Pioneering consumer advocate Debra Lynn Dadd -- author of Nontoxic, Natural & Earthwise, The Nontoxic Home & Office, and Home Safe Home -- gives advice for choosing products that are better for your health and the environment. She discloses health and environmental effects of common products, reveals harmful ingredients that aren't on product labels, tells how to choose safer products, and offers tips for making products yourself.
Do you want to choose and use products that are better for your health and the environment, but don't know how to choose them or where to find them? Then this column is for you.
SENSIBLE SUNNING With all the concern about getting sunburn and skin cancer from increased harmful rays due to the thinning ozone layer, it's important to keep in mind that some sunshine is vital to good health. The interaction of sunlight with skin produces vitamin D, a vital nutrient that is not found in foods that are common in our modern diet. (Vitamin D does occur naturally in egg yolks, liver, yeast, shrimp, salmon, tuna, and fish liver oils, and is added to fortified milk and enriched bread. However, sunlight is still needed to help the body synthesize vitamin D from these sources.) Since ancient times, sunbathing was recommended as a restorative for health. Modern studies have shown that exposure to the sun can increase energy levels, lower blood pressure, enhance the immune system, and have other good effects.
It is important for our bodies to be exposed to natural light on a daily basis--just as important as getting proper nutrition, sleep, and exercise, so spend as much time outdoors as you can. This doesn't mean direct sunlight, or even being in the sun at all. Shaded light is perfectly acceptable; in fact, it's preferable. You can sit on a screened porch, under a shaded tree, or next to an open window (a closed window blocks the essential ultraviolet rays). At work, go outdoors on your lunch hour.
Take precautions to protect yourself from direct exposure to both UVA and UVB radiation. UVB rays have shorter wavelengths and are the principal cause of sunburn, skin cancer, and premature aging of the skin. UVA rays have longer wavelengths and penetrate more deeply into the skin, contributing to skin cancer and aging.
MINIMIZE EXPOSURE
The most natural protection from the sun is to minimize your exposure. Allow your skin to adjust slowly to sun exposure. Start by exposing your skin to the sun only a few minutes each day and take care not to burn. Sun damage to your skin is irreparable. It breaks down collagen and elastin fibers in the skin, and its effects may not be visible for thirty years. Minimize your exposure to direct sunlight between ten a.m. and three p.m. when the sun's rays are most intense.
PROTECTIVE CLOTHING
If you need to be in the sun, the most prudent and resource-efficient way to shield your skin from the sun's harmful rays is to wear protective clothing such as windbreakers, shirts, scarves, gloves, and wide-brimmed hats. There are now some catalogs that specialize in special sun protection clothing and accessories that would be worth looking into if you're out in the sun a lot. Special sun-protection fabrics block more than 97 percent of both UVA and UVB radiation.
SUNCREENS
There are many lotions and creams on the market, with a wide variety of natural and synthetic ingredients, offering protection that ranges from little or none to complete blockage. Some sun protection product, like zinc oxide ointment, are physical barriers that reflect or scatter all light. Other sunscreens are chemical barriers that absorb ultraviolet light.
Sunscreen products are rated with a Sun Protection Factor (SPF), which indicates how much longer you can remain safely in the sun while wearing the sunscreen than if you were to go unprotected. For example, SPF-2 would allow you to stay out twice as long; SPF-30 allows you to stay in the sun thirty times as long.
- SPF-2--4: minimal protection, and permits tanning
- SPF-4--6: moderate protection and permits some tan
- SPF-6--8: extra protection and permits a limited tan
- SPF-8--15: maximum protection, with little or no tan
- SPF-15+: ultra protection, and no tan at all
The general recommendation is to choose a sunscreen with an SPF-15. Other brands are offered for those who tan easily or, at the other end of the spectrum, have very fair skin that needs extra protection. The average fair-skinned person begins to burn after twenty minutes in full sun. Wearing SPF-15 sunscreen allows that person five hours in the sun before burning. Reapplication of the sunscreen may be necessary, as it can be diluted by sweat or washed of by swimming. Reapplication doesn't extend the time of protection, but helps maintain the protection. The SPF system measures only UVB, not UVA rays, so it is important to check the labels for ingredients that block both types of radiation.
All sunscreens use the same FDA-approved list of active ingredients. Most popular now are the cinnamates (cinoxate, di-ethanolamin p-methoxycinnamate, and octyl methoxycinnamate), derived from cinnamon and coca leaves. These and para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) offer good UVB protection.
