Lisa Frank at Enviroblog reported last week that the International Fragrance Association (IFRA) has published a list of ingredients that its members use to make consumer products. Of the 3,163 chemicals listed, 1 in 21 earned a "high" hazard score in the EWG's (Environmental Working Group) cosmetics database, 1 in 6 rated at least a "moderate" hazard score and 26 of them scored a perfect 10 (the highest score). Here's a list of those 26:
Aniline
BHA
Cyclohexanone
Dibutyl phthalate
Diethylhexyl phthalate
Hydroquinone
MIBK
Musk ambrette
Nano titanium dioxide
Nano zinc oxide (20-60nm)
Octoxynol-6
Octoxynol-7
Octoxynol-11
Octoxynol-12
Octosynol-13
Octoxynol-20
Octoxynol-25
Octoxynol-30
Octoxynol-33
Octoxynol-40
Octoxynol-70
PEG-3 Sorbitan oleate
PEG-6 Sorbitan oleate
Resorcinol
Styrene
Now, these names mean nothing to me, but I do trust the EWG. Lisa Frank pointed out in her blog post that phthalates are "potent hormone distruptors linked to reproductive system birth defects in baby boys," and octoxynols and nonoxynols also "break down into persistent hormone disruptors." Musk ambrette, which is toxic to the skin, brain and testes, has been banned from body care products by the European Union, but is apparently still in use in some fragranced products.
These chemicals may be present in any personal care and household products that contain added fragrance, and manufacturers don't have to list them as ingredients in these products. Usually, if ingredients are listed at all, these chemicals are grouped under the general heading of "fragrance." Scary, very scary.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Ranting
I will apologize in advance for this rant, but there are just some things that need to be called out. The first is my ongoing battle with manufacturers who change the ingredients in their products, products I've been using (or eating) for a long time, but which I can no longer use with the new ingredients. This happens often with foods, which is why I read ingredient lists even on the products I have been using for years. It seems to happen less often with personal care items, but that's where I'm having issues this week.
Soon after I was diagnosed with celiac disease and MCS in 1998, I discovered the line of personal care products produced by Aubrey Organics. I have always had very sensitive skin and I need a good moisturizing lotion, no easy task to find when it has to be free of petro-chemicals, fragrance, almonds, sesame, wheat and lavender (all things to which I have been know to react). So I was thrilled to find Aubrey's Unscented Ultimate Moisturizing hand and body lotion. Not only was this lotion free of all the above-mentioned ingredients, but it actually kept me from looking like a dried up old prune. For the past couple of years I have been ordering this lotion by the case through my local natural foods store. When I went to reorder last month, I found that that the packaging had changed so I thought I'd better look at the ingredients. Sure enough, the ingredient list was very different.
When I called the customer service number at Aubrey Organics a couple of weeks ago, I was told that that the labeling had changed to meet new European labeling standards and that there was actually only one change to the ingredients, the addition of soy oil. To make this long story a little shorter, I ordered a couple of bottles to try and was REALLY disappointed. Not only is the lotion much less effective, but I seemed to be having a slight reaction to it. So I emailed the company to complain. The reply I received was very patronizing, but gave me the added information that they are now using lavender in the product, though it is listed as something else. So I grit my teeth (grrrrrr) and go on the search for another lotion. Meanwhile I'll just have to be a prune face.
My other rant topic is the mail. I came home from an afternoon with my grandsons yesterday to a pile of mail which my husband had picked up at the post office. (We have a PO box for our business.) As soon as I picked it up my head started to swoon (in not a good way). It smelled like someone had sprayed cheap cologne all over it. YUCK! I can only guess that either someone who handled the mail was wearing heavy scent or there was a piece of scented mail to which my mail was exposed in transit. Needless to say, it all got taken out to the garbage, except for the check from a customer which will have to go to the bank in a scent-proof bag.
So those are my rants for the week. Anyone else have a similar rant you want to add?
