Question from Jen

Hi,

After reading your great book and using it to completely detoxify our current home, we now have found ourselves in a position where we will have to move. 🙁

We have found a home deal that is really too good to pass up financially, whereby we would purchase a brand new built home. Unfortunately the most this company can offer as to nontoxicity is low VOC paint inside. I know about “baking the house” before moving in, but you have typically suggested this with a green home.

Are there additional steps or suggestions for a home that isn’t green built? We will request all hardwoods throughout and I know they don’t use an adhesive to put them down. I also know they use the blown in cellulose insulation. And I know we will paint it with a zero VOC paint weeks before we move in and before we bake it. But unfortunatley there are some obvious downsides we can’t get away from.

First are the vinyl windows with no option of wood or aluminum upgrades (nor would we be able to do this on our own until waaay down the road.) Second, they use some sort of PEX piping for the water which is supposed to be a softer type plastic. They claim less leaching than copper but I feel worried. We can’t afford to replace all the piping but my husband suggsted mybe we could at least replace the pipes that carry the drinking water with copper for now.

And I am sure there are a multitude of other toxics associated with new home building. So I would truly value your input, are we crazy for going brand new?? Help! What can we do to make it better?

Debra’s Answer

I completely understand. But to address this is beyond the scope of this blog. I’d have to write a book to cover everything that might be in a new home.

We can talk about this over the phone in a paid telephone consultation. That way you can describe to me what is in the home and we can address those specific items, rather than have me write out all the possibilities.

Readers, if any of you have experience detoxifying a new home, please write and tell us what you did.

I just need to say, there are so many toxic things in a new home, I don’t even look at them, personally. I understand this may look good financially, but it might cause more expensive problems to your health in the long run.

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Question from shell1424

Our home has a lot of particle board cabinets with white laminate, is there something non toxic I could use to seal it and prevent glue molecules from leaching into the air?

Debra’s Answer

I don’t think it’s necessary to seal your cabinets. If laminate is covering the particleboard, I don’t think formaldehyde will go through the laminate. Nor would glue molecules leach through laminate. If you do have any exposed particleboard. AFM Enterprises makes a product called

Safe Seal

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Question from srosselet

I finally found a pair of all wool pants but they have acetate lining. I looked up acetate and found that it is made from wood pulp mixed with acetic acid and other ingredients. Do you have an opinion about acetate?

Thanks!

Sue

Debra’s Answer

Acetate is a regenerated cellulose fiber, like rayon, Tencel, Modal, bamboo, Cupra…Personally, I don’t like the way these fabrics feel and some people have problems with skin rashes, so you need to decide for yourself. It’s a natural source, but chemically processed.

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I was wondering if you or anybody have every heard of Cupro. I have seen it a lot in my favorite organic designer but will not buy anything that is listed as Cupro because I do not know enough about. The last thing I want to do is spend a lot of money on something and then later decide that it is toxic because of the way it is processed or that is not natural. Any information would be useful. Thanks!

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A reader wrote:

Hello, I just bought a piece of Fumigated Antique Wood Furniture Imported from India. The piece is a 3-door cabinet. The off-gassing is very strong. I have a Blue Air purifier system running right next to the furniture with the doors open. I’m hoping this will help to absorb the fumes. According to my acupuncturist, I do have a weak liver so I avoid chemicals as much as possible. Does anyone have any suggestions on additional methods to expedite the off-gassing? And would it be helpful – or more toxic – to apply clorox? I only use non-toxic cleaning supplies so that would seem ironic but it was suggested by the furniture retailer. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Sharon Katz

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Today, I just need to get up on my soapbox for a few minutes and express my opinion.

Over the weekend I learned that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is holding a discussion tomorrow on Section 104(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which establishes safety standards for durable infant or toddler products.

I’m all for safety standards for children’s products, however, this particular revision would attempt to solve a safety problem with another problem: it would require users of bassinets and cradles to use the mattress that comes with the bassinet or cradle. The problem with this is that these mattresses are generally made of toxic polyurethane foam with a waterproof vinyl cover that contains pthalates, currently one of the major chemicals of greatest concern.

If this regulation is approved, parents will no longer have the choice to replace the toxic mattress that comes with a bassinet or cradle with a safe, natural mattress, more suited to their personal preferences. This regulation not only would take away parents’ freedom of choice, but also would force them to expose their most vulnerable babies to a toxic product most hours of the day.

This is insane.

Also last week, I read an opinion piece published in the New York Times from a farmer who described how he could not grow fruits and vegetables on his land for local consumption because of a law.

…the federal government works deliberately and forcefully to prevent the local food movement from expanding. And the barriers that the United States Department of Agriculture has put in place will be extended when the farm bill that House and Senate negotiators are working on now goes into effect. As a small organic vegetable producer in southern Minnesota, I know this because my efforts to expand production to meet regional demand have been severely hampered by the Agriculture Department’s commodity farm program. As I’ve looked into the politics behind those restrictions, I’ve come to understand that this is precisely the outcome that the program’s backers in California and Florida have in mind: they want to snuff out the local competition before it even gets started.

Again, insane.

Laws should be made that require citizens to take actions that support their individual health and sustain the environment that supports all of our lives collectively. If a law were to require parents to use a particular mattress, it should be made with organically-grown natural fibers and other nontoxic materials. If there were a law requiring farmers to grow particular foods, the number one requirement should be a variety of foods organically grown for local consumption first, and if there is any land left after that, it could be used for commodity crops to be shipped elsewhere.

We need the support of health and the environment to be the number one motivating factor in the making of laws and regulations.

In the past, I have always felt that I had a choice as a consumer–that I could choose the nontoxic or green product if it was available. These laws, and others, restrict our good choices. That directly works against our fundamental human right “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” (as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). We should all have the right by our very existence to choose to be alive and healthy, and not have manufacturers or government or anyone else force us to impair this birthright. The right to choose to be alive is a fundamental freedom. Today it is illegal to assist another in taking their own life when they have a terminal illness, yet it is perfectly legal to sell products that contribute to the creation of terminal illnesses, without warnings on product labels.

Right in my own backyard, I can’t even raise chickens for eggs because it’s against a city ordinance.

Our forefathers founded this country to be by the people and for the people. The intent was for us to have the freedom to create the country WE want to have. It’s time we use that power to make laws that work for us instead of against us.