Question from Carissa
Hi Debra,
Thanks for your amazing website and I am long time reader. It has helped me make a few decisions.
I am in a huge quandary at the moment and am wondering if I can get your opinion. I admit I do suffer from OCD and one of my contamination obsession is lead and chemical stuff. It is a lot better, finding a balance is tough and even tougher with 2 kids below 3 (a pending newborn coming soon!).
We have a recently purchased a European made dryer from a famous brand (MIELE) and I noted the back of the dryer has 6 bolt like fittings that are made of brass. I know about lead leaching from brass items, especially keys, as it is used as a lubricant for machining brass and the lead concentrate on the surface for that reason.
I use the dryer all the time to dry our babies’ clothes which will contact these brass bolts. And then babies will obviously chew on their clothes. I can’t test the bolts as they are embedded to the machine’s drum.
We also have new vinyl trims on our floor which tested at 300ppm lead. I cannot remove them without spending thousands of dollars replacing flooring. Our house is cleaned frequently.
I am wondering if these two scenarios will be something to be concerned about? I can’t do anything about the vinyl trims except for making sure I wipe over them weekly with water (chemicals will degrade the vinyl). I can sell the dryer but it will be at a huge financial loss. Just hoping for some advice on how to deal with these two situations with limited finances. Thank you so much!
Debra’s Answer
I understand your situation and concern.
We live in a world where it is impossible to reduce our total exposure from all sources to zero by using source reduction. While the first action to take is always remove toxic exposures at the source, when that is impossible, there is something else to do: detox.
I highly recommend that you take a product called PureBody Liquid Zeolite. It gently removes lead and other heavy metals from your body. Your babies can take it too. There are many zeolite products on the market. This is the only one I use and recommend.
Taking liquid zeolite puts my mind at ease, knowing that I am doing something to help my body eliminate the lead and other heavy metals that I can’t avoid. These heavy metals stay in our bodies and accumulate because our bodies can’t eliminate them on their own. It’s easy, affordable, tasteless and good protection.
I recommend joining the Facebook group “The Lead (Pb) Group”. It’s a whole bunch of mamas like you (and me) who worry about these things! People in the group talk about these same kind of issues and the administrator of the group might have some ideas for you.
Oops should have added that these LeadCheck swabs at http://www.leadcheck.com could probably swab those embedded bolts if you can touch them with the swab.
They must be disposed of properly at the chemical area of your recycling location.
If you pull lead and other toxic elements out of the body with the Zeolite do you need a binder to keep them from being reabsorbed? With common chelators I’m familiar with you need a binder or they get reabsorbed through the gut.
I’ve never heard of needing that with zeolite. Zeolite pulls the pollutants out of the blood and excretes through the kidneys.
Awesome. It is so helpful to get a trusted recommendation when there are so many options that may not be what is claimed. Thank you, Debra!