Question from Donna

Hi Debra

I’ve been wanting to ask you this for a while:

Crest White Strips, and/or other teeth whitening agents. Do you know anything about them? Are they safe? Can’t really tell by ingredients as I remember, but didn’t know if you had the inside scoop. I am most concerned as I do have an autoimmune illness that I have under control very well for the past twenty years and don’t want to do anything stupid to mess things up.

I appreciate any advice from you and your readers.

Thanks.

Debra’s Answer

The ingredients listed on the box of Crest White Strips are water, glycerin, hydrogen peroxide, carbomer 956, sodium hydroxide and sodium saccharin. These aren’t particularly toxic in the amounts used. For example, sodium hydroxide is lye, which will burn right through your skin if you put a wet lye crystal on wet skin, but it is very diluted in this formula. Sodium saccharin used to be thought to cause cancer, but has since been found to be safe. Glycerin can be made from petrochemicals or vegetables. In this case, it’s probably petrochemical.

Crest Whitestrips are thin, flexible strips coated with a tooth whitening gel, whose active ingredient is hydrogen peroxide, which is the same substance dentists use to whiten teeth. The reason you would use the strips instead of just putting hydrogen peroxide on your teeth is that the hydrogen peroxide needs to be held against the tooth for a period of time. The strips are designed to conform to the shape of your teeth, keeping the whitening gel on your teeth for 30 minutes at a time.

I don’t find this product to be particularly toxic to the degree that I would recommend against it for an average person. That said, if the glycerin is made from petrochemicals, it might be something you might not want to risk with your autoimmune condition.

Readers, what are your recommendations for natural ways to keep teeth white?

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Question from dg

Thank you for the sugar-free recipes, especially the Holiday Fruitcake. However, I did not find instructions for making my own candied fruit for this cake. Please tell me how to do this or help me find it on your website. Thank you for all the wonderful work you are doing. You are a “Godsend”.

Debra’s Answer

The recipe for making candied fruits is at Candied Citrus Peel. I found it by typing “candied” into my onsite search engine–access through the big purple SEARCH button on every page of all my websites–but there is also a link to it right where the ingredient is given in the recipe. You can use it to candy any fruits actually.

The recipe calls for using whole, brown, evaporated cane juice, so the color isn’t bright and sparkling like it is when you use white sugar. And evaporated cane syrup doesn’t crystallize or get hard and sticky like white sugar. But in a cake or pie, this candied citrus peel is lively and zesty and a great counterpoint to the sweeter fruits.

You could also use honey to candy fruits and it will behave more like white sugar.

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Question from Evie P.

Anyone lived through bedbugs and used eco means of getting rid of those little bastardos? We’re living on vinyl covers surrounded by chemicals and I’m still covered with bites. I tried vaseline on the legs (not so eco but better than the permicide) and I’m vacuuming. I am going to steam some things but hear that that doesn’t work so well anyway.

At this point I am ready to apply DDT directly to my body — but I am hoping there are some eco folks out there who have beat the bedbugs.

We live in NYC so putting everything in the sun is not an option.

And we do family bed, so there is a toddler in bed with us. We also have a dog.

Debra’s Answer

Readers? Any suggestions?

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Question from wt

hello,

i have been looking for a down or down alternative comforter for my two pre-teen boys (this alone, tells you…it’s gonna be thrashed in 3-6 months! so i don’t want to spend too much money on it. considering it somewhat disposable. 😉

i, myself, love the wool bedding products from Shepherd’s Dream, but i don’t want to invest that much money for something so short term for the boys. hence, i’m looking primarily at down alternative comforters.

are down alternative products considered “acceptable”? or are they BAD in terms of toxins etc. is there one ‘brand/type’ that is better than the others? or are they all bascially the same things with different names?

thank you very much.

Debra’s Answer

“Down alternative” is a tricky term because it can mean “an alternative to down,” such as cotton or wool or anything else that isn’t down, or it can mean a synthetic alternative to down. I think you are asking about the latter. Looking at websites, however, I see all these natural and synthetic choices listed on a “Down Alternatives” page.

