|
What about using antibacterial products?
Especially the antibacterial soaps and instant hand sanitizers....
I have some thoughts I'd like to share with you and some questions for you to
ask yourself.
Fact: the use of antimicrobial soaps promotes the spread of superbugs around
your house.
Q: What is the GOAL??
If you want to be a healthy individual and have healthy children and pets, which
I know you do, then you have to have a little immune distress. If you don't,
your immune system doesn't learn how to defend itself.
Your immune system makes a pattern of every invading microbe, and it remembers
that pattern forever, so it knows how to beat that invader in the future. If you
try to maintain a sterile environment, then your immune system never gets to
learn how to do its job. You need some level of exposure to these germs or mild
infectious agents if you want to have an active immune system.
Please think about what we are doing:
1. Avoiding preservatives, additives, artificial colorants and artificial
ingredients that may be contributing to skin problems, disease and longevity
issues.
2. Using natural products, avoiding commercial products containing chemicals and
carcinogenic ingredients that could harm your children, dog and YOU. (If anyone
is not sure of which ingredients are carcinogenic (cancer causing), I have a
list on my website.)
3. Eating whole, raw and organic foods as much as possible.
And what we don't want to do (Do you?):
We don't want to counteract all the good that is going INSIDE, by using harmful
ingredients on the OUTSIDE.... and that includes not only cosmetic and grooming
products, but also household cleaning products. Remember, the babies, children
and the dog will be walking on that floor you just cleaned -- what did you clean
it with?
I am always preaching "Read the Label" but this is so important to
everyone's health. Look at the ingredient list of any product labeled
ANTIBACTERIAL -- not only cleaning sprays, liquid soap, dish soap, but also many
toothpastes -- and you will see the ingredient Triclosan. Yes,
triclosan is what makes it antibacterial because triclosan KILLS. Everything.
(Triclosan is what was in Agent Orange during the Vietnam war.)
It is comparable to taking an antibiotic, you kill the bad bacteria, but along
with the bad, you also kill the good. Most of us avoid antibiotics and instead
use a natural antibiotic when needed, like olive leaf or oregan grape root when
appropriate. Well, if you feel strongly that you need an antibacterial product
to "sterilize" your counter, floor, or utensils, then please consider using your
regular natural cleanser with a few drops of tea tree, niaouli, or manuka
essential oil added. That's all it takes, and the product is still natural and
not harmful.
During the winter months I add a few drops of niaouli to my Seventh Generation
dish liquid and multi-purpose household cleaner. This provides added protection
against virus and germs. At other times I use either lavender, geranium, or
orange EOs which all smell fabulous and also provide many healthful benefits.
The morning talk show experts on cold & flu prevention repeatedly point out that
antibacterial soaps are NOT necessary or desirable for cleaning hands to avoid
virus and other illness. The recognized preferred method is to wash your hands
in plain soap (of course it should be handmade soap :) and warm water for at
least 20 seconds. They are telling school children to do this and sing Happy
Birthday to themselves twice (silently) and that will be sufficient.
PLEASE NOTE: Essential oils have different
characteristics, some are more antibacterial than others, some are more
germicidal than others, etc., but all essential oils provide some level of
antibacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral properties -- but -- they do NOT harm
the immune system, in fact they boost the immune system.
Let's think about it in another way: Many antimicrobial treatments are toxic and
take a shotgun approach to killing all microscopic organisms to which they're
applied. This approach includes the risk of toxicity to host organisms, that is,
the plants or animals (including humans) exposed to treatment for microbial
infections. Toxic exposure to living creatures can also occur when food items
and objects such as utensils or hard surfaces are treated with disinfectants for
microbial contamination. Additionally, the shotgun approach destroys the
beneficial bacteria which occur naturally in the environment and in our bodies.
Friendly bacteria cause no harm and often produce beneficial effects such as
aiding metabolism and inhibiting the invasion of harmful pathogens.
Anti-microbial formulas and disinfectants can cause genetic mutations resulting
in drug-resistant bacterial and mutant viruses, producing new strains of harmful
microbes for which the human immune system has no defense.
For years I have warned of the danger of commercial personal care and pet
products. If you look at the ingredients manufacturers put in their products --
soaps, deodorants, toothpastes, shampoos, etc -- you will be horrified. These
ingredients are highly toxic and can cause cancer, especially when combined with
other chemicals that are very often present in the same formula. Often an
ingredient may be 'safe' alone (and approved for human use), but when combined
with certain other ingredients (and they very often are) becomes carcinogenic.
They promote leukemia, nervous system disorders and liver problems.
Some of the ingredients to be concerned about are triclosan, aluminum, talc,
parabens (the worst IMO), SLS, the laurels and laureths, artificial colorings,
artificial and synthetic fragrance oils (often labeled "fragrance" or "nature
identical") ..... (I have a comprehensive list of chemical and cosmetic
ingredients to avoid on my website on the FAQ page.)
New information from Virginia Tech researchers show that the chemical triclosan
can react with chlorine in tap water and form Chloroform which is a toxic
chemical that can give you cancer. In the old movies, you might have seen
someone give a person chloroform to knock them unconscious. If you breathe
enough chloroform, you will die.
Well, when you wash your hands with antibacterial soap that contains triclosan
(and 99% of them do, of course), you're getting the fumes emitted from this
chemical reaction.
Believe me, I know about Agent Orange, my brother is one of the many thousands
of veterans whose health was permanently compromised by triclosan during the
Vietnam war. It is a sad, sad tragedy.
A.: The Goal is a healthy environment for family and pets.
Bottom Line: Please be careful of what you put in your mouth, on your
body, in your hair, AND on and in your dog, cat, and other animals.
And if you're still with me, LOL, let me say one more thing.
One of my biggest objections to current-day society is the acceptance of
synthetic perfumes and colognes. Sometimes I think people just take a bath in
the stuff, it insults my nose so much. But actually, with time their senses get
dulled and soon they need more and more of it which means I can smell them a
block away... can you?
Also, if you wash your family's clothes or your dog's blanket in a detergent
that's loaded with fragrance chemicals, these can be absorbed into the skin and
bloodstream where it may promote cancer. BTW, unscented laundry detergent
doesn't cost more than the regular, TG. (I'm sure I'm not the only one whose
dogs sleep on the bed, so my sheets and blankets are a concern not only for my
own sake, but theirs too.)
And the list goes on -- the fake air fresheners (gag) -- have you noticed how
they are all advertising their mass produced, fake scented and chemically
preserved products as "Aromatherapy" now? Right. Some even say they contain
essential oils... yea, and what else I ask? Ha -- and "apple" is not an
essential oil!!
Another Bottom line: The commercial antibacterial products are useless. They
have no value in your home. It is all a huge marketing gimmick that is actually
harmful to your health.
Simone
www.FlutterbyeAromatics.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
