To be re-directed, please click www.donedust.blogspot.com

But – no more!

Thanks to a very welcome parcel in the post from the lovely people at Green Pan, I can sear and flambé to my heart’s content.

Green Pans are manufactured from heavy gauge, recycled aluminium and coated with a patented natural ceramic coating called Thermolon. They can be used on all cookers except induction and are heat resistant up to 450 degrees C.

More on Green Pans here.

A  standard 24cm-sized pan costs £45: John Lewis.

Extract from  Done & Dusted – The Organic Home On A Budget:

PFOA is all over the place from carpets and fabrics to greaseproof paper. The US Environmental Protection Agency is working towards a complete elimination of PFOA by 2015.

The World Wildlife Fund has called for PFOA to be classified as a substance of very high concern because of its persistent, toxic and bio-accumulative properties. In a DETOX bio-monitoring study, traces were found in the majority of children.

PFOA is in so many things, cosmetics, clothing, cleaners, it’s difficult to eliminate all products from your home that contain it completely. Before buying major items like carpets and furniture, find out the PFOA content or go for wooden floors and natural materials. For more details see the Environmental Working Group’s page PFCs, Global Contaminants www.ewg.org/pfc-manufacturers.

In Done & Dusted I link to Cancer Research UK which says that there’s no convincing evidence that antiperspirants and deodorants cause breast cancer and the whole scare was started by an e-mail hoax. And to the charity Breakthrough Breastcancer which says  there is no evidence to suggest that deodorants or antiperspirants to an increase in breast cancer risk. Breakthrough quotes a research project: “The largest study to date to investigate this issue examined the deodorant or antiperspirant use and underarm shaving habits of 813 women with breast cancer and 793 women with no history of the disease. There was no overall difference in deodorant and antiperspirant use and underarm shaving habits.” The study was published in 2002 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI).

I said: “There may not be any conclusive evidence but paraben-free and aluminium-free deodorants have now reached the High Street with one currently sporting Breast Cancer charity ribbons. All sorts of big brand ‘Natural’ antiperspirants with minerals and green packaging are also hitting the shelves, backed by major advertising campaigns. Quite an email hoax. Thankfully it’s a personal choice. If you want to avoid parabens and aluminium, check the contents labels of all products, including those in green packaging, before buying. My way round it is to keep a powerful main brand antiperspirant for days when I think I might need it, but for day to day use I’ll be sticking to my Weleda deodorant. It contains no aluminium or pthalates (artificial fragrance – another story, see below) and uses natural ingredients to neutralise odour. Cancer Research UK points out that most modern deodorants are paraben-free now (so a move in the right direction then).  I’ll add, though, that the ingredients to look out for and avoid are: methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, or benzylparaben.”

Another advantage ebooks have over paper books is that you can update them with new information as it becomes available. You can also interact with your readers. Several reader top tips have been added to later versions of Done & Dusted. Anybody who’s already bought doesn’t miss out because the updates go up on this blog and the publisher’s newsletter keeps everyone informed of when this happens.

So, back to deodorants: a fine example of this method in action. By chance, a friend mentioned to me that an oncologist had given a talk at her daughter’s Year 13 leaving ceremony:

October 2010 Update: A few weeks ago Dr Philippa Darbre, Senior Lecturer in Oncology at the University of Reading, gave a speech at a friend’s daughter’s school. She talked a lot about parabens and cancer. It was, in fact, her research,
back in 2004, that contributed to the debate about deodorants and breast cancer. Her 2004 article “The Enemy Oestrogen” states: “The strongest supporting evidence comes from unexplained clinical observations dating back decades and showing a disproportionately high incidence (up to 60%) of breast cancer in the upper outer quadrant of the breast. A simple explanation may relate to this being the local area to which underarm cosmetics are applied. Another set of clinical observations without adequate explanation are those showing the left breast to be more prone to cancer than the right breast, and this may also simply relate to greater application on the left side by a population which in majority is righthanded. More recently, two epidemiological studies have been carried out with the specific aim of identifying any association between underarm cosmetic use and development of breast cancer. A study in 2002 (as mentioned above) reported no difference in use of antiperspirants or deodorants between patients with breast cancer and those without breast cancer at the time of the study. In stark contrast, a study in 2003 showed an earlier age of diagnosis of breast cancer (by up to 22 years) in those who had used more antiperspirant/deodorant products.” I contacted Professor Darbre to see if, in 2010, she was still concerned about parabens, oestrogen and the links between deodorants and breast cancer. Indeed she very much is. She sent me her paper: ‘Environmental Oestrogens and Breast Cancer: Evidence For Combined Involvement of Dietary, Household and Cosmetic Xenoestrogens’, written with Amelia K Charles and published in February 2010 by the Biomedical Sciences Section, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading.

