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Trichloroethylene is used mainly as a solvent to remove grease from metal parts and as an industrial solvent. It is also an ingredient in adhesives, paint removers, typewriter correction fluids and spot removers. Industrial abbreviations include TCE, trichlor, Trike, Tricky and tri. It has been sold under a variety of trade names. Under the trade names Trimar and Trilene, trichloroethylene was used as a volatile anesthetic and as an inhaled obstetrical analgesic in millions of patients.

Trichloroethylene is not thought to occur naturally in the environment. However, it has been found in underground water sources and many surface waters as a result of the manufacture, use, and disposal of the chemical. Primary methods of exposure include:

• Breathing air in and around the home which has been contaminated with trichloroethylene vapors from shower water or household products such as spot removers and typewriter correction fluid.
• Drinking, swimming, or showering in water that has been contaminated with trichloroethylene.
• Contact with soil contaminated with trichloroethylene, such as near a hazardous waste site.
• Contact with the skin or breathing contaminated air while manufacturing trichloroethylene or using it at work to wash paint or grease from skin or equipment.
• It has been used to extract vegetable oils from plant materials such as soy, coconut, and palm.
• Also has been used in coffee decaffeination and the preparation of flavoring extracts from hops and spices.

Breathing small amounts may cause headaches, lung irritation, dizziness, poor coordination, and difficulty concentrating. Breathing large amounts of trichloroethylene may cause impaired heart function, unconsciousness, and death. Breathing it for long periods of time may cause nerve, kidney, and liver damage.

Drinking large amounts of trichloroethylene may cause nausea, liver damage, unconsciousness, impaired heart function, or death. Drinking small amounts of trichloroethylene for long periods may cause liver and kidney damage, impaired immune system function, and impaired fetal development in pregnant women, although the extent of some of these effects is not yet clear.

Skin contact with trichloroethylene for short periods may cause skin rashes.

Toluene (methylbenzene, toluol, phenylmethane) is an aromatic hydrocarbon commonly used as an industrial solvent for the manufacturing of paints, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and rubber. Toluene is found in gasoline, acrylic paints, varnishes, lacquers, paint thinners, adhesives, glues, rubber cement, airplane glue, and shoe polish.

Toxicity can occur from unintentional or deliberate inhalation of fumes, ingestion, or transdermal (skin) absorption. Toluene abuse or "glue sniffing" has become widespread, especially among children or adolescents, because it is readily available and inexpensive. Toluene is commonly abused by saturating or soaking a sock or rag with spray paint, placing it over the nose and mouth, and inhaling to get a sensation of euphoria, buzz, or high.

• Toluene health conditions include: Acute intoxication from inhalation is characterized by rapid onset of CNS symptoms including euphoria, hallucinations, delusions, tinnitus, dizziness, confusion, headache, vertigo, seizures, ataxia, stupor, and coma. Chronic conditions include: CNS sequelae include neuropsychosis, cerebral and cerebellar degeneration with ataxia, seizures, choreoathetosis, optic and peripheral neuropathies, decreased cognitive ability, anosmia, optic atrophy, blindness, ototoxicity, and deafness.
• Toluene has direct negative effects on cardiac automaticity and conduction and can sensitize the myocardium to circulating catecholamines. "Sudden sniffing death" secondary to cardiac arrhythmias has been reported. Pulmonary effects include bronchospasm, asphyxia, acute lung injury (ALI), and aspiration pneumonitis.
• Gastrointestinal symptoms from inhalation and ingestion may result in abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and hematemesis. Hepatotoxicity manifests with ascites, jaundice, hepatomegaly, and liver failure. A rare form of hepatitis—hepatic reticuloendothelial failure (HREF)—has been reported with toluene exposure. With the widespread abuse of volatile substances in young adults today, (hepatitis secondary to toluene toxicity), not just infectious causes, should be considered in the differential diagnosis in the younger patient population who present concerning symptoms.
• Reported renal toxicity from toluene exposure includes: renal tubular acidosis (RTA), hypokalemia, hypophosphatemia, hyperchloremia, azotemia, sterile pyuria, hematuria, and proteinuria.
• Hematologic consequences of exposure may include: lymphocytosis, macrocytosis, eosinophilia, hypochromia, and basophilic stippling, and in severe cases, aplastic anemia.
• Cutaneous contact with skin may range in severity from dermatitis to extensive chemical burns with coagulation necrosis.
• Toluene can affect skeletal muscles directly, resulting in rhabdomyolysis and myoglobinemia. Profound hypokalemia due to RTA can produce severe muscle weakness mimicking Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Sunscreens are chemical agents that help prevent the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation from reaching the skin, or that is what you have been led to believe. SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor and is a measure of a sunscreen's ability to prevent UVB from damaging the skin. Here's how it works: If it takes 20 minutes for your unprotected skin to start turning red, using an SPF 15 sunscreen theoretically prevents reddening 15 times longer — about five hours.

