Question from Mary Marston

The woman who cooks for me told me today that she has trapped two mice and one rat in her apartment. She has complained to the owner but nothing has been done. She has a two-year old daughter and is concerned that a rat could bite her.

The manager of my apartment complex here told her to call the city (San Diego.) Obviously, one option is to move, but that would take time and money, and would involve breaking a lease. In terms of expecting the owner to do something, I am wondering what the owner could do, and is there anything non-toxic that could be done. We discussed checking for holes where the rat could have entered. Trapping may get rid of any rats that get in but would not prevent them from entering the apartment in the first place.

The subject of fumigation came up. I advised her of the danger of that, and I don’t see how that would keep the rats out anyway, at least not for long. Can you or your readers shed any light on this?

Debra’s Answer

Readers, any suggestions?

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Question from Cheryl3

In addition to homemade recipes for skincare, I have been investigating antiwrinkle creams. It is difficult to find a safe and effective one and one that does not do animal testing. Finally, I came across a company called Xtend- Life ( xtend-life.com) their eye contour, active day and restorative nightcream appealed to me. However, as one of their ingredients is: Nanobelle Coenzyme Q10 —” a special ‘nano-emulsion’ form, which can penetrate down through seven layers of skin.”

I emailed them about its safety. This was their response:

” I understand your concern as to nano technology. I can assure you that the type of technology used to produce our Nano-Lipobelle ingredient (the only ingredient that applies this technology base) is totally natural and without detrimental effects in any way.

Here is some further info to help you….

Nanotechnology has been around a long time, only recently has it been given a name. As long as there have been crèmes and other mixtures of oils and water then this technology has been present.

How most crèmes and skincare products are made is that a water phase is dispersed in an oil phase in microscopic droplets that are too small to coalesce and separate. In the same way nanotechnology – in the common understanding – involves microscopic or even smaller particles, and like any technology it has both its positives and negatives.

Debra’s Answer

I think their explanation is confusing. If it’s nanotechnology, they should say so; if it’s in it’s natural state, it’s in its natural state. My steadfast guideline is that nature knows best. Anything we put on or in our bodies should be as close to the state in which it appears in nature as possible.

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Question from Cheryl3

Does anyone know of any products which are safe and effective for reducing cellulite? Except for Nivea’s, (rated moderate) none of the ones listed as safe on EWG was available when I checked.

Thanks again.

Debra’s Answer

Readers?

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Question from Tanya

My husband painted the baseboards in our bedroom with Olympic Premium paint, which is no VOC, almost 3 weeks ago. The paint did not have much of a smell in the can but a couple of days later the smell became very strong. I have not been feeling well since then. About 10 days ago he took all of the baseboards off the wall and out of the house. He had touched up a little of the other wood trim in the room and so he sanded it to where he thought he had all of the new paint off. The room still smells horrible and I can’t go in there for long. We have tried running a space heater, leaving the windows open during the day for several days and even using cut up raw onion to try to absorb the odor. It seems that the paint has infiltrated other areas of our house as well. There is a slight odor in the rest of the house and I do not feel too well anywhere in the house. Does anyone have any other ideas?

Debra’s Answer

Keep running your space heater, as heat is the only thing that will release the odor. Keep all the doors and windows closed so it gets as warm as possible. Do this for at least eight hours, then air the room out. If the odor persists, heat the room again.

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Question from Danielle

What is your opinion on Burt’s Bees hair care and body products? I’ve begun to switch to Burt’s Bees since I want products that are more natural, and have already bought a toner, deep cleansing creme, and a body lotion. I am happy with these products so far and I plan to purchase shampoo and conditioner this week. I noticed this company is not on “Debra’s List” and am wondering why.

Thank you,

Danielle

Debra’s Answer

First, just because a company is not on Debra’s List doesn’t mean it isn’t good. I’m adding links as fast as I can, but there are still more to add. For cosmetics, I’m focusing on the companies that have organic ingredients, since personal care products are absorbed into the body through the skin even more quickly that food ingested.

Burt’s Bees is a good “natural” brand, but not all the products are 100% natural and none of the ingredients are organic. One thing I like about their website is they tell you the exact ingredients and the percentage that is natural (mostly 90-something).

Given my limited time and space, I won’t be adding them to Debra’s List because of lack of organic ingredients, but they would certainly be on the list if I were including “natural” personal care products.

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Question from HEG

I moved into a condo building about 2 months ago. Shortly after moving in I noticed a pungent sweet smell (sort of like cherry lifesavers but sickly sweet and unpleasant) in the closet that houses our HVAC system. It doesn’t really smell like an air freshener, but more “chemically”. Our HVAC closet has pipes in it that run from our unit up and down to the below and above neighbors. I knocked on my neighbors’ doors and none of them noticed a similar problem. I can’t figure out what the smell is and it is completely driving me crazy. It seems to be stronger in the late afternoons and at night. It is much stronger if we open up our windows, which led me to believe that by opening the windows we were sucking air in from other inits and from thehallway and that this was causing the problem to exacerbate. When the windows are closed for days the smell dissipates substantially. So I recently purchased an Austin Air Healthmate plus air purifier thinking it would help but it appears to be making the problem worse. This may be due to the fact that the air purifier also sucks in air and is therefore pulling air into the HVAC closet and therefore in our apartment. Do you or any of your readers have any ideas what it might be? Do you have suggestions for how we could figure out what it could be? And do you have any suggestions about what we could do (short of moving) to fix the smell problem? Any suggestions would be very appreciated as we have an infant and are very concerned with making sure that the air she breathes is clean and healthy.

Debra’s Answer

I’m not sure what it might be, but you say that it dissipates if the windows are closed. Can you keep the windows closed? I was a little unclear about where the windows are in relation to the HVAC closet.

Readers, anyone have a similar experience? What did you do?

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Beware of the new “natural” sweetener AminoSweet–it’s just Aspartame with a new name. www.foodbev.com/news/ajinomoto-brands-aspartame-aminosweet.

If you are not already familiar with the dangers of Aspartame, here’s a website to explore: www.sweetpoison.com