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Submitted questions will be posted with my response by the following Tuesday or before.
Submitted comments will be moderated and approved within 24 hours.

changing over to natural cleaning products

Question from Julie Westbrook-Finch

I am gradually changing over to natural products, but I have a question about safety.

I know you can’t mix certain things like bleach and vinegar due to causing toxic fumes so how long after using normal bleach in the toilet do you have to wait before changing over to using something natural like borax and vinegar or a natural toilet cleaning product? Do you need to wait a certain amount of days without using bleach before its safe?

This question also applies to putting bleach down drains and plugholes, how long do you need to wait before using natural products so they don’t clash and make toxic fumes?

Thanks,

Julie Westbrook-Finch

Great Britain

Debra’s Answer

You’re not supposed to mix bleach and vinegar together, but I don’t think there would be enough bleach left in a toilet to react with vingar after one or two flushes. If you want to be super-cautious, wait a day or two before using vinegar.

Drains would clear as soon as you flow water through them.

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Honey not good to cook with

Question from Bob Jordan

Debra:

Awhile back you ran a dessert recipe I don’t remeberer which and suggested a number of alternatives to the sweetener in the recipe one of which was honey. I should have commented then but better late than never, honey when heated to high temperatures becomes a glue like substance. Ayurvedic has long considered it a no no to cook or bake with honey. My source for this information is the Ayurvedic Cookbook by Amadaea Morningstar and Urmila Desai.

Debra’s Answer

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How to make interior oil based floor paint nontoxic?

Question from Eric Talaska

Hello, this is my first entry here. I appreciate this service Debra provides. I have a concrete slab floor with oil based floor paint on it that is 2 years old. It has surely outgased toxic fumes a lot already. How do I keep it from outgassing or otherwise releasing toxic fumes or chemicals? Is it better to remove it and then start over with something nontoxic? If so, how do I safely remove it? If leaving it on is recommended, what can I put over it that would keep it from outgassing? Thanks.

Debra’s Answer

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Natural Home Pest Control

Question from Cindy Walker

Hello,

My husband and I are really trying to go organic and natural all the way.

Now there is one big problem. For years we have been having pesticides sprayed in our basement, etc. You see, many years ago when we moved into this home, it was rampid with centipedes. It started in February 1995. I would get up in the mornings and since I arose earlier for work, would use the bathroom on the other side of the house. Every morning there would be many centipedes in the bath tub. This went on for months and I would always tell my husband about this. Finally, months later on a Sunday morning, I showed him at least 9 centipedes and body parts laying in the tub. Uggh! Thats how we got into pest control.

Now we want out. If anyone has any suggestions about anything natural to put around the house, basement, it would be greatly appreciated. These critters come up through all the drains, in the tube, bathroom sink and kitchen sink. They hang on the ceilings and pretty much like to take over the house. If it was not a lovely house, I would have been outta here long ago!

Thanks much and appreciate any time to this matter.

Cindy

Debra’s Answer

Readers?

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Local Honey Helps Allergies

You may already know that raw, local honey can reduce allergies, but here’s why.

Unprocessed honey, which contains bits and pieces of bee pollen and honey (and sometimes even the honey comb, as well as propolis and live enzymes) is a super immune system booster.

The reason local honey is particularly effective is because the bees are collecting pollen from the very same plants that you are exposed to, and it will be present in the honey. Though it may sound strange that the very same pollen that causes problems for our bodies with direct exposure can also be the antidote to allergies reactions after it is processed by bees, but it is true. Apitherapy (medical treatments derived from bee products) goes back 5000 years to China and the Middle East.

This good effect works best when honey is taken a little bit (a couple of teaspoons) each day for several months prior to the pollen season.

Now, the other day I was walking through my local flea market, and passed a booth where a woman was selling seasonal local honey! This was the first time I had seen this and I was delighted! The beekeeper explained that she bottles the honey just as she takes it out of the hive. Of course, bees would produce honeys with different pollens and different flavors throughout the year because different plants are producing pollen in different seasons. In our consumer world where most everything is produced for uniformity, this seasonal difference is eliminated. But here it was, in glass jars right in front of me.

These bees pollinate strawberries and blueberries in the winter, citrus in the spring, watermelons in summer and many other plants. The strawberry honey I tried tasted vividly of strawberries. It was delicious!

So look for local honey at your farmer’s market, flea market, and natural food stores, and see if you can find some that is also seasonal.

Here’s a seasonal honey from New England: Carlisle Honey.

Advance: Researcher studying honey as possible allergy remedy
Local Honey and Allergies

NOTE: Some people can have allergic reactions to the honey itself, so proceed with caution if you are very sensitive.

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Honey Can Help Prevent Cancer

In a study at the University of California, Davis, when research subjects were fed four or more tablespoons of buckwheat honey each day, after 29 days blood samples showed increased levels of antioxidants that help protect the body against cancer and heart disease.

But you don’t need to eat this much honey and it doesn’t need to be buckwheat to be effective. The rule of thumb is: the darket the honey, the more antioxidants.

Do eat your honey raw, and space it out throughout the day to minimize blood sugar spikes. Eating it with fat or protein will also help keep blood sugar even.

Use Honey to Eliminate “Free-Radicals”

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water filter confusion- help!

Question from Jessica

Hi Debra,

Thank you for your excellent and insightful early pioneering into household greening and health questions.

