Second-Hand Smoke and Pets

I have heard a lot about second-hand smoke and its impact on humans; but I hadn't heard anything about the impact on pets.

Recently, I went to visit a friend for several days (we'll call her "Lily").  We hadn't seen each other in 20 years so Lily reminded me that she smokes.  I thought, "no big deal, she doesn't smoke in the side of the house where I'll sleep."  And it wasn't that big of a deal because I was mentally prepared, but it did remind me how much I hate smoking.  The smoke travels around the house, and I would wake up with a smoke taste on the roof of my mouth.  And I always knew when Lily lit up even if I was at the opposite side of the house.

Lily isn't just a smoker.  She's a million other wonderful things.  She's kind-hearted to an extreme, and she rescues animals that otherwise might be put down or die from exposure.  She has 10 cats, two dogs, and a rabbit between two homes.  The stories about their previous lives make me want to cry, and I'm so grateful for people like Lily.  One cat had been shot in the face, and Lily made sure he had all the care he needed to recover as much as possible.  He's now a pretty robust cat--loving and playful.

There were seven cats in the house where I stayed, and I absolutely fell in love with one cat named Ginger Snap.  She's a Siamese kitty with a heart of gold.  Unfortunately Ginger Snap has allergies and trouble breathing sometimes.  It's heartbreaking when she has a sneezing jag.  Ginger Snap was an abandoned or lost kitten that scratched on a motel door when Lily was traveling.  She looked for the owner, but no one seemed to know anything about this kitty.  Ginger Snap has been with my friend for about 8 years now.  This kitty has been on several medications and is now on two--one for allergies and one for high blood pressure. 

Aside from Ginger Snap, a couple other kitties there have more minor wheezing or sneezing.  I thought, this can't be a coincidence.  The smoking is so irritating to my respiratory system, I wondered what could it be doing to small animals who are subjected to it for several hours a day.

According to several sources such as Petside, Science Daily, Petfinder, ASPCA, and the American Journal of Epidemiology, there is a definite link between a pet's health and its exposure to secondhand smoke.  There are 4,000 chemicals in secondhand smoke, and 43 are known to cause cancer.

Breathe New Hampshire cites the following impacts of secondhand smoke to pets: 

• Cats exposed to secondhand smoke in the home have a higher rate of an oral cancer called squamous cell carcinoma, which may be due to the way cats groom themselves. When cats groom themselves they eat the poisons from secondhand smoke that have settled on their fur.
• Cats exposed to secondhand smoke have a higher rate of feline lymphoma, a deadly form of cancer, than cats not exposed to secondhand smoke.
• Cats can develop respiratory problems, lung inflammation, and asthma as a result of secondhand smoke.
• Dogs that inhale secondhand smoke are three times more likely to develop lung or nasal cancer than dogs living in smoke-free homes.
• Dogs can experience allergic reactions to secondhand smoke.  Common symptoms of this allergic reaction are the scratching, biting, and chewing of their skin. Owners often confuse this reaction with fleas or food allergies.
• Cigarette butts can also be deadly. Two butts, if eaten by a puppy, can cause death in a relatively short period of time.
• Birds can react badly to secondhand smoke and may develop eye problems, as well as other respiratory problems like coughing and wheezing.
• Birds that sit on a smoker’s hand can experience contact dermatitis from the nicotine that remains on the smoker’s hand. This can cause them to pull out their feathers.

What Can You Do If You Smoke and Have Pets?

You can quit smoking.  I know this is a tall order.  I am a nonsmoker so I don't fully comprehend the difficulty of quitting smoking.  My Dad quit after a few decades of smoking.  He was hypnotized once, but I think he just really wanted to quit.  My co-worker quit by using nicotine gum, but he's been chewing this type of gum for years now--a better addiction, I guess.  And my niece quit for vanity--she noticed a wrinkle on her face she felt was caused by the cigarette smoke since we know a few women who smoke and their faces look ravaged.

Well, if you can't quit for your own health, maybe considering your innocent pets as well as the humans that live with you might help you to give quitting a good try.  If you fail, don't stop trying.  The road to change is not a straight line.

You could also only smoke out of doors so you're not contaminating the air, furniture, curtains, and carpeting in your home as well as your pet's fur and respiratory system.  Your pets will thank you for it--and it will reduce your vet bills.

Photo source for smoker

What's BPA and What's it Doing in My Food?

Why would we want to eat something called Bisphenol A (BPA)?  I don't think we do.

