The Toxic Danger of Fabric Softener and Dryer Sheets...Who Knew???

by SWALKER 42 Replies latest social current

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  SWALKER

  Stilla...Stop drinking beer, wine and spirits - or gasoline.

  I quit drinking gasoline a few years ago...it really was causing too many health problems....

  Swalker
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  MsMcDucket

  
  
  I'm going to look each of the so-called contaminants up. I have a feeling you, probably, use them more than you know. For instance:

  • Ethanol: On the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Hazardous Waste list and can cause central nervous system disorders
  
  

  We all know people that are ETOH abusers. That just another name for an alcoholic. Better put that drink down! Central nervous system disorders like: Delirium Tremens (D.T's)
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  stillajwexelder

  corrected my error now
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  delilah

  I love to bury my face in a hot, fresh towel, right out of the dryer that was rinsed in April Fresh Downey, and inhale the smell with a huge whiff.

  There's no other smell like it. Damn.

  Well, you could always hang the clothes outside to dry...I love the smell of laundry hung to dry outside....my mom still hangs her sheets on the line even in winter, on a sunny day.

  Thanks for the info everyone...I had no idea ....I'm going downstairs to empty my laundry room of all the chemicals now.
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  Nathan Natas

  ....I'm going downstairs to empty my laundry room of all the chemicals now.

  
  

  
  Not a moment too soon!

  ...and don't be deceived by common names - the fact that dihydrogen monoxide is often called "water" or H2O make it no less a threat.

  Natrium Muriaticum is the Latin name for common table salt (NaCl)

  Ethyl alcohol or ETOH is the stuff that gives beer and wine and hard liquor its magic.

  EVERYTHING is a 'chemical' -- that doesn't make it a threat.

  None of us are going to live forever, even if we abstain from butyl esters, phenols and things sacrificed to idols. The reason people didn't get cancer befroe the industrial revolution is because they generally didn't live long enough to get it, not because they were genetic supermen or enjoyed miraculous diets of raw dirt.

  Relax and smell the laundry, and may you live long and prosper!
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  stillAwitness

  Whoa! That is crazy stuff. And my boyfriend is big on non-chemical kind of products and whatnot.

  Damn it I hate it when he's right!
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  wednesday

  I've mentioned I used to clean houses and apartments, as so many other jws hav done. One thing I noted during that time, the amonia, and bleach, plus all the other cleaing products really got to me. I had swollen eyes/headache, sore throat, sinus problems, stuffy nose, all the time an felt awful (fatigued).. To this day bleach gives me a terrible heaache, and I limit my use of bleach to "have to" situation. I sometimes am sick for days after I use bleach. I wish I could find something that worked as well. But alas, bleach is so good at what it does, from mildew to stains, cleaning toliets, disposal drains, etc. But it really makes me sick. And like I said, the amonia is just plain out. That stuff is bad to breathe. My lungs hurt after breathing amonia. I've tried vinegar, and yes it is wonderful for certain thigns, but not for serious stain removal.

  anyone have products they use that actually work and are user friendly and enviromentally safe(more conerned about user friendly)

  Other things that make me ill, professional carpet cleanig products. I once had my carpet shampooed, and I swear I was giggling and had the munchies . Whatever they used made me high. Same with pest control. My husband is uisng die-to-may-shoots -earth (spelled like that b/c I can't really spell it) He dusts it all around and under the house. It will kill crawling things.(mostly roaches, ). It is pet safe and enviromentally safe. Also dry cleaning products make me sick. I hate to send the comforters to the cleaners. I sometimes take them to the laundry and wash in big washers. Works exept for "down'.comforters. (actually they can be washed, but they smell really awful for days after you do it and I hate that)

  So anyone with safe and effective cleaning secrets would be most appreciated

  weds
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  Cellist

  I agree, Nathan. Everything is made of chemicals, ourselves included. But, all the same. Softeners make me ill. I can't even stand next to someone who uses them. I tried the unscented fabric softeners, but they're only a little better.

  Cleaning supplies are quite hazardous. It's best to limit the exposure to them.

  Cellist
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  Thegoodgirl

  Nathan, You're absolutely right. People died in their 40's, and the infant mortality rate was sky high. Kids died all the time, due to diseases that are now kept at bay due to vaccinations. So now we all die of the next highest killers: heart disease and cancer. But you can keep your body from getting those for a few years anyway by changing your lifestyle.

  I took a class, and the professor said such a true thing. You cannot make yourself live longer than your genes were meant to live, you can only make yourself live a shorter time than you were meant to by exposing yourself to (cigarettes, getting fat, driving wrong way on a one-way, etc.)

  'Course, another thing you could expose yourself to is these harmful chemicals.

  You know, there's another bad chemical that EPA just added it to their list. (Can't remember name of it.) It's found in non-stick cookware, stain-resistant furniture, etc (both of which we just purchased in the last year.) But, I've read that there's so much in the environment already, you just can't avoid it.
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  SWALKER

  My son had this at the age of 5 and came down with it about a week after I had cleaned my carpets:

  When actress Kelly Preston’s son, Jett, was just 15 months old, he became very ill. A high fever and rash prompted Kelly and her husband, John Travolta, to rush Jett to the hospital. There, they heard what every parent dreads hearing–their son had come down with a rare disease. Jett was diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease, a childhood immune system disease that causes the inflammation of blood vessels throughout the body and, if untreated, may affect the heart. Though only about 15 out of 100,000 children under the age of five get the disease in the United States every year, it is the leading cause of acquired heart disease among kids here. Jett was diagnosed and treated early; he suffered no damage to his heart or other organs.

  In the hospital, Kelly was asked to fill out a questionnaire, which contained questions about family habits and activities. One of the questions asked if the carpets in their home had been recently cleaned. "Until then, I thought that cleaning the carpets religiously was the healthy thing to do for my children," says Kelly. In fact, Kelly had the carpets cleaned frequently–and just prior to Jett’s illness. Was there a connection?

  It’s hard to say. Scientists are not sure what causes Kawasaki Disease. A relationship between Kawasaki Disease and carpet cleaning was first reported in a case-control study published in 1982 in the medical journal, Lancet. Researchers investigating an outbreak in Denver found that 11 out of 23 of the children with Kawasaki Disease (48%) were living in homes where carpets had been shampooed within 30 days of the onset of symptoms; 10 of these children had played on the carpets two hours after they had been shampooed. In the control group (those who did not have the disease), only nine of 86 families (10%) had also shampooed carpets within 30 days.

  Since the study was published, researchers have not been able to show a more conclusive link between carpet cleaners and Kawasaki Disease. A toxin-producing infectious agent–similar to those that cause Toxic Shock syndrome or scarlet fever–is considered a likely cause given the symptoms of the disease, according to many scientists. However, a bacterial or viral agent that might trigger the disease has not been identified.

  Though the evidence of the relationship between Kawasaki Disease and carpet cleaners is not conclusive, there are plenty of other reasons to avoid using carpet cleaners in our homes. For more information, see Are Carpet Cleaners Unsafe? To help reduce any risk from the possible link between carpet cleaning and Kawasaki Disease, CHEC recommends that children stay out of the house for at least four hours after carpets have been cleaned by any method.

  My son suffered horribly!!! I was glad when we moved to a house that had all wood floors!!!

  Swalker