Dr. Flanagan''s Health Secrets

Greetings!

I am Dr. Patrick Flanagan and this is my latest Health Secrets installment sent directly to your email box.

I am a scientist with over 300 inventions related to health, longevity and medicine. This newsletter installment is about fabric softener and dryer sheets and their effects on your body.

He’s cute, sweet, gentle, innocent. He loves you almost as much as he loves your laundry, and he’d be willing to do just about anything to prove to you how "snuggly" he really is. Aside from how scary it would be to have a stuffed bear show up inside your laundry room, what is scarier is the product that he is toting. Yes, our dear friend and possessed little laundry buddy, is pushing a product that causes more health problems than could fit on one label.

Your clothes may be soft, and they may smell "fresh," but dryer sheets and fabric softeners are some of the most toxic products on the market. Most people have no idea what toxins are actually in these products, but if they did, it is likely that they would stay clear of them and resort to less fragranced means of finding freshness.

It is easy to tell you that dryer sheets and fabric softeners can lead to cancer and brain damage, but it would help if these chemicals were broken down a little further.

A common name that is found on the back of labels is benzyl acetate, which known to suspected of causing pancreatic cancer. Benzyl alcohol is another frequent find and is known to cause irritation in the upper respiratory tract. Ethanol, also easily found, is on the Environmental Protection Agency’s hazardous waste list, and is known to cause central nervous system disorders. Limonene is a known carcinogen.

Ethyl acetate is a narcotic on the EPA’s Hazardous Waste list. Pentane is hazardous if inhaled. Chloroform is a neurotoxin and a carcinogen. The chemicals in these products are so strong, that it takes about 50 times more fragrance to cover them up than is used in perfumes. Need I go on? I could, but I think you are getting the not-so-bright picture. Fabric softeners stay in your clothing for a lot longer than they should, and the chemicals found within them are released into your skin and into the air for you to absorb. Some lesser effects of fabric softener exposure are headaches, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, and blood pressure reduction. No big deal I suppose, but I would rather save my health than have soft clothing.

FULL ARTICLE AT    www.drhealthsecrets.com/news_fabric_softner.html