Question from C

I would like to replace my carpet mats in my car with a non-carpet material. Could you please advise what material would be best for this with the least out-gassing? I cannot find anything on this subject online. I have purchased natural rubber pillows and rug grippers, but there is nothing available for cars.

Thank you!

Debra’s Answer

Readers, any ideas?

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Question from sv

Hi Debra,

We have floor to ceiling, single pane windows in our family room that cause us to lose so much heat in the winter. Do you know anything about honeycomb-cellular shades or is there any kind of film to keep the heat in that you would recommend? Thanks sv

Debra’s Answer

This is a technical question for someone who knows more about energy conservation than I do. Readers?

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Question from Jen

Hi Debra, I got a new Black & Decker steam iron (considered Rowenta that you recommended but on Amazon the reviews were just as good). Its very capable and I like using it since I air dry my clothes now because of the bounce-fabric-softener contaminated dryers downstairs. However, some shirts, soft cottons, seem to absorb a metal smell from the iron. Its really unpleasant. Any thoughts about this? I wonder what the water is held in, inside. Maybe it is aluminum or something.

I’m going to contact B&D myself and complain as I can’t stand that metal smell, and even my boyfriend who is not chemically sensitive noticed it.

Debra’s Answer

I don’t know anything about this. Contact the manufacturer.

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Question from john walker

Hi Debra, i suffer from MCS, i figured this out about 3 years ago after being exposed to a newly renovated building my employer moved into down the street from our old building. as each year goes by i find out about new things that flare up my symptoms. This June my mother-in-law sprayed ant/roach indoor spray as we had some minor ant problems in 3 rooms in my small cape. i become ill when i go into these rooms so i have been avoiding them. i have tried several safe cleaners but one room still is horrible. about 3 weeks ago i found some relief in 2 of the rooms however, since ragweed season is here i cannot go back into these rooms. i have 3 boys and they are all over the house i cannot avoid these rooms all of the time. i am miserable and i have severe moods swings… i get impatient.

any suggestions? how can i eliminate the pesticides?

thanks

john w.- boston, ma

Debra’s Answer

Pesticides are very difficult to remove.

I have had some success in the past by contacting the manufacturer of the pesticide and asking them how to “clean up” the pesticide if it is spilled. One of my clients did this, found out she could clean it up with chlorine bleach, and it worked! No residue of the pesticide or the bleach remained.

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Question from Concerned mother

We were just informed that a cell phone company will be installing a cell tower on or next to my children’s elementary school. Is there any proven information regarding the dangers that this could impose on our children?

Debra’s Answer

I’m going to let my readers with EMF knowledge answer this one.

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Last Friday I discovered we had a natural gas leak at our house.

I had been suspecting something was wrong. I had been traveling for several months, and when I returned home at the end of July, something wasn’t right. While I felt OK physically, mentally I wasn’t thinking very clearly and I wasn’t being my usual cheerful self. I felt like I couldn’t tolerate anything that was the least bit stressful and would just explode about any little thing. I was feeling depressed and hopeless. This is very unusual for me.

I was also becoming more forgetful, just spacing out and not remembering to do things, or I would walk into the kitchen and not remember why I went there. And I wasn’t walking straight. I couldn’t seem to walk through a doorway without bumping my shoulder on the frame.

During this same period, my husband was unusually lackluster. He, in fact, spent about a week under the house repairing water pipes. We thought he was just tired.

As the weeks went by, I felt worse and worse. And I was spending a lot of hours in the house working at my desk, and not going out very much. Finally, last week, my husband and I got into a big argument, which is very rare for us. We were just argumentative, there really wasn’t anything to argue about.

That night I thought I vaguely smelled natural gas. Then on Friday morning, I went out for about an hour, and when I walked back into the house, I immediately smelled the gas as soon as I opened the door. We called the utility company right away. They came and checked our gas stove, gas dryer, and gas pool heater. No leaks. Then they said they would check for pressure in the pipes. If there was no pressure, that meant there were leaks in the pipes. There was no pressure.

They turned the gas off and Larry went to work looking for leaks. I opened all the windows to air the house out. He found two leaks in the pipes under the kitchen and one in the pipe right under my desk where I work. He fixed all the leaks and we had the gas turned back on. And we both felt fine. Back to being happy and optimistic and productive.

