Jasmine and Her Continuing Tousle With Air Quality

I'm spending much of many of my days up our local mountains carrying Jasmine, our African Grey parrot, in her backpack travel cage. As the temperature increases here during the summer, the air quality in the local environment of our apartment and its surrounds continues to worsen.When we got Jazzy at the local pet store she already frequently scratched herself around her neck, resulting in patches where feathers were removed by her scratching. She improved enormously when she first came to live with us. Since then we moved to another apartment and our environment has become increasingly filled with strongly perfumed cleaning agents, laundry detergents, fabric softeners, aerosol spray products, insecticides, cosmetics and perfumes that are universally used. We're unable to keep these out of our apartment and even the apartment block grounds smell strongly of a mixture of the many products emanating from people's apartments.

When at home: my eyes sting, skin itches, it's hard to breathe, and many other things too boring to list here. I watch myself losing a battle to keep ahead of these symptoms. I watch my husband developing increasing 'allergy' symptoms when he's around strongly scented products. Almost everyone we meet claims they have, or someone in their family has, allergies, asthma, headaches, rashes. But most heart-wrenching of all, I watch our little Jasmine, scratching, and since some weeks now, actually pulling out her feathers.

When we got Jasmine I had no idea that we would encounter such problems with her, especially since, due to chemical injury as a child, I'm unable to use strong chemical agents and so we have none used or directly present in our home. It turns out that she has become the 'canary' in our apartment 'coal mine'.
She still sings, chats, laughs, plays and is happy, but her skin is irritated. When I take her out to the fresh air in the mountains all this scratching and fussing stops. But if we meet someone who smells of fabric softener in their clothes, or who is wearing perfume, or uses strongly scented cosmetics, she immediately starts scratching furiously.

We're unable to move from where we live right now. We've bought more large, powerful air filters designed to remove chemicals from the air. They certainly help, and without them Jasmine cries, screeches in discomfort, and becomes worse with the scratching and even becomes lethargic. Around the apartment, where Jasmine goes, there go the filters with her. In March we added a second air filter and we have both filters running continuously in whatever room Jasmine is in. Last week we added two more and this week we'll be receiving another one.

These air filters are helping but unfortunately they're not able to deal with the concentrations that are coming into our living space. It seems that with each passing month stronger concentrations and larger amounts are being used. Floor polish is used on the apartment block hallway floors two to three times a week. There is no ventilation in the stairwells and so this brings fumes from the polish into our home for many hours. The concentration of fabric softeners and scent used in laundry products makes the laundry drying on people's balconies incredibly strong. These two factors alone have a big effect on Jasmine.

If I knew someone who could take care of Jasmine in a relatively toxin-free environment I would gladly give her to them in order to keep her well and safe. I've discovered that the papers we were given when we bought her do not correspond to her identity given on her leg band, so we don't have her papers of origin. We're currently looking into this, but without papers of origin it's not possible to take an African Grey out of the country, which means I can't send her to someone I know who could take care of her in a good environment.

Even when Jazzy is uncomfortable she sings and gives kisses and lots of love and is a very good sport. When she complains by being noisy, if I can change something to improve the air conditions she invariably stops making noise and resumes playing normally very soon after.

Birds always try instinctively to show a good face even if they don't feel well because a flock will shun a bird that is unwell. This is why a bird can appear well and then seemingly all of a sudden become very unwell and even die.

It's devastating to witness the havoc we're creating on our planet. My own suffering or that of other humans is so much easier to accept: we're creating it after all, and what we get to some extent, just by being a part of society, we are a part of reaping in some way. But innocent creatures such as birds, frogs, bees, fish, turtles,.... They suffer more than we do (at least so far), without having contributed to this destruction.
















Living, watching this incredibly beautiful, vital and brave creature who lives with us, pull out one feather after another in irritated distress, slipping slowly, but gradually each day, as a result of our ignorant actions is enough to break a heart.

So I continue to take Jazzy to spend as much of our days in fresh air as I can manage until we're able to move somewhere more independent of others' personal use of the myriad products available today.

