Another BPA article

Though I have written about BPA before, I thought I'd post a link to an article that my mother in law sent me. 

http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0050200&ct=1

I do like the Thermos sippy cups, though they leak a little bit.  I will probably get a Klean Kantene soon and I will review compare the two.

Making Dresses for the girls

At last- a non-f00d, non-eco topic...

I have a new hobby... though I guess it was an old hobby that I fell in love with again. I have sewn as long as I can remember... I made Barbie dresses and dresses for my dolls.  When I got married, I made curtains and bedspreads.  I even tried once or twice to make a dress for Caroline. I had a machine that had a terrible problem with the bobbins... so I didn't sew as much.  When I got a new machine (an Elna 3500) several years ago (thanks to a birthday present from my aunt), I sewed more, but stuck with household items.

Lately, I was making nursing covers. And I was making one for my friend Sarah who was having her fourth child. When shopping for fabrics I found the Apples and Pears fabric and I felt I had to make something more than her nursing cover with it.  I didn't need any more curtains, so I decided to make dresses for the girls.  Claire's was first, it is tiered so it spins (she loves "spinning dresses" and she was with me when I found the fabric.  Caroline's came next. Since she was turning seven, I decided to make a more grown-up dress, and copied one she already had. Then I made pants and a skirt for Claire and Emma and appliqued t-shirts (the same friend Sarah being my inspiration) to match.  At this point, we were discussing flower girl dresses for my brother's  upcoming wedding. His fiancee had a beautiful, simple flower girl dress in mind. Ready to order, I hesitated... I could make the dress. And so I volunteered... I found a pattern, and made a practice dress for Emma. It was too big in the bodice and she hated it. (Despite the fact that she isn't even 1 1/2 yet- she has shown an obvious preference for more colorful and bold fabrics).  So, I made the last apple and pear dress in the same pattern as the flower girl dress, changing the bodice to a size 12 months and keeping the skirt in the size 24 months. And it is almost perfect.  She loves it... Caroline and Claire love theirs as well.  The best part- Caroline is outside sewing with a real needle, trying to make a skirt for her American doll.  Maybe in 10 years, we'll be making her prom dress together.

Here are some pics...

Matching pants and skirt with appliqued t-shirts...

The too big flower girl dress...

Same dress with the sash... she really did not like it!

The girls in their "matching" dresses... 

Emma's apples and pears dress. Same dress as the flower girl dress.. just different fabric!!

What is "green"? What works? What is just marketing? Where to find the answers

Have you noticed that many new hair products have "Sodium Lauryl Sulfate- Free" or "Paraben-Free" written on their bottles?  Now that Clorox has come out with its Green line, do you wonder whether to try these or other "green" products rather than use your old standby Tylex or Pine-sol? There are so  new many "eco" or "green" products out there that it is hard to figure out what is better, worth paying a bit more or whether to stick with what you know.  What threatens the environment and/or  poses a risk to you or your family's health and what is just marketing? I was and still am asking myself these questions and I came across a few resources I thought I'd write about.

I looked up Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Parabens on Wikipedia, and they didn't seem all to concerned. They acknowledged that there is controversy, but their articles weren't at all as in depth as the ones regarding the Bisphenol-A and Pthalates.  So I dug a little deeper.  I bought a book, checked one out of the library and found a couple of websites.  I won't reiterate everything I have read since it would take me about 500 pages. I will recommend the books:

Raising Baby Green, The Earth Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth and Baby Care by Alan Greene, M.D.

This book I recommend you borrow from the library or a friend.  It is simple and easily read, but it doesn't offer much in depth discussion of the topics.  It lists good ideas of how to live "green" but seems more focused on what you can do rather than on the why.  Why was one of my first words... I like to know why!! 

GreenGreenerGreenest- A Practical Guide to Making Eco-Smart Choices a Part of Your Life by Lori Bongiorno.

This is a nice little book that is handy as a guide, it is printed on 100% Recycled Paper and printed with vegetable based ink.  I would recommend buying it as it does outline the problems and then  it lists the green, greener and greenest choices. It is small and could fit in a purse.  It is much better suited to someone who wants to understand the issues. Yet, its just under 300 pages, so a lot of it is condensed.  Still it gives a nice overview of the issues and good discussion on what you can do.

