Question from deanna96

Debra,

Being the last of my friends to have a baby, I can literally borrow everything I need from cribs to swings to clothing. However, I know none of them bought anything organic or non-toxic. Most of these items are anywhere from 2 – 5 years old so I am wondering how long items offgas. From what I’ve read on your response to older posts it seems that if there is not an odor, it is safe. Is this the guideline I should use? How long do items offgas? Do I need to just start from scratch and buy all of the expensive non-toxic baby items?

Thanks,

Deanna

Debra’s Answer

“If there is not an odor, it is safe,” is usually a good rule to follow, but it’s not 100%. There could be chemicals outgassing that you cannot smell, for one reason or another.

Furniture with particleboard and standard finishes do outgas over time. You can certainly smell the difference between new particleboard furniture and particleboard furniture that has outgassed. How long that takes depends on the conditions of the room where the furniture has been.

Clothing that has been washed many times is likely to be OK, if it hasn’t been washed in highly scented detergent.

I think you need to examine each item and see if it seems OK to you.

But I would be very careful and err on the side of caution. Babies are extremely vulnerable to toxic chemicals as their detoxification systems are not yet fully developed.

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Question from J. D.

I was searching around online and found your site. While there I was checking out your information on cookware materials. But, there was one thing that I noticed wasn’t covered… cooking with aluminum being linked to alhemizers. Do you know anything about this? If so is anondized aluminum also linked to the disease?

As I understand the aluminum and Alzheimer’s issue is that it’s linked to cooking with aluminum. I have no idea if anodized aluminum is problematic or not. Since it appears to be linked to heat it may be with old unanodized alumium. But these findings are new last year or so, and I’d be surprised if they weren’t using anodized aluminum. Personally I’d think that soda cans would be the worst at leeching, with the acids in soda I can’t see why not. Aluminum foil with the stress it goes under as you manipulate it would seem like an ideal candidate for breaking down. From what I’ve seen you are very resourceful, I’m sure you can find the answer.

You do a good job educating people to what some of these health issues are. You’ve even opened my eyes to things I never thought about. I’m sure my wife and I’ll will be visiting your site often.

Thanks!

Debra’s Answer

That aluminum salts from cookware can leach from the pot into the food being cooked, particularly if the food is acidic, and the corresponding symptoms that result, has been known for a number of years. For this reason, the sale of aluminum-lined cookware is prohibited in Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Switzerland, Hungary, and Brazil. It is still permitted in America but most aluminum cookware sold in America today is lined with a non-stick finish another thing to avoid.

Most aluminum cookware manufactured today is anodized. When a cookware label says it is made from anodized aluminum, it means that the aluminum was dipped into a hot acid bath that seals the aluminum by changing it’s molecular structure. Once anodized, the aluminum will not leach into food, and so would not contribute to aluminum exposure.

As to whether or not aluminum foil leaches aluminum, logic tells me yes it would. If a standard aluminum pot will leach aluminum, then a sheet of aluminum would also leach, unless it was coated or anodized. Aluminum foil is produced by passing aluminum between rollers under pressure. It is shiny on one side only because as it passes through the final rollers, two thicknesses of foil are rolled together. The sides facing each other have the dull finish, while the sides in contact with the rollers become shiny from the burnishing effect of the rollers. It looks like nothing is applied to the aluminum that would prevent leaching.

Aluminum soda cans also leach aluminum into soft drinks. I don’t know if they are the worst, but they definately do leach.

As to whether or not cooking with aluminum or any of these other exposures are is linked to Alzheimer’s…that’s a big question.

Aluminum is ubiquitous in our environment. It is the third most abundant element in the earth’s crust oxygen is #1, silicon is #2. Aluminum is in our air, water and soil, and therefore in the plants and animals we eat. Because every time we breathe, eat or drink we take small quantities of aluminium into our bodies, our bodies have highly effective natural functions to remove the amount of aluminum we are exposed to in the natural environment. According to the International Aluminum Institute, “recent studies have shown that the absorption of aluminium from the digestive tracts is often as low as 0.001%”. And in healthy individuals, the kidneys quickly excrete most of the aluminum our bodies absorb.

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Question from Anlina

Hi,

Are there any health risks associated with blown-in formaldehyde-free attic insulation? My attic is not well-sealed off from my living space.

Also, my attic already has some old blown-in fiberglass insulation that’s been there for 30 years. Will the new fiberglass somehow be more “potent” in terms of toxicity?

Thanks!

Debra’s Answer

Fiberglass is basically glass made into a very thin fiber. If you are using formaldehyde-free fiberglass, toxicity should be pretty low.

However, the fiberglass itself poses some particle hazards. It does not cause lung cancer, like asbestos, but it may cause irritation to skin, eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. If your attic is not well-sealed from your living space, particles of fiberglass could get into your living area.

