Submitted questions will be posted with my response by the following Tuesday or before.
Submitted comments will be moderated and approved within 24 hours.
Toxic-Free Massage Tables
Question from Mary M
Hi Debra, Found your site while searching for toxic-free massage/hypoallergenic tables (I’m changing careers). Difficult to find toxic-free massage table information. Could you please comment on “healthy” massage tables [preferrably not made in China]. Thank you very much.
Debra’s Answer
Ahhhh massage tables! I love massage, but not the tables.
I have my own massage table that I bought used about twenty years ago. But it is like most others: wood frame with polyurethane foam and a vinyl cover. Mine is pretty outgassed now, but still I pile natural fiber blankets on top so when I lay on it there is no contact with the vinyl.
Then I top everything with cotton flannel sheets.
If I needed to buy a new massage table today, I would probably do some research about what the requirements are for padding and see what else I could come up with. Wool felts maybe. And then replace the cover.
Readers, any suggestions on where to buy or how to make a toxic free massage table?
Nontoxic Formica Sealer
Question from jko
I have just moved into a house with new formica countertops – cream colored. They stain very easily, and I’m spending a ton of time and elbow grease removing the most innocuous substances from them. Can you recommend a good food-friendly product that will “seal” them and make them easier to clean? Thank you.
Debra’s Answer
Readers, any suggestions?
Toxic Fire Retardants May Create Deadlier Fires
Question from Michelle
Found this today while looking for health effects of brominated polystyrene.
For those that argue that flame retardants increase survival rates of fires, think again… http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=flame-retardants-may-create-deadlier-fires
Any way, Debra, I love your website and all your resources. I would not be exaggerating that your website has become my got to place for MCS info.
Thank you, Michelle
Debra’s Answer
You are very welcome. Thanks for sending this article.
Readers, please always send me anything like this you think I should see. Your eyes and ears really help me gather all the information that needs to be passed along.
Love Latex Mattress But Is it Toxic?
Question from Celestine
I just got a latex mattress, used, that was said to be organic. That probably just means it is not synthetic. It is sublimely comfortable. I slept an extra hour with no wakeup in the night. However, I’ve been told that the latex is extracted with toxic chemicals! And that these stay in the latex and do affect people. This morning I had a mild headache and a runny nose–which are not things that usually happen with me. I am not prone to allergies. If it is a case of toxins in the mattress, any idea if there is a type of barrier cloth that would keep it from affecting me? I really would like to keep this mattress if I can. For one thing, it is enormous and extremely heavy–took three men to get it up to my room. But it is also metal-free, which I wanted. Thanks, Celestine
Debra’s Answer
I totally understand your dilemma. Latex is very comfortable, but not everyone can tolerate it. I can’t sleep on a latex mattress or pillow because of the natural odor or latex, but that doesn’t mean it’s toxic.
With regard to the organic and toxic chemicals part, I’m working on sorting out about organic latex. And yes, some latex does use toxic chemicals in processing. But we can’t make generalities with this because different latexes are processed in different ways.
My suggestion to you would be to go back to the manufacturer and find out about any toxic chemicals used in their organic latex. Nothing to be concerned about if no toxic chemicals were used.
Your reaction may be simply to latex itself. You could try a barrier cloth mattress cover, or several layers of blankets.
Steel Beds
Question from tracigw
Are steel beds less toxic overall than beds made of other materials (wood or foam-covered fabric)? It seems like the toxicity would come primarily from lacquer. I have no chemical sensitivities, but would like to create as chemical-free home environment as possible, as we have young children. Thank you!
Debra’s Answer
Steel beds are less toxic than wood and especially fabric-covered foam.
Wood is fine if you use a nontoxic finish on it.
Steel generally has a baked on finish that is not toxic after it is baked on.
The first bed I had when I was creating my first nontoxic bedroom was the steel frame of a roll-away cot, with a pile of folded washed cotton thermal blankets for the mattress. A bed doesn’t have to be that extreme today because we now have natural mattresses, but a metal frame of any kind is a good choice.
Ten Toxic Chemicals Associated with Autism
There’s a commercial running on television–I just saw it the other night–that says one in 110 children are affected by autism spectrum disorder. This morning I received a newsletter that says last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) now affects 1 of every 88 American children — a 78% increase from just ten years ago.
To guide a research strategy to discover potentially preventable environmental causes, the Children’s Environmental Health Center (CEHC) has developed a list of ten chemicals found in consumer products that are suspected to contribute to autism and learning disabilities.
The list was published in Environmental Health Perspectives in an editorial written by Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, director of the CEHC, Dr. Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and Dr. Luca Lambertini, also of the CEHC.
The top ten chemicals are:
- Lead
- Methylmercury
- PCBs
- Organophosphate pesticides
- Organochlorine pesticides
- Endocrine disruptors
- Automotive exhaust
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
- Brominated flame retardants
- Perfluorinated compounds
My personal opinion is: why wait for science? If these chemicals are suspected of causing autism, why not assume they do and remove them from our homes and and the bodies of autistic children?
Barrier cloth encasement for toxic chemicals
Question from PT
I want to have cushion encasements made for my sofa out of organic cotton barrier cloth. Do you know if this will be effective to keep the toxic chemicals from escaping, ie., flame retardants? Is there a specific pore size or would all cotton barrier fabric be effective? Also, I want to encase my memory foam mattress in the Magnolia organic cotton barrier mattress cover, www.magnoliaorganics.com. Would this also be effective to keep toxins from escaping? I was originally going to use polyethelene sheeting but was not sure how this would work since cushions & matresses need air to circulate in and out of the cushions when someone sits down & gets up. I would much prefer the fabric if it would work.
