Toxic Free Talk Radio Archives
Toxic Free Cleaning Basics
I met my guest Annie B. Bond many years ago when her publisher asked me to write the forward to her first book Clean and Green. We’ll be talking about how to clean your home with natural substances you probably have in your kitchen, plus a few more that are easy to find and inexpensive. We’ve both been cleaning toxic-free for years, so we have a lot of experience and knowledge between us. Annie is the best-selling author of five books, including Better Basics for the Home (Three Rivers Press, 1999), Home Enlightenment (Rodale Books, 2008), and most recently True Food (National Geographic, 2010), and winner of Gourmand Awards Best Health and Nutrition Cookbook in the World. She was named “the foremost expert on green living” by “Body & Soul” magazine (February, 2009). Currently Annie is the Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief of The Wellness Wire and leads the selection of toxic-free products for A True Find. www.anniebbond.com
Gluten-Free Skin Products
My guest today is Anthony Vargas, Founder and Owner of Tilth Beauty, and former Vice President of Research and Development for Elizabeth Arden. We’ll be talking about his natural-based, high-performance, gluten-free skincare line, where gluten is found in beauty products, how gluten in skin care products can affect our health, and who should be concerned about gluten exposure through the skin. Based on three decades of experience, research, and development, each Tilth Beauty product has been painstakingly crafted with a unique and potent blend of botanical and industry -proven ingredients without ANY potentially harmful elements commonly found in most skincare products: no parabens, phthalates, sulfates, petroleum-based products, silicones, synthetic fragrances or GMOs, animal/dairy-derived products, or artificial colors. www.debralynndadd.com/debras-list/tilth-beauty
Natural Art Supplies
My guest today is Leah Fanning Mebane, founder of Natural Earth Paints. We’ll be talking about some of the toxic exposures from art paints, and safer paints to use. Leah began using all natural earth paints about five years ago, after being an oil painter for more than eighteen years. She eliminated all solvents and toxins from her studio and then began collecting her own pigments from nature. This transition away from toxic, modern paints gave her the joy of doing no harm to the environment and the freedom to express her art and passion in partnership with the earth. Her constant allergies and headaches cleared up with the removal of solvents and toxins in the studio. She also developed a deeper connection with the natural world as she spent more time outside the studio directly connecting with the origins of her paints. In 2010 she launched the business, Natural Earth Paint, with her husband Drew and now creates and sells natural art supplies all over the world. Their products include Children’s Earth Paints, Natural Face Paints, Natural Egg Dye Kits for Easter, Earth Oil Paint Kits and also professional, non-toxic supplies for artists. See her beautiful earth paintings at www.FanningArt.com. www.NaturalEarthPaint.com
Packing a Lunch Without Plastic
Whether you are packing a lunch for school, work, travel, or picnic, my guest Sandra Ann Harris, California eco-mom and Founder of ECOLunchbox, can tell you how to pack it without plastic. Her food containers are plastic-free, waster-free, BPA-free, PVC-free, and petroleum-free. We’ll talk about the toxic chemicals in standard lunch boxes, utensils, containers, and wrappings, and explore the many toxic-free options for carrying your own nutritious, delicious, organic lunch. Sandra started ECOLunchbox to empower families with non-toxic lunchtime tools to help them learn to reduce their dependence on plastics. Scientists are learning more everyday about the health and environmental hazards of toxins in plastics. ECOlunchbox’s mission is to offer lunchware alternatives that are healthy for both people and our planet. www.debralynndadd.com/debras-list/ecolunchbox
Fabrics That are Nontoxic, Ethical, Sustainable…and Beautiful
My guests today are Patty Grossman and Leigh Anne Van Dusen, co-founders (and sisters) of O Ecotextiles. They are changing the way textiles are being made by proving that it’s possible to produce luxurious, sensuous fabrics in ways that are non-toxic, ethical and sustainable. Today we’ll be talking about toxic chemicals in textiles, and how they are creating safe fabrics (they specialize in upholstery fabrics, but the production issues apply to all fabrics). The the collection has garnered accolades and honors since it debuted at Decorex in 2007, where it won Best Merchandise from House & Garden magazine. In 2009, Environmental Building News and BuildingGreen named O Ecotextiles one of the top 10 Green Building Products of 2008. Leigh Anne and Patty believe that the best way to achieve necessary changes in textile manufacturing is to share what they’ve learned about the methods used to make fabrics – and what this means to us and our planet. Their research and groundbreaking efforts to create aesthetically pleasing and environmentally safe fabrics has made them experts in the issues of sustainability in textiles. They are founding members of the Sustainable Furnishings Council and serve on its Textiles Subcommittee. www.oecotextiles.com
Read Why and How to Green Your Textile Choices
Make Your Own Herbal Bodycare Products
My guest Dina Falconi is the author of Earthly Bodies & Heavenly Hair: Natural and Healthy Personal Care for Everybody. We will be talking about nuturing and healing your body with herbal products you can make yourself—many using ingredients you already have in your own kitchen. Dina is a clinical herbalist with a strong focus on food activism and nutritional healing. An avid gardener, wildcrafter, and permaculturalist, Dina has been teaching classes about the use of herbs for food, medicine, and pleasure, including wild food foraging and cooking, for more than twenty years. She produces Falcon Formulations natural body care products and Earthly Extracts medicinal tinctures. She is a founding member of the Northeast Herbal Association, a chapter leader of the Weston A. Price Foundation, and an organizer of Slow Food-Hudson Valley. Today Dina is also the author of Foraging & Feasting: A Field Guide and Wild Food Cookbook (she’ll be back on the show soon to talk about this) www.debralynndadd.com/books/earthly-bodies-amp-heavenly-hair
Meet a Toxicologist
Yes, there is a field called “toxicology” and it’s all about determining what’s toxic and what’s not. 