BPA is an industrial chemical that has been used in plastics and epoxy since the 1960s.  There is a lot of controversy about this chemical which is commonly used in food and beverage containers (including the lining in most food cans).  Many studies show that BPA can seep into our food and beverages, and then into our bodies.

In 2008, the Natural Resources Defense Council petitioned the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to eliminate BPA from all food packaging. When the agency failed to respond, NRDC sued in 2011 to make FDA respond. The court made the determination that the FDA must make a final decision on NRDC’s petition by March 31, 2012.  The FDA finally responded that they need to continue evaluating research.

 Photo source

According to the NRDC, "the FDA acknowledged in 2010 that it had “some concerns” about the chemical’s effects on the brain, behavior, and prostate glands in fetuses, infants, and young children. But the agency has only encouraged voluntary actions to reduce BPA exposure.  Since that time numerous studies have raised additional concerns about links between BPA and breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.

"Consumer demand for BPA-free products has already led to the withdrawal of baby bottles, “sippy cups’’ and infant formula containers containing the chemical from store shelves.  Canada, the European Union, China, and at least five other countries as well as 11 U.S. states, all have prohibited the use of BPA in children’s products.

"In addition, some U.S. canned food manufacturers are voluntarily removing BPA from can linings, but BPA remains legal to use in all food packaging."

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), "certain plastics called polycarbonates leach low levels of BPA into food or liquids. Leaching from plastic baby bottles and food containers appears to happen at a much lower level than found in canned foods and baby formula. Nevertheless it is good to take simple precautions.

"BPA is found in polycarbonate plastic food containers often marked on the bottom with the letters "PC" recycling label #7. Not all #7 labeled products are polycarbonate but this is a reasonable guideline for a category of plastics to avoid. Polycarbonate plastics are rigid and transparent and used for sippy cups, baby bottles, food storage, and water bottles. Some polycarbonate water bottles are marketed as 'non-leaching' for minimizing plastic taste or odor, however there is still a possibility that trace amounts of BPA will migrate from these containers, particularly if used to heat liquids."

Is this not enough?  BPA is used in making store receipts.  The EWG reported in 2010 that "two-fifths of the paper receipts tested by a major laboratory commissioned by EWG were on heat-activated paper that was between 0.8 to nearly 3 percent pure BPA by weight. Wipe tests conducted with a damp laboratory paper easily picked up a portion of the receipts' BPA coating, indicating that the chemical would likely stick to the skin of anyone who handled them. The receipts came from major retailers, grocery stores, convenience stores, gas stations, fast-food restaurants, post offices and automatic teller machines (ATMs).

"Major retailers using BPA-containing receipts in at least some outlets included McDonald's, CVS, KFC, Whole Foods, Walmart, Safeway and the U.S. Postal Service. Receipts from some major chains, including Target, Starbucks and Bank of America ATMs, issued receipts that were BPA-free or contained only trace amounts

"Scientists have not determined how much of a receipt's BPA coating can transfer to the skin and from there into the body. Possibilities being explored include:

• Oral exposure -- BPA moves from receipts onto fingers and then onto food and into the mouth.
• Dermal exposure -- BPA from receipts is directly absorbed through the skin into the body.

"A study published July 11 by Swiss scientists found that BPA transfers readily from receipts to skin and can penetrate the skin to such a depth that it cannot be washed off (Biedermann 2010). This raises the possibility that the chemical infiltrates the skin's lower layers to enter the bloodstream directly. BPA has also been shown to penetrate skin in laboratory studies (Kaddar 2008)."

My local food co-ops use the BPA-free paper so I don't mind handling my receipts.  

What Can You Do?

• Choose fresh food whenever possible like fresh vegetables and fruit instead of canned or dried beans instead of canned.
• Write a letter to the companies you purchase from and tell them you don't want your food packaged in BPA, or your water bottle lined with BPA, or the food containers you use to contain BPA.
• Start buying from the companies that use BPA-free packaging.  Visit these web sites for a list for canned food, sippy cups, reusable water bottles, and lunch containers.
• Start storing your food in glass jars with metal lids.  Save those salsa and nut butter jars!
• Do not heat food in plastic containers in the microwave--even if  it says "microwave safe." 
• Use stainless steel, porcelain, or glass containers for hot foods.
• Watch for bottled beverages with plastic caps--these can contain BPA as well.

Eden Organics uses BPA-free cans for beans

All-Purpose Cleaner with Love

I don't even remember when I started using nontoxic cleaners.  I was using them unconsciously as I grew up as my mother used them.  She may have been using them to save money.  After all, she had five kids to raise, and a gallon of vinegar is a lot cheaper than a manufactured product.

