Archiv der Kategorie ‘Perfume Free‘

PureNature Online Shop now available in Spain

Since July 8th, 2011, we are pleased to welcome an online PureNature shop in Spain. Spanish customers will find over 2,000 products that will help them to live more comfortably with their allergies and to assist them with more environmentally conscious living.

A customer on-site service director has been operating since last year. Our representative, Mr. David Palma has replied to the Spanish customer inquiries with great expertise and is in constant contact with his German colleagues in order to satisfy all customer requests and inquiries with the greatest customer satisfaction.

The translation of the PureNature products took many months to complete and is ongoing. The effort has paid off, because with the launch of the online store, it is now much easier for the Spanish customers to shop. The goods are shipped from the PureNature, based in Idar-Oberstein, Germany to Spain. The new customers are welcomed by receiving free shipping during the month of July with their first order.

A warm welcome to Spain, and at this point, a big thank you to David Palma and his wife Eva Caballé, without whom this project would never have become a reality!

All the best,

from the entire PureNature team

 

Have a look at the new Spanish PureNature Shop: www.purenature.es

 

Guidelines to improve employee health

Employer demands: No perfume, no cookies, no soda, no French fries…

The staff at the New York Health Department must make fundamental changes. The new service manual, titled “Life in the Cubicle Village” requires drastic changes in many parts of the workplace. Employees are discouraged in using perfume and scented body care products, and are encouraged to change their eating habits in the workplace. The New York City Health Department wants to set a good example and be a role model to the other people in the city. Refraining from eating cookies and consuming fried food is now enforced under the new guidelines. Not all employees like these new changes, but these changes are useful if one looks seriously at the goal of being a role model to others, initiated by this employer.

Bureau represents personal health interests

The New York Department of Health has prevailed in the past to improve the health of its city inhabitants, which at times has caused a stir. Initially, the general smoking ban on the beaches in the region was a difficult transition, as was the prohibition of the use of hydrogenated cooking oil in fast food restaurants in the city.

With the new guidelines, the health department clarifies that these prohibitions are designed to seriously improve the health of the population. Not all employees are happy about the changes in the manual and some perceive them as intolerable harassment, and are not pleased with the threatening fine for non-compliance. Others are happy and have recognized that the health and well being of all employees will be enhanced by the reforms.

Employer demands employees to omit fragrances and perfume

“Spreading odors is just like noise spreading beyond the walls in the cubicle,” explained the York Board of Health. Their employees need the knowledge that it is important to refrain from fragrances and to refrain from dispensing of perfume because some people are very sensitive and react to the chemicals in perfume, cologne and other perfumed products. Therefore employees are being asked to maintain good personal hygiene without using products with noticeable fragrance or odor.

No detergent, disinfectant, or room scents allowed

Because many commercially available cleaning agents and disinfectants contain chemicals harmful to health, the health department requires that employees leave such products at home and not bring them to the workplace. If an employee needs a cleaning agent, he may apply to the cleaning service which has available products satisfying the required safety standards. “Air freshener” or room sprays, because of their ingredients, which can harm the health of others, are prohibited in the workplace of the Cubicle Village as well.

Healthy diet instead of sweet and greasy

French fries at meetings, events, or at the employee birthday parties? A “No Go” at the New York Department of Health. Fried food is not allowed. If a cake is brought to the party, then no cookies are allowed. Instead, whole-grain crackers are served. The preferred drink is filtered water because it is healthier and avoids high calories. If an employee or his colleague still wants to offer something different, the drink should not exceed 25 calories per pint. Filtered water must still be on the table. These provisions are designed to protect health and the environment.

Bureau will practice what they preach

The New York Health Department’s colored booklet with new operating procedures may not set so well with some employees, but on the other hand, the department actually requires no more from the employees than what they themselves will practice. They will practice what they preach in order to improve the health of people in New York. One goal is to cut obesity, reduce heart disease by cutting down on the fats and salty foods, cut down on allergies, asthma and other diseases that are common in the population which can be caused by unhealthy lifestyles. Their new guidelines will promote healthy lifestyles instead.

To simply preach to New Yorkers, to be free of salty, greasy fast food, alcohol, cigarettes, sweets and to avoid donuts is not enough. Will those in charge continue to consume these items? To ban soft drinks in schools, at festivals, and in staff offices while those making the guidelines still continue to use these? A true role model would in fact also refrain from the items they are asking their employees to refrain from. That is the commitment which those in charge have made to their employees.

