Volatile Organic Compounds

Detoxify Your Body and Your Environment

 

 

Canned tomatoes, shopping receipts and that “new” car or sweet new kitchen smell are all everyday things that can be hazardous to our health. Seemingly harmless activities and products are exposing us to a toxic suite of dangerous chemicals which have a number of known or potential negative health impacts such as skin irritations, allergies, reproductive and endocrine defects and even cancer.

We live in a toxic world, exposed to a vast range of chemicals in our food, products and environments, many of which, the immediate and long-term effects of, are unknown. But by staying informed and by being a conscious, educated consumer, you can protect your own and your families health, and as a bonus help out the environment as well because many of these chemicals can have the same impacts on animals and fishes that they do on us.

Canned goods and thermal paper shopping receipts can contain BPA a potent hormone mimicking agent that disrupts our endocrine system, the new car smell and the greasy film inside the car windscreen is likely from plasticisers also endocrine disruptors, the sweet smell of a new kitchen or cupboard is either formaldehyde, a cancer producing wood binder or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from solvents in wood lacquer that are central nervous system and liver toxins.

So how can you avoid the myriad of chemicals you can be exposed to everyday, when you cannot see them, often cant smell them and they are potentially, well, everywhere?

Here are the top 10 helpful tips to help you detoxify your body and your environment.

  1. Buy certified green products. Support manufacturers, companies and supermarkets that produce cleaner and greener products that have been third party certified as preferred products. Such certification is your proof that the products are the healthy, green products they claim to be;
  2. Where you cant find certified healthy products, look for products that:
  • use natural renewable materials;
  • are low VOC emitting
  • don’t contain BPA or other endocrine disruptors
  • If PVC, are phthalate plasticiser free;
  • use low emission (E0 or E00) formaldehyde emission panel boards for kitchens and cupboards;
  1. If you want to search for products that have been third party verified or certified as healthy and low environmental impact look for all kinds of products for yourself and your home on Ecospecifier.com.au
  2. Check out certified healthy and sustainable product ratings for your DIY home project products on GlobalGreenTag.com;
  3. Avoid plastic water bottles. Use reusable bottles like stainless steel and glass;
  4. Eat less fish. Did you know that many toxic chemicals are stored in the fatty tissue of carnivorous fish and toxins like mercury from industrial pollution and coal fired electricity bioaccumulate in predatory fish;
  5. Buy naturally derived personal care products which don’t contain chemicals such as parabens, ethylene glycol and EDTA;
  6. Eat certified organic food and meats;
  7. Detox your home.
    1. Minimise the area of carpet;
    2. Use healthy cleaning agents or microfibre;
    3. Minimise the use of insecticide and don’t use ‘insect bombs’ or residual surface sprays;
    4. If you use air fresheners, use only natural plant essence derived oils;
    5. Don’t use chemical disinfectant surface sprays. Usedilute eucalyptus or thymol if you need to disinfect.
  8. Detox your body. Anti-oxidants are a great way to protect yourself from some of the effects of the daily chemical load on your body. Make sure your diet and supplements maintain a daily regimen of a broad spectrum of antioxidants like Vitamin C and E.

Explore more about the product ranges that have been eco-certified and listed by Ecospecifier, by using the Product Search Engine on Ecospecifier Global: http://www.ecospecifier.com.au

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Timber Preservation: Making it last healthily

Timber Preservation: Making it last healthily

Timber preservation is arguably the second most important environmental issue next to sustainably harvesting. There are many important reasons to treat wood, ranging from rot due to being constantly in moist environments, resistance from insects and fungus and just concerns for general durability due to exposure to the sun and weather. These are all important reasons, especially when you consider timber is often a staple when constructing housing and people want to protect their investment; however economic interests need not to conflict with environmental concerns. There are a number of methods used to preserve wood, some like creosote used in the past are now banned due to their cancer causing nature and others that probably should be banned i.e. ‘CCA’ treatment (and has been banned in some uses such as decking).

Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) is a mix of chromium, copper and arsenic designed to increase durability through the prevention of decay by fungi and bacteria and resistance to wood attacking insects. The reason it should be banned is because arsenic is a proven toxin and carcinogen. Do you really want to live surrounded by toxic fencing that can pollute the soil, be absorbed by children climbing fences, cannot be safely disposed except at a landfill, it cannot be mulched or reused and releases toxic gases if burnt? Partial or complete restriction of CCA occurs locally in Australia but also in Japan, USA, Indonesia, Sweden and Germany. Environmentally friendly alternatives often involve combining copper and organic preservatives, for example Ammoniacal Copper Quaternary (ACQ).

ACQ has recently seen an emergence primarily due to restrictions implemented on CCA. ACQ contains no high toxicity arsenic/chromium compounds and it can be both mulched and burnt with no adverse side effects. However it has a slightly higher initial cost and its availability is low but slowly improving as CCA is slowly being phased out and eliminated in certain countries. ACQ is approved for use in ‘in ground’ structural uses,

LOSP or Light organic solvent preservative is a type of timber preservation that is used for above ground uses. It typically uses a light oil like linseed oil (best) or a solvent like white spirits (high Volatile Organic Compound emissions) and a synthetic pyrethroid like permethrin.

For those who would like to utilize ACQ and similar alternatives, Ecospecifier.com.au offers a range of products that will fill your needs, an example of this can be seen in Lonza Wood’s – Wolmanized Outdoor Wood; a wood product most equipped for outdoor settings such as decks, walkways, fences and landscaping.

Explore more about the product ranges that have been eco-certified and listed by Ecospecifier, by using the Product Search Engine on Ecospecifier Global: http://www.ecospecifier.com.au

Join us in more conversations about green products and sustainability issues on our social media pages:

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The Dark Side to Paint Products

How to Avoid Those Toxic Paint Fumes

Renovating or painting your home can be an exciting experience, but have you ever considered the dangers behind simply repainting your living room? Most paints contain Volatile Organic Compounds, also known as VOCs, which evaporate as the paint dries afterwards. VOCs are added to the paint or lacquer typically to act as solvents and can have serious impacts on human health. Oil-based paints are worse than water-based paints, but ordinary water based paints can still bel an issue.

Health implications for VOC exposure depend upon the type of compound, its concentration and your length of exposure to it, and can result in the following:

  • Nose, eye and throat irritation
  • Headaches
  • Loss of coordination
  • Nausea
  • Kidney and liver damage
  • Damage to the central nervous system
  • Immune system damage

Some VOCS are known carcinogens, meaning that inhaling them is likely to increase your risk of cancer.

Whilst there are a range of serious health conditions that can result from exposure to paints (being a painter is a UN recognised hazardous occupation known as ‘Painter’s Syndrome’) , there are several alternative products on the market which are low VOC and provide safe alternatives. For those who wish to further reduce the presence of VOCs and other toxins in paints you purchase refer to Ecospecifier (www.ecospecifier.com.au). Some examples of low VOC paints include:

 

Livos AustraliaLivios Australia

Livos offer a range of low VOC plant-based oils, coatings and treatments for interior and exterior wall, floor and timber applications. Unlike conventional coatings, LIVOS oils impregnate and protect the surface of timber, rather than creating a plastic coating on top. This allows for easy rejuvenation with no sanding required, the rejuvenation process is quick and simple to carry out if or when required.

Dduluxprofessionalulux Professional Enviro2

Dulux provides a low VOC topcoat paint making it a safer product for indoor use in your home. Whilst there is still VOCs present, they are at a very low concentration, <1g/L untinted. This product has been Ecospecifier verified and provides a detailed toxicity analysis on the Ecospecifier website.

 

 

The Dangers of Renovating an Old Home

renopainting

Renovating your home may come with potential health pitfalls, especially if your home was painted before 1970. Walls that were painted prior to this may be toxic due to the presence of lead-based paint. Lead paint, even in the smallest concentration, poses a great risk to human and animal health. While undisturbed well maintained lead painted walls pose minimal risk to human health; however once disturbed the paint scraped from lead painted walls becomes hazardous. This is especially so if flame or high temperature heat guns are used to remove it.

Resulting lead laden flakes and dust can spread throughout the house and garden. Removing the paint through dry sanding or by using power tools can create lead dust that can be inhaled or implanted into fabrics around the home, such as in carpets or furniture. Lead dust deposited around the family home poses future health risks and is extremely difficult to remove. This poses a great risk to young children who frequently put their hands inside their mouths and can absorb and retain higher concentrations of lead in comparison to adults. Lead is especially detrimental to the neurological development of children.