For decades, irresponsible cosmetic companies and a small group of very vocal, publicity-seeking dermatologists have strongly advocated that chemical sunscreens should be heavily applied before any exposure to sunlight, even on young children. They insisted that such sunscreen use would prevent skin cancer and protect your health. This was despite of the lack of any adequate safety testing of these chemicals.

Over the past decade, many scientists studying cancer have come to virtually the opposite conclusion; that is, the use of sunscreen chemicals may be increasing the incidence of cancer and that sunlight exposure may actually decrease human cancer rates and improve your health.

It now appears that many heavily-used chemical sunscreens may actually increase cancers by virtue of their free radical generating properties. And more insidiously, many commonly used sunscreen chemicals have strong estrogenic actions that may cause serious problems in sexual development and adult sexual function, and may further increase cancer risks.

Many companies make "organic" sunscreens that contain synthetic chemicals. But that's not the worst of it. According to our research, sunscreens give users a false sense of security in that while they effectively prevent sunburn, they do little or nothing to prevent accelerated aging of the skin caused by excessive sunlight.

There is no such thing as a safe sun screen other than fresh coconut pulp rubbed onto the skin. One of the best strategies to protect yourself from the sun is actually not a sunscreen at all, it's wearing clothing or getting into the shade. How is that for a home remedy? A sun burn is the body's way of telling you that you are damaging your body to continue staying in the sun. Get out of the sun! Putting harmful chemical agents on your skin may prevent the burn, but it is adding to the cancer potential.

You definitely do want to get some safe sunlight exposure every day, which has also been shown to help protect against as many as 16 different types of cancer, including; breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal, ovarian, bladder, gallbladder, gastric, pancreatic, prostate, rectal, and renal cancers, as well as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Cotton clothing provides about SPF 15, in other words, you will get about 15-times your skin's normal protection from the sun wherever you cover your body with clothing. Just remember that even with protective clothing on your body, it's still important to monitor your skin for the telltale signs of burning.

Food preservation is the procedure of treating and handling food to prevent or greatly slow spoilage by micro-organisms, improve appearance of the food or extend its shelf life. A preservative is any ingredient added (additive) that you would not find in/on that food in nature. There is a reason that nature produces foods with a limited shelf life. The fabulous invention of man to preserve foods makes them look much more appealing, but it is once again at the risk of causing harm to the body.

Some of the most common are:

• Benzoates (such as sodium benzoate, benzoic acid) used in the preservation of many beverages, jams, pickled products, salads, cheeses, meats and margarines.
• Nitrites (such as sodium nitrite) used mainly in packaged meats. They also create a pink, fresh hue to cured meat.
• Sulphites (such as sulphur dioxide) used as a preservative in dried fruits, wines (particularly red wines), fruit juices and in many other food products.
• Sorbates (such as sodium sorbate, potassium sorbate) used in breads, cheeses, bakery products etc.

Some food and color additives have induced allergic reactions, while others have been linked to cancer, asthma, and birth defects. The FDA requires that all ingredients be listed on a food's label, but additives are often listed without specificity, as "spices" or "flavorings," making it impossible for consumers to determine what, exactly, they are eating.

On the other hand, there are numerous additives that must be listed explicitly on packaging because they can cause health problems. These include sulfites, for example, which are used to prevent discoloration. The FDA estimates that sulfites cause allergic reactions in one percent of the general population, and five percent of people who suffer from asthma. Sulfite allergies can develop at any point in a person's life and can result in acute, potentially fatal respiratory distress.

Recent research also points to health risks from eating nitrites, used mainly in packaged meats and also used to create a pink, color to cured meat such as sausages, bacon and hot dogs. But nitrites react with amino acids to form cancer-causing nitrosamine. A 2006 study found that people who regularly eat cured meats have a 71 percent greater chance of contracting lung disease than those who never eat cured meats.

Fruit juices, marketed heavily to parents of young children, nearly always contain additives, including preservatives, artificial sweeteners and colors. A study published in The Lancet in November of 2008 looked at the effects of fruit juice additives on children's behavior, finding that, "Artificial colors or a sodium benzoate preservative (or both) in the diet result in increased hyperactivity in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the general population. In most cases, the increase was nearly 50 percent greater than that observed in children who consumed fruit juice without additives." It is quite simple, if you can't find the item in nature, don't use it!

