Household Cleaners Causing Health Problems

A Boston news channel produced the following report on the link between cleaning products and health problems. Asthma, reproductive health, and health at school are all mentioned.

Trash cans. Nobody really wants to mess with them. But a nasty trash can can make for a nasty room. So I try to clean mine (i.e., wash them, inside and out) about every 3 months. It’s not as bad as it may seem. Take the cans outside, spray ‘em down inside and out with your preferred cleaning solution. Vinegar does a great job on ‘gunk,’ so I use diluted vinegar with some Borax and a bit of essential oils. Let it sit for a few minutes, then spray it down. Scrub off any ‘leftovers’, and then leave it in a sunny spot. The sunlight will kill any organisms (mildew, etc.).

When you bring the cans back inside put a dryer sheet and a sprinkle of baking soda in the bottom (between the can and the liner). It’ll keep them fresh longer. And fresh cans make for a fresher room! Head over to Rocks in My Dryer for more Works for Me Wednesday tips!

Lavender actually gets its name from Latin lavare, meaning, to wash. It was actually used in WWII to disinfect hospital walls and floors – I’d say that’s pretty potent, with what was going on in those hospitals! As fas as the essential oils go, it’s pretty popular for its clean, pure aroma. It promotes nervous system health and balance, and has lots of other healthy uses.

It has been used for nerves, migraines, headaches, tension, emotional stress, sore muscles or tense muscles. Other uses include benefits for the skin, immune and circulatory systems. The medicinal uses make it popular as a general additive for aromatherapy, but you can just as well add some lavender essential oil to your regular cleaning products, or add some to a damp rag to rub into your hardwood floors. It’ll leave your home smelling fantastic, promote health for your family, and do hard work as a disinfectant.

You can purchase essential oils at your local natural foods store, or Google it and purchase online. You’ll want to aim for Lavandula angustifolia, also known as Lavender Fine, as that’s the better type of lavender on the market. Happy cleaning! 

Please note: Lavender is not recommended for early pregnancy. When pregnant, please use caution when handling any essential oils, as most have not been tested for their effect on baby development. 

This week an Arizona mom’s case went before the court as she claimed that her daughter’s severe autism is the result of her childhood MMR vaccine (that’s Measles, mumps, and rubella). The MMR vaccine contains thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative. Many parents, and some doctors suspect a causal relationship between thimerosal and autism, but the Institute of Medicine published a study in 2004 that denies any causal relationship.

Several manufacturers are now producing thimerosal-free or trace-thimerosal vaccines. Doctors are required to have vaccine information available for patients, so if you’re worried about thimerosal in your child’s vaccines (or your own), bring it up with your doctor. He or she should be able to give you the trade name of the vaccine and tell you if it has thimerosal in it. You can consult the FDA chart here for a list of vaccines that are thimerosal-free or trace thimerosal.

The CDC states that the benefit of even the suspected vaccines is more important than the risk factors related to them. It never hurts to be informed though, so be sure to talk to your doctor if you’re concerned, and you can even ask to see the packaging from the vaccine. Some eyes may roll, but you are your own advocate.

Here at Broom Huggers we’ve been doing a cleaning or health tip every Thursday. Starting this week, we’re switching our tips to Wednesdays to participate in Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in my Dryer.

As it turns out, fresh gel from the aloe vera plant can help asthma sufferers. Clip a leaf, slice it lengthwise, and scoop the gel into some boiling water. It makes a great humidifier for asthma sufferers to breathe. But you do need the fresh stuff – so if you or someone in your house has asthma, get yourself a healthy aloe plant and learn how to take care of it.

You can also use it to relieve sunburns, eczema, and aid digestion. They say aloe is a pretty easy plant to keep – hardy and survives even the least green of thumbs. So I guess we can just call me a 3rd-degree plant murderer. I’ve killed numerous aloe plants, but thankfully kept each long enough to get good use out of it!

