Be Aware of Toxic Odors Around Kids and Adults
Environmental Awareness
New data for 2011 found on WebMD.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted from
the adhesives, sealers, and plastics used in manufacturing your home and
vehicle. Styrenes, benzenes, and formaldehyde are just a few of the VOCs
found in that new-car smell. VOC concentrations can give off vapors
reaching unhealthy levels in a closed environment heated by the sun. In the
United States, new car manufacturers are allowed 128 times the VOCs that
are allowed in Australia.
The vaporized chemical compounds such as benzene, a known carcinogen
found in gasoline, and formaldehyde, a tissue preservative used by pathologists,
can cause symptoms such as eye, throat, and nose irritation; headaches; nausea
and vomiting; and dizziness. Fortunately, these high concentrations of VOCs
dissipate a few months after the car is manufactured.
For me, the sweet smell of success isn’t at the hospital either. In the
operating room, where unpleasant odors prevail, hospital employees
sometimes deodorize with peppermint oil diluted in alcohol. Often there is
no written policy or procedure for use of “peppermint spirit,” too much oil
is often used, causing excessive vapors that burn our eyes. Tearing vision is
difficult to fix when you are “scrubbed in” and have to maintain a sterile
environment. Instead, I prefer to apply one of my own essential oils, such
as ginger, to my disposable face mask to help overshadow the foul odors and
calm my stomach.
Aromatherapy is one of the fastest-growing fields in alternative medicine
and is quickly working its way into the mainstream. It is commonly used
in hospitals and clinics for various applications such as pain relief and for
side effects of nausea from chemotherapy, rehabilitation of cardiac patients,
and relief of anxiety and pain for women laboring at childbirth. You may be
wondering, “If essential oils are so valuable and effective, why isn’t everyone
using them to stay healthy and energetic?” The answer is simple. With the
beginning of modern medicine in the twentieth century, essential oils, like
herbs, have been pushed aside for synthetic wonder drugs.
Buy doTERRA’s pure essential oils.
James Geiger MD
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