Nontoxic Resources
This is my curated list of additional resources to help you find non-toxic products or, more generally, to optimize your health. These are sources that I either use myself or recommend based on an assessment of their objectivity, organizational goals and quality of information.
Building Products/Healthy Buildings
Building Biology Institute
BBI educates people from all professions and walks of life about the hazards to human health from electromagnetic radiation, indoor air & water pollution and toxic building materials. The Institute’s website offers a wealth of free information (factsheets, videos, articles, downloads), as well as a comprehensive curriculum that includes online courses (self-study), a mentored correspondence course, and six instructor-led 5-day seminars. The institute also offers professional certification training for those who wish to make a profound difference in the health and wellbeing of others, training and certifying Building Biology Environmental Consultants (BBEC), Electromagnetic Radiation Specialists (EMRS), and Building Biology New-build Consultants (BBNC). Also offered is Building Biology Activist (BBA) Certification, which can be accomplished entirely from your home or office, and at your own pace.
You can search for a certified BBI professional in your area.
BBI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit environmental education organization.
Building Green
A huge amount of information on green building and green building products, compiled and commented on by people who know this field. There are listings of environmentally-preferable building products with descriptions, manufacturer information and links to additional resources. Some information is free and some requires a paid subscription. All listings are screened and written by their experienced staff. This site is pretty nuts-and-bolts, geared more to professional architects and builders, and gives more information that you may need or want to know as a homeowner, but it is a great resource for anyone interested in green building.
Green Home Guide
This site is dedicated to making it easier for consumers to choose green building and remodeling products. Click on "Articles" and you'll find essays on choosing green products and lists of links to the most popular green products of that type. The site is targeted for Northern California resources, but is worth visiting regardless of where you live.
Chemical Sensitivities (MCS)
Canary Chat Facebook Group
Canary Chat is a Facebook discussion group for people with loss of chemical tolerance/chemical sensitivity and their supporters (family, friends, caregivers.)
Canary Care
Canary Care is a service that gives planning, project, and lifestyle advice to people who are chemically-sensitive. They can help you with building, remodeling, travel, and shopping, by the project or by the hour.
Learn More or email care@canarycaremcs.com
InspectAPedia
InspectAPedia is a site for home inspectors but they have a section dedicated to finding the sources of chemical odors and methods to eliminate them.
Environmental Sensitivities Research Team
Nirvana Safe Haven
“ESRT has been researching the life impacts of having sensitivities since 1992. we are HOUSED at James Madison University, AND consists of Pam Gibson and students who commit to working on the topic of environmental sensitivities, both chemical sensitivities (MCS) and electrical hypersensitivities (EHS). You can read about our current studies and access many of our papers on this site.”
Since 1997 Nirvana Safe has been creating healthy healing allergy free, toxic and chemical free environments for all who ask. Owner, Daliya Robson says, “I have no medical qualifications but experience with environmental holistic practitioners for 40 years helped some alleviation of symptoms from Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and broken thyroid as well as toxic brain syndrome. It has often been called environmental illness. I can share their advice with you.”
Nirvana Safe Haven sells odor-removal products, organic bedding and more.
Learn More or contact Daliya at daliya@nontoxic.com
MEpedia
Homesick.com
MEpedia is a crowd-sourced, Wikipedia-style encyclopedia of the news, history, and science of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and other conditions including Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS).
Homesick: Living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities is a documentary by Susan Abod that features the innovative solutions people living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) devise in their search for a home that doesn’t make them sick. The website provides more information about the documentary as well as link to rent or purchase it.
Consumer Products
Environmental Working Group (EWG)
EWG is a non-profit organization that provides research and consumer education to inform consumer choice and drive civic action. They have a number of consumer guides including Skin Deep, which rates the safety of cosmetics and personal care products, Guide to Healthy Cleaning, and Guide to Sunscreens.
Ecology Center
A non-profit organization dedicated to providing research and consumer education to help people live healthier lives. Features include Green Living Resources which provides articles about healthy living and Healthy Stuff which conducts research and reports on chemicals in everyday products.
MADE SAFE
MADE SAFE is a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the way products are made and to ultimately eliminate the use of toxic chemicals. Products with a MADE SAFE seal use only safe ingredients. Approved products are initially screened to ensure they don’t contain ingredients from their banned list of over 6500 of the most harmful chemicals. They then go through a multi-step screening process that assesses the entire ecosystem. MADE SAFE has several categories of certified products including cosmetics and personal care but also harder-to-find categories like fragrance-free and intimate care.
MADE SAFE has a new initiative called the Grant Program for business owners from under-represented groups to make it easier to get their products certified.
Food/Supplements
ConsumerLab.com
ConsumerLab.com provides “independent test results and information to help consumers and healthcare professionals identify the best quality health and nutrition products. Since its founding in 1999, CL has tested more than 6,600 products, representing over 900 different brands and nearly every type of popular supplement for adults, children, and pets.” You can sign up for a free newsletter to get information about new product reviews and recalls and warnings about nutritional products. The full product reviews, however, require a paid subscription.
Health
Go Healthy with Karen®, LLC
"Karen is a certified Myers Detox Coach who performs hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA). HTMA can help you understand a wealth of information about your nutritional status and how efficiently your body is working. As well as being easily collected in the comfort of your own home, a very small, properly obtained hair sample can show the accumulation of toxic metals and your mineral status over a long period of time. Blood testing, by comparison only gives the information at the moment the blood is taken and urine sampling gives the information on what the body is excreting but not necessarily what it is absorbing or storing. Using your Hair Mineral Analysis (HTMA) results and over 20 years of experience and training, Karen creates a personalized program to help you optimize your health and wellness potential.
Karen is also a Certified Health Coach, Certified NES Bioenergetics Practitioner and a Certified Pregnancy Health Coach
HealthLabs.com
Offers lab tests without requiring a doctor’s prescription. You order the tests online or by phone, then take your receipt to one of 2000+ local labs, where your blood is drawn. Get results within 3 business days. Tests include Allergy Testing, Anemia, Anti-Aging / Hormones, Arthritis, Blood Typing, Cancer, Cardiac / Cholesterol, Celiac Disease, Diabetes, Drugs, Fertility, Gastrointestinal, General Health / Wellness, Heavy Metals / Toxins, Hepatitis, Immunity Detection, Kidney (Renal) Function, Liver Function, Military Testing, Pregnancy / Prenatal, Prostate, Sports Testing, STD Testing, Thyroid, and Vitamin & Nutritional Testing.