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Hand Sanitizers and Safety

Although gel hand sanitizers have proven in tests to reduce gastrointestinal illnesses and the spread of contagions compared to ordinary soap and water, their high alcohol content can be poisonous to children who ingest them. Photo: Living is Easy with Eyes Closed, courtesy Flickr.

ear EarthTalk: My pediatrician swears by those gel hand sanitizers for lowering the risk of my family getting sick during cold and flu season. But I've also heard that these products can be dangerous to kids if ingested. Are there any safer alternatives that work just as well?
--Jason Blalock, Oakland, CA

A 2005 study by the Children's Hospital in Boston compared illness rates across a study group of 292 families—half of them got hand sanitizers while the other half were given literature advising them of the benefits of frequent hand washing. The findings revealed that those families who used hand sanitizers experienced a 59 percent reduction in gastrointestinal illnesses and that the increased use of sanitizers correlated to a decreased spread of contagions in general.

Diary of a New Homemaker
for Friday, April 25, 2008

Happy 7th Birthday, LouLou!

Louisa Mei is seven years old today!

A Seasonal Taste:

Five Organic Gardening Must-Haves

or any gardener who still hasn't been convinced about the need to garden organically, here are some statistics that may help change your mind. In March of 2001, the American Cancer Society published a report linking the use of the herbicide glyphosate (commonly sold as Round-up) with a 27% increased likelihood of contracting Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. John Hopkins University also revealed that home gardeners use almost 10 times more pesticide per acre than the average farmer and that diseases caused by environmental illness, exposure to chemicals etc., is now the number one cause of death in the U.S.

With the EPA's recent phasing out of common pesticides such as Dursban and Diazinon, we are now realizing that many of the chemicals that we thought were "safe" were never actually tested to see what their affect on children, women, and the elderly could be. The time has come to reassess our dependence on pesticides. For anyone contemplating the switch to organic gardening, here are a few ingredients that should be in every gardener's toolkit.

A Taste of the Clean and Organized Section:

Space Clearing Tips for the New Year

s we embark upon this new year, while it is a time for that new diet as we recover from the binges of the holidays to shed the unwanted pounds they have brought, a time to embrace our new year's resolutions affirming our ideals and aspirations for a better future, it is also a time to let go of the old energies which may be lingering in our homes to make way for the new. The start of a new year presents an opportunity to turn our attention to the energetic remanants lingering from the past, for a fresh start of the new year.

Recent member blog entries:

• Pre-Adoption Training
  --from Anhata's blog
• Mind of a young homemaker
  --from YoungMidwestHomemaker's blog
• Call me SAHM
  --from Anhata's blog
• "Magic." 1.
  --from Josephine's blog
• MAIN CHARACTERS
  --from Josephine's blog

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The important thing isn't the house. It's the ability to make it. You carry that in your brains and in your hands, wherever you go... It's one thing to carry your life wherever you go. Another thing to always go looking for it somewhere else. Barbara Kingsolver

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