Question from Stacy D

Does anyone have any information about the safety of dental sealants? Our dentist wants to put them on my son’s teeth to prevent cavities but I am suspect of putting plastic in his mouth. I could not find that much information about them.

Thanks.

Debra’s Answer

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Question from Laura

I have severe MCS but am living with famiy who think I’m “loony” After many months and many seizures there is at last a change being made in the laundry detergent!

When transitioning from using a heavily fragranced laundry detergent to All Free and Clear what can be used to “detoxiify” the washer and dryer? They are Fisher Paykal Ecosmart with a metal tub but the newer porous looking plastic elsewhere. Also, will the clothes eventually lose the fragrance from the previous detergent or will they need a special treatment?

Thank you.+

Debra’s Answer

Readers, what is your experience with this?

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Question from Debbie Saleh

Hi Debra –

I normally use non-toxic products to clean my home, I bought Kaboom shower cleaner over the weekend since I was completely out and didn’t want to make a trip to Target to get Method shower cleaner (which I really like…)

What is your take on Kaboom products? They say the cleaner will not release toxic fumes, but is the product itself non-toxic?

Debra’s Answer

At the website for

Kaboom Shower, Tub and Tile Cleaner, there is a little link that says “View Safety Information.” When you click through it says:

Inhalation…remove to fresh air, consulta a physician. Hmmmm. And your supposed to use this product in a little tiny unventilated shower enclosure? I wouldn’t.

No MSDS sheet is given on the website.

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Question from PJ

Dear Debra,

When I read suggestions from yourself and readers about various cleaning products (hand soap, dish soap, dishwasher soap, laundry soap etc.) I have noticed that Trader Joe’s brand products are seldom mentioned. I am wondering if you are unfamiliar with them, or if they have been found by you to have questionable ingredients? I have found them to be more reasonably priced than other organic products. Please comment.

I also wondered if you are familiar with Country Save brand laundry detergent? The powdered form has NO odor. I am sensitive to many fragrances, including plant based ones, and have been so happy to find a non-toxic product without added fragrance. When I read about people taking the time to make their own laundry detergents, I wonder if Country Save would be a good alternative for them? (Their web address is: www.countrysave.com) I buy it locally in a 10 lb. (80 load) box for $12.99. Ingredients: sodium carbonate, sodium sulfate, sodium borate, sodium alkyl aryl sulfonate, linear alcohol ethoxylate, coconut diethanolamide.

Thank you for your dedication to making the world we share a healthier place.

Debra’s Answer

I am familiar with Trader Joe’s cleaning products and they are fine. I haven’t put them on Debra’s List because they do not sell their products on a website and Debra’s List is geared mainly to online sources of nontoxic, natural and earthwise products, though many of them are also sold in stores. Also, I don’t have Trader Joe’s here in Florida, though it was one of my favorite stories when I lived in the San Francisco area.

Country Save is also fine, and I’ve added it to Debra’s List.

However, neither of these are organic (as you stated in the title of your post), to the best of my knowledge (haven’t looked at Trader Joe’s recently) but they are natural.

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Question from what’s in my water

My husband and I live in an area with VERY hard water. We have been advised to buy a whole-home water softener to extend the life and usefulness of our fixtures and washing machine. We bought one from Sears and brought it home. I now have reservations about having it installed because it stinks. I cannot find out what sort of plastic it is made from, whether I need to be concerned about harmful chemicals leaching into my home’s water or how it will react to being filled with a potassium chloride solution. Does anyone have any helpful information?

Debra’s Answer

I’m going to let some knowledgeable readers answer this.

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Question from Samantha

I have recently bought a 37-year old house and I am slowly renovating it. One of the jobs involves redoing some plumbing. A plumber friend of mine was extolling the virtues of the new plastic pipes that are currently used by plumbers. He didn’t know what sort of plastic it was but that it was “much safer than metal” because of the chemicals in the solder used to attach metal pipes. I called Home Depot and the woman told me the plastic pipes were PVC. Surely not!? Which way do I jump on this issue?

Debra’s Answer

My husband says, “It’s time to get another plumber!”

The solder used to attach copper pipes USED to contain lead. Now you can easily buy lead-free solder, and it may be that lead solder is no longer sold at all (I don’t know the regulation on this offhand.

PVC pipe is toxic to manufacture, toxic to use, and the solvent glue used to attach them is MUCH MORE TOXIC that solder for copper pipe.

I’d go with the copper.

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Question from Tim

My outdoor swing on a covered porch has persistent mildew on the fabric (not sure what it is), but is there a solution to kill the mildew, while not discoloring the fabric?

Thank you (and so does anyone who sits on the swing)

Debra’s Answer

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Question from Melissa

I seem to have little green bugs on my herbs (mainly the oregano) which I’m assuming are aphids. Is there some concoction I can mix up at home to spray on the herbs to kill the aphids that is non-toxic? If not, what type of non-toxic spray do you recommend? Thanks!!!

Debra’s Answer

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Question from Kathryn

Dear Debra,

I am very chemically sensitive, and your work has been a great help to me over the years.

We are looking into replacing the ancient carpet in our living room with a hardwood floor, but money is limited. In a smaller room we nailed down unfinished maple from Lumber Liquidators, and sealed it with linseed oil. It took about two weeks to dry completely, so this is not an option for the living room as we cannot go live somewhere else while it dries.

After reading your site, we’re considering prefinished wood, also from Lumber Liquidators, especially if we can outgas it for a while before installation. Our question is labor-related. Can we glue ash planks down to a particle board subfloor with wood glue, or does that only work with the click-together floors? (The particle board is very old, so no more outgassing from that.) Nailing it all down may be more than we can handle, but it seems all the click-together types of flooring are some type of laminate, which I think would be far too toxic for me.

In an earlier post you recommended parquet tiles from Lowes. They are far more affordable, but aren’t those made with toxic materials like other laminate floors?

My ideal would be to find a click-together hardwood, pre-finished with a natural sealant, but I haven’t been able to find any. Does it exist?

Debra’s Answer

OK 🙂

Let’s start by clearing up some words.

“Click-together” is a term used for laminate floors. Laminate floors Laminate flooring is made up of various layers of material laminated together. There’s a good illustration of what laminate flooring is made up of on the Armstrong website. The one MSDS sheet I looked at showed that brand of laminate flooring emitted formaldehyde fumes, so all in all, I don’t recommend laminate flooring. That said, a friend of mine recently installed a laminate floor all through her living room and it didn’t smell horrible.

There are some less toxic laminates certified by Greenguard. I would suggest checking the MSDS sheet for any laminate flooring you may be considering.

The prefinished parquest tiles I suggest from Lowe’s are solid wood. Oak. These fit together via what is called “tongue-and-groove.” They are not made with toxic materials like laminate floors because they are not laminate.

I don’t know how click-through installation works.

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Question from Lyn

Dear Debra:

I would first like to tell you how much I appreciate your web site and blog and all the hard work you put into it.

My problem is regarding hair styling products. I have had trouble finding a gel or lotion to use to remove the frizz from my hair so I can style it smooth or wavy/curly without frizz. I have tried an assortment of products from Whole Foods and Cooportunity but nothing works. Most of the time the things that could work have too strong a fragrance. I am also allergic to soy so that eliminiates many possibilities.

I would also like to know if you or any of your readers know of a styling iron (flat iron) that has low EMFs.

Thank you,

Lyn

Debra’s Answer

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