won’t be able to afford one for a while. I found this one online: http://www.homespunenvironmental.com/Bucket_Drip_Filtration_System_p/sk-1001.htm. Could this work as an alternative to the Berkey? Thanks and looking forward to your insight!
Debra’s Answer
What are you wanting to remove from the water? This ceramic filter removes on dirt, debris, and bacteria. So it isn’t removing any toxic chemicals, and would not be useful for tap water because tap water has already been processed for these pollutants.