A full 50% of the searches that lead people here have to do with bleach. I have a feeling there are people out there who are bothered by bleach (for health or ecological reasons) but don’t know how to clean without it. So, here are some suggestions. The main purposes for bleach are to whiten and disinfect. So here it is:

• To whiten stained spots on clothing: put some lemon juice on the spot, rub in a bit of salt, and leave it in the sun for an hour or two. It lifts the stain.
• To clean spills from health contaminants (raw meat or eggs in the kitchen, urine in the bathroom): Straight vinegar is a great disinfectant. I advise keeping a sponge with vinegar near your cutting boards for frequent use.
• To whiten laminate counter tops: Bon Ami – it’s a powder found at the grocery store in a canister – usually right next to Bar Keeper’s friend (which also works relatively well. But we prefer Bon Ami – it uses less elbow grease, and less elbow grease means more cleaning stamina!). We’ve removed coffee stains, raspberry, blueberry, and strawberry stains, and marks from the bottom of pots and pans.
• To disinfect:
  • Borax: buy it in the supermarket where they sell detergents – in my grocery store it’s next to the powdered dishwasher detergents. Borax is a powder and is safe to mix with virtually anything. Combine it with some vinegar, lemon juice, or just plain water to clean virtually anything. It’s completely harmless and safe to use. Gloves and ventilation not required (as opposed to bleach).
  • Vinegar: it disinfects, kills mold, bacteria, and germs. (As an aside: bleach does not kill mold – it just whitens it so you don’t see it. But bleach will leave living mold spores that will continue to grow.) Vinegar’s potency is released when combined with salt, so for a nice strong disinfectant add some salt to your vinegar, dilute with water if you’d like, and spray away. I just used it to clean the toilet seat in the bathroom where my little girl is potty-training. It works remarkably well.

Any more alternative uses you need for bleach? Let me know and I’ll fill you in!

I love checking my blog stats for how people got to this blog. Sometimes it makes me laugh, other times I come across truly worrisome search terms. Like one I found today – “kill warts with bleach.” Please be aware that bleach is meant to be used with gloves. It is an acute skin irritant, and while it may kill warts (I don’t know if this is true), it could also kill or burn any other skin it comes into contact with. In fact, my staunch advice is to get rid of your bleach. It’s too hazardous and doesn’t pack enough punch to make the dangers worthwhile. If you’re a die-hard bleach addict, do your family a favor and at least switch to non-chlorinated version. But my suggestion… rid your house of the all bleach and thank me later.

Instead, try duct tape. (No, really, I’m serious)  I saw an article about it posted in my pediatrician’s office this morning when we were there to discuss Little Man’s seizures (it’s been a weird week), and I googled it when I got home. Here’s the procedure (from CBS news):

In the study, patients wore duct tape over their warts for six days. Then they removed the tape, soaked the area in water and used an emery board or pumice stone to scrape the spot. The tape was reapplied the next morning. The treatment continued for a maximum of two months or until the wart went away.

The Today show featured a new book on the market that you may be interested in. The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen gives consumers simple ways to conserve energy, conserve water, and generally green your life. Tip come from the authors’ lives, general news, and celebrities too!

Tips include unplugging appliances when you’re not using them (because they still use energy when not in use), bringing your own toiletries when you travel to avoid the cheapo disposable hotel toiletries, and installing a water-conserving toilet (or flushing once less a day).

Check it out! And if when you do, let me know what you think!

It was brilliant. The problem: I have to wait to sweep my tile floors until the kids are in bed so they won’t track through my swept-up-crumbs pile and kick it all over the kitchen. BUT (eurkea!) if I had one of those cool non-electric dirt-grabber-sweeper things they use in restaurants I could actually have my 3 year old sweep up for me! (And oh, how she loves to help clean! No really, I’m serious!) Brilliant. Right?

But then I went to the Oreck store to try their Restaurateur. It turns out they only work well on that thin restaurant-style carpet. Not on tile. Or hardwoods. There are a couple more on the market – Hoover makes one. Maybe I’ll go to my friendly Hoover store just down the street and try one. I’m still hoping. How much easier would my life be if my kids could sweep the crumbs off the floor? Hmm… If only I had that, I’d be happy… (well, no. Let’s try again.) If only I had that, I’d be a better mom… (still not right.) If only I had that, my kids could contribute more to the household upkeep and share the load with me! Now wouldn’t that be nice?

Interested in finding out what the world wide web can offer you in terms of Green services and products? Now it’s easier to find out! Green Maven is a great search tool, and even has its own plug-in for Firefox browser! (If you haven’t used Firefox, you should try it.)

So, go try Green Maven. Go ahead, I dare you.