A great website is by National Geographic. It is called the www.GreenGuide.com.  This site has real science and is run by a reputed and known company.

This site had the best answer to my question about personal care products.  Both books discussed at different length the increase risk of cancer associated with the chemicals in these products, but not in any detail.  What I found at the greenguide.com is that while Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and parabens could potentially be cancerous, the real issues deal with formaldyhide and polyethelynes.  Sodium Lauryl Sulfates is grouped with the later and these compounds are can become contaminated with 1,4 dioxane which has caused liver cancer in mice.  Some other ingredients, such as diethanolamine and triethanolamine, can react with nitrites (preservatives) inside the shampoo bottle to form carcinogenic nitrosamines, which can be absorbed through the skin.  The list goes on and I would rather you check out the website than retype what is already well explained.

Another website that is good is called Skin Deep: www.cosmeticdatabase.com. There you can see how your personal care products rate in terms of safety and sometimes read reviews.

A third website you may be interested is by CHEC's HealtheHouse.  www.checnet.org/HealtheHouse/myehome/index.asp  You can take an online test and it will give you an analysis of the state (healthy or not) of your home.

My thought is this:  If I keep myself reasonably educated, I can make better decisions for my family.  When I buy any product more than once, I consider it an endorsement of the practices that the company selling the product employs.  So when I buy local, organic or something that is "eco", I do it for myself and my family, but I also think of a way to buy interest in the future. I am endorsing that company's way of doing things and voting against large companies who look only at the bottom line. 

Seventh Generation is a great company who develops ecologically responsible products. They also have a great webpage you should check out.

On the back of the Seventh Generation Dishwashing liquid they say that if:

"Every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of 25 oz petroleum based dishwashing liquid with our (Seventh Generation's) vegetable based product, we could save 81,000 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 4,600 U.S. homes for a year!"

I like this approach.  I can't afford to install solar panels, I still need to drive places, clean my house, etc so I try to do as much in the rest of my life to offset my carbon footprint and reduce my contribution to pollution and waste. If a product is non-toxic, biodegradable and can help offset my carbon footprint, I'll pay the roughly 50 cents more.  The more "natural" shampoos/ soaps are also more expensive, but precisely because they are I try to waste less. This helps offset their higher costs but also reminds me of how "expensive" household and personal care items often are.  Conventional items may be cheaper on the wallet, but for the most part have a higher environmental and health cost. 

So do I have any recommendations?  I haven't done any major product testing, but here are a few things I have tried and liked.

For household items:  I like Seventh Generations' stuff, but I haven't used Clorox yet.  Since Seventh Generation's company was founded on the principle of providing non-toxic and biodegradable products, like to support them by rather than Procter and Gamble (sorry Tom).

Also, I like Method's bathroom scrub (it comes in a cool bottle with a great sponge) and their toilet bowl cleaner.

For the laundry, I like soapnuts, and also Seventh Generation's laundry detergent.

For personal care:

Aside from Dr. Bronner's soap (now even available at Target) and vegetable based loosed soaps found at Wegmans' and a lot of natural foods stores,  I haven't yet hit the jackpot.  I really like the soaps, but I haven't yet found a shampoo/ conditioner that works for my hair... which is short, straight and fine, nothing too crazy! I am toying with trying the kids shampoo! If anyone knows of one that works well, please let me know.  

For the kids, I have found California Baby, which is great for Emma since not only does it not contain any of the chemicals listed above, but it is soy, gluten and dairy free.  Since she loves to suck on her wash cloth, she isn't getting any of those in her system and hurting her and also keeping us up at night. So far we have tried the baby wash/ shampoo and a cream that works wonders.

What next?  I would like to switch to biodegradable trash bags and freezer storage bags. If not biodegradable, at least made with recycled materials and without harmful chemicals. A post to come!  I will let you know what I find. So far I can't really afford the biobags at $5 for 12... but I am sure there will be some options sooner rather than later!

Monsanto, rBGH, RR corn, and Crop Shares

I have heard of Monsanto before, it is hard not to come across it when looking into food allergies and eating local and organic.  Today however, as I searched the internet about hot dogs and possible allergens, I came across more articles condemning Monsanto and its genetical modified organisms.  