When you make your own cleaners, you should always start with a clean container.  If it's a previously used container, make sure you don't have residue from the previous contents still in the container when you put it to reuse.  Clearly mark your container so you don't confuse it with something else.  Just take a sharpie, permanent maker and write on the container.

For my all-purpose disinfecting cleaner, I use a spray bottle that can be purchased in the gardening section of many stores.  The nozzle is adjustable to regulate a misting spray to a straight shot.

I have been cleaning my apartments with a nontoxic, home-made cleaner for many years.  It's very simple and the recipe follows:

All-Purpose Disinfecting Cleaner

1 tablespoon liquid soap

1 cup warm water

2/3 cup white vinegar

In a spray bottle, mix the soap and water first to prevent clumping.  Then add the vinegar and mix gently. 

Why Use a Home-Made Cleaner?

When you make your own cleaner, you really, really know what's in it.  When you buy a cleaner, you can't be sure all of the ingredients are listed.  The U.S.  EPA gives a warning about commercial all-purpose cleaners:

       When using [commercial] all purpose cleaners, follow these safety steps:

• Wear rubber gloves to protect your skin
• Be sure that there is good air circulation in the room. Open several windows or keep a fan running.
• NEVER mix two cleaners of different kinds together, especially if one contains ammonia and the other contains chlorine. This can produce a gas called chloramine, and breathing its fumes could be fatal.

You could buy a commercial cleaner containing bleach to kill germs, but white vinegar also kills germs.  So, why pay more for a cleaner that can harm you?  Just make your own.

Just a Few (of the many) Things I Didn't Know

I live on the border of New Hampshire and Vermont where there are several e-mail list serves to connect residents who have lost a dog, want to sell a dresser, or share whatever information they choose.  After seeing an e-mail from someone saying, "Dishwasher Now Runs Clean: Want to THANK whoever it was that suggested putting a 1/2 cup of white vinegar sitting on the top shelf in the dishwasher.  That has made all the difference in the world!   I now buy the vinegar by the gallon."

I actually never saw the original e-mail and I've never owned a dishwasher, but it was gratifying to read that vinegar once again had saved the day in someone's home.  Less money, less toxic output.

I then decided to see what else people in my area know about nontoxic cleaners, so I put out this notice on three local list serves:  "If you have any recipes or experiences with nontoxic cleaning, I'd love to hear them."

Well, I received many responses.  Most were ones that are already addressed on this blog either in the posts or on the Recipes page.  But again, it was great to hear that other people are using simple, nontoxic recipes to clean their homes.

There were a few recipes I had never heard before--and I'm sharing them below.

Weed and Grass Killer

"Pour straight white vinegar on the weeds to get to the roots, but don't get it on anything you want to keep."

I sent out an e-mail to a group in a Household Hazardous Waste Committee and received a confirming response that vinegar actually kills weeds!  My friend, Joanne said she had her granddaughter spray a section of weeds growing up in her gravel driveway.  They had to do it twice as the weeds were thick and well established, but she lives on a lake so it's great she found a non-toxic way to kill weeds.

Photo Credit Link

Fruit Fly Trap

"Put about an inch of apple cider vinegar into a small jar with a little water and a drop or two of liquid dish washing liquid.  The fruit flies will be attracted and drown in the liquid...you'll have to dump it out and make a fresh batch every now and then if you have a lot of fruit flies."

I'm not sure what the point of the dish washing liquid is, but who can argue with success.  Personally, I just use my kitchen compost can and put the lid on it to trap the fruit flies.

Tub and Sink Cleaner

"A mixture of Borax and Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds is very effective, good smelling, and makes everything shine."   

Ode to Vinegar

Oh white vinegar,  how do I love thee, let me count the ways....  If ever there was a multipurpose nontoxic product, it is white vinegar.   It is used in cooking, gardening, health remedies, automotive cleaners, air fresheners, laundry cleaning, and general all-purpose household cleaners.  Visit Vinegar Tips for a more thorough explanation of the 1001 uses of white vinegar.

White vinegar is made by allowing a distilled alcohol to undergo acid fermentation. The typical store-bought white vinegar is 5% acetic acid which makes it a great cleaner.   Michael Mullen of the  Heinz Company referred to several studies to show that vinegar has properties to destroy 80% of viruses, 82% of mold, and 99% of bacteria.  Thus, as it should be, vinegar is a common household product used for cleaning bacteria laden surfaces like kitchen stoves, toilets, sinks, and floors.   Vinegar is a much better option than the chemical cleaners available in stores as vinegar does not have the harmful health effects of most commercial cleaners (read the tiny print on the labels for a good scare).

