My new water pitcher is known to contain chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm.

So, today I went shopping for some random home supplies, and when I got home and started removing tags, I found this warning on my new water pitcher:

"WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after use."

WHAT?! I've seen these signs posted elsewhere, but usually in parking garages and in large buildings. This time it was on my new water pitcher - so I'm supposed to drink water/juice/lemonade out of a chemically-laden container which is linked to serious health problems, but be sure to wash my hands off after I touch it? (The "wash hands after use" actually almost made me laugh... really? Is that going to keep me safe even after I consume the contents within the pitcher??) Are these companies serious? How can they make these products, KNOWING the harm that their products cause to consumers? After I packed those supplies back into a bag to return to the store, I started looking around my house. How many more products/plastics have or should have that same warning? Is it seriously everywhere? How do I protect myself from that? And more importantly, how do I protect my husband and family from that kind of exposure? We think we are safe within our own homes, when low and behold our water pitcher is poisoning us... WHAT?!

California seems to be more 'public conscious' about these things than other states. I guess that's why this is the first time I've seen these kinds of warnings and postings. It turns out that in 1986 they decided it was time to make the public aware of what was going into consumer products, so they passed Prop 65. The website for the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment states,

"The Proposition was intended by its authors to protect California citizens and the State's drinking water sources from chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, and to inform citizens about exposures to such chemicals.

Proposition 65 requires the Governor to publish, at least annually, a list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.

If you are curious what is contained in that list, look HERE. All this is frightening to me. What else is out there - if we aren't excempt from these things in our own homes, what about at restaurants, shopping stores, grocery stores? As a matter of fact, most car dealerships here also display the warning... And the bad news in my house doesn't stop there: we assembled new kitchen chairs last week, and on the bottom cushion there was a sticker that read, "This product contains a known carcinogen." Which means my new chairs could cause CANCER? Is this for real? If I take those back and find some different ones, are there chairs out there made without cancer-causing materials? What do I do? How much exposure is too much? According to the websites I've found, there are certain levels of these materials that are allowed, which supposedly do not cause harm. But if a product is made with chemicals over that allowable amount, the company has to provide the warning on the product...Nice, huh? It's not illegal to use more than the "safe" amount of these chemicals, no. All companies are required to do is provide a warning. Once again, where does that leave me as the consumer?

Some websites offer opinions that say that these warnings go overboard, and that it's just crazy stupid California legislation that requires this. Others say to not take it seriously. They laugh at the warnings, and make fun of them... but if the warnings are there, shouldn't we pay attention? A company isn't going to state that their product is harmful if it's not...

Basically, I've resigned myself to the fact that I can't freak out about it. I can't become so consumed by fear that I can't function in the 'real' world. But I do know that I need to be an AWARE consumer. I need to ask questions and I need to take action with making whatever I can (including my home and my family) as safe and natural as possible. Now I know to look for those warnings before I buy a product. It's not smart to simply just trust and accept that what our suppliers and marketers are making for us is actually SAFE for us and our health. And that's unfortunate, if you ask me.

I'm not sure how many states require these same type of warnings. But I encourage you to look at THIS website, which explains Proposition 65, and can answer some practical questions, if you want them answered. They have sections on air, water, children's health, pesticides, and more. And then, do your own research. Be AWARE. Be conscious of these things out there. Ignorance is bliss, at times. But at other times it's costing us much more than we know. This kind of stuff is worth knowing, I think.

Air quality reports in the News...

In regards to the recent California fires, take a look at the air quality in southern California. MILLIONS of people are feeling the effects. This article reports which areas are unhealthy and even hazardous to inhabitants. Schools have been closed due to the smoke problem.

Click HERE if you want to see regularly updated air information. Plus, authorities offer residents TIPS on how to be safe in this kind of environment.

See previous blog post for ways to improve your air quality at home...

When fires rage in California, we begin to wonder about air quality...

When fires rage in California, the air is FULL of smoke and ash. Turn on the news today and hear the reports. Look in a paper and see the stories. There are pictures and videos available online - you will be surprised at how vast and damaging these fires are. And not just for the people in close proximity to the flames - these fires are affecting millions...

Why? Because officials warn people to not breathe in the air. It's dangerous. It's bad to breathe. One of the reasons is, because the fires have consumed so many homes, the air now carries in it toxins and chemicals from the houses: the pesticides, the construction elements, the plastics... the list goes on and on. So, people are staying indoors, using masks outdoors, driving with car windows up, and keeping animals inside, just waiting for the fires to stop, and the air to clear.