Of course, everyone realizes petroleum products are used in the gasoline that fuels our vehicles. But did you know petroleum-based components are in medicines, food, and even in the clothes we wear? One 42-gallon barrel of oil creates 19.4 gallons of gasoline. The rest (over half) is used to make things like paint, cosmetics, plastic, vitamin capsules, lip gloss, lotion and 6,000 other things. We are exposed to products that have some petroleum derivative every day.

From the health perspective, petroleum has infiltrated our lives on so many levels that you would have to go back to the cowboys and Indian days to avoid it! Ok, so the creation of petroleum makes tons of toxic C02 gas that is slowly destroying our atmosphere and plant life, and all the plastics we throw away will be there for decades and decades as they are practically nondegradable. This leaches into waterways and harms humans and wildlife, is that really so bad?

The problems of plastics include extreme pollution from production, toxic chemical exposure during use, hazards from fires, and their contribution to the world's growing solid waste crisis. One category of chemicals used in plastic production, especially PVC and vinyl, is called organochlorines, which are resistant to breakdown and will remain in the environment for decades to come. Scientific studies reveal that these chemicals are linked to severe and wide-spread health problems, including infertility, immune system damage, impaired childhood development, hormone disruption, cancer and many other harmful effects.

Mineral Oil, Paraffin, and Petrolatum are Petroleum products that coat the skin like plastic, clogging pores and creating a build-up of toxins, which in turn accumulate and can lead to dermatologic issues. They slow cellular development, which can cause you to show earlier signs of aging. They are a suspected cause of cancer and disrupt hormonal activity. By the way, when there's an oil spill in the ocean, don't they rush to clean it up? Why put that stuff on your skin?

There are too many items and studies about petroleum related products to mention on this page. If this remedy was suggested to you, or you feel that you need to detoxify Petroleum, Phthalates and the many other carcinogens that go with petroleum, it would be helpful if you ensure your personal care items are petroleum free. This includes lip gloss, lotion, shampoo, soap and stop using plastic containers to cook in, store in or drink out of (that includes Styrofoam). Hopefully you do not work in an area that exposes you to foams, insulation, plastic or other petroleum derivatives. Recommendations:

• Use water-based latex paints.
• Look for products based on bee's wax or soy-based waxes.
• Use glass, ceramic, metal, and cloth containers instead of plastic.
• Buy drinks that come in glass containers.

These cancer-causing agents can be sealed into fruit and vegetables by the wax that is used to make produce look shiny. Don't buy shiny produce! Since these pesticides become airborne, even organic produce may carry toxins blown over by the wind from nearby conventional farms. It is best to wash all produce before consuming it. This is especially important when feeding children, as they are more susceptible to the long-term effects of pesticide exposure. Wash them until they squeak! However, washing produce will only remove surface pesticide residue.

Pesticides can also be absorbed from the ground water where plants are grown, which will saturate the produce with pesticides internally so washing only removes the external. But it makes sense to remove as much of the pesticide burden as you can. If you are not going to buy organic produce, it may be wise to peel and discard the peel of the vegetable or fruit to avoid the many toxic chemicals.

In addition to their direct neurotoxic effects, many pesticides also inhibit cellular glucose metabolism. Inefficient glucose metabolism demands that the pancreas produce more insulin. Increased insulin means more fat cells. Get the picture? We all know we should eat our fruits and vegetables, but the chemicals used to keep those veggies looking fresh on the shelf may play a causal role in insulin resistance, diabetes and obesity.

Pesticides and fungicides also uncouple the metabolic process of oxidative phosphorylation, a key process by which normal cells produce energy using glucose and oxygen. In effect, cells die from suffocation. Feeding a child pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables is, from a cellular viewpoint, like holding a pillow over the child's face! Did I mention how important organic produce is?

Don't Buy Shiny Produce! Apples, cucumbers, bell peppers and others are often treated with a glossy wax that seals in pesticides/fungicides making it much more difficult to remove toxic residues. Produce should not have a smooth glassy texture. Nature doesn't make it that way, man's ingenious poisons do.

Avoid Produce from Abroad. South America and Mexico have fewer restrictions on pesticide use. Produce from other countries can be much more contaminated than that grown in the US, not that our standards are really adequate.

Be Careful with Peanuts. Peanuts grow fungus very easily, and most commercial distributors spray huge amounts of fungicide to control the problem. Avoid peanuts and peanut products not organically grown.

We do not supply a general 'Pesticide' antidote, but have broken that category down into Fungicides, Herbicides and Insecticides. You are welcome to use all three of them if you are not sure which fits your needs best.