Personally, I use vinegar in a homemade all-purpose cleaner made with white vinegar, liquid soap, and water (see the Recipes page of this blog).  For an air freshener, I put a bowl of white vinegar on the counter.  (I do this with baking soda as well.)  I use vinegar as a toilet bowl cleaner by pouring straight vinegar into the toilet bowl, scrub the toilet with a brush, and let is sit until the next use of the toilet.  I use simple vinegar and water to mop the linoleum kitchen floor as well as the bathroom floor.  Vinegar and water can be sprayed on to windows and mirrors, then wiped off with crumpled newspaper for sparkling glass.  Oh, white vinegar, how do I love thee....

The last time I bought vinegar at the local grocery store, it cost me less than $3 for a gallon.  That's a lot of cleaning power for less than three bucks.

Give vinegar a try in cleaning your home.  It's cost-effective, it works, it kills the microbes you want to kill without causing you and your family harm.  The smell is much more appealing to me than commercial cleaners especially realizing when I smell those cleaners, I'm inhaling toxic fumes.  Add several drops of your favorite essential oil to your vinegar cleaner if you'd rather smell peppermint or citrus.

Go forth with the rightly esteemed white vinegar....

Photo Credit Link 

Hidden Time Bombs in Schools

For over a week, I was at a conference on household hazardous waste in Los Angeles, California.  It turns out, I am definitely not an L.A. girl.  I arrived back home to Vermont, and I am relishing the chill of the oncoming autumn.   The conference was put on by the North American Hazardous Materials Management Association (NAHMMA).  It was excellent!  They did a fabulous job--especially the discussions about hazardous products in public and private schools.  Products are found throughout the schools in chemistry labs, art classrooms, and maintenance closets.

Chemistry Labs  

I already knew chemicals in labs were  a problem (because I'd watched a webinar by NAHMMA).  But it absolutely fascinates and horrifies me that outdated and unknown chemicals found in  schools can cause fires, explosions, spills and toxic human exposure. These incidents from poorly stored chemicals present a risk to children in addition to thousands of dollars in cleanup costs. 

These may be products that are currently in use, but also ones that are languishing behind other bottles of laboratory chemicals--waiting, just waiting for something bad to happen.  Those bottles have often been there for decades.

Photo Credit Link

Picric acid really intrigues me because it is sensitive to sudden movement, heat, or friction.  So, if someone were to say drop a bottle of picric acid in the high school laboratory, there is potential that it could blow out the room.  Here's a YouTube video of an detonation of just 14 grams of pitric acid.  Imagine if there were a jar of this in the school!  (Pitric acid also intrigues me because they used to put it in vaginal suppositories.  What were they thinking?)

An ethyl ether YouTube video shows a violent explosion of another common chemical found in schools.  I guess a good chemistry laboratory may need some dangerous products to teach, but many schools overbuy or hoard dangerous products.  And with teachers leaving and new teachers coming in, the toxic load can increase.

Schools may or may not realize what they have.  Some schools go so far as to do a chemical inventory and obtain a cost estimate to get rid of these products from the school, but when they find out how expensive it is (it could be $4,000 for just one bottle of something especially dangerous), they leave it all where it sits.   So it's back to out of sight, out of mind--and the disposal cost is not going to go down by pretending those chemicals are not there. 

Schools have budgets like everyone and chemical disposal can be very expensive.  A "triage" might help the schools select the most dangerous chemicals to get rid of first so they don't bust the annual budget.

King County, Washington provides a Rehab the Lab program to help schools sort out their chemicals and keep the labs safer for kids.  They also provide lab safety videos.

Art Classrooms

Oil paints, pastels, acrylics, charcoal & graphite dust, markers and inks, spray adhesives, and clean-up solvents are part of the artistic and sometimes toxic potpourri in the art classroom.   

Art supplies can be so dangerous that the  California and Illinois  have legislation to limit toxic art supplies in schools.  They recognize that children cannot read the labels of products to see what they should be exposed to or not.  Paints and other art supplies can produce some of the most eloquent and thought-provoking art, but they can also be carcinogenic or cause allergic reactions while the artist is making her beautiful creations.

Photo Credit Link 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides guidance in purchasing nontoxic art supplies as does the Art and Creative Materials Institute.  King County, Washington provides great information on art supplies and selecting less toxic alternatives.



