Toxic Surprises

On her morning walk, my wife saw some left-over garage sale items set by the curb as free for the taking. She found a couple of pullover shirts that would fit me and brought them home. They are really quite nice.

Upon examining them I immediately noticed something very foreign and offensive to my senses. These clothes were full of toxic chemicals. Most people are not aware of these smells as they have accepted them as part of their daily lives. Yet in our household, these are mostly foreign smells.

The clothes reeked of the perfumes and other chemicals commonly found in laundry detergents and fabric freshener dryer sheets. Additionally they reeked of cigarette smoke that was somewhat overpowered by the other chemicals in the clothing.

We both were amazed that this is what people bombard their bodies with continually. For most households, these chemicals are coating every washable piece of clothing, the bedding, the nighttime clothing, even the dishes.

For more on the toxicity of these chemicals and the levels at which people are daily being poisoned, see Toxic Chemicals Found in Common Household Products.

We have not used laundry detergent for over a decade. We have used Earth Smart laundry disks, with spot treatments of natural products like Simple Green. UL put the company out of business by decrying their product as a farce. Yet we have used the disks for over a decade and our clothes are clean, last longer, lose less dryer lint, and are free of the toxic chemicals.

Another product that we have found useful as a spot treatment is OxiClean. But even if a person chose to use the other spot treatments, the level of toxicity would be greatly minimized.

I suspect that even without the laundry disks, which add absolutely nothing to the water or clothes but claim to “restructure the water molecules’, even if only water with a tiny amount of bleach were used, most laundry needs would be satisfied without the toxic chemical residue.

Considering the fact that these residues are in direct contact with the skin, generally on a 24 hour basis, imagine the effects over long periods of time. Then add the fact that most people apply such chemicals to their underarms and other areas of very high absorption directly into the bloodstream, and the answer to many of the ailments that people today experience is found. Then to counter these daily or at least frequent ailments, various other chemicals, such as drugs for pain and respiratory complications, are purchased and consumed. Then these, taken regularly, often cause stomach and liver ailments. Again, more chemicals are purchased and consumed.

Thankfully, many of these ailments can be lessened or even eliminated by simply restricting the use of toxic chemicals in laundry and dish detergents and other commonly used sources.

Moreover, many natural remedies can be used for such things as heartburn, headaches, nasal and bronchial congestion, coughing, hemorrhoids, dry skin, burns, dry eyes, and many others.

Then is the list of things that are being added to prepared food products and even non-prepared foodstuffs. For information on some of these visit TruthInLabeling.Org.

For those who care, I post this information. On our part, we avoid these toxins as much as we are able. In case if you ask, the answer is: Yes, we have noticed a difference in our general health.