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       •  Dryer Sheets and Fabric Softeners Contain Toxic Chemicals

Dryer Sheets and Fabric Softners Contain Toxic Chemicals

Dryer sheets and fabric softeners are not only costly, but they are incredibly harmful to your health and they contribute to ozone depletion.  These laundry products are the number 2 consumer complaint behind perfumes.  This is a list of the chemicals contained in dryer sheets and fabric softeners: Alpha-Terpineol, Benzyl Acetate, Benzyl Alcohol, Camphor, Chloroform, Ethyl Acetate, Limonene, Linalool and Pentane. Some of these chemicals appear on the EPA’s hazardous waste list. Liquid fabric softeners additionally may contain Formaldehyde.

(Listed at the end of the article is information regarding the dangers of these chemicals.)

People and pets are exposed to these chemicals by breathing the aromatic molecules in the air near the clothes or by absorbing them through the skin via direct contact with the clothes – clothing will retain some of the fabric softener/dryer sheet molecules indefinitely!  The warmth and moisture of the body dissolves these chemicals and like a sponge the skin absorbs them and takes them directly into the blood stream.  These products were designed to stay on clothing for a long period of time and slowly release their chemicals throughout the day which leads to prolonged exposure.

Chronic exposure to these chemicals usually takes years and the effects are often subtle and emerge slowly. These chemicals used in fragrant products can induce a narcotic effect in humans, while enticing a craving for more.  Some of the symptoms include headaches, nausea, fatigue, difficulty breathing, skin irritation, difficulty concentrating and remembering, cancer, dermatitis, irritation to the mucous membranes and respiratory tract, liver damage, numbness in the face and blurred vision.  There are numerous cases of SIDS associated with the use of fabric softeners and dryer sheets.  

In addition, various toxic chemicals are being emitted in the air through the dryer vent, contributing to the pollution and ozone depletion.  Some of these volatile chemicals will linger in the air for hours and pollute the air for blocks from the site of the user(s). 

Fabric softeners leave an oil coating on clothing, which don’t really leave them softer

or fluffy.  This oil builds up on the fibers and takes the absorbency out (oil repels water).  Dryer sheets and fabric softeners actually water proof clothing. 

Furthermore, fabric softeners and dryer sheets were created for synthetic fabrics.  Synthetic fabrics, when heated in a dryer, or for that matter, heated by our bodies, will emit an unfavorable smell, hence the development of these products. These products were designed strictly to mask these odors!

Reconsider the use of these products; there are safe alternatives available at your neighborhood Natural Food store or contact For the Good of It for more info.

1,4-dichlorobenzene and Para-dichlorobenzene, 1,4-Dioxane know chemicals that penetrates the skin.  Look at the ingredients of your moisturizers and other body lotions. 2-bromo-2nitropropone-1,3-diol or Bronopol used as preservative forms carcinogenic nitrosamines in cosmetics, shampoo, lotions and even baby products. 2-Butoxy-1-Ethanol or butyl cellosolve are in most aerosol propellants.  Alkyl Phenoxy, Polyethoxy, Ethanol or phenol is a natural pesticide and in everything.  Read your labels on every bottle or propellant you have in your home.  Ammonia and ammonium chloride, ammonium hydroxide, benzalkonium chloride and quaternary ammonium compounds irritate skin, eyes and breathing passages and cause skin cancer.  Take a look at your stff under the sink in the bathroom!  The EPA lists ammonia as a toxic chemical so why is it in a wide range of household cleaning products including glass cleaners, all-purpose cleaners, disinfectants and more.  Watch out for Ammonium Chloride, Ammonium Hydroxide, Amyl Acetate from banana oil, pear oil that irritate skin and affect the brain cells’.  Neurotoxins cause central nervous system and depression.  It’s in your furniture polish; nail finishes, nail polish remover and perfume.  Benzalkonium Chloride is used as a disinfectant in hand soaps, dishwashing detergents, disinfectants and cleaners.  Benzenel kills off your mucus membranes, poisons you if you swallow some and the fumes are toxic.  The EPA and OSHA admit it’s threat to the public health but oven cleaners, detergents, furniture polish, spot removers, nail polish remover all have this..

