Toxins in Baby Car Seats? Apparently, Yes!

Photo courtesy: Healthy Stuff/Press Photos via TreeHugger

We can't breathe the air, drink the water, or eat the food without being exposed to toxins beyond our wildest dreams. Just when we thought we might be getting a handle on childraising, along comes toxic baby car seats!

Don't get me wrong. I'm not making light of this situation. On the contrary, I find it quite despicable that companies can get away with putting toxic substances on infant and toddler car seats AND get away with it. Quite unbelievable to me.

Ask any parent - our most precious possessions are our children; and, we would not knowingly put them in harm's way no matter how small the risk.

So, why is now we find out that our car seats (that are supposed to keep our little ones safe) contain toxic materials?

Healthy Stuff has released their test results for 2011 on child car seats. The organization has been testing car safety seats since 2008. The bad news in 2011: over half of child car seats still have elements detected suggesting the use of chemicals with known or suspected deleterious health effects. The good news: since Healthy Stuff started testing child seats in 2008, the average rankings have improved by 64%. Isn't it amazing what a little public scrutiny can do.

Healthy Stuff tests for bromine to indicate the presence of brominated flame retardants (but their tests will not indicate some other flame retardants, such as TPP, also suspected of effects that might harm a child's development). They also check chlorine (indicative of PVC), lead (a bioaccumulating neurotoxin) and other heavy metals (antimony, arsenic, chromium, cobalt, copper, mercury, nickel and tin). According to Healthy Stuff's newest report:

Most Toxic 2011 Car Seats:
- Infant Seat: Graco Snugride 35 in Edgemont Red/Black & Graco SnugRide 30 in Asprey
- Convertible Seat: Britax Marathon 70 in Jet Set & Britax Marathon in Platinum
- Booster Seat: Recaro Pro Booster in Blue Opal & Recaro ProSPORT Toddler in Mist

Least Toxic 2011 Car Seats:
- Infant Seat: Chicco KeyFit 30 in Limonata, Graco Snugride 35 in Laguna Bay & Combi Shuttle 33 in Cranberry Noche
- Convertible Carseat: Graco Comfort Sport in Caleo, Graco MyRide 65 in Chandler and Streamer, Safety 1st OnSide Air in Clearwater, and Graco Nautilus Elite 3-in-1 in Gabe
- Booster Seat: Graco Turbo Booster in Anders

Check out the complete ratings on the Healthy Stuff website or add your name to the petition for safer products. Healthy Stuff has entered a partnership with The Alliance for Toxic-Free Fire Safety to pressure the "largest car seat retailers, Graco and Evenflo, to take leadership to disclose and phase out hazardous chemical flame retardant additives".

It is important to emphasize: car seats save lives, and prevent disabling, lifelong injuries. The risk of an accident without a safety seat is far worse than the risk of chemicals in the seat to your child's health.

Good on Healthy Stuff.

Toxins in Cosmetics and Personal Care Products

“They’ve lived a hard life; you can see it in their face.” How many times have we heard someone make this comment about a person who looks older than their age?

Aging, along with wrinkles, sagging, dull skin and various other signs, is a very personal experience based on two factors – intrinsic and extrinsic features. Intrinsic aging depends on internal factors such as your health, your genetic makeup, even your ancestry. Extrinsic aging is affected by factors external to your body such as pollution, cosmetics, climate, and many others.

The old adage “You are what you eat” by Brillat-Savarin has been modified for use today. “If you wouldn’t eat it; don’t put it on your skin” has become the new war cry of those opposed to the cosmetic industry’s seeming lack of concern for the health of their customers. This sage advice has become prevalent in the last decade or so. People are becoming more aware of not only what they are putting into their bodies; but, also what they are putting on their bodies.

Slathering killer cosmetics on our faces and bodies has been with us for eons. The Egyptians used a combination of malachite (green ore of copper), galena (lead sulfide) and kohl (soot, fatty matter, and metal [lead, antimony, manganese or copper]).

The ancient Greeks plastered lead all over their faces. This “cream” was supposed to clear up blemishes and improve the colour and texture of the skin. It was so popular that lead-based face masks became a must-have beauty treatment.

It would appear that not much has changed since those times. The amount of chemicals and toxins in our modern-day cosmetics and skin care products is so high that been stated by biochemist Richard Bence that 4 lbs. 6 oz. of chemicals a year is absorbed through the skin by cosmetic-wearing women.