Maintenance

There are a lot of kids tramping through the school and going in and out at recess.  The cleaners tend to be more "heavy-duty" or toxic than at home.  But these cleaners do not have to be so toxic that they cause health problems such as aggravating or even causing asthma. 

For maintenance and other cleaning products, schools have resources such as the Green Schools Initiative, Cleaning for Healthy Schools,  Green Clean Schools, and  The Environmental Working Group.  There are many web sites and resources for schools to green up their act and clean with nontoxic cleaning products that are not hazardous to children's health.

Photo Credit Link  

General Resources for Change

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognizes these problems and has developed the Toolkit for Safe Chemical Management Program. You can also check out the Green Schools Initiative. 

We can keep the kids safe while providing a good--and healthy education.

Nontoxic Fingernails

Today, I had a message at work from a woman asking if she should put her fingernail polish in with her husband's hazardous waste pile to take to a hazardous waste collection.  I called her back and told her that most nail polish is hazardous and that yes, she should add it to the pile.

I had nail polish on my list of articles to write for this blog, and the call this morning has spurred me on to write about nail polish and nail polish removers.

Nail Polish

I don't paint my nails very often, but when I do, I try to use a non-toxic polish.  I say "try" because in April 2012, the California Environmental Protection Agency published results of testing they did on reportedly "nontoxic" nail polishes to find that many of them are indeed toxic.  The story was picked up by ABC, CBS, and NBC networks.

The California Agency bought 25 products and sent samples to an independent lab to text for the "toxic trio" often found in nail polishes: dibutyl phthalate, toluene, and formaldehyde.  Dibutyl phthalate is absorbed through the skin and can cause developmental defects of fetuses, especially males.  Toluene can cause occupational asthma.  Formaldhyde is a probable carcinogen.  No wonder nail polish is so stinky.  Imagine painting people's nails for a living.  Not a healthy profession, and those paper masks aren't going to help.

What the Agency found from the tests is that some of the nail polish with labels that claimed the product to be "nontoxic" contained at least one of the toxic trio.  And some of the products that did not make any claims to be nontoxic, were actually nontoxic with none of the toxic trio.  So, there is no telling what is in the nail polish without accurate labeling requirements. So, once again, we are buying unregulated products that can be harmful. 

Nail Polish Remover

And then you have to take the polish off at some point.  I once had a pedicure and the nail polish lasted for over a month until I got sick of it and removed it.  My nails didn't look very good after being deprived of oxygen for so long, and the remover really stunk.  I actually used polish remover once to clean a part on a car--I can't remember the details now, but found that it worked quite well.

Most nail polish removers are highly toxic containing acetone.  Acetone poisoning
symptoms are described in a National Institutes of Health document including lowering blood pressure, nausea, vomiting, sweet taste in the mouth, acting as if drunk, difficulty breathing, among many other symptoms.

A common alternative, which is also hazardous due to its flammability, is ethyl acetate.  The US EPA considers it to be relatively nontoxic even though it can cause vomiting, headaches in large amounts.  I suppose vodka could have the same effect.  Hmmm...is vodka a hazardous product?  That could be another post another time.  Choose your poison...preferably vodka to nail polish remover, I think!

Nontoxic Alternatives

Check out various nail polish and removers products at the Skin Deep cosmetics database.   I do know of some supposedly nontoxic nail polish brands that are not on this database.  In my bathroom, I have Peacekeeper and Sante polishes and Suncoat nail polish remover.  The Sante and Suncoat nail products on not in the database.  The Peacekeeper nail polish (2006 formula) does not sound good.  I bought this one more recently so, again, I don't know what's in it.

On the Peacekeeper web site it says, "Rated by the Environmental Working Group as the Safest Paint-Based Natural Nail Polish! Natural Nail Polish at its best! The Environmental Working Group's Cosmetics Safety Database (www.cosmeticsdatabase.org) has independently rated our Eco-Smooth Nail Paints on a scale of 0.0 (for nontoxics like water) and 10 (for products with the highest toxicity). Our polishes, at rank 3, are the highest rated paint-based nail polish.  AND they're 100% Vegan! Who could ask for anything more?"

Well, I could ask that they update their website because I don't find that information on the Skin Deep cosmetics database.  And there are nail polishes in the database that rank at "1" or "2" in toxicity which is lower than Peacekeeper.  And the Peacekeeper I do find is rated as a "4."

You could just eliminate nail polish and removers from your life--and go green.  Your nails will be healthier and your indoor air quality will improve.  Naked nails can be sexy.  Check out this article on buffing.