Soon after I was diagnosed with celiac disease and MCS in 1998, I discovered the line of personal care products produced by Aubrey Organics. I have always had very sensitive skin and I need a good moisturizing lotion, no easy task to find when it has to be free of petro-chemicals, fragrance, almonds, sesame, wheat and lavender (all things to which I have been know to react). So I was thrilled to find Aubrey's Unscented Ultimate Moisturizing hand and body lotion. Not only was this lotion free of all the above-mentioned ingredients, but it actually kept me from looking like a dried up old prune. For the past couple of years I have been ordering this lotion by the case through my local natural foods store. When I went to reorder last month, I found that that the packaging had changed so I thought I'd better look at the ingredients. Sure enough, the ingredient list was very different.
When I called the customer service number at Aubrey Organics a couple of weeks ago, I was told that that the labeling had changed to meet new European labeling standards and that there was actually only one change to the ingredients, the addition of soy oil. To make this long story a little shorter, I ordered a couple of bottles to try and was REALLY disappointed. Not only is the lotion much less effective, but I seemed to be having a slight reaction to it. So I emailed the company to complain. The reply I received was very patronizing, but gave me the added information that they are now using lavender in the product, though it is listed as something else. So I grit my teeth (grrrrrr) and go on the search for another lotion. Meanwhile I'll just have to be a prune face.
My other rant topic is the mail. I came home from an afternoon with my grandsons yesterday to a pile of mail which my husband had picked up at the post office. (We have a PO box for our business.) As soon as I picked it up my head started to swoon (in not a good way). It smelled like someone had sprayed cheap cologne all over it. YUCK! I can only guess that either someone who handled the mail was wearing heavy scent or there was a piece of scented mail to which my mail was exposed in transit. Needless to say, it all got taken out to the garbage, except for the check from a customer which will have to go to the bank in a scent-proof bag.
So those are my rants for the week. Anyone else have a similar rant you want to add?
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Some interesting links...
Today is a busy day for me. I really have to get some work done and dig out the piles in my office, but I want to pass on some links to what other people are doing and saying about chemical sensitivity and the environment.
At The Canary Report Susie has generously posted an article I wrote about our recent house restoration project. While you're there, be sure to watch the short video on The People's Market in Oakland, CA. It's truly inspiring.
If you're a facebook fan, there's a new group to join, "I made a sustainable choice today." You can do a search for it or link through my page (if you're my friend, that is, which I hope you all are). The group was started by one of my favorite bloggers, green mormon architect. The idea is that you will make (at least) one conscious choice each day to do something that is environmentally sustainable. Some examples would be using reusable grocery bags, planning all your weekly errands for one trip, reusing something you have instead of buying new, etc. We probably do these kinds of things every day, but being part of this group has made me more thoughtful about it, causing me to do even more.
My grandson is working on a school project this weekend around the theme of "the power of one." He's making a collage of environmentally-friendly things we can all do (using recycled magazine pictures, of course). He's learning that even a seven-year-old can have a positive impact on the world. Just imagine what we can all do together.
At The Canary Report Susie has generously posted an article I wrote about our recent house restoration project. While you're there, be sure to watch the short video on The People's Market in Oakland, CA. It's truly inspiring.
If you're a facebook fan, there's a new group to join, "I made a sustainable choice today." You can do a search for it or link through my page (if you're my friend, that is, which I hope you all are). The group was started by one of my favorite bloggers, green mormon architect. The idea is that you will make (at least) one conscious choice each day to do something that is environmentally sustainable. Some examples would be using reusable grocery bags, planning all your weekly errands for one trip, reusing something you have instead of buying new, etc. We probably do these kinds of things every day, but being part of this group has made me more thoughtful about it, causing me to do even more.
