Just a quick posting of a handy guide for information about ingredients in cosmetics:

Cosmetic Safety database

This clever movie is irresistible.  Its appealing and sincere narrator, Annie Leonard,  makes the sequence of events behind our material world only too clear. 

It will open a few eyes - made mine stretch and stare!!**

The Story of Stuff

**Remember?  "Matilda told such dreadful lies/ It made folks stare and stretch their eyes"

Housework can cause asthma.

Unfortunately this news doesn't give a free pass to those of us who already clean our houses using non-toxic products, but it is a definite heads-up for anyone who still relies on the conventional sprays to keep their house shining clean.

Here in the store we carry the Mrs. Meyer cleaning products - doing the dishes in a haze of lavender brings a whole new dimension to the chore!  There are other lines of healthy cleaning products - give them a try.  Generally, they are comparable in price, and far, far better for us and for the environment.

Who needs chemical air fresheners anyway?  Or even the synthetic herbal ones? Buy one of the lovely terracotta rings that go on your lamp, and the mellow glow of your house in the evening will carry with it the sublime aroma of whichever essential oil you choose to put in there! Or choose a soy candle made with pure essential oils. 

New research claims that housework 'can cause asthma'

If it has ingredients, don't eat it, has been my philosophy. By which I mean, if there is more in there than the thing itself, leave it alone.

In addition, we nutritionists have warned over and over again that additives have their individual dangers: nitrates, MSG, high sodium, and on down the list.

Perhaps now the World Cancer Research Fund has come out and said it in so many words,   the day of doom has come for processed meats.

WCRF UK’s Recommendations for Cancer Prevention

"What we’re talking about is a single pill that you can take every day that would ward off most diseases," says David Sinclair, Ph.D., a pathologist at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals.

What new mighty drug is this? What strange chemical rising on our horizon?  What magnificent new discovery?

Ta dah!  Resveratrol.  But not as we know it, no - a PATENTABLE form of the extra-condensed synthetic molecule, which as we know is where the money is.  And also, all too often, the side effects ... the developers point out that it would take 1,000 glasses of red wine to equal the resveratrol found in just one pill. ...  let's wait and see what the hangover is like.

Develop wisdom, health and age together:  drink red wine or take Resveratrol, the plant.

Eliminating Disease

More about Resveratrol

Orlistat (Xenical) has been reformulated and made available for over-the counter sales as ALLI.  Loudly trumpeted is the fact that in its new manifestation, it no longer has the same level of unpleasant side effects of the original. 

After all, who wants "oily spotting in your undergarments, oily or fatty stools, orange or brown colored oil in your stool, gas with discharge, an oily discharge, loose stools, or an urgent need to go to the bathroom, inability to control bowel movements, an increased number of bowel movements, or stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rectal pain" - at whatever level.

Perhaps the fact that it also may cause cancer of the colon is immaterial?

Diet drug Xenical renamed Alli, still a cancer worry

Weight Control - eating for health

Help from supplements

For all too long, "eye appeal "and "mouth appeal", the 2 main ways in which manufacturers of mass foods have tried to manipulate our urge to buy, have been totally dependent on unhealthy ingredients.  In fact, many of the colors used over the years have been banned because they were truly deadly leaving only a few still to be attacked because they are more subtly harmful.

It is incontrovertible, however, that color plays a large role in deciding whether a food will taste good:  and consumers waking up to the benefits of fruits and berries are increasingly demanding that the coloring source serve 2 purposes: our health as well as our taste buds.

Health effects of Natural Colors

Red food coloring linked to cancer

Tartrazine (Yellow #5) and Children

I though perhaps it was just age turning me into a fuddy-duddy, when I refused to add vitamin water, vitamin energy bars, vitamin this and that, to my store inventory.  They made me feel uncomfortable, even though  the only expressed reason I could give, was the fear that people might be unbalancing their intake .

Sort of - I do not like you, Dr. Fell: the reason why I cannot tell.  But this I know, and know full well - I DO NOT LIKE YOU, Dr. Fell.

The first supportive evidence for my decision turned up the other day, sent to me by Chris Gupta of http://www.newmediaexplorer.org .  As he says "This alert  demonstrates how chemicals in processed foods, while considered safe on their own can create havoc when mixed with even safe nutrients like Vitamin C."

