Question from Juliee

Debra, I read some of your articles re: chlorine. I swim 3 X a week. Before going into the outdoor pool, I cover myself w/ Coconut oil. When I get out, I pour a bottle of H2o over me that has 1000 mg of Vit C dissolved in it. I then go into the sauna from 15-30 min. I really am trying to get rid of any chlorine that I have absorbed while swimming. Am I wasting my time doing this routine?

Debra’s Answer

We discussed this in 2007 at Q&A: How to minimize risk from swimming in chlorinated pool.

I just was searching about this and came across a useless article that gave ste-by-step instructions for removing chlorine from your body after swimming with soap and water.

Chlorine is immediately absorbed through your skin on contact, so there is no way to remove it after the fact, you need to apply a barrier, like you are doing with coconut oil. I don’t know how effective that is, but it would be better than nothing.

There is a field called “toxicokinetics” that is the description of what rate a chemical will enter the body and what happens to it once it is in the body. It’s very useful stuff to know. You can seach on “toxicokinetics” and the name of the chemical to get this information online. Unfortunately, it isn’t always available or complete.

I searched on “toxicokinetics chlorine” and found that there wasn’t anything on the effects of chlorine in your body when absorbed through the skin, only when inhaled. So I’ll tell you when it is inhaled, it basically is absorbed into the body through the airways. The distribution, metabolism, and excretion of chlorine is determined by how it reacts in one’s individual body.

The purpose of chlorine is to kill micro-organisms. It doesn’t care if those micro-organisms are in the pool or in your body, and it also doesn’t know which are harmful and which are beneficial. It just kills them all. So it’s best to keep chlorine out of your body as best you can. I imagine it would leave your body fairly quickly as it is a gas. It’s not something your body would store.

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Question from Susan

Hello Debra, Do you have any suggestions to find a mold-resistant shower curtain that is not vinyl? And if it has to be vinyl perhaps a less toxic version?

Thank you, Susan

Debra’s Answer

I know all about this, having been through this problem myself with cotton shower curtains molding.

I’m told hemp shower curtains do not mold.

You can get shower curtains made from nontoxic EVA plastic at IKEA stores (not online) very cheap (I think it’s something like $3) or online at Vita Future

Nylon shower curtains are also nontoxic and don’t mold.

But what I did was just install glass shower doors, which cost less than $100 at Home Depot and Lowe’s. Much nicer than a curtain and mold-free.

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It’s well known in marketing circles: Scents can have a powerful effect on consumer behaviour. After sound, scent is the second most powerful sense, experts say, and the only one of our five that bypasses the rational part of our brain to tap directly into our emotions. By spraying the right molecules into the air — into their merchandise, or even onto their letterhead — companies can make customers feel relaxed, energized, safe, young or sexy.

Read more at ABC News: Smells Like Profit: Scents in Stores, on Products, Makes Shoppers Buy More

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Question from Christie Fairman

I never knew that even the picture frames in our homes have chemicals that can offgass. There is a new labeling system for “formaldyhyde compliant” with a phase number. I have looked everywhere for solid wood frames. But, mostly I kept finding the toxic picture frames. I am also trying to slowly replace items in my home.

Debra’s Answer

First I want to explain “formaldehyde compliant”.

The statement is “California 93120 compliant for formaldehyde” and it means that the amount of formaldehyde offgassing from the product at 73 degrees in a room that has one air exchange per hour will be at or below the California standard.

This standard was set up in California after a 2009 study showed that 98 percent of the homes tested exceeded the recommended formaldehyde limit established by the state, and the typical home exceeded the limit by four times.

But being formaldehyde compliant does not mean that the product is safe. This is based on meeting the standard when the temperature is 73 degrees and there is one air exchange per hour.

This means all the air in the room is replaced by new outside air every hour. Is that the case in your home? Keep in mind that when you are using your HVAC for heating or cooling, it probably is recycling the air to preserve the heat or coolness.

It also means that the air needs to be at 73 for compliance. The reate of offgassing doubles with every 10 degrees of temperature.

Question from Rebecca

About safe (safer) hair coloring: I worked with a somewhat organic/safer hair colorist for the last several years who gave me blonde highlights (my hair is dark blonde naturally with some greying on top). She is no longer available….so on the search for a new person AND a safer hair product. I see there are now a number of hair-color products on WFoods shelves, etc, that claim to be less toxic (no ammonia, resorcinol, etc.) Can anyone recommend a hair coloring product, esp if you go “blonde highlights”, which has worked reasonably well for you? I’m also very scent-sensitive with MCS, so have to take great care. Thanks much!

Debra’s Answer

Readers? Your experience?