My grandson is working on a school project this weekend around the theme of "the power of one." He's making a collage of environmentally-friendly things we can all do (using recycled magazine pictures, of course). He's learning that even a seven-year-old can have a positive impact on the world. Just imagine what we can all do together.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Freedom
"Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the [home] I love..."*
I have always placed great value on personal independence, and my propensity for wandering often got me in trouble as a child. I remember laying in the cool damp grass of our front yard on a summer's evening and watching the trail of a jet plane streak across the amber sky, yearning to be on that plane, headed to some far-off place where no one knew my name and I would be free to roam to my heart's desire.
Yet, here I am on a chilly winter's morning, sitting in my "cave," bound to this eleven-by-twelve-foot room, like I am every morning, drinking my soymilk-banana smoothie and talking to myself on a computer screen. Like most (all?) people with MCS, I am mostly homebound, fettered by the disease that isolates me physically from the rest of the world, a canary in a not-so-gilded cage.
Some might think it a miserable life, but a closer examination of this room reveals a different picture. A large bookshelf next to my desk is filled with favorite stories and travel guides, tomes of knowledge from the past and present. On the wall to the right of my desk hang three small silk embroideries from the Mascarene Islands halfway around the world. A television and DVD player sit on another small desk across the room and a radio tuned to NPR (oh, what would I do without NPR?) rests on the floor at my feet. Then there is the computer (actually there are two), which magically links me to more people and information than my feeble mind can possibly comprehend. Like secret conduits, I am surrounded by escape hatches, vehicles for my wanderings, albeit mentally and emotionally, not physically.
Like all wanderers, sometimes I go too far. Lost in a website or 900-page novel, the ringing of the phone or a glance at the clock reminds me that I've forgotten to sleep or eat or, heaven forbid, pick up a grandchild from school. It is my family that keeps me grounded after all. Like the tethers on a gigantic Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloon, they hold me (loosely) to reality, obligation and responsibility. They are gentle and patient and I need them. Otherwise, I fear I would just float away into oblivion, never realizing I was even lost.
[*misappropriated from one of my favorite hymns, "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing")
I have always placed great value on personal independence, and my propensity for wandering often got me in trouble as a child. I remember laying in the cool damp grass of our front yard on a summer's evening and watching the trail of a jet plane streak across the amber sky, yearning to be on that plane, headed to some far-off place where no one knew my name and I would be free to roam to my heart's desire.
Yet, here I am on a chilly winter's morning, sitting in my "cave," bound to this eleven-by-twelve-foot room, like I am every morning, drinking my soymilk-banana smoothie and talking to myself on a computer screen. Like most (all?) people with MCS, I am mostly homebound, fettered by the disease that isolates me physically from the rest of the world, a canary in a not-so-gilded cage.
Some might think it a miserable life, but a closer examination of this room reveals a different picture. A large bookshelf next to my desk is filled with favorite stories and travel guides, tomes of knowledge from the past and present. On the wall to the right of my desk hang three small silk embroideries from the Mascarene Islands halfway around the world. A television and DVD player sit on another small desk across the room and a radio tuned to NPR (oh, what would I do without NPR?) rests on the floor at my feet. Then there is the computer (actually there are two), which magically links me to more people and information than my feeble mind can possibly comprehend. Like secret conduits, I am surrounded by escape hatches, vehicles for my wanderings, albeit mentally and emotionally, not physically.
Like all wanderers, sometimes I go too far. Lost in a website or 900-page novel, the ringing of the phone or a glance at the clock reminds me that I've forgotten to sleep or eat or, heaven forbid, pick up a grandchild from school. It is my family that keeps me grounded after all. Like the tethers on a gigantic Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloon, they hold me (loosely) to reality, obligation and responsibility. They are gentle and patient and I need them. Otherwise, I fear I would just float away into oblivion, never realizing I was even lost.
[*misappropriated from one of my favorite hymns, "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing")
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Recent attacks made against MCS America
Anyone who is familiar with MCS America knows the good work of this organization and Lourdes Salvador. This is always the first organization and website I direct people to when I am asked questions about MCS. I just really can't say enough to express my appreciation and admiration for MCS America. All of us with MCS have experienced negative reactions from people who somehow feel threatened by us and our disability. Yet, I was dismayed to receive the following statement in my email this morning. For now, I am just putting it on here so people know what is happening. Within the next couple of days I will post some ideas for what we can do to positively react to this.