Your natural food store carries a number of natural sun lotions that will protect you from UVB rays. There is one sunscreen product that is made with organically-grown oil and biodynamically-grown herbs. A few other natural food store brands contain organically-grown or biodynamically-grown herbs--check the labels.
Unfortunately, if you want protection from both UVA and UVB rays, you may need to accept some petrochemical ingredients. Active ingredients ending in "benzone" (such as dioybenzone and glyceryl animobenzone) offer good UVB protection, but are made from petrochemicals. Other petrochemical ingredients found in sunscreens include ethanol, artificial fragrance, and mineral oil (which is drying to the skin).
While sunscreens are widely recommended, there is some concern that regular use of even natural sunscreen can interfere with your skin's ability to produce vitamin D. The Journal of Clinical Endochronologic Metabolism reports that scientifically controlled studies of skin not treated with sunscreen versus skin treated with sunscreen (SPF-8) demonstrated a large difference in vitamin D production. The sunscreened skin showed no change in vitamin D, while the untreated subjects had blood-level increases of 1600 percent.
NOTE: The FDA cautions parents not to apply sunscreen to babies until they are six months old.
SUNGLASSES
Sunglasses look cool and give your eyes protection from harmful rays, but are mostly made from plastic, a nonrewable nonbiodegradable material. An alternative is to wear a baseball cap or wide-brimmed hat, which allows your eyes and face to be shaded while still allowing natural light.
by Debra Lynn Dadd
Author, Home Safe Home
To contact Debra, e-mail debra@dld123.com .Copyright © Debra Lynn Dadd
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Written by: Debra Lynn Dadd.
To contact Debra, e-mail debra@dld123.com ."The queen of green" - New York Times
"The guru of nontoxic living" - KCBS-TV News
"One of the country's few authorities on natural and nontoxic consumer affairs" - Boston Globe
"The godmother of natural living" - New Age JournalDebra's work as a consumer advocate, author, and consultant has been a leading influence on the natural products market-to consumers, marketers, and manufacturers-for almost two decades. Many refer to her well-researched consumer guidebooks as their "bibles."
Back in 1980, when a "green" product was one the color of grass and "hazardous waste" was something you found only in a factory, Debra was diagnosed with an immune system disorder commonly known now as "environmental illness" or "chemical sensitivity." Her widely varied symptoms were disabling, but she was told there was no cure-other than removing toxic chemicals from her home. As no books on household toxics or nontoxic alternative products were then available, she set out to write one, and in the process healed herself and countless others.
After self-publishing her first consumer manual for others with chemical sensitivities, the makers of nontoxic Bon Ami Polishing Cleanser sent her on a media tour to promote the concept of nontoxic cleaning products. By then it had become clear that the issue of chemicals in products was much larger than a few sensitive individuals; as she researched toxic chemicals in products Debra found that many products contained chemicals that are harmful to the general public and that illness caused by these household toxics could be prevented. Nontoxic & Natural was published in 1984, followed by The Nontoxic Home in 1986. Both books not only alerted consumers to toxic dangers, but offered alternative products.
By 1987, Debra was living in a completely nontoxic home in an idyllic Northern California forest. Having taken the idea of toxics within the home as far as it would go, she realized that our consumer choices also affected the larger environment as well as our own health. She began to research the environmental effects of consumer products and in 1990 came out with Nontoxic, Natural & Earthwise, adding products that had environmental benefits--such as being recycled, energy-efficient, biodegradable, or organically-grown--to her lists of nontoxic and natural goods. In 1992, her other book was updated to The Nontoxic Home & Office.
As products with environmental claims flooded the market, Debra became concerned that many of the products that made environmental claims were nothing more than green hype. Because there were no standards or guidelines for evaluating green products, Debra set out to discover what it means to truly live in a way that is responsible to the earth. Her book, Sustaining the Earth, called for sustainability to be used as the standard for evaluating consumer products, and told everything a consumer needs to know to evaluate green products for themselves.
Debra's work came full circle in 1997 with the publication of Home Safe Home, a new, completely revised edition of her books on household toxics. With new scientific evidence showing the dangers of common household products to be even worse than previously imagined, her work continues to be timely and valuable.
In addition to writing books, Debra published her own newsletter (1985-1991), and has written occasional articles for Vegetarian Times, New Age Journal, Greenpeace, East West Journal (now Natural Health) and Self magazines as well as major newspapers, including USA Weekend. She has written columns for Let's Live (1986-1990) and Environmental Action (1990-1991) magazines and is currently a columnist for Natural Home magazine.
Debra is also a co-founder of WorldWise, Inc., a company that provides useful products that enhance sustainable living through mass market outlets. To contact Debra, e-mail debra@dld123.com .
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