I had another very clear demonstration that natural gas was affecting me. On Friday I was supposed to send out my Sweet Savvy newsletter. I prepared the newsletter, and then forgot to send it (this has never happened before)! On Monday I found I hadn’t sent it and edited it and sent it out. I just noticed that there were an unusual number of typos. The gas really messed up my general awareness of things and what I was doing.

I had never before experienced a natural gas leak, so I went hunting for more information, to find out why it had affected me so badly.

Natural gas has three dangers we need to watch out for.

EXPLOSIONS

Though rare, explosions caused by natural gas leaks occur a few times each year in individual homes, small businesses and boats, when an internal leak builds up a sufficient quantity of gas inside the structure. An odorant was added to natural gas so leaks could be detected in 1937, after three hundred students and faculty were killed in the expolsion of a school where a natural gas leak was undetected. [I just want to note that it was interesting to me that my major symptom in response to the gas leak was emotional explosions.]

COMBUSTION BY-PRODUCTS

The most common danger is the production of combustion by-products that are the result of burning natural gas. These include carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen cyanide, nitric acid, and vapors from various organic chemicals, which are produced when fuels do not burn completely. All fuel-burning appliances need air for the fuel to burn efficiently. When a generous supply of fresh air is available and the fuel is burning properly, there is little danger of poisoning. But when there is inadequate ventilation or the appliance is not operating properly, carbon monoxide is produced and can gradually overcome and even kill an unsuspecting bystander.

Because carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless and toxic gas, which is impossible to see, taste or smell, you can be overcome by carbon monoxide before you are even aware of it. For this reason, if you are using gas in your home, it is prudent to have a carbon monoxide detector or monitor (for more on carbon monoxide, see Q&A: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning and EPA: An Introduction to Indoor Air Quality: Carbon Monoxide).

EXPOSURE TO NATURAL GAS FROM GAS LEAKS

Less common, but perhaps even more toxic, is exposure to the natural gas itself through gas leaks. Natural gas is primarily methane. When methane is burned completely in the presence of oxygen, it produces carbon dioxide and water, which is why it is called “the clean fuel.” The major health effect of exposure to methane is asphyxiation, a condition where the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply, leading to unconsciousness, brain damage, and death.

But other symptoms have been reported from exposures to natural gas in amounts lower than those that produce asphyxiation. One woman associated exposure to an ongoing natural gas leak with “sinus, pneumonia, vomiting upon waking, nausea, nosebleeds, memory loss, extreme fatigue, headaches, weak and bleeding gums and teeth, dizziness, bloating, intestinal cramping,flatulence, constipation, diarrhea, weight gain, loss of appetite, loss of menstrual cycles, depression, claustrophobia, itching in genitals, loss of libido, pain in hands and feet, low grade fever, cuts not healing, night sweats, hair loss, chest pain, heart pain, partial-seizures (conscious) and one grand-mal seizure (unconscious).” She also noted bad memory, weight gain, and feeling drugged. (The Dangers of Natural Gas–this site has lots of links to other natural gas websites).

The MSDS for methane says, “IN LOW CONCENTRATIONS, MAY CAUSE NARCOTIC EFFECTS SUCH AS DIZZINESS, HEADACHE, NAUSEA AND LOW COORDINATION.”

Natural can also contain many contaminants, including benzene, toluene, tar, and PCBs. PCBs are known to the state of California to cause cancer. The California warming about natural gas says:

Natural gas, in its original state, contains radon and benzene, chemicals “known to the State of California to cause cancer.” It also contains toluene, a chemical “known to the State of California to cause reproductive harm.” The benzene and toluene are destroyed when natural gas is burned. Radon does not burn but is released with the combustion by-products.

Carcinogenic benzene and toluene are destroyed when natural gas is burned, but are present in the gas we inhale from gas leaks. (Gascape)

Intentionally added to natural gas is the odorant, which is Methanethiol (methyl mercaptan) or Ethanethiol (ethyl mercaptan). Ethanethiol considered “not harmful” at the low concentrations found in natural gas, but is known to cause dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, tremor, weakness, and unconsciousness when inhaled in sufficient amounts. What may be considered “not harmful” in amounts encountered in normal use may become dangerous when there is a gas leak. “Little is known” about the health effects of methanethiol.