Cosmetics worn on the face are not only absorbed through the skin. They can also be absorbed by inhaling particles through your nose, tiny particles entering the eyes to be absorbed by the mucosa lining, and/or eaten by such things as chewing on your lipstick and swallowing.

A study conducted by the University of California among 58,000 hairdressers, cosmetologists and manicurists showed these beauty-care workers had four times the average rate of multiple myeloma (a malignant bone tumour).

Some of these chemicals to be aware of are mercury (eye make-up), lead (lipstick), aluminum (lipstick), propylene glycol (personal care products), sodium laurel sulfate (shampoo), placenta (skin care), phthalates (nail polish remover) and petroleum products (skin cream, shampoo).

Instead look for products that are composed mostly of plant essential, oils or derivatives. A good rule of thumb is “if you can’t pronounce it – you don’t need it.” Of course, the best defense against unsafe cosmetics is to read the label and investigate the ingredients you find listed there. There are two excellent web sites that can help you sort through the insanity so you can decide whether this cosmetic is a product you want on your skin.

www.naturallyhome.com/articles/skindeep.shtml - helps you to determine which cosmetics and personal care products are safe. The results of an intense cosmetic ingredient study are available here.

http://www.safecosmetics.org/ – will give you all the ingredients in various personal care products and which ingredients are safe and which are not. Not all labels give you all the details and “Campaign for Safe Cosmetics” helps you determine which product contains what.

Perhaps the safest way to wear cosmetics is: Don’t – unless you really have to. After all, who wishes to share the same epitaph the famous Irish beauty, Marie Gunning (the Countess of Coventry) whose death in 1760 had many calling her a “victim of cosmetics.”

Do Air Fresheners,Scented and/or Aromatherapy Candles, and Incense Freshen The Air?

Who doesn’t love a room that smells fresh and clean with the hint of a comforting fragrance tickling our noses? Advertising has done a wonderful job of convincing us that a room is not really clean unless the air has been “freshened”. After all, those cute, cuddly forest creatures wouldn’t be trying to sell us something that could harm our health, would they?

Think again!!

What these air fresheners do instead is coat our nasal passages with a film that deadens our nerve endings. This confuses us into thinking the room is fresh smelling because it reduces our ability to detect odours.

It is no wonder that problems such as asthma, cancer, SIDS, and Alzheimer’s are becoming more prevalent when you realize exactly what goes into these air fresheners.

The ingredients may include chemicals such as formaldehyde (used in embalming), naphthalene (derived from coal tar or petroleum), artificial fragrances (derived from petroleum), 1, 4 dichlorobenzene (1,4 DCB may harm lung function), camphor (affects the central nervous system), ethanol (synthetic ethanol is from petroleum) and benzyl alcohol (depresses the central nervous system). Wow!!

Are scented and aromatherapy candles any better at clearing the air safely? Not when you take a closer look. Most candles of made of paraffin wax (a petrochemical), artificial scent (a petrochemical) and/or pure essential oils. Essential oils convert into unhealthy byproducts when burned. Metal or lead core wicks are used in most scented paraffin candles. When the wick burns, lead is released into the air to be inhaled or cling to furniture and walls. All of the lead you breathe in ends up in your bloodstream. Lead has been proven to contribute to irreversible neurologiecal damage as well as renal disease, cardiovascular effects and reproductive effects, and reproductive toxicity. The black soot created from burning these candles is toxic.

The American Lung Association gives this warning: "scented, paraffin candles cause lead poisoning and using slow-burning paraffin candles cause poor indoor air quality, and a serious health concern."

Incense has been proven to release dangerous amounts of cancer-causing toxins into the air. These toxins are inhaled and circulated throughout the body doing the same damage to your body as air fresheners and candles. So…how do you freshen a room?

Here a few simple, inexpensive, healthy ways to freshen the air in your home.

• Open the windows
• Burn 100% pure beeswax candles with 100% cotton or paper wicks
• Simmer fragrant herbs such as rosemary or thyme in a saucepan or warming diffuser
• Use baking soda in your closets and bathroom as well as your fridge
• Use vinegar and water to clean
• Mix a few drops of a pure essential oil with water in a mister and spritz
• Crush dried lavender and place in a small lidless container out of sight
• Grow air-cleaning household plants. The top ten air cleaners (in descending order) are: areca palm, Reed palm, Dwarf date palm, Boston fern, Pothos, English ivy, Australian sword fern, Peace lily, Rubber plant and the Weeping fig. An additional benefit these plants provide is to reduce the carbon dioxide in a room
• Use volcanic rock to absorb odours
• Simmer homey spices like cinnamon and cloves on the stovetop