MCS Environment Tips

On nice days I keep the window in my son's room open to let in the fresh air.

Environmental treatment tips that helped my son's chemical sensitivities (MCS) included:

1. We buy dye and perfume free laundry detergent. Currently I use Arm and Hammer Perfume and Dye Free detergent on underwear, towels and sheets. I use All Free and Clear for everything else. The Arm and Hammer detergent gets clothes the cleanest, but repeated washings can fade the colors on shorts and pants.

Sometimes my kids will borrow clothes from friends or I'll wash clothes that get left at our house. I'm amazed at how strong of a perfume scent is on the clothes just from other's scented laundry detergents.

2. For deodorant we buy Tom's of Maine unscented stick deodorant. As an added plus, it is aluminum free.

3. We buy either metal, glass or all wood furniture to avoid formaldehyde fumes from pressed woods. My son develops headaches and wobbly eyes (nystagmus) whenever he is around manufactured wood products.

4. Buying chemical free soaps. For hand washing we buy Kiss My Face Organic Rosemary & Melon Self Foaming Liquid Soap in bulk containers from Amazon. For bath soap we use unscented pure glycerin soap at the supermarket.

5. Weather permitting, we keep some of the windows open in the house during the day, weather permitting. Indoor rooms, if sealed up too tight, can result in sick building syndrome.

6. We moved out many of the plastic and vinyl toys from his room, like his Lego collection, to reduce his chemical exposures. We keep some stored in boxes in the garage and a smaller set in the family room which has more ventilation.

7. We washed his bedding frequently to limit his dust and mold exposure.

8. We kept the windows open to our new van when it is parked in the garage overnight to help it air out and get rid of the "new car smell". New cars are sources of a variety of potentiality toxic chemicals including formaldehyde and benzene. Japanese auto makers, including Toyota, are currently striving to reduce the number of harmful chemicals found in new cars.

9. We use only natural pesticides around the house. I noticed my son had more health issues right after signs went up at his school that the buildings had had been treated with pesticides. I guess it is good they put the signs up, but that still didn't help my son any.

Personally, I'd prefer to be around cockroaches over poisonous chemicals any day.

This whole idea of regularly spraying schools with toxic pesticides seems crazy to me. I think for many children they are creating a worse problem than the one they are trying to solve. A few cockroaches never killed anyone, but people getting headaches, asthma attacks and other bad reactions from pesticides are not uncommon.

For ant attacks we use a Product called Orange Guard. Its active ingredient is orange peel extract. Ants hate it but it smells great and is supposed to be safe around humans. For ant traps we use Terro ant traps. They do contain a poison but it is mixed with a syrupy liquid so it isn't dispersed into the air. The ants love the taste and take the bait back to the colony. It takes a few days to work for big colonies but overall it is the most effective ant trap we have found.

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