But this brings up a SUPER interesting point. Air can actually be bad for you - it can be harmful, in and of itself - for anyone who is breathing it. And even without fires, how much of our air is polluted to the point of being harmful for us? Outside of the realm of California fires, where else does this threat lie? Yeah... pretty much everywhere.

I would wager those who live in places like Los Angeles, Mexico City, and New York City value clean air more than people who always have it, in wide-open places elsewhere. They can feel, and oftentimes So the question is, where can we get it? How can we protect ourselves? We NEED air. We can't just stop breathing for awhile and wait for cleaner air. Not exactly an option.

The simplest answer (besides pick up your whole life and move to an area with cleaner, less polluted air) is to invest in an air purifier. It might seem simplistic and not good enough, but consider it. They can be found at many big stores, like Sam's or Costco, or probably even at Wal-Mart. They will purify the air in your homes, so that you have a refuge to return to, and a safer place to sleep. Do some research to find out which air purifiers would be the best for your home environment. They do essentially the same thing, but use different technologies. Some are better for dust mites or mold or smoke or small/large areas... The ones that I've done some research on are the Shaklee air purifiers, and I know they are effective. They have much science behind them, and work amazingly well. They will even go a long way to cleaning up from cleaning products, paints, furniture... all sorts of smells and chemicals, etc.

So, while some people are no where near concerned about their air quality, there are plenty of people who wish there was something they could do about it. And while we can't purify the whole earth (at least not yet!) we can start at home, and do what we can there...

Scientific Testing done by Shaklee

I recently was in dialogue with someone who pushed me to prove why Shaklee products are worthwhile. How do we know for sure they are "naturally safe and proven effective"? What makes them different from any other company?

If you are interested, please look at this explanation from the Shaklee website. Read especially the part titled, "UNSURPASSED PRODUCT STANDARDS; TESTING THE LIMITS OF TESTING..." You can find the whole article HERE.

"Babies are born pre-polluted..." Once again, are you kidding me?

According to the Environmental Working Group, babies can enter the world with as many as 300 chemicals in their bodies. WHAT?! This must be a joke, I thought. A very bad joke. But, in reading and listening to what they had to say, things started adding up. While before the placenta was thought to act as a kind of Super-Guard against toxins getting into the baby's system, that is now known to be only partially true. Yes, the placenta is a great barrier, but certain things get past it, and into the baby's system. Which means the baby is exposed to whatever we, as the mom, is exposed to.

This video is about 22 minutes long. They explain their study and how and why they did it. And their results are very interesting. Please watch this when you get a chance. It's VERY worth watching. It will open your eyes to a LOT.

@ Yahoo! Video

A condensed version of their results from their website:

"The nation’s toxic chemical regulatory law, the Toxic Substances Control Act, is in drastic need of reform. Passed in 1976 and never amended since, TSCA is widely regarded as the weakest of all major environmental laws on the books today.

When passed, the Act declared safe some 62,000 chemicals already on the market, even though there were little or no data to support this policy. Since that time another 20,000 chemicals have been put into commerce in the United States, also with little or no data to support their safety.

Testing by Environmental Working Group has identified 455 chemicals in people, and again, no one has any idea if these exposures are safe.

We are at a tipping point, where the pollution in people is increasingly associated with a range of serious diseases and conditions from childhood cancer, to autism, ADHD, learning deficits, infertility, and birth defects. Yet even as our knowledge about the link between chemical exposure and human disease grows, the government has almost no authority to protect people from even the most hazardous chemicals on the market."

For the whole article, go HERE.

So what can we do? If this inspires you to change your lifestyle at all - I'm with you. We can start with cleaning products, food, water, take a look at your cosmetics... contact me if you have questions. Once again, I HIGHLY recommend taking a look HERE, and see what you find.

Organic Lifestyle - Are You Kidding Me?

www.Enviroblog.org is proving to be a GREAT resource for the healthy lifestyle, and give timely "heads-up" information on what is out there, and what you should try to avoid. They post articles on all sorts of issues, and seem to have a good base for their research and for what they say. One such article I just found is on the importance of eating healthy during pregnancy. But they go farther and assert that organic are not just a nice option, but really an important lifestyle choice.

Now, let me say, when I first heard all this, a few things went through my mind:

-Organic? Where am I gonna find that? Why would I bother?

-Pay what? Are you kidding me? I'm doing fine with what I've already been doing.

-This is more of a 'healthy fanatic' viewpoint. I'm gonna stay 'middle-of-the-road' and not freak out about it.

Well, I've got to admit, the more I read and researched, the more interested I became. And slowly I started understanding the whys and hows, as well as the HUGE benefits of changing certain routines I had. And that's the hardest part, believe it or not. We are each used to a certain way, and to change that is to admit that somehow we were wrong or not well-informed in the first place. That's hard. I didn't like it. But... to be able to let go of habits simply because they are habits and change things up a little for the sake of our health and the health of those around us - doesn't turn out to be that hard...