My suggestion would be to find the new hairdresser and discuss this with him or her, as they are responsible for the outcome. They also will want to work with professional products and not an off-the-shelf product designed for home use.

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Question from liza

Hi debra, i want to purchase a Kugelhopf Mold but they are either made from something covered with nonstick, or tinned steel or anodized 18 gauge aluminum. which is the safest choice? thanks so much

Debra’s Answer

How about none of the above?

One thing I have learned in the past thirty years of living toxic-free is that there are some things that are just not worth the toxic effect.

Not only do you have whatever might leach from the pan, there’s also refined flour and refined sugar, both of which are toxic foods.

I’ve learned to find new pleasures that are nontoxic and support good health, and leave the toxic treats behind.

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Question from Beth

I’ve been perusing your list for under counter water filtration systems. I see that Multipure is not on there, but it is the only company I’ve seen yet that makes stainless steel housings. Plastic housing on a water filtration system is counterintuitive to me. What can you tell me about the effectiveness of Multipure vs., the ones on your list, especially the top one that has the “accustomed to MCS” icon? Thanks.

Debra’s Answer

First in general I want to say that just because something isn’t on [Debra’s List] doesn’t mean it’s a bad product. I only have so many hours in the day and there are many products that qualify that aren’t on the list because 1) I don’t know about them or 2) I haven’t yet had time to add them or 3) I think other products are better and don’t want to make things so confusing you don’t know what to choose.

For many years I recommended MultiPure and still would recommend their filters if they fit your need.

Multipure filters are mainly carbon block filters that [reduce a long list of contaminants]= http://www.multipure.com/mpscience/contaminant-reduction-list/. The list includes both chlorine and chloramines, but it’s my understanding that you need a special kind of carbon to remove chloramines, so this doesn’t make sense to me. Also I don’t see a lab test that says how much of these contaminants are removed.

As for plastic vs stainless steel housing, in fact, both plastic and stainless steel can leach into water, but the contact time is so slight in a water filter that it’s unlikely that either is leaching much, if at all. What you need to look at is a lab test of the product water to see if substances that leach are in the product water.

I can’t compare this to all the other water filters on Debra’s List here in a blog post, but I will compare it to the top one on the list, the Pure Effect filters. These are very different. You can read my comments about them at why I chose the PureEffect Ultra-UC filter to install in my own home…

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Question from Bluebird

Do you have any idea how to remove tape residue which is hardened onto glass or plastic? The masking tape and other tape has been sitting for a few years and it seems welded to the plastic and glass. I tried alcohol but that is only partially effective. Thanks.

Debra’s Answer

Good question!

I actually had that problem once on a window and removed it by scraping it off with a razor blade

Not sure what to do with plastic.

There are various cleaners that will melt it, however the cleaner would need to be nontoxic.

Readers, any experience with this?

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Question from Hannah

Hi Debra, My question is about flame retardants. First of all, is drywall treated with flame retardants? I can’t find any info about that. Second, do you know of any information about whether flame retardants are able to be excreted from the body or do they build up. It would be helpful to know which chemicals we can detox and which ones we can’t so if you know of any databases with that info that would be great! Thanks very much!

Debra’s Answer

Drywall does NOT contain fire retardants. If it did, they would be listed on the MSDS. And it’s not. http://www.ncs-stl.com/msds/Drywall.pdf

Nor have I ever heard drywall associated with fire retardant exposure.

Whether flame retardants can be excreted from the body is a good question. Here’s a study that shows 92% of tris was excreted after 5 days. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6117442

The problem is that usually we are exposed to fire retardants day in and day out. So if you have say five hours of exposure sitting on a sofa watching tv and it takes five days for your body to excrete it, you’re putting it into your body faster than your body can remove it. And it will build up in your body. That’s the problem today. We are exposed to toxics faster than we can excrete them.

For more information on how you can help your body detox, see my book Toxic Free and my Toxic Free Nutrition website.

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Question from lindab

Hi Debra,

So glad to have found your website.

My husband has developed a multiple chemical sensitivity after I started making homemade laundry detergent using Fels Naptha soap. It took awhile to pin it down to that since his symptoms started a month after using this concoction.

I am heartsick that I brought this on him by trying to save money on something as simple as laundry detergent.

Thanks for all your helpful information. You will probably save me hundreds of hours searching the web for organic alternatives to everything I will need now. So hard to determine what is really organic and what is not.

Thanks, thanks, thanks!!!

Debra’s Answer

You’re welcome, you’re welcome, you’re welcome!!!

Here’s what I wrote about Fels Naptha: Fels Naptha Soap.

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