Environmental Stressors Can Cause Blindness??

Environmental Stressors Can Cause Blindness??

Say what? Environmental stressors can cause blindness????

Yup.

Let me illustrate this with a story about Billie.

Billie (not her real name) is a young Mum who is super keen to ensure her bubba is safe. She’d heard about 5G and noticed some of the attention it was getting. So she asked Dr Google, she joined FB groups, she sought out information from everywhere.

Out came Protective Mamma Bear.

5G became an obsession. It consumed every available moment between changing nappies, feeding, washing, playing with bubba and sleep…. Well, to be honest, it even started to creep in there too – as she dreamed about #5G.

Billie was so obsessed with 5G that she thought nothing of using her tablet while bubba slept, while it connected to the wi-fi.

The humidifier in bubba’s room that was causing mould to grow on the ceiling didn’t even enter her mind.

The perfume she spritzed on her body and clothes didn’t get a mention.

She was so caught up in the one issue, that she saw nothing else.

Not surprisingly, she was blinded by her obsession with one environmental stressor.

Billie is not alone. Environmental Stressors are Hugely Important

Billie’s story is not unique. I see this time and time again – be it around #SmartMeters, #fragrances, #lead, #mould… any #EnvironmentalStressor. 

Whilst it is valid to be informed and proactive, there are quite a lot of issues with this kind of blinkered focus on one thing. 

In a nutshell, the issues are:

🤷🏽‍♂️ There is a lot of mis-information, hype and well-marketed nonsense. As a result, you can end up spending a lot of time and money on unnecessary things

🔎 With all the mis-information, you might end up doing something that could make things worse

🔍 Usually, when my team and I assess homes of people like Billie, we find all sorts of other problems that are much larger issues than the one they are stressing about… the blinkers need to come off to be able to address the bigger picture

And yet, there is much more to this…

It is one small word that has massive ramifications.

🔎 It is #stress 🔎 

Stress can cause a whole gamut of problems. It can:

😡 Reduce your ability to #detoxify 

😞 Negatively impact your #sleep (and as a result, your mood)

😕 Cause a release of all sorts of chemicals in the body that ultimately reduce your #resilience 

AND, this next one is the worst of all, in my opinion.

😔 Stress can cause you to freeze up, become #overwhelmed and take NO action


I believe strongly in taking #empowered action.

There is always something you can do to make a difference.

Even if it feels small, it is enormous! 

So, I urge you to keep perspective, to open your heart to the wonderful things in life, and draw inspiration to take empowered action.

One of my favourite recommendations is to put flowering plants in your garden (or balcony). This will help the birds, bees, insects and your loved ones. 

Take a moment to imagine how the world would benefit if every single person did this? 

🌻🐝🌸🐾💐🦉🌞🦆🌿


Home is the Most Important Place

Home is the most important place. It is our castle.

Home is our safety haven, our sacred space, our island in the midst of the world.

For many of us, the world can be a bit full-on. The onslaught of fragrances, noise, wi-fi, people, lights… it can be overwhelming at times.

Also, most of these things are out of our control.

The best thing to do is to have a healing, safe, and nourishing home to come back to.

A virtual Indoor Environmental Health Assessment Can Short-Cut Your Route to a Healthy Nurturing Space

By assessing your home with great care, and attention to detail, we can shortcut the agonising searching for information and hazards.

Whether it be:

  • electromagnetic fields
  • phone towers
  • neighbours wi-fi
  • the smart meter
  • air pollutants
  • indoor air quality
  • volatile organic compounds
  • lead and other heavy metals
  • drinking water contaminants
  • mould and water damage
  • personal care and cleaning products
  • and more!

By assessing your home, I can determine the hazards, the potential problems AND provide you with solutions.

Many of my clients experience not only peace of mind, but improved health after implementing the recommendations.

They know that they have made their home safe for their families.


Get in touch so we can arrange your assessment.

Lead Reducing Your Exposure

Lead tends to be ubiquitous…

Lead tends to be all around us – thanks to the lack of knowledge and understanding about its health effects.

Sources of contamination include:

  • lead paint
  • windows with leadlighting
  • petrol/fuel
  • smelting
  • fertilisers
  • slag from industry used as soil or landfill
  • dust in ceilings and wall cavities
  • solder on water pipes
  • fishing tackle/weights

What Can You Do?

Choosing a Home

Firstly, if you can avoid it – do so.

If you are looking to buy or rent a home that is near industry, please reconsider.

Renovating, Remodelling or Repainting

Make sure you test for the presence of lead in paints before any renovations or repainting. (If you missed this step, test it right away.)

Lead test kits are available from paint and hardware stores.

If you are doing any of these activities, then make sure you are wearing a disposable tyvek suit, gloves and a P1 respirator. Also be sure to keep pregnant women, young children and pets out of the way – lead poisoning can be deadly.