There is a simple test you can do to see how complete your gas appliance is burning. In a dark room, turn on a gas appliance. Watch the gas flame burn. The blue flames are methane gas burning. Yellow, orange, green, purple or red colors in your flame are the contaminants.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1. Switch to electric. Electricity does not explode, create combusion by-products, or leak toxic, carcinogenic, or asphyxiating gasses. However, there are electromagnetic issues with electric appliances.

2. Get a detector. Natural gas can be detected by use of a natural gas or methane detector (search online or ask at a local store for an “explosive gas/methane detector”); carbon monoxide can be detected by a carbon monoxide detector. Natural gas poisoning is the result of inhaling the natural gas fumes leaking from the pipe that carries the gas into the house from the gas meter. Carbon monoxide poisoning is result of inhaling the fumes created by the burning of gas, which are leaking from the appliance instead of being vented out of the home. It’s important to know the difference.

3. Ventilate, ventilate, ventilate. Use hood fans and open windows to dilute and combustion by-products or natural gas from leaks.

4. Inspect. Call your local utility and have them come inspect your applicances and pipes for natural gas leaks. Make sure all your natural gas appliances are burning at top efficiency.

Question from Lisa T.

I have read posts on this forum in the past about the toxicity of conventional crib mattresses, and would love to replace our baby’s mattress entirely. However, the steep cost has caused me to ponder alternatives, so I have a couple of questions:

1) Is there a less expensive barrier for a mattress that would prevent the toxic fumes from reaching the child? Was wondering if an allergen barrier work? For example the CleanRest Allergen Barrier, Pristine Basic, or Pristine Complete? Or are some or all of the allergen barriers mattress encasings toxic as well? I noticed the CleanRest product says it doesn’t contain any plastic, vinyl, or polyurethane, and the Pristine line says they’re made of microfiber and not any urethane membrane, but I’m not sure what the other toxic possibilities might be. (This question about allergen encasings holds additional interest for me, as we already have allergen encasings on all our adult bedding.)

2) Would a wool mattress topper help with this issue at all?

Thank you in advance for any wisdom anyone has to share.

Lisa T.

NYC

Debra’s Answer

Toxic chemicals that emit from toxic mattresses are gasses, which have very small particles. An allergen casing designed for dust, etc, will not contain a gas.

Children have not yet developed body systems to protect themselves against toxic chemicals. Your child spends 1/3 of his life in bed. It needs to be as safe as possible.

Whatever you spend on a nontoxic bed now, will come back to you manyfold in the future, when you don’t have to pay medical bills.

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Question from Barbara Shuts

I have read that the best way to make a liquid stevia, from the green leaf or green powdered leaf,is to steep it in grain alcohol. The alcohol can be reduced by simmering the “brew” until the alcoholic taste evaporates. The article also said brewing your own liquid stevia from the green leaves in water would not produce as sweet a taste as doing so in alcohol. Do you agree with this theory?

Debra’s Answer

I don’t have any experience making stevia with grain alcohol.

I grow stevia plants in my backyard and use the leaves to sweeten tea, or just eat them. I don’t attempt to use stevia tea as a sweetener for anything else.

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Question from Jess

Hi,

my condo association is looking to replace windows in our older building. We know we want vinyl free, but we also want very energy efficient, potentially emf-blocking, nice looking windows (we need the kind with the grommets.) I wonder if there are any windows out there that are eco friendly, not too plastic heavy, and don’t offgas. Anyone have recommendations?

Thanks!

Debra’s Answer

Readers?

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Question from Kate

Dear Debra, would you please give me your opinion regarding plastic/resin material for the chemically sensitive? Although my question may be a bit out of your area, I’d still be very grateful for your reply and opinion. The resin I’m questioning pertains to resin bonding material on my teeth—(I’m sensitive to plastics and after getting the bonding I developed an autoimmune disease). If you wouldn’t recommend resin/plastic in the home, would it stand to reason one wouldn’t want it in their mouth? I can’t find much research on this, and my gut feeling is I should replace it with porcelein veneers. Thank you so much for any idea you would share.

Kate

Debra’s Answer

I agree with you. Porcelain.

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