The synthetic down alternatives are all made from 100% spun polyester. If the description on a comforter just says “down alternative” and nothing else, it’s polyester. They come in different brand names and have slight difference, but they are all basically polyester (I already reviewed one–PrimaLoft–in another question).

Whether or not polyester outgasses and how much it outgasses plasticizers is unknown. It’s not high on the list of toxic exposures in comparison to say, pesticides or water pollutants, but it has enough toxicity that I don’t recommend it. Plastics are also known to generally weaken the energy field of the body (one researcher found synthetic fibers can cause impotence), so it’s probably not the best thing to sleep under. And, of course, there are the environmental effects. Polyester is made from nonrenewable crude oil that often creates pollutants in mining and manufacture. The finished product is also not biodegradable and will sit in a landfill for centuries. So while this product may be convenient to humans, it’s not in the best interest of life overall.

Lyocell is a down alternative that is probably a better choice if you don’t want to spend the money on natural fill. It is a natural cellulose fabric, like rayon, which is made by processing natural cellulose from birchwood trees with various chemicals. It is considered by some to be an “ecologically friendly fabric”. Lyocell is more absorbent than cotton and more comfortable than polyester, as it wicks moisture away from the body and quickly evaporates it into the air (wool does this too) resulting in a more comfortable sleep.

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Question from Christine

We have a wall-to-wall carpet in our house that was installed about 10 years ago (we’ve been living here 3). We want to replace it, and have realized how bad wall-to-wall carpeting is. The other half of the floor is pergo. I don’t want to replace the pergo, and therefore it seems it makes most sense to replace the carpeting with more pergo and use non-toxic area rugs. My question is, is the pergo really bad? It has to be better than the wall-to-wall carpet, right? I just think it would look weird if I put a different wood-flooring on half of the house.

The other thing is, I am planning to pregnant soon, so I wanted to do this first. Should I wait a while (how long) after having the new pergo installed to have minimal toxins?

Thanks so much for your help.

Debra’s Answer

I don’t recommend Pergo flooring because I got their MSDS sheet and it says it outgasses formaldehyde. That said, I understand your design dilemma.

In response to another question about laminate floors, I contacted AFM Enterprises to see which of their sealants would be appropriate to use on a laminate floor. They said, “Safecoat Polyureseal BP over a sanded lamninate has been successfully done. Poly Bp is a good emissions controller.” I wanted to make sure that the sealant would stick to that laminate finish. Make sure to sand the laminate flooring first, taking care to contain the dust, which would be full of plastic particles. This may work on Pergo. I’d get a piece and try it before installing a whole floorful.

If you are going to do this, definately do it before your pregnancy. How long to wait? I don’t know how long it takes for Pergo to outgass, but regardless, you can speed up the process by applying heat. Just close the doors and windows and heat up the room, and much of the residual formaldehyde will just burn off. Heat it longer (like several days) to get more of the formaldehyde trapped in the wood to outgass.

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Question from Cindy Dwyer

I live in the Miami area and am trying to locate a place where I can buy a shadow-box or similar style fence for my yard that is constructed of sustainably harvested wood and/or certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Although Home Depot has a corporate policy to support this concept, no one in the Home Depot stores knows anything about it. I have also called a local lumber company but they don’t offer this type of fence material. I’m willing to pay more for a product that I KNOW is made from sustainably harvested wood, but have become frustrated trying to locate a company that sells it. Can anyone help? Thank you very much.

Debra’s Answer

The Forest Stewardship Council website has a page to help consumers locate FSC-certified products, but they only list manufacturers and say you have to ask your local retailers yourself.

So, readers, how are you finding FSC-certified products in your local areas? Are you having any success finding them?