It starts off with a few facts. Over the past 30 years breast cancer incidence has nearly doubled in England and Wales. From 21,446 new cases recorded in 1979 (84.5 cases per 100,000 people) to 40,452 in 2006 (145.6 per 100,000 people). In the 1970s less than 10% of breast cancer tumors in the UK were lobular, ductal or medullary. At the end of the 1990s the figure was 75% with ductal carcinomas accounting for 60% of all breast cancer cases. Though research efforts are revealing increasing numbers of environmental compounds with oestrogenic properties measured in human breast tissue, there is still no proven link with breast cancer. At the current time this “remains uncertain”. But, “whilst cosmetic chemicals applied to the underarm and breast also need more research, the disproportionate incidence of breast cancer in the Upper Outer Quadrant is clarified”. Professor Darbre doesn’t underestimate the amount and complexity of the research that still needs to be done. In the meantime: “the decision to apply oestrogenically active compounds in cosmetic products lies entirely with the user.” Dr Darbre’s online profile states: “The central role of oestrogen in breast cancer poses serious unanswered questions concerning the role of the many environmental chemicals which possess oestrogenic activity and which can enter the human breast. In the modern world, the breast is exposed to numerous oestrogenic compounds through diet, the domestic environment and use of cosmetic products. Studies are focused on determining the cellular and molecular actions of oestrogenic compounds which can be measured in the human breast and on trying to understand how exposure to multiple compounds in the long-term may impact on breast biology. If exposure to complex mixtures of oestrogenic chemicals is a factor in breast cancer development, then a strategy for prevention of breast cancer might become a reality.”

Dr Dabre is a patron of Cancer Active a holistic cancer information charity which provides information on orthodox, complimentary and alternative cancer therapies and treatments.

Dr Dabre’s work is a subject we’ll be returning to in more detail in another ebook currently in production.

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Of the 133 different chemicals detected, nearly a quarter are classified as toxic or hazardous under at least one federal law. Only one emitted compound was listed on a product label, and only two were publicly disclosed anywhere. More than a third of the products emitted at least one chemical classified as a probable carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and for which the EPA sets no safe exposure level.

“Manufacturers are not required to disclose any ingredients in cleaning supplies, air fresheners or laundry products, all of which are regulated in the US by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Neither these nor personal care products (regulated by the Food and Drug Administration) are required to list ingredients used in fragrances, even though a single “fragrance” in a product can be a mixture of up to several hundred ingredients,” Steinemann said.  So Steinemann and her colleagues have used chemical sleuthing to discover what is emitted by the scented products commonly used in homes, public spaces and workplaces.
The study analyzed air fresheners including sprays, solids and oils; laundry products including detergents, fabric softeners and dryer sheets; personal care products such as soaps, hand sanitizers, lotions, deodorant and shampoos; and cleaning products including disinfectants, all-purpose sprays and dish detergent. All were widely used brands, with more than half being the top-selling product in its category.

Researchers placed a sample of each product in a closed glass container at room temperature and then analyzed the surrounding air for volatile organic compounds, small molecules that evaporate off a product’s surface. They detected chemical concentrations ranging from 100 micrograms per cubic meter (the minimum value reported) to more than 1.6 million
micrograms per cubic meter. The most common emissions included limonene, a compound with a citrus scent; alphapinene and beta-pinene, compounds with a pine scent; ethanol; and acetone, a solvent found in nail polish remover.
All products emitted at least one chemical classified as toxic or hazardous. Eleven products emitted at least one probable carcinogen according to the EPA. These included acetaldehyde, 1,4-dioxane, formaldehyde and methylene chloride. The only chemical listed on any product label was ethanol, and the only additional substance listed on a chemical safety report, known as a material safety data sheet, was 2-butoxyethanol.

“The products emitted more than 420 chemicals, collectively, but virtually none of them were disclosed to consumers, anywhere,” Steinemann said. Because product formulations are confidential, it was not possible to determine whether a chemical came from the product base, the fragrance added to the product, or both. Tables included with the article list all chemicals emitted by each product and the associated concentrations, although do not disclose the products’ brand names.
“We don’t want to give people the impression that if we reported on product ‘A’ and they buy product ‘B,’ that they’re safe,” Steinemann said. “We found potentially hazardous chemicals in all of the fragranced products we tested.”
The study establishes the presence of various chemicals but makes no claims about the possible health effects.

