Is Johnson & Johnson finally thinking of their consumers?

Not at all. J&J has recently announced that they are voluntarily phasing out Phthalates - but not until 2012. Why the 3 year delay? I have no idea. Not only that, this toxic ingredient is only one toxic ingredient found in their products. My opinion is that they are finally starting to be exposed for not actually living up to their claims of offering 'pure' products.

A study was recently conducted by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (a well known & respected national coalition of nonprofit health and environmental organizations)on popular children's bath products that claim to be 'safe & gentle'. It exposed many popular brands with having toxic chemicals in their products that have been linked to major health conditions - and you will not even know that these products contain some of these ingredients!

However as you may already anticipate most of these large companies are not what they claim to be. Johnson & Johnson claims their shampoo to be a 'mild, tearless formula baby shampoo that is as gentle to the eyes as pure water' yet contain toxic ingredients including formaldehyde (a toxin banned in personal care products in both Japan and Sweden) and 1,4-dioxane. Both of these chemicals are by-products of chemical manufacturing and product formulation. So you will not find them on the ingredient list on any packaging.

This report is the first to document the widespread contamination of children’s products with formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane. But it's not only J & J products that are toxic for your little one. Other products included in this study with the same results include Sesame Street Bubble Bath, Grins & Giggles Milk & Honey Baby Wash and Huggies Naturally Refreshing Cucumber & Green Tea Baby Wash.

The greatest danger in terms of most studies conducted is that many companies do not test on repeated exposure to many of these toxins. So although some of these products only contain small amounts of these ingredients, the fact that our children are exposed to them through various sources is a reason to be alarmed. For example, there may only be trace amounts of Formaldehyde in your baby's shampoo however it may also be in their body wash and lotion. Formaldehyde is not only in personal care products but also in things like building products (including furniture), new clothes, etc. So our children are exposed to this toxin on a regular basis!

Our children cannot handle these chemicals like an adult can. That is why we need to take special care of their little bodies. Their immune system is not as strong and they are less able to detoxify their systems. That is why they need to be exposed to as many safe & natural products as possible. Unfortunately we really cannot trust these companies, especially with the most precious little people in this world. Know what you are exposing your children to - knowledge is the key to protecting them.

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Sources:
http://ow.ly/1Oiv
No More Toxic Tub Report

Got Asthma?

I do & I hate it. It is the worst feeling in the world to not be able to breathe. Now I don't know anyone who enjoys it. So why aren't we doing more to get rid of it and why is asthma on the rise so dramatically? Well, because we are only shown how to control it. When we go to our doctors for testing they will confirm we have this all too common condition and simply prescribe methods of controlling it when it does flare up, or so that it doesn't flare up as much.

I saw an asthma specialist in a local hospital about a year ago and have never gone back. Why? It wasn't because she wasn't knowledgeable in her field. She was taught to treat this condition with medications. So she told me that I would have to take this specific inhaler twice a day, every day for the rest of my life. Oh, and after inhaling this medication into my lungs, I have to rinse my mouth out so that it doesn't get 'sore'. So this medication was good enough to coat my lungs but should be rinsed out of my mouth. That's crazy. However, my asthma has taken a turn for the worse so I decided that I would only take it when my breathing tightened. So, now I take it only when I feel this happening and continue for 3-4 days. Then stop. If it flares up again, I do the same thing until this cycle is over.

Now I am certainly no doctor. So please don't think I am saying that this is the way everyone should do it. It's just a personal decision I've made for the time being. I am also doing everything I can to make breathing better for myself and my family. I never want my daughter to have any form of asthma and it is my goal to do anything I can to avoid this.

How do you avoid it? Start with getting rid of any and all fragrances (aka 'fakegrances'). I cannot stress enough how important it is to your health to avoid these toxins. Now I touched on this subject in one of my previous posts but what I didn't say is that each scent is composed of dozens if not hundreds of chemicals. Most of the products we use every day are affected including:
~ perfumes (most use phthalates which is a plastic/toxin that makes perfumes stick around longer so it's used everywhere!)
~ laundry soap
~ fabric softener
~ air 'fresheners'
~ microwave popcorn (for that 'buttery' smell)
~ clothes that have been dry cleaned
~ 'unscented' products (which simply means that more chemicals have been used to cover up the smell)
~ most 'naturally scented' products

I found this great article in NaturalNews.com that references the Environmental Working Group who states that, “Fragrance formulas are considered to be among the top five known allergens and can trigger asthma attacks.”

So, please avoid all fragrances whenever possible. You can't control everything but if you take these steps to rid your home and common environments of these fakegrances, you and your family will breathe a much cleaner air.

I am researching more methods on how I can breathe more clearly and I will pass any information I can find onto you so that you and your family can avoid these toxins (and asthma) in every way you can!

Source:
http://www.naturalnews.com/023830.html
http://www.ewg.org

Making the Change

Welcome! I thought it would be a good idea to talk about something I try to do - living natural in a toxic world. As soon as I became pregnant I immediately had higher standards on life. I researched anything & everything to make sure the environment my child would be living in would be as toxic free as possible. It's funny how we place more importance on things that affect our children. I guess it's because these tiny, little people rely on us completely.

Now I know that there are other parents out there that feel the same way. They want to rid at least some of the toxins from their lives. The toughest part about this, is that many parents don't realize how many they're exposed to every day - which makes it an even more daunting task. However, knowledge is power. When you are buying food for your family (or even personal care products), you should always read the label. I always try to make sure I read the labels & familiarize myself with the ingredients. Even my 2 year old daughter picks things up in the store and pretends she's reading them. If I don't know what something is, I look it up when I get home. A good rule to follow is if the word is long and/or hard to pronounce, chances are it's bad. Try to avoid popular food ingredients like sorbitol (sugar replacement), MSG (monosodium glutamate), yeast extract and torula yeast (last 3 ingredients are additives included in food to enhance taste). You might even find these ingredients in items that claim they are all natural like veggies burgers!

So, where do you start? Well, you can learn from the knowledge I've acquired as I will be publishing my experiences, knowledge and challenges on this blog. For more extensive information, spend a little bit of time sourcing information on the web. I would stick with sources you trust because there is a lot of information out there. If you are concerned about something, don't find information from the company you are concerned about. Look for an unbiased opinion. Need a couple of sources I trust to start with? Try these links:

www.naturalnews.com ~ this site is run by Mike Adams who has made it his mission to teach personal and personal and planetary health to the public. His website is packed with information & you can even subscribe to his newsletters.

ewg.org ~ the Environmental Working Group is a fabulous, non-profit organization with an extensive website that covers virtually every topic you can think of. They also created the website www.cosmeticdatabase.com which gives you detailed information on the toxic levels for the most popular skin care products out there.

www.toxicnation.ca ~ a Canadian source of information with useful advice and guides to help you convert your home to a greener one.