As for the dryer, fabric softeners leave a sticky residue on all the components such as the moisture sensors and drum of the dryer.  This residue is very flammable, which is why on the back of some fabric softeners it’s written not to use on towels, terry cloth or fleece.  And by the way fabric softeners take the fire retardant out of baby’s clothes.

Overtime, after using dryer sheets, this waxy film can actually encase the mesh of your lint filter, causing your dryer to overwork and eventually burn out the heating element.  The number one cause of house fires is from the dryer.

LIST OF TOXIC CHEMICALS IN
DRYER SHEETS AND FABRIC SOFTENERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing Research for Blood Sugar Support

Biotin and Chromium are probably the most extensively researched nutrients for blood sugar support.  Here’s just a sampling of some of that research.

▪ One double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial on Biotin showed that it sparked two specific glucose-metabolizing enzymes - called ACC and PC – into action.

▪  Another study done in Japan showed that, in experimental animals, Biotin improves the body’s ability to use glucose, without affecting insulin levels.

▪  In research done over 50 years ago, scientists discovered that Chromium could actually reverse impaired glucose metabolism.  In addition, both of these nutrients are crucial for burning protein, carbs, and fat.  They help you burn off what you eat, instead of storing it throughout the body, on your hips, thighs, and midsection!

Say goodbye to the 2 o’clock slumps and caffeine and junk fixes.

Natural Pest Control
Research Entomologist Prescribes New Form of Pest Control

An Ohio State University entomologist affiliated with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center has recommended a new, innovative and chemical free variety of pest control, in the form of beneficial nematodes. The microscopic pest-killing nematodes aim to execute the same functions as traditional chemical pesticides, but minus the potential hazardous pollution. According to the scientist, nematodes also promise to be animal, human, and environmentally friendly.

The nematode first tracks down an insect, invades its body, releases bacteria, and it is dead within 48 hours. The nematode eats the bacteria and insect to mature into an adult to reproduce hundreds of thousands of nematodes looking for a new bug. "So their life cycle continues by finding newer insects," Dr. Grewal says.

They are already part of the ecosystem and are natural -- and they don't pose harm to people and wildlife. So, it's cheaper in the long term. "We cannot keep producing chemical pesticides," Dr. Grewal says. Biocontrol agents are becoming more popular as both the public and regulators recognize the environmental and human health risks associated with chemical pesticides. Nematodes can be used with standard sprayers, and could even be shipped to you at home -- collected in a sponge.

Pest-killing nematodes are tiny roundworms that can be applied through sprayers or irrigation systems to do the same job as chemical pesticides -- minus the  potential pollution. Unlike parasitic nematodes, which cause disease in plants, animals and humans, beneficial nematodes are used to fight

costly insect and slug pests in vegetables, turf grass, citrus, strawberry, cranberry and ornamental crops. They have also shown promise against fleas, ticks and lice. For instance, citrus growers in Florida rely on the microscopic worms to combat the root-feeding citrus weevil.

Nematodes eat grubs and rid lawns and groves of other common insect pests, such as black vine weevils, beetles, leas, and cutworm, by releasing a bacterium that kills the pest. Nematodes are best applied when soil conditions are wet -- right after it rains, for instance -- with a soil temperature of at least 60 degrees F. They should be applied late in the day, or when it is cool and overcast, since exposure to ultraviolet light will kill them. Nematodes are non-toxic, and start becoming effective within 72 hours of being released into the soil.

There are more than 15,000 known species of nematodes, and a single handful of garden soil may contain thousands of the creatures. They can lay more than 200,000 eggs in a single day. The nematode has an unusual skin that secretes a thick outer shell -- called a cuticle -- that is tough yet flexible, and is shed four times in the nematode's lifetime before it reaches adulthood. The head has a few tiny sense organs and a mouth so food can be pulled into the throat and crushed. Because they have no discrete circulatory or respiratory system, they are vulnerable to environmental conditions. Many nematodes can exist in a state of suspended animation (called cryptobiosis) in order to survive extreme conditions, such as dryness, heat or cold, returning to life when the environment becomes more favorable.