A personal attack was recently launched against me and MCS America, in which many inaccuracies were published on Facebook for the sole purpose of stirring up controversy and tarnishing my reputation. This “controversy” is nothing more than the continuance of a longstanding, unsubstantiated smear campaign based on falsehoods and innuendo about me and MCS America.
The person or persons who launched this attack contacted the National Health Information Center (NHIC) to demand that the annual MCS Awareness and Education Month be removed from the National Health Observance Calendar due to MCS America, which was the contact organization for the event, being “a fake organization.” NHIC complied with the demand. The listing allowed schools, hospitals, employers, and other members of the public seeking information for awareness events on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity/Environmental Illness to contact MCS America for brochures, studies, posters, and other informational materials. The loss of this listing is a tragedy for our entire MCS/EI community.
The MCS/EI community is defined by empathy, support, sharing, and working together to find healing and to stop pervasive chemical pollution. We are not about personally attacking others within our community even if we disagree on an issue. That type of activity does not foster our cause, but rather promotes division and strife. Many members of our community work tirelessly to have MCS/EI officially recognized and to educate the public-at-large. The listing in the national calendar was another important step toward educating the public about MCS/EI and bringing us closer to having our illness fully recognized. It is astonishing that anyone would actively pursue the removal of MCS information in a national publication.
MCS America stands behind its mission to gain medical, legal, and social recognition of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity as a disorder of organic biological origin induced by toxic environmental insults; to provide support and referral services to individuals with MCS, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and other environmental illnesses; and to ensure that environmental toxicants are identified, reduced, regulated, and enforced through lobbying for effective legislation. MCS America will continue to work toward these goals through whatever means available.
Informational materials about MCS Awareness and Education Month, which is scheduled for May 2010, are available through our website at http://www.mcs-america.org.
Thank you for your support!
A personal attack was recently launched against me and MCS America, in which many inaccuracies were published on Facebook for the sole purpose of stirring up controversy and tarnishing my reputation. This “controversy” is nothing more than the continuance of a longstanding, unsubstantiated smear campaign based on falsehoods and innuendo about me and MCS America.
The person or persons who launched this attack contacted the National Health Information Center (NHIC) to demand that the annual MCS Awareness and Education Month be removed from the National Health Observance Calendar due to MCS America, which was the contact organization for the event, being “a fake organization.” NHIC complied with the demand. The listing allowed schools, hospitals, employers, and other members of the public seeking information for awareness events on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity/Environmental Illness to contact MCS America for brochures, studies, posters, and other informational materials. The loss of this listing is a tragedy for our entire MCS/EI community.
The MCS/EI community is defined by empathy, support, sharing, and working together to find healing and to stop pervasive chemical pollution. We are not about personally attacking others within our community even if we disagree on an issue. That type of activity does not foster our cause, but rather promotes division and strife. Many members of our community work tirelessly to have MCS/EI officially recognized and to educate the public-at-large. The listing in the national calendar was another important step toward educating the public about MCS/EI and bringing us closer to having our illness fully recognized. It is astonishing that anyone would actively pursue the removal of MCS information in a national publication.
MCS America stands behind its mission to gain medical, legal, and social recognition of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity as a disorder of organic biological origin induced by toxic environmental insults; to provide support and referral services to individuals with MCS, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and other environmental illnesses; and to ensure that environmental toxicants are identified, reduced, regulated, and enforced through lobbying for effective legislation. MCS America will continue to work toward these goals through whatever means available.
Informational materials about MCS Awareness and Education Month, which is scheduled for May 2010, are available through our website at http://www.mcs-america.org.
Thank you for your support!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I have no profound words of wisdom or sentimental stories to share this Christmas Eve, only a very sincere wish to all of my cyber-friends for a very warm and cozy holiday season. May love be close and fear be far. Peace to all.