Two national surveys published by Steinemann and a colleague in 2009 found that about 20 percent of the population reported adverse health effects from air fresheners, and about 10 percent complained of adverse effects from laundry products vented to the outdoors. Among asthmatics, such complaints were roughly twice as common. The Household Product Labeling Act, currently being reviewed by the U.S. Senate, would require manufacturers to list ingredients in air fresheners, soaps, laundry supplies and other consumer products. Steinemann says she is interested in fragrance mixtures, which are included in the proposed labeling act, because of the potential for unwanted exposure, or what she calls “secondhand scents.”
As for what consumers who want to avoid such chemicals should do in the meantime, Steinemann suggests using simpler options such as cleaning with vinegar and baking soda, opening windows for ventilation, and using products without any fragrance.** “In the past two years, I’ve received more than 1,000 e-mails, messages, and telephone calls from people saying: ‘Thank you for doing this research, these products are making me sick, and now I can start to understand why,’” Steinemann said.

** The Done & Dusted blog adds: CLEAN YOUR HOME WITH JUST WATER USING A GOOD QUALITY MICROFIBRE CLOTH LIKE THE E-CLOTH:

(AVAILABLE IN THE UK HERE)

(AVAILABLE IN THE USA HERE)

FOR MORE TOP HEALTHY CLEANING TIPS, SEE:

AVAILABLE IN THE UK HERE

AVAILABLE IN THE USA HERE

The £300m state-of-the-art new hospital is using all the latest engineering and technological developments including a whole army of robots which are delivering food, bed linen, waste, medical supplies. Robots are also cleaning the floors of the operating theatres, using the microfibre cleaning technology so loved by Done & Dusted to help reduce MRSA.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00v2zq2#synopsis

Stephanie’s interview is about 25 minutes into the show at 0.27.32.

We have just issued a 2nd edition, complete with updates, of Done & Dusted – The Organic Home on A Budget, first published in March this year. To put the information into context, the original text is in itallics:

Introduction

When it comes to household goods, avoiding the dubious chemicals
lurking in the products we regularly use for cleaning, laundering and ‘refreshing’ the air isn’t as straightforward as looking at the labels. Consumer information is shockingly vague. Until recently manufacturers were under no obligation to reveal what was in their products at all, often citing trade secrets. The situation, in Europe at least, is improving. But slowly. Manufacturers have until the end of 2010 to declare the hazardous chemicals in their products. The EU will then list them online which will, they say, ‘create pressure to remove them - harmonisation will especially be conducted for substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to the reproduction or respiratory sensitivities.’ ADDED 10.10.10: In the US Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families are lobbying Congress for urgent reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act. To join the 11 million Americans they already represent, click this link to their website. For a clear, uncomplicated introduction to the chemicals in our homes that are causing such concern, go to their Meet The Chemicals page.

Chapter 1: How to Clean FAST (For People Who HATE Cleaning)

Even without the use of detergents, E-cloths ® are highly effective at removing bacteria, including E coli, from domestic surfaces. Because the cloths don’t leave any residue on the cleaned surface, there is nothing left behind to encourage the development of bacteria. ADDED 10.10.10: In the fight against MRSA, Scotland’s newest State of the Art hospital, the Forth Valley Royal, has installed high tech microfibre cleaning robots and it’s working. The number of MRSA outbreaks is going down.

Chapter 7: A Healthy Kitchen

It’s confusing because several chemicals associated with plastics have
raised concerns: DEHA, DEHP and BPA.

Bis(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA) was rumoured to leach out of plastic
containers heated in the microwave. This triggered the widespread scare that
erupted a few years ago about microwaving foods in their plastic containers. The rumours have been traced to their source and the EU has confirmed that it poses no ‘general’ risk to human health…

However:

…A 2009 study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that
participants who drank for a week from polycarbonate bottles showed a two-thirds increase in their urine of BPA. If the bottles were to be heated they said they’d expect the levels to be considerably higher. BPA is found in plastic containers like baby bottles, kids’ lunch boxes and drinking cups. Some manufacturers have voluntarily eliminated BPA. The six major makers of baby bottles and cups in the US no longer use BPA in their products and Canada banned it in 2008.