NPA Says JAMA Study on Ginkgo Biloba Effects on Rate of Cognitive Decline ‘Still Misses the Boat’

The study population should have been one situated closer to the onset of cognitive decline.

A study released on Tuesday in the December 23/30 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that adults who used the herbal supplement Ginkgo biloba for several years did not have a slower rate of cognitive decline compared to adults who received placebo.  The researchers analyzed results from the 2009 Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory (GEM) study to determine as a secondary outcome if G. biloba slowed the rate of cognitive decline in older adults who had normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) at the beginning of the study.

The Natural Products Association has previously issued comments on the GEM study, which was originally  released in November of  2008, questioned the benefits of Ginkgo biloba on preventing dementia and  

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), saying the study “missed the boat entirely” because the universe of people studied was too limited to make broad statements about the benefits of the popular dietary supplement: [New JAMA Study on Ginkgo Biloba and Alzheimer’s Misses the Boat Entirely; NPA Member Update, November 18, 2008].

“As we stated in our comments regarding the GEM study last year, the boat has left the dock and this study isn’t on it,” said Daniel Fabricant, PhD., vice president for scientific and regulatory affairs at the natural Products Association.  “When one considers that age-related cognitive decline may initiate in healthy adults as early as their 30s, it would seem that if the authors were indeed serious about investing prevention as a secondary outcome, they would have selected a population that was situated closer to the onset of cognitive decline instead of one where its effects most likely have already taken hold.”
  Keep This in Mind When Buying Gifts

For some years, scientists have known that both bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates, two chemicals frequently found in a variety of consumer products, can mimic human hormones and disrupt the endocrine system.

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a basic building block of polycarbonate plastics.  In the bloodstream and body tissues, BPA mimics the hormone estrogen.  Low levels of BPA, including those well below the current regulatory safety threshold, have been shown to affect prostate development, promote prostate tumors, affect breast tissue development and sperm counts, and possibly even create and enlarge fat cells.  Scientists have also linked BPA exposure to premature puberty, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, miscarriage, and birth defects like Down Syndrome.

For their part, phthalates are a group of industrial compounds widely used in common products. About 7.6 billion pounds are produced throughout the world each year.  The largest use of these chemicals is as a plasticizer in polyvinyl chloride and other soft plastic to keep them flexible.  Without the addition of phthalate plasticizers, these materials would be fairly stiff and difficult to use for their intended purposes.

used in food and soda can linings, toys, and dental sealants.  The molecular bonds that bind this chemical to its host material weaken over time, especially (though not exclusively) when those materials are exposed to heat, washing, or acidic materials like certain foods.  As a result, BPA is able to easily leach out of products that contain it and enter the bodies of people that some into contact with those products.  In fact, the Center for Disease Control has detected BPA in 95% of the people it tested.

Phthalates are also used as solvents that help keep other ingredients in a chemical formula dissolved and dispersed throughout the product.  Their oily texture helps lubricate other materials; and this ability to keep a chemical product evenly mixed makes phthalates an ideal additive in things like cosmetics, personal care products, perfumes, inks, and insect repellents, among many others.  Phthalates are also used in things like lotions to help them penetrate and soften skin.  In fact, these chemicals are now used in so many products and in so many places that they’ve even begun to appear as contaminants in products that don’t purposefully contain them.

Unfortunately, phthalates are easily volatized.  This means that they are readily able to leave the product they’re used in and enter the air. 

Kyolic Garlic vs. statin, aspirin and placebo study

Summary of Budff’s New Clinical Study

Design: placebo-controlled, double blind, randomized trial

Formula: 2 capsules of Kyolic 108, each capsule contains AGE (500 mg),

        Vitamin B-12 (200 mcg), Folic Acid (400 mcg), Vitamin B6 (25 mg)

        And L-Arginine (200mg)

Subjects: All 58 patients treated with statin and aspirin-but only half of the
   patients treated with Kyolic 108-the other half were treated with the statin,
   aspirin and placebo.

