Toxic Tampons

Considering the number of tampons you use in your lifetime (around 11,000), any health risk associated with them is worth looking into.

Conventional tampons contain rayon, pesticides, and other synthetic chemicals. Chlorine bleaching of these tampons creates dioxin, a chemical that is a known carcinogen.

The eco-solution to dealing with Aunt Flo is to choose an organic tampon that has no rayon, pesticides or other synthetic chemicals. While many grocery and drug stores don’t carry organic cotton tampons, Whole Foods offers a number of them.

Bike to Work

If everyone who lives within 5 miles of their workplace left their car at home just one day a week and cycled to work, nearly 5 million tons of global warming pollution would be saved. With gas prices at an all-time high, maybe it’s time to get pedaling.

People who commute to work are less stressed, more alert, and take fewer sick days. And now it’s

getting easier to do. Cities are creating bike stations for commuters to use. Chicago recently opened the McDonald's Cycle Center downtown in Millennium Park which offers 300 bike parking stations, lockers, showers and a repair shop. In May, bicycling legend Lance Armstrong is set to open a commuting center in Austin, Texas called Mellow Johnny’s (His Tour de France nickname) and other bike stations are being planned for Washington, D.C., Tempe, Arizona and Minneapolis.

Wherever you live, consider riding to work. For a great starter guide—covering everything from what to wear to dealing with traffic—click on http://www.biketraffic.org/trickstips.

How Safe are Dryer Sheets

Knowingly rolling your clean clothes around in toxic chemicals seems insane, yet millions of Americans do it every day.

They use dryer sheets that contain chemicals such as benzyl acetate (linked to pancreatic cancer), limonene, camphor and chloroform, a known carcinogen. The list goes on.

The FDA says the chemicals are safe because they can’t penetrate skin when the clothes are worn. Obviously, there are many others who believe that’s flawed thinking, especially given that we have medicines today administered in patches that are absorbed through the skin.

You can reduce static cling in other earth friendly ways. Here are a few ideas to try:

Buy chemical-free, reusable dryer sheets. Look for them at stores such as Whole Foods or you can buy them online.

Make your own dryer sheets. Fill a small cloth bag with dried lavender or other dried herbs. Tie the bag securely and toss it in the dryer with wet clothes. Or use a small clean cloth and add several drops of essential oil. Only use a little, as the oils are very concentrated.

Add ½ cup white vinegar in to the rinse cycle when washing laundry. It helps soften clothes and can reduce static cling.

Hang a clothesline. According to the Christian Science Monitor, there were 88 million dryers in the U.S. in 2005. Each year those dryers consumed 1,079-kilowatt hours of energy per household, creating 2,224 pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions.

You can buy happiness after all; you just have to spend the money on other people.

That’s the conclusion of a recent study in the journal Science. Researchers at the University of British Columbia and the Harvard Business School asked 632 Americans to rate their general happiness and report their income and spending, including bills, gifts for others, gifts for themselves, and charitable donations.

The happiest people were the biggest givers, no matter what they earned.

Everyone knows they should be eating more fish for their heart, but reports of overfished species scare some people away.

The solution? Make smart choices. The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago has created a seafood wallet card for shoppers promoting sustainable seafood—fish that are bountiful that have been caught or farmed in ecologically friendly ways. This way you can get your omega-3 fatty acids, known to reduce heart attacks, and stay committed to the planet. You can download the list at www.sheddaquarium.org

Cell phones sure come in handy, but the low-energy radiation they emit concerns many people.

Earlier this year, the U.S. National Research Council issued a report saying more research needed to be done on the long-term health effects of using cell phones. The NRC —the main operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences—is especially concerned about children, pregnant women and fetuses.

A 2005 study in Sweden found that cell phone users in rural areas might be at greater risk of brain cancer. The study suggests that cell phones in rural areas give off more radiation because they need to transmit a stronger signal to towers farther away.

While researchers search for answers, it’s not a bad idea to play it safe. Here are some things you do to make using your cell phone safer:

 • Keep calls short.

 • Use a headset so the phone is away from your head.

  Or use “speaker” when you can.

 • Don’t use your phone when its signal strength is

  low or it’s roaming. The phone has to work harder

  at these times to establish a connection and emits

  more radiation.

 • If your phone has an antenna, extend it as far as

  possible. Most of the radiation is focused near the

  midpoint of the antenna.

Field Research

Sprained ankles, bumps, and bruises at Friday night football games seem like mere annoyances if the fields kids play on turn out not be safe.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating artificial turf in New Jersey that may contain lead that can be swallowed or inhaled by players. State officials closed two fields in mid-April after they said they found high levels of lead in the synthetic turf. There are more than 3,000 synthetic playing fields in the United States made of various materials, including polyethylene and nylon. Some are anchored by rubber pellets made from crushed automotive tires. Pigment containing lead chromate is also used in some surfaces to make the turf green.

The Synthetic Turf Council says there is “no scientific evidence of a health risk based on recent test results and current knowledge of the chemical structure of aged synthetic turf products.”

So what’s a parent to do? The health benefits of playing outside outweigh the evidence so far, but if your child is playing under the lights this fall, find out what type of turf it is and follow the investigation.

Some leading “organic” and “natural” products aren’t so natural after all.

A study, commissioned by the Organic Consumers Association, found 1,4-Dioxane—a chemical suspected of causing cancer—in shampoos, body washes, and lotion claiming to be “natural” or “organic.” According to the OCA, these companies used ethoxylation, a cheaper way to make harsh chemicals mild. To do this, it requires the use of Ethylene Oxide, which generates 1,4-Dioxane as a by-product. “One, 4-Dioxane is considered a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer under proposition 65, and has no place in ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ branded personal care products,” the OCA said in a news release. One,4-dioxane is also suspected as a kidney toxicant, neurotoxicant and respiratory toxicant, among others, according to the California EPA, and is a leading groundwater contaminant.

How can you avoid 1,4-Dioxane? The OCA urges consumers to search ingredient lists for indications of ethoxylation including: “myreth,” “oleth,” “laureth,” “ceteareth,” any other “eth,” “PEG,” “polyethylene,” “polyethylene glycol,” “polyoxyethylene,” or “oxynol,” in ingredient names. A good rule of thumb: If you can’t pronounce an ingredient, avoid it.

How Safe is Your Salad?

Despite years of regulation, don’t trust your greens just yet. In the past 35 years, the United States has seen a substantial increase in fresh, leafy green vegetables being contaminated with disease-causing bacteria and the increase isn’t entirely because more people are eating more salads.

A report presented at the 2008 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases found that since 1973, there have been 10,421 food outbreaks, some 500 of which came from leafy-green vegetables. Most were contaminated with norovirus, followed by salmonella and E. coli. More than 60 percent of the outbreaks involved contamination by germs spread by humans.

From 1986 to 1995, Americans ate about 17 percent more leafy greens than they did the decade before. Yet the proportion of food-borne illnesses caused by leafy greens went up almost 60 percent. From 1996 through 2005, consumption increased another 9 percent and the proportion of illnesses linked to greens increased 39 percent.

Remember these safety tips when handling leafy greens or other produce:

 • First, wash your hands with warm water and soap.

 • Cut away any damaged or bruised areas before

  preparing.

 • Wash all fruits and vegetables under running water

  or use a spray nozzle. Do this for produce bought

  at the grocery store, grown at home, or at a local

  farmer’s market.

 • Rub produce with your hands or a scrub brush to

  remove any lingering bacteria. Even if you plan to

  peel the fruit, it’s important to still clean it.

 • Gently dry produce with a clean cloth towel or

  paper towel.