In December 2009 a dual campaign was launched to ban the use of BPA in baby bottles in the UK and France. Breast Cancer UK’s No More BPA Campaign is backed by the National Childbirth Trust, UNISON, The Women’s Environmental Network, the Cancer Prevention and Education Society and CHEM Trust. ADDED 10.10.10: Extract from “In Feast of Data on BPA Plastic – No Final Answer” The New York Times 6 Sept 2010. “This year, a presidential panel on cancer and the environment said there was a “growing link” between BPA and several diseases, including cancer, and recommended ways to avoid BPA, like storing water in bottles free of it and not microwaving food in plastic containers. Some cancer experts said the report overstated the case against chemicals, but the concerns it raised seemed to reflect growing public worries.” And so the debate, and the confusion, continues.

• I only cook with olive oil now and make sure it’s never heated to a high, smoking temperature. For stir fries I put the veg in the wok with water, steam, and then put the oil on top and quickly stir. This is because of the toxic chemical by-product of heating oils. Dien Aldehydes occur when any kind of oil is heated but in varying degrees. Coconut oil is the best one to use (if you can cope with the taste), followed by olive oil. *Reader’s Top Tip Addition, ADDED April 2010: Thanks to Hattie Pond for pointing out that Cold Pressed Grapeseed Oil is excellent for cooking at high temperatures.

Smoothie Recipe – For 2 glasses:
A half-pint glass of organic apple juice (purists will scream WATER! here)
Half an organic cucumber (small) (or one third of a large cucumber)
A stick of organic celery
Two bananas
A big, round slice of fresh pineapple (or any fresh fruit in season)*
A handful of sunflower (or other) sprouting seeds
A lump of ice
*ADDED 10.10.10: Avoid ‘bargain’ supermarket pineapples, see this
Guardian exposé on the true cost of cheap pineapples.

Chapter 12 – A Healthy Bathroom

When it comes to the contents of your bathroom cabinet, one tip I heard from several women at the cancer centre was to avoid deodorants with
aluminium. Cancer Research UK, however, says that there’s no convincing evidence that antiperspirants and deodorants cause breast cancer and the whole scare was started by an e-mail hoax. The charity Breakthrough Breastcancer says there’s no good evidence to support the claim that aluminium salts can cause breast cancer. There may not be any conclusive evidence but aluminium-free deodorants have now reached the High Street with one currently sporting Breast Cancer pink ribbons. All sorts of big brand ‘Natural’ antiperspirants with minerals and green packaging are also hitting the shelves, backed by major advertising campaigns. Quite an email hoax. Thankfully it’s a personal choice. If you want to avoid aluminium, check the contents labels of all products, including those in green packaging, before buying. I keep a main brand antiperspirant for days when I think I might need it, but for day to day use I’ll be sticking to my Weleda deodorant. It contains no aluminium or pthalates and uses natural ingredients to neutralise odour.
ADDED 10.10.10: A few weeks ago Dr Philippa Darbre, Senior Lecturer in
Oncology at the University of Reading, gave a speech at a friend’s daughter’s
school. She talked a lot about parabens and cancer. It was, in fact, her very
research, back in 2004, that raised the link between oestrogen and breast cancer.
Her 2004 article “The Enemy Oestrogen” states: “The strongest supporting
evidence comes from unexplained clinical observations dating back decades and
showing a disproportionately high incidence (up to 60%) of breast cancer in the
upper outer quadrant of the breast. A simple explanation may relate to this being
the local area to which underarm cosmetics are applied. Another set of clinical
observations without adequate explanation are those showing the left breast to be more prone to cancer than the right breast, and this may also simply relate to
greater application on the left side by a population which in majority is righthanded.

More recently, two epidemiological studies have been carried out with the
specific aim of identifying any association between underarm cosmetic use and
development of breast cancer. A study in 2002 reported no difference in use of
antiperspirants or deodorants between patients with breast cancer and those
without breast cancer at the time of the study. In stark contrast, a study in 2003
showed an earlier age of diagnosis of breast cancer (by up to 22 years) in those
who had used more antiperspirant/deodorant products.”
In her 2010 online profile she states: “The central role of oestrogen in breast
cancer poses serious unanswered questions concerning the role of the many
environmental chemicals which possess oestrogenic activity and which can enter
the human breast. In the modern world, the breast is exposed to numerous
oestrogenic compounds through diet, the domestic environment and use of
cosmetic products. Studies are focused on determining the cellular and molecular actions of oestrogenic compounds which can be measured in the human breast and on trying to understand how exposure to multiple compounds in the long-term may impact on breast biology. If exposure to complex mixtures of oestrogenic chemicals is a factor in breast cancer development, then a strategy for prevention of breast cancer might become a reality.”

Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families is a nationwide effort to pass smart federal policies that protect us from dangerous toxic chemicals.

Mission:

Dangerous chemicals are in our air, food, and water and the products we use every day. New science is linking the increase in toxic chemicals to the decline in the health of the American people. The Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families campaign is working with Congress to create the strongest, most protective solution for reforming how chemicals are regulated based on common sense health protections and modern science.

US residents now’s the time to help make a difference.

Join the campaign HERE

This is a timely handy hint for any home-made smoothie fans following Done & Dusted’s Healthy Green Smoothie That Doesn’t Taste Of Pondweed recipe. Chuck your frozen portions in the blender with some cucumber, organic celery, sprouting shoots and a little water for a delicious, healthy start to the day. The great thing is the frozen fruits act as ice cubes as well, saving you time and effort all round on those dark winter mornings.

Because bedbugs don’t harbour or spread disease, they have been an under-researched species. But the mini-plagues now happening across the US are putting them right at the top of the environmental health agenda. A statistic quoted in one of a whole sheaf of bedbug articles currently appearing in the New York Times reports that a  community health survey showed that in 2009, 1 in 15 New Yorkers had bedbugs in their homes:

“A number that is probably higher now… In recent weeks, bedbugs snuggled into the seats at AMC’s movie theater in Times Square, crept around a Victoria’s Secret store on Lexington Avenue and the offices of Elle Magazine and hitchhiked into the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.”

Earlier this summer, branches of New York’s Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister were hit and had to be temporarily closed.  Bedbug sniffer dogs are in demand, especially in hotels who have a nightmare needle-in-haystack problem with every infestation.

Bedbugs been around for ever of course – the first recorded bedbug incident in the UK appeared in 1583.  So why this resurgence now?  What’s going on? Is the extreme idea held by some, that terrorism by explosion has been replaced by terrorism by stealth, so far-fetched?

Well, yes. Hopefully. It’s more down to the successful lobbying of people with viewpoints like mine who are passionate about getting the toxic chemicals out of  our bodies, our homes and the wider environment.  The widespread use of DDT to clear up bomb sites after World War II virtually eradicated bedbugs from Europe. But now the banning of widespread use of the most dangerous chemicals, along with the increase of foreign travel, has meant that the bugs are back.

Bedbug infestation is now on the rise in the UK. We’ve had them in our flat in central London. As anybody who has been through it will agree, it was hell!  It came as no surprise to learn that bedbugs were one of the many instruments of torture used in Stalin’s Gulags (think being placed in a wooden box where hundreds would attack at once, falling off the sides and dropping from the lid). Here in 21st century London, they slide noiselessly into your bed at night on their castor-like toes to  feed on your blood, stinging you awake. You can’t even move into another room to get back to sleep for fear of spreading them. Like cockroaches, they have a tough, almost shell-like, exterior and are so adept at hiding and survival you sometimes really feel like you’re battling with a horrible, evil intelligence. Their peak feeding time, for example, is just before dawn when humans are in their deepest sleep.

Thankfully our battle is now over but it wasn’t straightforward. The insect poison from the hardware store was useless even though it mentioned bedbugs on the packet. We called in the local council pest controllers who told us the store spray we’d been using was only effective for a couple of hours. But then their spraying of toxic chemical didn’t work either so we had to call them back. They kicked us out for 3 hours and sprayed a fine, poisonous mist throughout the flat.  Still there were survivors, dealt with by powdering the nest sites with Diatomaceous Earth (use with caution, don’t inhale, follow safety instructions).  We were, I suppose, lucky in that the nesting sites  in the wooden bed frame were visible. Some infestations are in the building itself, spreading from apartment to apartment, sliding up through gaps in the skirting boards.  If we hadn’t eliminated them, the council would have had powers to enter our neighbours’ properties, confirming, the New York Times’ suggestion that the social cost is rising as well.

I didn’t hesitate in allowing the chemicals to be sprayed in my home, though I did ask what they were.  They came from a company called Killgerm, and are so powerful they’re only supplies to registered users.  Fortunately, the recent US Environmental Health journal report on the links between cancer and certain types of cleaning product recorded that the use of mothballs, pesticides and insect repellents in the home had little impact. So, whilst I am all for economical, non-toxic ways of cleaning and stain removal, this is a classic case of what I’ve always believed in and advocate in Done & Dusted, my organic cleaning guide – use non-toxic on a day-to-day basis but when needs be REACH FOR THE CHEMICALS! And, in the case of bedbugs, call in the experts with their powerful poisons right away or you might end up resorting to this.