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Question from Ian Kennedy

hello. I am trying to install my new shower. My wife is 3 months pregnant and is deeply concerned with the life threatening warnings on the shower pan liner adhesives. Keeping her away for the day and airing the house out is not good enough so I am now looking for a low or non toxic shower pan liner adhesive. Does any such thing exist? Thanks!

Ian

Debra’s Answer

I don’t know of one. We couldn’t find one when we installed our shower pan recently. My husband thinks that there isn’t one because the shower pan liner is PVC and needs to be glued with a PVC glue.

For those of you who don’t know what a shower pan liner is, it is a sheet of very think plastic that goes under the tiles to create a waterproof barrier. By the time it is surrounded with mortar and tile, no fumes escape.

If keeping her away for a day is not good enough, maybe she needs to stay away for two or three days.

I don’t know of any alternative, but maybe someone else does. Readers?

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Question from Michelle

I would like to know a safe way to get baby accident stains off clothes if they happen to leak? I am wondering about how one goes about removing stains off both white fabric and fabric with colour. I have tried hydrogen paroxide but it didn’t seem to do the trick. Do you advocate cloth diapers and if so I’d be interested in the cleaning of them?

Debra’s Answer

Not being a mother myself, I’m going to turn this question over to women with experience. Readers?

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Question from Wesley Wettengel

My wife and I always buy organic milk and want to make sure what we are buying is not only best for us but also best for the cows, farmers, and the earth. We usually buy either Horizon or Organic Valley but our local store (Kroger’s) has their own brand called Naturally Preferred. Can you provide any additional info on these three brands that might make one better than the others?

Debra’s Answer

First, I’m always inclined to purchase the most local food products that are available. When I lived in California, I used to buy all my milk and cream from Straus Family Creamery, It’s a picturesque dairy farm overlooking Tomales Bay, with a clean breeze right off the Pacific Ocean. I visited the farm. I met the family and the cows. I understood their dedication to organic agriculture and what they were doing. They were part of the rural community in which I lived. All their milk and cream came in glass bottles, and I could get “cream-top” milk and shake it up myself.

We don’t have anything like that here in Florida. We have our choice of the national brands Horizon or Organic Valley.

I’ve always been partial to Organic Valley myself. I just think the milk tastes better. I used to have both brands listed on Debra’s List, but I took down Horizon because the Organic Consumers Association called for a boycott (type “organic consumers association horizon” in your favorite search engine for more info on this).

Another thing I like about Organic Valley is that it is the only organic brand to be solely owned and operated by organic farmers. As farmer-owners, they pay themselves a stable, equitable and sustainable price for their milk. Some of their common practices include humane treatment of animals (access to the outdoors, fresh air, pure water, sunshine and exercise), rotational grazing, pasturing animals, and Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

One thing to keep in mind about store brands is that the stores are doing what is called “private label,” which means that another manufacturer is putting the store brand on their own product. The store doesn’t actually produce the product. So, for example, the store brand coffee might actually be a top brand, but it is sold at a lower price because it doesn’t have the brand name. Your Naturally Preferred milk might come from local organic dairies, but it’s just as possible that it comes from Horizon. I would contact Kroger’s and find out where the milk comes from and anything you can about the growing practices.

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A few weeks ago I posted a comment on the question Cleaning Mildew about hydrogen peroxide. I said:

Last week, a reader wrote asking, “Is there really phenol in hydrogen peroxide bought in drugstores? Ever since I read your article in Natural Home magazine about vinegar and hydrogen peroxide, I’ve bought lots of big bottles of drugstore hydrogen peroxide and used it (and vinegar) all over the house. I even used it on everything except my papers and clothes to wipe the mold spores off. (I hope you think that was a good idea!) But now I’m concerned that I should not be using that kind?”

I thought I should do more research on hydrogen peroxide, since I and others have been recommending it as a natural alternative to more toxic chemicals. For years I thought the drugstore type was 100% hydrogen peroxide because I had no reason to think it wasn’t. And I didn’t know until we started using it in our chlorine-free pool that other concentrations even existed.

(click on COMMENTS to read the answer…)

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