"When vitamin C in your drink can cause cancer

Unfortunately, many people drink soft drinks instead of water. You may already know how terrible these beverages are for your health. ..... But now there's an even bigger reason to avoid soft drinks. Many of these drinks have sodium benzoate as an ingredient. It's a common preservative you'll find in many processed foods. Food manufacturers typically use sodium benzoate in acidic foods because it controls bacteria, mold, yeasts, and other microbes. In addition to soft drinks, you'll find it in juices, pickles, salad dressings, and jams. You'll also find it in your car's anti-freeze, as it also inhibits corrosion.

.... When you mix sodium benzoate with ascorbic acid (vitamin C), a chemical reaction occurs. It turns the mixture into benzene. And benzene is a proven carcinogen.

In an effort to make their drinks more nutritious, many soft drink manufacturers are adding vitamin C to their drinks. And you'll also find the same problem with naturally occurring vitamin C in many canned juice drinks.

How bad is the problem? The FDA recently tested 84 soft drink products and found that 54 of them had some detectable benzene. And some had levels as high as 79.2 ppb. Federal rules specify less than 5 ppb in drinking water. But there's no legal limit on benzene in drinkable fluids other than water. Isn't that a bit strange? In 2001, California published information that manufacturers should keep benzene levels below 0.15 ppb. "

Read your labels - avoid processed foods.  I would even say,  avoid foods and drinks with added nutrients:  stick to the natural food, and control your supplementation levels.

I cannot get out of my mind's eye the contrasting pictures of that unfortunate Russian in his prime, and as he lay dying after being poisoned by Polonium. 

If the fact that anyone who smokes and is reading this, is ALSO being exposed to that same poison, doesn't prove to be the final impetus needed to stop .. providing the determination necessary for success in this difficult step ... well, the rest of this sentence is censored.  I know from watching my own Mother die how hard it is to stop smoking. 

The original Dirty Bomb

For many years I owned a beautiful scarlet Macaw.  My husband and I originally met when he was on tour in Panama, and this was his first gift to me.  We  have no idea how old Ambrose was when we got him (and actually, we don't really know it was a "he", since Macaws can only be sexed through a rather complicated process).  However, he lived with us for over 26 years.

I discovered on moving to the States, that bird owners generally knew NOT to use Teflon pans around these birds, since the fumes can kill them.  This gave me furiously to think, and I was not surprised when information began to came to light about the toxicity of these kinds of pans.  I had already eliminated mine from the kitchen just in case, and I urge you to consider doing the same.

I have written about this before, but was inspired to do so again when, to my surprise, I came across a recipe in Vegetarian Times which began: coat a non stick pan with oil ...

The convenience isn't worth it, believe me.  A thin coating of some healthy oil on a normal saucepan will fulfill much the same purpose without the dangers.

Teflon and C8

DuPont to pay millions in fines

Many links on the Teflon subject

My article on Detoxification

"THE figures are mind-boggling. Nearly 4 million Americans, most of them children and young adults, are being prescribed amphetamine-like stimulants to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Up to a million more may be taking the drugs illegally."

That is the first paragraph of this analysis of the over-use of drugs in our children.  Funnily enough, when they mention "Alternatives", they are not talking about nutrients. Even so, it is worth reading just to see the scope of the problem and get a taste of the power of the pharmaceutical industry.

The full article is here.

For genuine alternatives, read my article on natural solutions. 

Another link in the chain that binds environmental pollutants to hormonal imbalances.

Think the lowering of male fertility

Think the rise of breast and prostate cancer

Not a cheerful picture.

Canadian Natives are Alarmed by a Shortage of Sons

Rumors about Prozac and other SSRIs causing suicidal thoughts in children were given support when the FDA mandated a "Black Box"warning on the label about the risk.

If this lady's crusade to link the death of her husband to the drug succeeds, a box detailing the risk to adults may be added.

The financial impact of this would be HUGE - so I need hardly say that the manufacturer is fighting the suit!

Read the details here

Read my article on dealing with Depression more naturally here.

Over the years, murmurs of problems attached to the use of aspartame have grown to a steady roar - an underground roar, to be sure, though some of the more visionary amongst us have had no doubts!

Now comes a study which confirms that opinion.

Yes, I know it looks like a stupid question!   But it is an interesting introduction to the dangers of Fluoride. 

Even if we were to momentarily discount the arguments about the ethics of forcing people to take a medication without their consent by putting it in our drinking water, Fluoride was originally intended as a TOPICAL application.

For more about the dangerous source of the Flouride used in our water supply, and interesting information about its effects taken interrnally, go here