Take a look at this video. I found it here.

Cloth or disposable diapers: Results!

Thank you so much for all the great responses to the cloth vs. disposable diaper post. It was interesting to see the varied answers I got via this blog, email, and Facebook. Let me summarize:

Disposable Advantages:

-Easy

-Convenient

-Fast

-Cheap

Disposable disadvantages:

-Child's exposure to chemicals and toxins

-Bad on the environment

Cloth Advantage:

-Little to no toxic/chemical exposure for baby.

-Less expensive in the long run.

-Great for the environment

-With new options over the past few years, less rashes for babies

-Really cute! ;-D

Cloth Disadvantage:

-Learning curve

-Need to launder them with natural detergent (which may not actually be a bad switch!) This takes a little more time.

-Money investment at the beginning, though less and less as time goes on. (And even less than that with more babies)

Here are some comments I received. I will keep them all anonymous.

"disposable....they grow up WAY too fast to spend your short time they are in diapers cleaning them."

"In the long run, cloth are less expensive (I believe) and probably better for the environment -- disposable diapers never seem to decompose."

"Cloth is amazing :) No rashes, amazing for the environment, healthy for baby, not any messier than disposables (and a lot fewer diaper blowouts) and really really cute. :)"

"I looked into cloth and they were really interesting to me. But I never got the funds to buy them up front. If I could I would use cloth. Disposable is less work, but cloth seems worth the extra work..."

"both - cloth for home & disposable for travel (& during early weeks)."

And the following was one of the best explanations. She knows and believes in all the reasons for cloth :

"Cloth is better for the environment -- less trash, less crude oil used, which is needed in the making of a disposable. The average disposable contains dyes, fragrance, xylene, ethylbenzene, and sodium polyacrylate which can trigger allergic reactions. Some studies show these diapers release VOC's. When you feel you must use disposables try non chemical disposables carried online in bulk, at certain stores, and Target has a new brand of chemical free disposable. Cloth can be purchsed from Dy-Dee Diaper Service and you launder every 3 days. Dy-dee can wash them for you, you can purchase all-in-one diapers like Fuzzibunz and Bum Genius, Nickis Diapers (there are so many on the market).

We experienced far less diaper rash with cloth and cloth is more breathable. You can check out the gdiaper and even try a cloth diaper inside the gdiaper cover. Babies wear diapers for 2 years on average and don't need to sit in chemicals 24/7. Do a cost comparison sometime and compare the savings of re-using some sort of cloth diaper vs the cost of disposables. And if you are not sure what you want to do, try Dy-Dee Service for one month while you are in postpartum and then experiment to figure out which path is best for you. There are resources where bundles of diapers can be put together and there are websites such as --"
www.kellyscloset.com
www.nickisdiapers.com
www.gdiapers.com
www.dy-dee.com

All I've ever known is disposable, and that's all I've ever used - when baby-sitting, helping other moms, etc. So I know their convenience and ease. But, as I look more and more into the alternatives, and the reasons for the alternatives, I'm intrigued by what is out there. One note stated above is really sticking with me: "Babies wear diapers for 2 years on average and don't need to sit in chemicals 24/7..." That's something to think about.

So... have at it! Take a look at what there is, and decide from there. I've still got a few months, but it's better to find out now than later. The websites above seem to be really good. And check out this one, too, whenever you've got time.

PS: Here's an experienced Mom who gave me some real pointers. I really appreciated her time to share with me. Here's what she had to say:

"And you had asked about the ick factor. It's really not bad at all. Either way you'll have to deal with the poop :-).

Here's my routine and set-up. I have a cheap $5 garbage pail from walmart with a flip-top lid. I have 2 pail linershttp://www.facebook.com/l/;swaddlebees.com/products/Diaper-Accessories/bagprints) that I put in the pail and rotate during washes. I just throw the diapers in the pail (remove the solids if you need to, don't worry about it if you're breastfeeding). I do laundry every 2 days, but you can wait 3. Just throw all the diapers in the wash, the bag included. I do a cold rinse (to rinse out any extra poop), a hot wash, and a cold rinse (this extra rinse makes sure to get out all detergent since detergent can equal rashes and stink).

Line dry the diapers in the sun to get out any stains (the sun will stain out any organic stains on diapers or clothing! Add lemon juice for tougher stains. It's amazing!) Or just run them through the dryer! It's really simple once you get in the routine."

Thank you to all you Moms who shared your experiences with me! Please keep the wisdom coming!