There are some more tips in the video below.

Babies, Children and Animals… Some Great Tips:

All three spend a lot of time on the ground, so make sure the following become part of your daily routine.

  • Introduce (and enforce) a no-shoe policy – this will prevent lead dust from entering your home
  • Wash paws and feet if they have been outside where there is possible lead contamination
  • Make sure you wash hands before every meal AND before (and after) toileting
  • Wet dust and mop your home, including sills and ledges – use sugar soap or detergent
  • If there is lead dust, then using a 3-bucket system*, as advocated by the LEAD Group
  • Ensure your vacuum cleaner has a HEPA filter, or is cyclonic
  • Consider where the painted toys are from – choose ones from Australia
  • Where there is bare soil, create barriers in play areas – such as mulch or play mats to prevent contact
  • Wash toys, dummies and so forth regularly

And a video


Here is the 3-Bucket System recommended by The LEAD Group.

lead


I personally don't like Step 5. Instead, I suggest finding another safe way to dispose of the water – ask your local council.

An alternative would be to clean with Bamboo Microfibre Cloths and dispose of them.


#lead #LEADGroup #ecohealthsolutions

Book a Hidden Hazards Hotline Call
with Lucinda to discuss your concerns. >>

Chemical In Baby Wipes Linked To Rise In Skin Problems

Australian newspaper The Age reported yesterday that a chemical ingredient used as a preservative in baby wipes and other personal care products is being linked to an increase of dermatological conditions.

In her article, Bridie Smith quotes Rosemary Nixon, dermatologist from the Skin and Cancer Foundation, who identifies that methylisthiazolinone (MI) was linked to 11.3% of skin reactions in the 353 patients seen in 2013 at two of their clinics.

The Chemical?

I am sharing this because I think that there is more at play that the isolated preservative methylisothiazolinone. I want to draw your attention to the information contained in the material data safety sheet (MSDS) about this ingredient.

Eye contact – Contact may cause severe eye irritation or chemical burns, which may result in permanent eye injury.

Skin contact – Contact may cause severe burns with symptoms of pain, local redness, swelling, and tissue damage. Prolonged or widespread contact may result in allergic skin reactions. 

Ingestion – These products can be toxic if swallowed. Large amounts may cause serious injury, even death. 

Inhalation – Heated vapor or mist may cause irritation of the upper respiratory tract (nose and throat) and lungs. 

Other – Similar materials have not caused cancer, birth defects, or fetal effects in animal testing.

(The Dow Chemical Company, 17 December 2010, Product Safety Assessment: DOW™ Methylisothiazolinone (MIT) Antimicrobial Products available at https://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedLiteratureDOWCOM/dh_07ee/0901b803807ee59c.pdf?filepath=productsafety/pdfs/noreg/233-00792.pdf&fromPage=GetDoc)

Please note that prolonged skin contact can result in allergic skin reactions.

This is the sort of information that I procure when I determine the safety and/or the associated risk of ingredients and products for my clients.What upsets me, is that manufacturers KNOW about these risks of exposure while formulating their products, but choose to use these ingredients anyway.

I am going to also point out, that apart from alcohol, which is drying to the skin, and can damage the integrity of it, and this preservative that is known to cause allergic skin reaction with use over a long period of time, there are other ingredients to be mindful of in these kinds of products.

My #1 RED FLAG Ingredient is “Fragrance”

Fragrance is made up of a cocktail of chemicals that is never listed, in order to protect “trade secrecy” – that is the secret recipe to creating that scent.

Commonly, upwards of 100 chemicals are used to create a fragrance. Of the 10,000+ ingredients used to make fragrances, less than 10% have been tested for the safety for human use. As I have mentioned, due to trade secrecy, manufacturers are not required to list their ingredients for consumers – which makes it hard to avoid certain chemicals.

In an effort to create some transparency, the International Fragrance Association has listed ingredients commonly used in this industry. Scanning through the list, I was alarmed to see the number of known or suspected carcinogens, known skin and lung irritants and others that have been linked to adverse health effects. I have written more about this in a previous post “Perfumes Stink” – which you can read here.

eco-health-solutions-home

What To Do?

One thing I want to point out is that I have had a significant proportion of my clients report thrush-like symptoms. On my recommendation, they have begun to use UNSCENTED toilet paper. Interestingly, most of these symptoms disappear.

So, for babies to adults, I would highly recommend keeping products simple – particularly in those delicate areas.

  • babies: use water and microfibre cloths
  • children and adults: use unscented toilet paper
  • bathing: unscented and un-dyed natural soaps
  • menstruation: organic cloth pads that can be washed in unscented soap (ie avoid plastic-lined, scented, bleached products)

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