
Water | Swimming Pools
Which landfill study was that?
Question from A Gold
A lady at the Earth Day fair mentioned 25 year old hotdogs found in a landfill when I said biodegradable is better than recyclable. I searched on the internet to satisfy my curiosity. No, not to satisfy by macabre tastes!
“Typically in landfills, there’s not much dirt, very little oxygen, and few if any microorganisms,” says green consumer advocate and author Debra Lynn Dadd. She cites a landfill study conducted by University of Arizona researchers that uncovered still-recognizable 25-year-old hot dogs, corncobs and grapes in landfills, as well as 50-year-old newspapers that were still readable.” About.com: Do Biodegradable Items Really Break Down in Landfills?
Debra’s Answer
The study was called The Garbage Project. The best description I could find today is at Treehugger: The Garbage Project. Originally, when I cited it in a book I wrote in the mid-1990’s, I think I read about it in National Geographic magazine.
Question about odor removal
Question from Anne Harris
I have MCS. We moved into a house that we had thoroughly researched for odors, voc’s etc. When we did the last walk through before signing the papers we experienced no odors. Two days after the signing we went back, immediately smelled a sweet odor, opened the kitchen cabinet the odor seem to come from and I fled the scene! Upon questioning we got information that an “unopened” box of sandalwood incense had been stored there. Whether that is the case or not is not the issue. We are stuck with a cabinet that has absorbed an odor that is not possible for me to handle. So far we have used every home remedy I have ever heard of to no avail. Baking soda, Vinegar, charcoal, kitty litter, etc. We now have bags of Zeolite in the cabinet and that has helped but the doors cannot be opened due to the sweet smell. The problem is that the wood has absorbed the odor and the answer appears to be to remove the cabinet, which will be expensive. A person here who specializes in air quality issues feels removal will be necessary.
My question is have you, or your readers, had experiences with such a situation as this? Does anyone have other suggestions? Many people have sugggested using a low or no VOC sealant but I believe I remember you saying that such a sealant will not truly remove an odor, just mask it. As you can imagine that is not the answer for my problems with odors.
I would appreciate your help and can never express to you how much I am helped by this blog. Debra, thank you so much for all your efforts and your awareness of the needs of chemically sensitive people.
Debra’s Answer
Here is the very simple solution.
If you don’t care how it looks, buy some aluminum foil tape at a hardware store, and just tape all over the area that has the smell. The foil will block it completely.
Mulch
Question from Colleen
I have multiple chemical sensitivity and am looking for a chemical-free mulch to use on our outdoor flower beds to suppress weeds and keep the soil moist. Pine mulch and cedar are way to aromatic and I haven’t found anything that is chemical-free. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Debra’s Answer
We got a lot of mulch for free from a tree trimming service. They just cut the trees and chip them and deliver. No chemicals added.
I would suggest that you talk with your local tree services, and figure out what type of tree you tolerate. They may be willing to notify you when they are chipping that type of tree and deliver the chips to you.
Another thing to do is grow your own mulch. We have lots of trees on our property, which we trim to make mulch. We have our own chipper and chip our tree waste instead of sending it to the dump. But when we need a big pile of mulch, we get it from a tree trimming service, as mentioned above.
Cutting PVC Out Of Products
Question from HG
I just received a carseat from a relative (a chicco keyfit30). I am frustrated that it is one of the few brands that has not been rated for its chemical exposures on healthycar.org (a great resource). There is one small area of the carseat canopy that has a clear plastic cover, which I can only assume has PVC in it. I was wondering if you would suggest that i simply cut this piece of plastic off of the carseat in order to reduce the exposure to PVC? This will not affect the safety of the carseat in any way, but I was not sure if cutting the plastic could in any way actually increase the exposure to the toxic properties of the plastic? By cutting it I would have to leave a small part of the plastic still attached to the sides, and I didn’t know if this remaining portion, having been cut, could potentially release even more offgassing than if left intact. Any thoughts? Thank you!
Debra’s Answer
To the best of my knowledge, plastic is plastic through and through unless it is layered with something else, so to cut a plastic film, would not make it outgas more. From looking at a picture of the unit though, isn’t the whole thing plastic? I’m not sure how much difference it would make to cut away just that piece.
Flexible Duct
Question from S
Hi Debra, How would one know if their flexible duct under the house for your furnace contains pvc? What would be a safe alternative? Thanks s
Debra’s Answer
I think you would need to have someone come out and inspect it.
I haven’t researched ductwork. It might be faster for someone who has had experience with this to answer.
Readers?