First, let me explain, Monsanto is a biotech corporation, a huge multinational one at that.  It is the company that owns Round-Up as well as the company that developed Agent Orange and a host of pesticides and plastics.  It made the move from chemical company to agricultural biotech company slowly.  In the 1990s it developed a vaccine that helped increase milk production in cows (now knows and r-BGH- recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) and also genetically modified corn, soy and cotton.   What is amazing is how little we know about this and how infiltrated these items are in our foods.

I won't go into huge details, partly because it is above my science for non-science major course work, and partly because you can google and find all of the specifics just like I did.  Essentially, Monsanto has altered mostly corn, soy and cotton seeds in one of two ways.  Either they are considered Round-Up Ready (RR), meaning that they can withstand being sprayed by round-up, or they have been modified with a virus that attacks and paralyses the gut of the insects trying to eat any part of it.  If you think I am exaggerating, look it up for yourself!  Doctors associated with Allergykids.com argue that the increase in Asthma, Allergies, Autism and ADHD is directly correlated to the abundance of these GM foods in our diet.  

For example, the incidence of Milk Protein Allergy has increased so much that in 10 years (coinciding nicely with the introduction of r-BGH) it has become the #1 food allergen.  Also breast and prostate cancer rates have risen; I saw statistics that 1 in 8 women will have breast cancer...  the cows that are vaccinated with r-BGH have shown increase in infertility, birth defects, fetal loss on top of cases of Mastitis that led to greater use of antibiotics.

The correlation between antibiotics and intestinal issues is well established.  But intestinal issues and autoimmune disorders (most of which involve the gut) have also risen in recent years.  According to one site www.rhinebeckhealth.com/rhc/4-a%disorders.php, over the past two decades, Autism has increased 1500%, ADHD 400%, Asthma 300% and allergies 400%.

Most of these disorders are immune related and 70% of our immune system is associated with our intestinal tract. Consuming corn (or soy) that has been modified with a virus that causes gut paralysis in insects seems like it would lead to the increase gut disorders that we and our children are facing today. Most people have never heard of this, nor of Monsanto; it is not news headline material. Actually, two Fox News reporters where fired when they wanted to disclose all of this information.  Not knowing much about the case, I can only presume that Monsanto threatened Fox with a libel suit.

In any case, if there ever was an argument to eat more organically, locally grown foods, this is it! Aside from being obviously better and more sustainable for our planet, of course.  But if you think it will be easy just buying organic corn tortilla chips, think about all of the things that have high fructose corn syrup in them.  Even before this, I thought I was being good about avoiding it. We've made our own ketchup and chicken nuggets.... but neglected to make our own mayonnaise.  I can make mayonnaise, but fresh mayonnaise does not keep since it uses raw eggs.  So I have just bought hellman's or Krafts or Miracle Whip for sandwiches... one more thing to buy organic!

As for buying more locally grown foods, we are going to buy a crop share this year.  A few people I know have been doing this around here and it is great.  You can buy either 1/2 or a full share for somewhere between $250-$650 and you get fresh produce (and sometimes more, such as eggs) every week. They are usually organic or using organic practices and getting certification.  The eggs are usually free range and have not had antibiotics or hormones.  In the northeast they run from June through the end of October. Sometimes, you can also help at the farm and the cost of the share goes down.  You can check out localharvest.com and look for CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture).  They also list all of the farmers markets that are available in your area.  This way, you reduce your carbon footprint; the tomatoes or turnips or strawberries you eat have only traveled the distance from the farm to your house rather than from Chile or California. If you think your kids won't eat parsnips or turnips, think again. Claire likes them and so does Emma (AKA the child that lived off baby rice cereal, oatmeal and alphatots for months).  Caroline loved the pasta sauce I made with swiss chard. 

Of all the things I would buy organic, corn and corn products would be at the top, along with milk and meat. I don't buy soy, since Emma is so intolerant to it. And most soy milks are organic anyway. Usually, I try to buy all my fruits and vegetables as well.  Sometimes this is not possible, and it is expensive.  However, I find that we eat more healthy proportions when we think about the cost of food, which has benefited our waist lines as well!  We'll save on the number of "diets" and medicines we will take in the long run.