Thank you,
PT
Debra’s Answer
This is a very good question!
Barrier cloth has been around for years and has been used by many people with MCS to “block chemical fumes.”
I personally, however, have been reluctant to recommend it for this purpose because it didn’t seem to me to really be a barrier.
Barrier cloth is a tightly woven fabric that has very small spaces between the threads. The spaces between the threads vary from 4-6 microns depending on the thickness of the threads and how tightly they are pulled together. The thread count is generally 240 threads per inch or more, but it’s not the thread count that is important, it’s the micron size of the space between them.
A “micron” is an abbreviated term for “micrometer”, or a millionth of a meter (1/1,000,000 meters). This is about .00004 inches. Typically dust is in the range of 3-100 microns, so that would easily be blocked by barrier cloth, but pesticides at 0.001 microns would go right through.
To thoroughly answer your question, I called www.janices.com, who has been selling barrier cloth to people with MCS for more than 20 years. And I asked “What do you say about your barrier cloth to make an accurate statement about it’s ability to block toxic chemicals?”
Scented Spa Products
Question from Holistic Spa
A product line is going to be used at the spa I will be working for and I have grave concerns regarding it, even though the line is touted to be safe, green and so forth.
Many of the products have 100% essential oils, but several in key products are a combination of essential oils and “skin safe fragrance oils”
As a trained aromatherapist, I was taught that anything you combine with essential oils needs to be very pure as the essential oils penetrate into the body when applied and carry the carrier oils (or other ingredients) into the body as well.
My understanding is that there are no “skin safe fragrance oils” since as fragrances they are not regulated as to purity nor of a natural source.
I will be working with these products on a daily basis, have MCS and don’t want to become ill, nor contribute to the illness of others.
Do you feel my concerns are valid?
Debra’s Answer
Yes, I feel your concerns are valid.
“Skin safe fragrance oils” are apparently fragrance oils that can be applied to the skin undiluted (many cannot).
“Fragrance oils” are aromatic chemicals in highly concentrated form. I got this off a website that sells fragrance oils. They say we can order MSDS sheets from Customer Service, like any other toxic chemical.
I see there are a couple of organizations whose purpose is to “ensure the safety of fragrance materials”: the International Fragrance Association and Research Institute for Fragrance Materials ( the most comprehensive, worldwide source of toxicology data, literature and general information on fragrance and flavor raw materials.)
So from your description, I would think that they are using real plant-based essential oils mixed with various petrochemical fragrance oils. And since essential oils penetrate into the body when applied, I would think they would carry the petrochemical fragrance oils along with them.
I would use different products.
Carpet Pad
Question from Erika
I am planning to install all natural wool carpet in our bedrooms but I’m unsure of the carpet pad choices to go with.
I’m considering a frothed polyurethane cushion such as Healthier Choice. I like the springiness, low VOCs and no Penta Bromide additive, B.H.T., or 4-P.C. but does contain an antimicrobial which I’m unsure about.
Then there’s sponge rubber by Sponge Cushion Inc.
Alternatively and most cost effective, there’s synthetic felted pads consisting of either post-consumer or industrial (carpet manufacturing) recycled content. I’m wary of possible VOC or dust concerns and although fire retardants are not added, I wonder about possible residual fire retardants in the blend (http://www.shawhospitalitygroup.com/downloads/EcoFiber-TouchOverview.pdf or ).
I have not been able to source any other natural cotton or felt pads. I know there’s always wool padding but it’s the most pricey (I’m already spending a fortune on the carpet) and I do have some fears about moths possibly settling down into the pad. Your thoughts on this are much appreciated!
Debra’s Answer
This is part of why I don’t recommend carpets at all, and haven’t had a carpet for more than thirty years.
This is more than I can evaluate in a blog question, but if you would like to call me for a consultation , we can look at each of these products together and I can help you evaluate which one best meets your needs.
Readers, any suggestions for carpet pads?
Nitrocellulose wood finish
Question from Orsoly
Hi Debra, Is Nitrocellulose finish safe on wooden playpens? Thank you!
Debra’s Answer
Nitrocellulose lacquer is aquick-drying solvent-based lacquer that contains nitrocellulose, a resin obtained from the nitration of cotton and other cellulostic materials. These lacquers are used on wooden products, primarily furniture, and on musical instruments and other objects. The nitrocellulose and other resins and plasticizers are dissolved in the solvent, and each coat of lacquer dissolves some of the previous coat. Nitrocellulose lacquers produce a hard yet flexible, durable finish that can be polished to a high sheen. The downside of these lacquers is the hazardous nature of the solvent, which is flammable and toxic, and the hazards of nitrocellulose in the manufacturing process. Lacquer grade of soluble nitrocellulose is closely related to the more highly nitrated form which is used to make explosives. Nitrocellulose lacquer becomes relatively non-toxic after approximately a month since at this point, the lacquer has evaporated most of the solvents used in its production.
I can tell you that I have owned and played various instruments with nitrocellulose finish and it was not a problem once dried.
Some solvents I found on MSDS include methylbenzene, methyl isobutyl ketone, ethylene glycol monometyl ether, mutyl acetat, butyl benzyl phthalate, toluene, xylene, methyl alcohol, ethyl acetate…just many toxic chemicals, but they all are very volatile and evaporate, leaving a hard nontoxic finish.