Toxicologist Steven G. Gilbert, PhD, DABT, a regular guest who is helping us understand the toxicity of common chemicals we may be frequently exposed to. Dr. Gilbert is Director and Founder of the Institute of Neurotoxicology and author of A Small Dose of Toxicology- The Health Effects of Common Chemicals.
He received his Ph.D. in Toxicology in 1986 from the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, is a Diplomat of American Board of Toxicology, and an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington. His research has focused on neurobehavioral effects of low-level exposure to lead and mercury on the developing nervous system. Dr. Gilbert has an extensive website about toxicology called Toxipedia, which includes a suite of sites that put scientific information in the context of history, society, and culture. www.toxipedia.org
Household Hazardous Waste—What to Do With the Toxics You Want to Trash
My guest today is Victoria Hodge, President of the North American Hazardous Materials Management Association (NAHMMA), a professional organization dedicated to pollution prevention and reducing the hazardous constituents entering municipal waste streams from households, small businesses and other entities that are not included in other toxics disposal regulations. She is also the Municipal Sales Manager for the Central Region for Otto Environmental Systems, where she works with the field sales team to build municipal business in both products and services. Among other activities in the field of solid waste and recycling Victoria set up a pharmeceutical collection site that received regional, state, and national awards as a result of its success. We’ll be talking aabout which items in your home are considered hazardous waste and how to legally dispose of them. www.nahmma.org
Life Without Plastic
My guest Jay Sinha is co-founder and co-owner (with Chantal Plamondon) of Life Without Plastic, a one-stop shop and information resource for high quality, ethically-sourced, Earth-friendly alternatives to plastic products for everyday life. They founded the business over seven years ago after some tough experiences with chemical sensitivities and following the birth of their son. They sought to avoid the toxicity and awful environmental footprint of plastics but had difficulty finding certain key housewares in a non-plastic form. So they set out to find and source them for others too. Jay has degrees in biochemistry, ecotoxicology and law, and prior to LWP explored jobs ranging from tree planter to environmental consultant to corporate lawyer (most who know him can’t quite believe this one – nor can he) to Parliamentary researcher and policy analyst. This was the most obvious route to becoming a passionate anti-plastic activist and ecopreneur. He loves to walk in the trees – he and Chantal and their son live among the trees in a small dynamic rural community. We’ll be talking about how Jay and his wife manage to live without plastic and some of the great plastic-free products they have on their website. www.debralynndadd.com/debras-list/life-without-plastic
Creating a Fragrance-Free Life
My guest Alonna Shaw has been blogging about what she’s doing to remove toxic synthetic fragrance from her life (the link below has an index to all her posts on the subject). A writer and editor living in Northern California, Alonna utilizes her background in theater, film, television, and appreciation of nature in her work. Storytelling interests include transformative adventures, travel, biography, and social science fiction. The goal of her alter ego, Alecka Zamm, is “no more freakin’ fragrance.” Because of her sensitivity to fragrance, “Alonna’s world has narrowed to nature, away from anything that spews, reeks, or leaves scent trails. Where there is fabric softener, pesticides, plug-ins, scented shampoos, lotions, potions… she shouldn’t go. Alonna may miss a lot, but breathing means more to her than that once exciting city life, even suburban life. There are many doors in life and she’s still exploring what her fragrance-free door has to offer. Life smells much better without perfume.” www.alonnashaw.com/2013/08/my-interview-on-toxic-free-talk-radio.html
