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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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Question from Martha Casselman

Debra: I’m sure you’ve covered this before, but we have flying critters that are certainly termites. I wonder about the advertised orange oil or other alternative methods of ridding us of them. Not only are we aware of how dangerous the usual methods of ridding homes of them; I have been treated for breast cancer over the past three years, and am especially cautious. We do vac them up, but of course that is futile in preventing further infestation. This note comes from your old friend and former agent. I find your information always of interest.

With warm regards,

Martha

Debra’s Answer

So good to hear from you! Everyone, this is my retired literary agent who took me under her wing when I was unknown and unpublished and got my first book on household toxics published in 1984. So we all have her to thank for my being here today.

The thing to use to prevent termites is Timbor. It is completely nontoxic, smells like nothing, and is so effective it has virtually wiped out the termite control industry in…New Zealand, I think. We just put some in our house.

Thanks for writing to me, Martha, and all the best to you.

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Question from Stephen

I recently purchased a stainless steel jelly roll pan from Fox Run. The label was adhered to the top of the pan, and I’m finding it extremely difficult to remove the adhesive. I’ve tried goo gone, and that didn’t work. I’ve soaked the pan in warm water and soap, and that didn’t work. Do you have any suggestions about how to remove the glue?

Thank you,

Stephen

Debra’s Answer

Readers? Any ideas?

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