Lead is toxic in both low and high concentrations. Exposure can occur through inhalation or digestion. Effects of lead poisoning from low levels of concentration include:

  • Muscle pains and fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Coma
  • Fatigue
  • Stomach pains
  • Seizures
  • Anaemia
  • Miscarriage
Effects from high levels of lead poisoning may include:
  • Brain damage
  • Severe kidney damage
  • Reduced fertility in males
  • Cardiovascular issues
  • Cognitive damage in young children

If your home was, built before 1970, it is recommended that you arrange to conduct tests to confirm the presence or non-presence of lead so that the proper steps can be taken to minimise exposure if needed .

There are a couple of different ways to test for lead paint:

  • Colour change tests which are available from hardware stores although these are not 100% accurate
  • DIY-Sampling Lab Lead Analysis Kits which can be purchased online from http://www.leadsafeworld.com/solutions/lead-group-diy-sampling-lab-analysis-lead-test-kits/ this kit will provide instructions on how to conduct the test which is then analysed by a registered laboratory
  • Hire a professional who will use a portable X-ray fluorescence machine to determine the presence of lead. This is a non-invasive way to inspect the paint in your home.

If it is found that there is lead present in the paint on your walls it is recommended that:

  • Professionals are hired to safely remove the paint
  • If the paint is in good condition you are able to paint over it if you prefer not to remove it
  • If you choose to remove the paint yourself;
    • Seek professional advice on how to best remove the paint
    • Do not sandblast or dry scrape the walls
    • If removing paint outside do not do so on a wet or windy day
    • Remove children and pregnant women from the area
  • In the future choose paints that have been certified and verified for having low toxicity, such as those found listed with Ecospecifier (www.ecospecifier.com.au)

Explore more about the product ranges that have been eco-certified and listed by Ecospecifier, by using The Product Search Engine on Ecospecifier Global

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VOC’s in Carpet

Carpet is an almost omnipresent feature in many homes and while it has its benefits, many ordinary carpets also have some issues. Health and environmental concerns associated with many carpets include indoor air quality (IAQ), chemical emissions from manufacturing and disposal operations, short lifespan of broadloom carpets particularly in rental properties and solid waste impacts due to their difficulty in recycling and most ending up in landfill at the end of their lives.

As far as IAQ is concerned, a variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can be emitted from some carpet materials, typically in the backing. Remember that ‘new carpet smell’? That’s them! Although VOC emissions from new carpet seem to fall to low levels within a few weeks after installation when accompanied by good ventilation, this doesn’t mean they are gone, just that you can’t smell them, as they are emitted for quite long periods at progressively lower levels, that can nonetheless keep having an impact on your families health, particularly sensitive children..

Carpet can have a purifying impact on indoor air quality by absorbing and trapping particulates present in indoor air, but then you have to make sure they get removed completely when cleaned, because it can be difficult to get all particulates back out of carpet.

Tretford have a GreenTagCert™ LCARate Silver, GreenRate Level A Certified with low VOC, it is heavy contract cord carpet range with pile made predominantly from goat hair, which is a renewable, durable, low lanolin, inherently anti-static fibre. To achieve a Silver rating the product must not trigger any ‘Red light’ warnings A Silver award indicates a Very Good product in its market category.

Tips for installing new carpet:

  • Buy only carpets that have been certified low VOC by systems like Global GreenTag (all levels and tiers), Cetec, GreenGuard or GreenLabel;
  • The area should be ventilated with fresh air during installation with air-conditioning off to avoid recirculation of air.
  • Vacuum the floor after the old carpet and underlay have been removed
  • Where possible keep ventilating the space for a minimum of 72 hours after installation
  • If carpet adhesives are used, demand a low VOC water-based adhesive
  • If you are sensitive to VOC emissions, leave the premises during and immediately after carpet installation.

 

Explore more about the product ranges that have been eco-certified and listed by Ecospecifier, by using the Product Search Engine on Ecospecifier Global: www.ecospecifier.com.au

Join us in more conversations about green products and sustainability issues on our social media pages:

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Like, Comment and Share our blogs and posts on your social media pages … and we will send your name out to more than 15,000 subscribers via our monthly Ecospecifier Global Newsletter.

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