Refurbishing bathtubs
Question from Susan
Has anyone ever heard of a method used to refurbish a bathtub known as “epoxy polyurethane oxide”? The company that uses this method would be spraying this solution on the tub that we are hoping to have refinished. I will be bathing my 3 young grandchildren in the tub, and I don’t want to cause any harm to them if this method is toxic in any way. Thank you!
Debra’s Answer
Readers?
Old wood parquet tile glue
Question from Tanya
We recently moved back into our 50 year old house that we had rented out for 8 years. About 9 months ago we had new carpet installed and I thought that this would give the carpet time to outgas. I felt ok the first 2 weeks we were in the house but have gradually starting feeling worse. After a little research I found out that the carpet had been factory treated using Scotchgard Protector Advance Repel Technology. I should have done my homework before I bought this carpet because I think this is what is causing me all the trouble.
The house originally had wood parquet tiles that were glued done. Over the years some of the tiles became loose so we took all the tiles up before we put carpet down the first time in 1993. (This was before I had MCS). Unfortunately the glue was hard and brittle and most of it stuck to the floor but it was not a problem because you couldn’t feel it under the carpet and pad. The carpet we had installed last summer also was installed over the dried adhesive.
Now we are wanting to remove the new carpet and install ceramic tile. I know the liquid removers are highly toxic. I have seen a floor scrapper machine that can be rented but my husband thinks that no matter how we remove the adhesive it would cause a problem for me. My question is: Is there a safe way to remove the old adhesive?
Thank you for all that you do for those of us who with MCS!!!
Tanya
Florida
Debra’s Answer
I’ve removed old adhesive from floors before and I just did it on my hands and knees with a scraper. If you can get the scraper at an edge, it comes right up. It’s probably quite cured by now.
If removing it does cause a problem for you, leave the house til it’s done and the new tile is installed. Ceramic tile and mortar will completely block whatever is under it.
Ikea Sheets
Question from Adrian
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone knows if ikea sheets contain formaldehyde or any other chemicals. I was told by customer service that they don’t anymore, however upon opening the package I found a somewhat sourish smell which I believe to be formaldehyde. Thanks for your help !
Debra’s Answer
First, I doubt that any of us have inside information on this. If customer service at Ikea says it doesn’t contain formaldehyde, it probably doesn’t, unless the person you spoke to is misinformed, which is always possible. You might call again and ask this question of a supervisor.
Formaldehyde does not have a “sourish” smell, so I don’t think what you are smelling is formaldehyde.
If they are 100% cotton sheets, woven, and don’t wrinkle, they have formaldehyde on them, unless Ikea has come up with some new process to make cotton wrinkle-free without formaldehyde that I am not aware of.
If they are cotton-polyester, again, they have formaldehyde because all polyester fabrics have formaldehyde, unless, again Ikea has come up with some new process I am not aware of.
Window Unit Air Conditioners
Question from Annette Tweedel
Hi Debra,
We need to get a new window unit air conditioner for our daughters bedroom. I have MCS, but our daughter is sensitive to an extent also. But, so is my husband. Could you recommend a window unit air conditioner that does not have any smells and hopefully good on the electric bill and not too costly. Any recommendation would be deeply appreciated.
Debra’s Answer
I have a central air conditioner, so haven’t researched this.
Readers, your suggestions?
Fluoride and Food Sensitivities
Question from Anthony
My daughter had dairy issues from the moment she was born. Even though she was breastfeeding, if my wife consumed dairy, my daughter had issues — eczema, stomach pain. When she was 18 months, I read about fluoride affecting digestion, so I took her off our fluoridated tap water (I was filtering the chlorine out already).
In 3 days she was able to consume dairy without issue. Today she is 3 1/2 and the situation is the same — fluoridated water brings about the issues again. Even soaking in it, as in the bath, causes her the same issues.
It turns out that she apparently has Gilbert’s Syndrome, which 10% of the population is estimated to have. It just means they’re low in certain enzymes, and their system gets backed up sometimes breaking down bilirubin, especially when the body is taxed — as during illness. Fluoride kills enzymes, so it reduces low enzyme levels even more.
When the bilirubin gets high, the body tries to catch up, and backs off production of enzymes necessary for fat digestion. This then leads to the dairy issue, eczema, etc..
With my daughter, exposure to chemicals and artificial fragrances causes issues too. It’s probably just harder for her body to detox things in general.
Debra’s Answer
This doesn’t surprise me.
Years ago, when I worked in a doctor’s office, I observed that people with heavy chemical exposures had a lot of food intolerances. When we cleaned up their environments to remove toxic chemicals, they were able to eat the foods they previously could not tolerate. We didn’t treat the food sensitivities as food sensitivities at all.