Catherine
Catherine
Friday, December 18, 2009
Ahhhhhh...music
"For unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given..." The strains of Handel's Messiah fill my office/sewing room as I wrap gifts, make doll clothes for a granddaughter and finish up my year-end bookkeeping. Music has always been an integral part of my Christmas celebration, synonymous with the joy of shepherds "watching over their flocks by night" and my younger self leaning over a balcony railing to see the Nutcracker prince defeat the evil mouse king. There are many things lost with chronic illness, but music, whether on a frosty Christmas morning or in the middle of a painful summer night, has the power to calm the troubled heart and sooth the hungry soul.
My friend Celia with MCS knows firsthand the balm of music. No longer able to lead the music in her church congregation because of recently laid (glued down) carpet, her home is nevertheless filled with many a "joyful noise." Her son, now with a family of his own, plays the piano and her daughter Cati is a harpist. Cati gets no complaint from her mother when her regular evening job and additional church performances this time of year require her to put in longer hours of practice. Celia's younger daughter Carrie came to their family from Romania nine years ago, a five-year-old unable to speak English. Yet, within her was the musical heritage of her ancestors, the universal language through which she so beautifully expresses herself on her violin. At a recent "Christmas Around the World" church activity, Carrie, somewhat unsure of herself in other realms, was able to speak the thoughts and feelings that she finds more difficult to express with words. And when Cati and Carrie weave their music together in duets, Heaven is truly in that home.
Music has changed for me over the years. Like Celia, I once directed the music in church meetings and, for many years, sat at the organ. Throughout the year, but especially at Christmas time, my cello was part of a piano trio performing for church gatherings, wedding receptions and business parties. When arthritis, fibromyalgia and chemical sensitivities put an end to my performance days, I mourned the loss. However, the art of listening has replaced the hours of practice and more than filled the void. My ears have learned new rhythms and the subtle nuances of counterpoint in a Beethoven symphony inspire me to notice the details in other aspects of my life. And, despite my limitations, the piano in my living room does not sit idle all the time. My own daughter often sits down to play when she is here to visit, and these old hands of mine can still pound out a pretty fair rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Up on the Housetop" when five-year-old Morgan calls out, "Grandma, Grandma, play me some music!"
My friend Celia with MCS knows firsthand the balm of music. No longer able to lead the music in her church congregation because of recently laid (glued down) carpet, her home is nevertheless filled with many a "joyful noise." Her son, now with a family of his own, plays the piano and her daughter Cati is a harpist. Cati gets no complaint from her mother when her regular evening job and additional church performances this time of year require her to put in longer hours of practice. Celia's younger daughter Carrie came to their family from Romania nine years ago, a five-year-old unable to speak English. Yet, within her was the musical heritage of her ancestors, the universal language through which she so beautifully expresses herself on her violin. At a recent "Christmas Around the World" church activity, Carrie, somewhat unsure of herself in other realms, was able to speak the thoughts and feelings that she finds more difficult to express with words. And when Cati and Carrie weave their music together in duets, Heaven is truly in that home.
Music has changed for me over the years. Like Celia, I once directed the music in church meetings and, for many years, sat at the organ. Throughout the year, but especially at Christmas time, my cello was part of a piano trio performing for church gatherings, wedding receptions and business parties. When arthritis, fibromyalgia and chemical sensitivities put an end to my performance days, I mourned the loss. However, the art of listening has replaced the hours of practice and more than filled the void. My ears have learned new rhythms and the subtle nuances of counterpoint in a Beethoven symphony inspire me to notice the details in other aspects of my life. And, despite my limitations, the piano in my living room does not sit idle all the time. My own daughter often sits down to play when she is here to visit, and these old hands of mine can still pound out a pretty fair rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Up on the Housetop" when five-year-old Morgan calls out, "Grandma, Grandma, play me some music!"
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