I have some water filter questions. I understand the basic types of filters (carbon, reverse osmosis, and distillation, or a combo) and I am looking for an excellent filter for drinking water, as well as a whole house alternative if I decide to do that, or recommend it to others.

The problem is that so many brands and websites are incomplete, misleading, or confusing. There is just too much information! I spent almost an hour talking to a guy that sells a water filter that Dr. Andrew Weil uses, and at the end of the conversation, STILL couldn’t tell what I should do, or what to tell other people who ask me all the time. (I did, however, figure out that distillation plus carbon is my best bet, maybe- but still have no idea which one to get.) So here are my questions:

Sorry for the length of the question, but there is not a lot on this out there, and I sincerely appreciate your feedback!

Thanks,

Debra’s Answer

Well, Jessica, I understand your bewilderment. There is a lot of information to understand and apply in making decisions about water filters. I’m working on writing a guide to water filters just to address this, but in the meanwhile I will attempt to answer your questions. There’s also a whole chapter about choosing water filters in Home Safe Home.

1. There is not ONE particular type of water filter that I recommend because each source of water needs to have the type of filter appropriate to it, depending on the pollutants that need to be removed. So you need to find out, number one, what is in your water, and then match the appropriate filter to it.

2. Water filters have changed a lot in the past few years and I need to review what is currently available (thus the aforementioned guide). But that takes time. It’s a big project that I need to work in between everything else I am doing. A fair price could be a wide range, depending on what you are buying and the size of the filter–how much water is being filtered.

3. Water ionizers do not filter water. They split the water molecule to make two batches of water–one “acid” and the other “alkaline.” I don’t consider them to be dangerous. My understanding is that the alkaline water is more “alive” and closer to water in it’s natural state than tap water is.

4. I haven’t done an environmental analysis on the different types of water filters. Offhand I would say a distiller uses electricity, reverse osmosis wastes water, and a carbon filter doesn’t do either.

Since choosing a water filter is a very individual decision, I can best help by discussing your needs and options in a telephone consultation.

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Blog Will Resume March 26

I’m taking a Spring Break to go speak at the Women’s Wellness Retreat in Lake George NY, sponsored by Natural Health magazine.

I won’t be moderating the blog while I’m away, but you are welcome to post new questions and comments and I will review and post them when I return.

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Long-term effects of formaldehyde exposure

Question from TZ

I am an artists who uses acrylic mediums in large quantity. This December I spent a particularly intense period of time using these mediums. They contain small amounts of ammonia and formaldehyde. As it was the dead of winter, I did not have adequate ventilation. I immediately developed intense insomnia. The insomnia continued, even though my exposure stopped. It may be complicated by a growing anxiety about sleeping. I use cotton flannel sheets at home. Are there long term effects to this kind of exposure? If so, how can they be reversed? Do I need to see a doctor familiar with chemical exposure?

Debra’s Answer

Exposure to formaldehyde such as you had can effect the immune system in the long run and make your body more sensitive to formaldehyde and other chemcials, resulting in multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS).

You can recover from this, though it will take minimizing your exposure to chemicals and various other steps.

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Insecticides in Delivery Trucks?

Question from SVE

Hi Debra,

I have tried to find out if companies spray their mail trucks – USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc., and I can’t get answers – no one seems to know.

Do you have any suggestions about how to find out if certain companies do this? I would like to find a domestic mail delivery service that does not spray or uses natural methods. I am very sensitive to insecticides and I believe spray residues are getting on packages that I receive.

I am also suspecting that big containers are being sprayed inside – the ones stacked on big ships and used to ship cargo internationally. I reacted to a large package that I know was shipped over to the US in one of those large containers (according to the mail order company).

Thanks so much, Debra. I LOVE your blog and website!

SVE

Debra’s Answer

I’m certain that one can assume international cargo is sprayed with pesticides.

oceanatlas.com has this to say about pesticides used on ships containing international cargo:

This may also be true for cargo transported in trucks, as the need to control pests would be similar. I remember a few years ago there was a short-lived television show called “Medical investigation” in which the characters (playing doctors from the National Institute of Health) had to solve the mystery of what was making people sick. In one episode, a number of teenage girls got very ill after wearing jeans that had been contaminated with pesticides during shipment in a truck. (That may be fiction, but may also be based in fact.)

Here is an article that states, “Workers may also be exposed to pesticides on treated grain being brought to the truck cargo facility in trucks or rail cars.” Grain, Grain Milling and Grain-based Consumer Products also says, “Pesticides are used in the grain and grain-processing industries to control insects, rodents, birds, mould and so on. Some of the more common pesticides are phosphine, organophosphates and pyrethrins. Potential health effects can include dermatitis, dizziness, nausea and long-term problems with liver, kidney and nervous system functions.” So pesticides are being applied to grains beyond those applied in the field.

Since many people are ordering organic and natural goods on the internet because they aren’t available locally, this bears further looking into, if contamination with toxic chemicals to these products could occur during shipping.

That said, I don’t want to single out delivery services. Pesticide spraying could be a problem with any shipping from manufacturer to retail outlet.

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ARE TOXIC PRODUCTS HIDDEN IN YOUR HOME?

Toxic Products Don’t Always Have Warning Labels. Find Out About 3 Hidden Toxic Products That You Can Remove From Your Home Right Now.