Archive for July, 2007
Autism & pesticides?
There’s been a recent study in California from the Public Health Department that links organochlorine pesticides with a higher occurrence of autism.
Specifically, it tracks the children of women who lived near fields (within 500 meters) that were sprayed with the organochlorine class of pesticides when the women were in their first trimester of pregnancy.
Based on [...]
Aha! Grease stains gone!
Cornmeal. It’s one of my favorite things in the kitchen. Being married to a Moldovan, we eat mamaliga (polenta-esque) pretty frequently (though I have to admit – I just can’t get it right!). And I use it on my pizza pan to keep the crust from sticking as it bakes.
But it has a great cleaning [...]
Antibacterials, part 2: Triclosan
Triclosan (not to be confused with Tryptophan – an amino acid in turkey that makes you sleepy) is one of the active ingredients of most anti-bacterials – 75% in fact. But a March study said that the triclosan in those products breaks down rapidly in chlorinated water and produces toxic chemicals including chloroform! [...]
Anti-bacterials: part 1
Walk down the hand-soap aisle of your supermarket and see how many you can spot that are not anti-bacterial. I went to my grocery store trying to buy soap that wasn’t anti-bacterial, and of the probably 40+ varieties on the shelf, I was only able to find one that wasn’t anti-bacterial. A marketplace study in [...]
Dog Days of Summer has 2 winners
Congratulations to… (drumroll, please)
The child SIGG will go to Kristin at This Classical Life
And the adult SIGG will go to Lucy at Macy Fron
And thanks to the Random number generator for making the choice so easy!
Blackle!
I’m a Google fan. In fact, I’ve incorporated Google into my vocabulary as a verb. (”I’ll google it”) But Blackle has found a way to harness the power of Google while saving energy.
Here’s how it works. A white screen (like the one Google uses) uses about 74 watts of power, and a predominately black screen [...]
Disposal of your cleaning chemicals
Sanitation workers are injured more frequently than you’d imagine by chemical burns and other chemical-related hazards. So it’s usually not good to chunk your cleaning chemicals in the trash when you decide to come over to the greener side. (’Cause, you know, the grass really is greener on this side…)
But a lot of what you [...]
First step to natural cleaning?
I’ve checked out every book my library system has on ‘green cleaning’ and ‘green living.’ Each had its pros and cons – useful for some things, not so useful for others. But I just came across Green Clean by Linda Mason Hunter and Mikki Halpin. It’s your go-to book for most situations, filled with a [...]
SIGG bottle giveaway!
Over here at Broom Huggers we’re pretty excited this week. We’ve got a lot going on, not the least of which is our Dog Days of Summer Giveaway, hosted by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.
And we’re giving away – not one, but – two SIGG reusable aluminum water bottles! These were featured on Oprah’s [...]
The experiment continues
Well, at least the consequences of the experiment. See, I have 2 toddlers. Toddlers and cherries do not mix.
Cherry juice doesn’t come out of clothes as easily as it slides off my laminate countertops. And a very nice Janie & Jack striped polo has become a casualty of the cherries.
As an afternote, I realized after [...]