After two or three years, the Department of Health will be able to prove that the new guidelines are actually not arbitrary harassment, but are measures that serve the health of the people. It is expected that the causes of absenteeism of around 3,000 employees, and leaving the profession due to illness and deaths from degenerative diseases will be reduced. Such figures could provide the health department the black and white proof needed for New Yorkers, that a healthy lifestyle, a good diet, and refraining from chemical products can have a positive impact.

Author: Silvia K. Müller, CSN – Chemical Sensitivity Network, June 2011

12 tips for environmentally conscious and healthy living

 

Our planet is suffering and it is time that we are careful with resources and the environment. With a little thought and know-how, anyone can contribute to a healthier environment and thus to a healthier life for themselves.

  1. Use items over again, instead of constantly buying new products. Look around to see if the item you are considering purchasing is actually needed.
  2. Surround yourself with natural durable materials, instead of polluting the environment with plastic materials.
  3. Avoid unnecessary products, like room fragranced sprays, and air fresheners which pollute the environment and are often unhealthy. Instead, ventilate with fresh air which is free!
  4. Switch to organic, which reduces pollution and is better for your health. Shop at local farmers markets, which cuts down on transportation of products.
  5. Fill the washing machine completely, not only half way. Dry your clothes outside instead of in the dryer.
  6. Turn off electrical devices when they are not in use. Pull the plug out from the wall because otherwise many devices will consume more power.
  7. Avoid bottled water. Drinking plenty of water is healthy, but the transportation of this water to markets is often long. Water from plastic bottles also takes more resources and can lead to more pollution. Filter your tap water which saves money and resources.
  8. Take a basket or tote bag to the market with you instead of constantly using new plastic bags which can pollute nature.
  9. Avoid expensive packaged products.
  10. Do a lot of walking instead of always using the car. It consumes less fuel and is better for the environment.
  11. Power with “green energy.”
  12. Plant a tree in the garden. It filters the air, produces tons of oxygen and binds the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

 

Scientific findings on the causes of contact allergy

Fragrances, which are used in many households and skin care products can cause contact dermatitis when oxygen is exposed to air, as this research shows as presented at the dermatologist conference in Gothenburg, at the University of Gothenburg and at the Sahlgrenska Academy.

The Swedish researchers have focused their research on identifying how these can be activated by contact with oxygen in the air and how this in turn affects the skin. A specially focused study examined whether the activated fragrance caused a contact allergy in eczema patients at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital Dermatology Clinic and at the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Department of Dermatology in Malmö. It was found that a high percentage of the 3,400 patients with eczema had an allergic reaction to the tested fragrance substances.

“In an effort to get a deeper understanding as to how contact allergies occur, we now use state-of-the-art microscopes to track what happens to an allergen when it enters the skin,” said Ann-Therese Karlberg, Professor of Dermatochemistry / skin allergies and researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy.

When determining how an allergenic substance works, it must be also taken into consideration the skin’s ability to activate a substance by metabolism.

We have developed a mixture that corresponds to the composition of real skin enzymes. We use them to find out if the chemicals can be activated in the skin and to see what the allergen is.”

The discovery from the Swedish scientist will help health service providers by developing new diagnostic tools to correctly diagnose allergic contact eczema, and long-term contribution to reducing the number of cases with allergic contact dermatitis. For the patients, a correct diagnosis that they can avoid exposure to triggering substances, and to heal their eczema gives them a chance.

“Future research will include evaluating new diagnostic methods and conducting more in-depth studies on what penetrates the skin. This will allow us to develop new drugs and to replace the only treatment, cortisone ointment, which is currently available for eczema,“ said Prof. Karl Berg, who believes that their research through their effects on producers, consumers and legislators can improve the prevention work.

Contact allergy

It is estimated that in Europe almost 20% of the population is affected by a contact allergy, which means that patients develop eczema when they come into contact with substances to which they are allergic. After nickel, fragrances are the most common cause of contact allergy. For this type of allergy, there is no cure, but cortisone cream can alleviate the symptoms, and avoiding all possible contact with the allergen is helpful as well.

Literature:

Ann-Therese Karlberg, Göteborg University, New discovery of the causes of contact allergy, 6 October 2010