Life Is Beautiful

Mosquito bites. What can you do to keep from getting them, besides slather yourself and your children down with dangerous DEET? Take a look at that "Family Insect Repellant" you are using. Most say "keep out of reach of children". Scary. Here is a few facts about DEET from the website http://www.environmentalhealth.ca/spring03hazards.html DEET is a registered pesticide. DEET is short for N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (also known as N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide). It is a member of the toluene chemical family. Toluene is an organic solvent used in rubber and plastic cements and paint removers. DEET is absorbed through the skin and passes into the blood. The Medical Sciences Bulletin, published by Pharmaceutical Information Associates Ltd. reports, "Up to 56% of DEET applied topically penetrates intact human skin and 17% is absorbed into the bloodstream." Blood concentrations of about 3 mg per litre have been reported several hours after DEET repellent was applied...

Well, things in my life are settling into a super busy crazy cycle. I have taken on a business that I'm working from home in addition to my full time job and life is good! I started recycling our plastics, paper, and cans at home and at work. I have replaced as much as I can in our house with environmentally responsible and safer alternatives. Ladies and gentlemen, I have a new crusade. I have started to learn about indoor air polution and the carcinogens that the major manufacturers of detergents put in thier products. It's really frightening to think about the cancer rate 100 years ago was 1/60 and now it's 1/3. What happened? Aren't we better educated now and have better technology? Well, what happened is we got lazy. In our best efforts to make things "better" we got a lap full of "worse". We take a pill for every ailment and get side effects from it so that we need more pills. We sit on our butts for a living munching on cheeseburgers and fries ...