Duration: 1 year

Results shown significantly

Inhibition of coronary artery calcification:

 

Kyolic

Percent

Better Than

 

Decreased Calcium

Kyolic

83.5%

8 x

qVs placebo + statin and aspirin 10%

Total Cholesterol:

Kyolic (Down)

9.7%

3 ½ x

q Vs baseline (placebo: 2.5%q) statin & aspirin

LDL-cholesterol:

Kyolic (Down)

14.5%

17 x

q Vs baseline (placebo: 3.0%p) statin & aspirin

HDL-cholesterol:

Kyolic (Up)

16.7%

3 x

q Vs baseline (placebo: 5.9%p) statin & aspirin

Homocysteine:

Kyolic (Down)

15.0%

4 ½

q Vs baseline (placebo: 3.5%q) statin & aspirin

 

The Study on Kyolic was so impressive that Dr. Budooff was invited to the largest cardiovascular convention in Munich, Germany.  As the good Dr. says, “Taking Kyolic may save your life”—

P.S. -- No Side effects with those taking Kyolic – just side benefits . . .

uuPresentation Schedule of Dr. Budoff’s 2nd Clinical Study using Kyolic 108:
     Experimental Biology (EB 2008) San Diego, CA, April 9, 2008

uuAmerican Heart Association Meeting’s on : Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis & Vascular Biology 2008, Atlanta,
      Ga April 16-18 2008

     Quality of Care and Outcome Research in Cardiovascular Diseases & Stroke Conference 2008, Baltimore,
     MD, April 30-May 2, 2008


 
Study: Folic Acid Reduces Heart Attack, Stroke

                                                
    

A new study published in the British Medical Journal provides further evidence that lowering levels of the amino acid homocysteine can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.  And, since the B vitamin folic acid has been shown to reduce homocysteine levels, “Increasing intake of folic acid would be a relatively cheap and simple way of reducing heart disease,” according to researchers. The researchers analyzed a variety of previously published studies and concluded that homocysteine as

 

a cause of  cardiovascular disease “explains the observations from all the different types of study” and that “no single alternative explanation can account for all the observations. Since folic acid reduces homocysteine concentrations…it follows that increasing folic acid consumption will reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke by an amount related to the homocysteine reduction achieved.”

Acrylamide Reduced in Wheat Crops…

According to a recent report in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, researchers at the University of Reading in the U.K. found that wheat grown in fields low on  sulfer had much higher concentrations of asparagines – an amino acid that, along with sugars, forms acrylamide during cooking. Acrylamide, a chemical linked to cancer and other possible ill effects, naturally occurs during

 

 the baking or frying process of starchy foods. Since being identified in 2002, scientists have tried to find ways to reduce or eliminate the amount of Acrylamide in foods without losing the appealing flavor that comes from browning. Researchers speculate that ensuring that crops have plenty of sulfur could reduce acrylamide in foods without changing the flavor.

Citrus Peel
Extract May Fight Diabetes...
          Supplementing daily with an extract from citrus peel may help ward off diabetes in humans, suggests an animal study.  Polymethoxylated flavones(PMFs), extracted from citrus peel, have been reported to help reduce cholesterol levels, but researchers conducting this study claim it's the first to look in detail at the benefits and report the positive effects on inflammation.  For the study, published in the journal Life Sciences (2006, vol. 79, no 4: 365-373), 28 hamsters on a fructose-rich diet (which induced
hyperglyceridimia and insulin resistance) were divided into four groups and fed one of four diets: chow; a control fructose diet; fructose plus low-dose PMFs (62.5 milligrams per kilograms body weight per day); or fructose plus high-dose PMFs (125 milligrams per kilograms body weight per day).  After four weeks on these diets, both PMF groups showed a significant decrease in serum triglycerides and cholesterol levels compared to the fructose-fed hamsters.

 

 
  
     
  
  

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