This means that I have much less energy and time available to write blog posts and to paint. There are still many beautiful sights and lovely days and moments in our lives. But I sure hope that we all in society can find a way to live that allows human kind and the earth to thrive into the future.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this blog. It's very rewarding and is a fun experience thanks to you. Please forgive the more emotional nature of this post; I've tried hard in the past to present data uncluttered by personal emotion in previous posts about toxic chemicals in our society. But the heartache of watching a beloved and innocent parrot suffer, pushes me to plead with anyone who can relate to what we're doing to ourselves and our loved ones.
We're playing with a very dangerous path into the future, and if individuals do not educate themselves and wake up to these dangers soon, we will be driven by a consumer capitalist economy to destruction, taking all that we value down with us. It's a huge problem, one bigger than I can possibly understand and one which I know that I'm equally a part of the problem.

But one thing is for sure: if we could each, as individuals, stop buying these products that are creating these toxic effects it would slow down their use and their production and this would at least be a start to helping improve our and our planet's future.

Air Filters For Asthma, Allergies and Chemical Sensitivity

If you have asthma, allergies or chemical sensitivies one of the best things you can do to reduce the symptoms you experience is to use an air filter. Do you often have a runny nose, congestion, sore throats, dry irritated eyes? Do you, or someone in your family, catch colds frequently? Do you have trouble sleeping? Running one or two air filters in your home can dramatically reduce the particulates and chemicals present in your indoor air. And this can have a dramatic effect on how you feel.

It's especially important also for babies and young children. Last month the Los Angeles Times published an article "Common chemicals pose danger for fetuses, scientists warn". Two hundred leading environmental scientists from five continents around the world wrote a declaration stating that exposure to common chemicals makes babies more likely to develop an array of health problems later in life. These health problems included: diabetes, attention deficit disorders, prostate cancer, fertility problems, thyroid disorders and even obesity.

In the article, Dr. Bruce Lanphear, director of the Environmental Health Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is quoted as saying: "Reducing exposure would lead to tremendous benefits. We shouldn't wait for an epidemic to fully mature before we develop policies to protect children."

Pollution is also a big concern. Ozone is created when car pollutants interact with sunlight. With summer coming we're moving into a time when ozone levels in outdoor air increase. The International Herald Tribune posted a blog article today discussing the effects of ozone pollution. Ozone attacks the lung's lining and causes coughing, wheezing and watery eyes. The article says that many cities in Europe routinely exceed what the European Environment Agency deems to be harmful levels of ozone in the air. Ozone travels large distances and so it is a problem for people outside the cities also. It is suggested that people with lung problems avoid outdoor exercise when levels are high.

There are many sources of pollution that enter our homes, both from the inside and outside. An air filter is a very effective way to reduce our exposure. There are quite a variety of filters available on the market and there are a few things it is good to be aware of. The quality of the components and substances used in these filters is extremely important, otherwise the filter itself ends up introducing unwanted chemicals.

I bought a very expensive filter a year ago that was advertised as being suitable for those with chemical sensitivity, but it turned out that the unit itself was releasing chemicals that caused problems. It was housed in a soft pliable plastic, which undoubtedly makes it more durable and robust to denting, but which released chemicals that caused increased breathing difficulty.

It's also important that the manufacturer take care to ensure that oils lubricating the motor don't cause contamination. And the quality of the carbon filters also needs to be high.

I highly recommend the filter company AllerAir. They have all types of filters. The HEPA filter and high efficiency carbon filter remove airborne chemicals, gases, odors and particles. They know firsthand what materials are required for someone with chemical sensitivities because the company was established after a member of the family developed MCS and they discovered there wasn't a suitable filter on the market. AllerAir's units are made of metal and they take great care to ensure the materials they use are high quality.




The AirTube is a great choice for smaller rooms and costs around $300. It can also be a huge help as an interim solution if you don't have the funds to get a more powerful filter right away.



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The Allerair 5000 MCS air purifier can have dramatic effects on how you feel after a night's sleep and during the day. The MCS unit costs approximately $1000.






After running an air filter in the indoor environment for a few weeks, a person can experience a huge increase in energy and reduction in symptoms. It's a worthwhile investment that can make a tremendous difference to current and long-term health and, as a result, even lifestyle.