If your new insulation were to contain formaldehyde, yes, it would be more “potent” than your existing insulation. But because it is formaldehyde-free, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Read more about fiberglass at http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/factsheets/fiberglass.htm.

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Question from Wild4Nature

I am installing a bamboo floor over my hydronic (heated) floors. The flooring company uses FloorMuffler padding which contains polyethylene and polypropylene resins and carbonylamine of azo. Will these give off toxic fumes when heated (to approx. 72 degrees) by my underfloor heating system.

Debra’s Answer

Both polyethylene and polypropylene have relatively low toxicity as far as plastics go, however, heat will always increase the offgassing of soft plastics.

I don’t anticipate this would be a big problem. If it were me, however, I wouldn’t put anything that could outgas on a heated floor. I would only put ceramic or porcelain tile or stone on a heated floor. When these materials are heated, there is no outgassing, and they hold the heat. That’s just my level of precaution.

I’ve never had heated floors myself, but it seems to me to put a wood floor over them kind of defeats the purpose, as wouldn’t the wood not hold the heat well?

All that said, if the temperature is only 72 degrees, that’s basically room temperature, and I don’t see that the outgassing would be any greater than having these materials in any room.

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Question from Gary

Anyone know if these carpets off-gas less or more healthily than petroleum based carpets?

Debra’s Answer

These carpets are made from propanediol, or Bio-PDO, a corn-based polymer. It is made from corn sugar, a by-product of making ethanol, generated at a nearby plant. An E. coli bacteria –genetically-modified by DuPont scientists–breaks down the corn sugar through a fermentation process that is much like making beer.

Mohawk is now selling a carpet made from this fiber called SmartStrand.

The SmartStrand website tells all the environmental savings that comes from using Bio-PDO, but also says that only 37% of the carpet is Bio-PDO. So I called Mohawk and found out that the other 63% is polyester. And it contains no stain resistant treatments because the polymer is “naturally” stain resistant. Hmmmm, I’ve never heard of a natural fiber being inherently stain resistant.

I haven’t seen a sample, so I can’t tell you if it offgasses, but maybe someone has seen a sample and will enlighten us.

Question from sue777

We want to get a foam mattress, but are confused about the different kinds of foam available. Can you just explain the difference between the foams and help us understand them?

Debra’s Answer

First, there are more than 150 different formulations of foams, so unless a manufacturer can tell you exactly what the foam is, you really can’t find out what’s in it.

But there are basically three kinds of foam with regards to choosing a mattress.

1. POLYURETHANE FOAM

This is made from polyol and diisocyanate. Both are petrochemicals. These are combined and passed down through a pipe into a nozzle head, Blasts of carbon dioxide make the foam. Memory foam is a visco-elastic polyurethane foam, still polyurethane. Polyurethane foams are typically very flammable and require fire retardants.

2. LATEX FOAM

This is made from natural latex (milk of the rubber tree) or synthetic latex (rubber made from crude oil). Almost all natural latex is processed into foam using sulfur.

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Question from Judith

I am very chemically sensitive and I recently purchased clothing at two chain retail stores, Coldwater Creek and Chicos. .I discovered a perfumy chemical smell.. possilby some type of deodorizer or something they put on the clothing. I normally do not shop in such stores.

I also purchased some pillows and chair pads from Costco that have the same odor. Too late to return, have washed many times yet the odor remains and it transferred to the furniture I had it on.

I washed and soaked and aired in the sunshine many times. I realize I cannot purchase anything with spandex again as it holds that chemical odor.

Even though I washed my hands and, as my norm, threw what I wore shopping outside right away putting on a hooded robe and bathing soon, the smell lingers in my house and it really bothers me.

I have heard that some companies are using scents that are meant to entice the buyer to purchase. Does anyone know what these chemicals might be? They are the worst ever. I will never go back to those stores nor purchase decorator pillows from Costco. I imagine the chemicals are being used widely, not just in those stores.

I also had terrific trouble with deodorizers used at Trader Joe’s recently. I had not been there for a very long time.

Debra’s Answer

I don’t know what those specific chemicals are in those specific fabric finishes. Readers, any ideas?

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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a federal agency has made a fragrance free policy that applies to all their offices nationwide. The agency issued this policy “”in order to protect and maintain safe indoor environmental quality,” now establishing fragrance as an indoor air quality issue.

The policy is quite detailed as to what cannot be used. Read the policy at www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/154089.

To me, this is huge. Because now a policy regarding fragrances has been written and issued by the Centers for Disease Control. I would say this is a policy that can be brought to any employer to request that it be implemented in any office. Fragrance is no longer an MCS issue, it’s an indoor air quality issue.

This may be the result of another project of the CDC, measuring the toxic chemicals found in the blood of Americans. You can read their latest report at www.cdc.gov/exposurereport.