natural shmatural

I dedicate this post to Patti, my BYU Stats professor.  Most useful class I ever took.

The more I read about all natural deodorant and lotion, the more I become disenchanted.  Take the aluminum thing in deod.  First of all, the study that suggested a link between aluminum and Alzheimer's showed a 1% correlation.  Not exactly staggering or convincing.  Secondly, a lot of all-natural peeps use bentonite or kaolin clay to make their deod.  Guess what one of the main components of those clays is?  Aluminum.  Wellness Mama calls commercial deodorant and lotion "cancer in a tube," but she drinks bentonite clay mixed with water, uses a bentonite face mask twice a week (I really like the mask thing, BTW--makes my skin feel great), and uses the clay as a medicine on scrapes.  Aluminum from a lab is dangerous, but aluminum from a volcano is healthful?  Come on.  My guess: neither one is going to kill you, or rob you of your mental capacity.

On to parabens in lotion.  Parabens are preservatives.  They've been used for 70 years.  One poorly done study found paraben in 18 out of 20 breast cancer tumors.  Either the doctor had no studies done on healthy people, or she left those findings out of her report because they didn't support her assertion that parabens might be causing breast cancer.  Numerous studies have been done since, none showing that parabens cause cancer.  News flash: doctors really do want to find causes of and cures for cancer.  When they find one, I can guarantee that lotion manufacturers aren't going to use the carcinogen in their product anymore (if it was ever there to begin with).

Just because it grows on God's green earth doesn't mean it's good for you.  Take hemlock and tobacco for example.  All-natural doesn't mean free from side effects, either.  Lavender oil and tea tree oil can cause adolescent boys to develop breasts.  Tea tree oil is toxic to children and animals.  One boy drank some by mistake and it put him in a coma.

I refuse to panic anymore, folks.

I hate unsubstantiated rumors.  I hate that I get drawn in by them.  It's annoying and expensive at best, dangerous at worst.  Take Andrew Wakefield and his assertion that MMR vaccines cause autism.  His unethical (taking blood samples from kids at his son's birthday party!) and fraudulent (some of the autistic children in his study exhibited autistic traits before they were given the vaccine--he failed to mention that) study caused me to be afraid of vaccines for a while after Claire was diagnosed with Asperger's.  When you're scared and desperate, you grasp at straws and you tend to believe anything.  And I was so busy setting up a therapy program, I had no time to research what was true and what was false, and for some reason, fiction is everywhere and truth is often buried beneath the rubbish.  Luckily, Julia wasn't born then.  If she had been, I might not have had her immunized.  And then she might have gotten measles or died from whooping cough or meningitis. 

Fact: vaccines prevent disease and save lives.  Fact: as of right now, no one knows what causes autism.  The one thing they've been able to rule out is the MMR vaccine.

I am descending from my soap box now.

Anyway, I'm still using my all-natural homemade stuff for now.  It's fun to make, and I spent a pretty penny on the supplies, so you better believe I'm going to use it up.  Still haven't found a deodorant that works as well as the commercial stuff, but I haven't given up hope yet.  If you decide to go that route, I suggest you do it for the fun of it, not because it's going to make you live longer.  Or smell better.