Health Hazards of using Chlorine in Bleach

Last week I went to clean the bathroom. I got my bowl full of hot soapy water and added Clorox Bleach to it. Within a few minutes my throat seemed tight, my lungs were having a hard time breathing and I had to go outside for quite a while before these feelings left. I walked back into the house just to leave again because I could now smell the fumes throughout the house. I don't remember ever having this type of reaction before so I thought I would do some investigating and identify what caused this.

My first approach is to identify what compounds make up bleach. I pulled out my bottle of Clorox Bleach and it says the ingredients are:

• 6% Sodium Hypochlorite
• 94% Other ingredients

Below it says that it yields 5.7% available chlorine.

Now that I know what the ingredients are - well at least 6% of the known ingredients I want to learn what Sodium Hypochlorite is and my research found this:

Sodium hypochlorite is made by mixing chlorine gas in a cold sodium hydroxide solution. Chlorine when a gas form can only become liquid when cold and then it converts back to a gas easily once released. Chlorine Gas stays close to the ground and spreads quickly exposing those closer to the ground to harmful toxic fumes.

What types of products have chlorine in them?

• used as disinfectants in our water systems
• household cleaners like laundry detergents
• Bleach

Other names for chlorine:

• Triahlomethanes
• PCB's Polychlorinated biphenyls
• Vinyl Chloride
• Organochlorines
• C12
• Molecular Chlorine
• Bertholite

Cleaning 101 suggestions without using Chlorine products:

Since this situation took place last week I have decided that my body is telling me that I should no longer be using Bleach so I have identified some other ways of cleaning without killing my throat, lungs and nose airways.

• Distilled White Vinegar works as well if not better than bleach
• 20 drops of Essential Oil of Lavender to 1 cup of tap water in a water bottle
• Microwave wood cutting boards for over 10 minutes or let soak in soapy water

Also look at companies like Seventh Generation who creates healthy products for daily use including chlorine free bleach.

seventhgeneration.com

Basic Car Maintenance to Save on Gas at the pump

As a nation we can all do little things to help conserve on our fuel economy. If you drive a car, truck or SUV you know the prices of gas is high. I remember when we used to fill up our Toyota at $16.00 a tank (and we thought that was high) now it's over $36.00 a tank.

We always try to remember to check these items to lower that $$ price per gallon need

• Buy gasoline at the earliest or coldest time of the day. Gas becomes dense when cold and you get more for your money.
• Inflate tires to the manufacturers setting. This can help increase miles per gallon by 3%.
• Remove items from your trunk. The more weight you are driving around the more gas you are sucking down.
• Change the Air Filter - I learned this one when I was 16 in Auto Class at High School.
• In Drivers Education I was taught that if I maintained speeds between 45 - 55 mph I would conserve gas.
• Use Cruise Control as it helps maintain a steady speed saving you potentially some gas.
• Remove racks and carriers. Living in Utah you will see a lot of cars with ski racks on and they all know that keeping these on during summer reduces their gas mileage.
• Buy lower vehicles which encounter less wind resistance
• Avoid the Drive Through as the idling time usually takes over 6 minutes waiting to order, pay and get food.
• Carpool 1x a week or give someone else a lift
• Use Public Transportation
• Look for state Tax incentives to buy new car "types" like Biodiesel
• Once you are on the road complete all Tasks so you don't need to take "extra" trips back out.

Driving cheaply makes everyone happy!

8 tons of carbon output

I just went and took the ECP Test to identify my carbon footprint in the United States. I came up with a 261 ECP Score or as they consider a Carbon Output of 8 tons. It amazes me that it could be that since both my husband and I work from home. We hardly drive anywhere (we are a bit of work-a-holics) and we fly for business about 4-8x's a year.

We run a medical billing and consulting service using virtually ZERO paper and we also offer online training videos, use online training tools and electronic training tools for our clients. So I guess it's possible that Home Bodies can actually still damage the universe with driving under 7000 miles a year.

Take your test through EarthLab by visiting earthlab.com/carbonprofile. They score people from a 150 - 900 with the United States Averages being 325 (Canada is at 305).

Steps I have taken since I was a child to conserve

• I recycled aluminum cans, milk jugs, newspapers and glass.
• Turned off the lights (even when at times the hallway seemed scary to go down in the dark I was conserving energy)
• Took shorter showers (does 10 minutes count as short?)
• Recycled toilet paper rolls
• We planted two beautiful Maple Trees this year
• Use Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) Lighting
• I have tried carpooling a few times (Hate it)
• Turn off my computer monitors at night
• Recycle paper from my desk (the shredding company recycles it for us)
• Water - Efficient Shower head
• I buy LOCAL products at Whole Foods

Seriously I can't imagine why I have a Carbon Output of 8 tons. What is everyone else getting?