It's Natural: Aluminum Free Deodorants

Update: I tried Tom's of Maine aluminum free deodorant. It worked for about half a day, as long as I didn't get sweaty. By the end of the day or after getting hot, you wouldn't know I was wearing any. I've switched back to my regular deodorant for the time being, but I will be trying other aluminum free varieties in the near future.

Plain deodorants and antiperspirant deodorants are very different. Antiperspirants are composed of aluminum salts that block the sweat ducts, preventing sweat and toxins from reaching the skin's surface and exiting the body. The idea is that if there's no sweat, there's no odor. The sweat is not the problem though...from what I understand, the bacteria causes the odor. Plain deodorants kill or neutralize the bacteria to prevent odor while still allowing the body to excrete the sweat and toxins. Sweating in our underarms allows our bodies to cleanse and detoxify itself. Blocking this with antiperspirants can cause a build-up of toxins in our systems.

There have been many debates over the last several years about the possible harmful effects of aluminum in antiperspirant deodorants. Rumors have run rampant across the internet about its link to breast cancer, though the Mayo Clinic's stand is "No clinical studies have yet given a definitive answer to the question of whether these products cause breast cancer. But the evidence to date suggests these products don't cause cancer." More recently, people are drawing links between the aluminum and Alzheimer's. The Alzheimer's Association said "The link between aluminum and Alzheimer's disease has never been conclusively proven... The research community is generally convinced that aluminum is not a key risk factor in developing Alzheimer's disease."

I'm not convinced that the aluminum does not effect breast cancer or Alzheimer's. For both diseases, the evidence has been "nonconclusive." Regardless of whether there're links or not, antiperspirants prohibit the body from naturally getting rid of toxins. That's enough right there for me to look into deodorants without antiperspirants.

Handmade Deodorant from Spa Therapy

Here are a few handmade, aluminum-free deodorants on Etsy. Etsy is a site for crafters and artists to sell their goods. Registration is free, but you have to register to buy anythin. There are many more sellers with aluminum-free deodorant...just do a search for deodorant on the Etsy site.

Spa Therapy on Etsy

Florere on Etsy

Dailey's on Etsy

For a factory-made aluminum-free deodorant, there's Adidas' Absorbent-Deo for Women with CottonTech Complex.

I have to be honest - I haven't tried any of the brands listed in this post. I just started looking into the aluminum in anti-perspirants, so I haven't gotten a chance to buy an aluminum-free deodorant yet.

Review: Bolthouse Farms Fruit Smoothies

I just fell in love with Bolthouse Farms immunity support C-BOOST fruit smoothie. I'll ignore the cheesy title of the flavor because, honestly, "immunity support" lead me to it to begin with. In a classroom with sick kids, I need all the help I can get.

I love real fruit drinks, and this is definitely a nice change from the typical. The bottle says it contains 1 1/2 mango, 66 acerola cherries, and 6 1/4 apples. The only problem I had was the bottle is supposedly 8 servings, but I drank it within 3 helpings. It's 8 *small* servings. It's 100% juice (combination of from and not from concentrates) with no added sugars. The flavors mingle and interact to form a distinct flavor with hints of apple and cherry. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was orange in there, too.

I've tried a couple of other flavors of Bolthouse Farms, and each was unique and flavorful. I liked the Mango, and Green Goodness was good mixed with my homemade smoothies. Each one is a little thicker than juice and REALLY smooth. The bottle says "Shake well. Settling is natural," but there's NO pulp either way.

At $4 or more for 1 qt., the Bolthouse Farms smoothies are a rare treat for me. I scout out my local grocery store and snatch one when it's marked down to $1.99 on Produce Manager's Special (usually close to the expiration date). I figure 6 apples, 66 cherries, and 1 mango would cost me more than $1.99 if I wanted to make my own smoothie, so I'm actually saving money by buying the bottle :)

Are You Being Greenwashed?

Thanks to Organic Grocery Deals for leading me to this report.

With more and more people buying "organic," "natural," and "environmentally-friendly" products, many companies are working to cash in on it. The problem is, the terms can be somewhat loosely used with certain products. Because of this, there's a new term among consumerists: Greenwashing.

Greenwashing is the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.

The Sins of Greenwashing site lists the 7 sins that are most common and provides a report with their prevelance. Unfortunately, they do not list the companies investigated or who had what sin. Listed below are the "7 sins":

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off: A claim suggesting the product is "green" based on a few attributes without attention to other important environmental issues. For example, paper may be made from a sustainably-harvested forest, but the greenhouse gas emissions produced during the process or the chlorine used to bleach the paper may be equally as important.

2. Sin of No Proof: An environmental claim that cannot be verified by easily accessible supporting info or by a reliable third-party certification. Common examples are facial tissues or toilet tissue products that claim various percentages of post-consumer recycled content without providing evidence.

3. Sin of Vagueness: A claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the consumer. ‘All-natural’ is a good example. Arsenic, uranium, mercury, and formaldehyde are all naturally occurring, and poisonous. "All natural" is always a good thing.

4. Sin of Worshipping False Labels: A product that, through either words or images, gives the impression of third-party certification where no such endorsement exists.

5. Sin of Irrelevance: An environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant or unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products. ‘CFC-free’ is a common example, since it is a frequent claim despite the fact that CFCs are banned by law.

6. Sin of Lesser of 2 Evils: A claim that may be true within the product category, but that risks distracting the consumer from the greater environmental impacts of the category as a whole. Organic cigarettes could be an example of this Sin, as might the fuel-efficient sport-utility vehicle.

7. Sin of Fibbing: Environmental claims that are simply false. The most common examples were products falsely claiming to be Energy Star certified or registered.

Federal Prosecutors Finally Take Notice of Big Pharmacy!!

In case you haven't already seen it on Yahoo News, here's the latest headline: Repeat offender Pfizer paying record $2.3 billion settlement for illegal drug promotions

With all of my recent reading on the pharmaceutical industry, I'd already heard about illegal promotion of Pfizer, the Big Dog among pharmaceutical companies. They "courted" doctors to persuade them to prescribe more of specific medicines. They showered them with gifts, trips, and even money. Pfizer also got doctors to prescribe medicines "off label," or for conditions that were not approved for by the FDA. All that greed and temptation over making the next big buck is starting to catch up with Pfizer.

The question now is...will the penalty make a difference?

The article is copied below or see the original post on Yahoo here.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal prosecutors hit Pfizer Inc. with a record-breaking $2.3 billion in fines Wednesday and called the world's largest drug maker a repeating corporate cheat for illegal drug promotions that plied doctors with free golf, massages, and resort junkets.

Announcing the penalty as a warning to all drug manufacturers, Justice Department officials said the overall settlement is the largest ever paid by a drug company for alleged violations of federal drug rules, and the $1.2 billion criminal fine is the largest ever in any U.S. criminal case. The total includes $1 billion in civil penalties and a $100 million criminal forfeiture.

Authorities called Pfizer a repeat offender, noting it is the company's fourth such settlement of government charges in the last decade. The allegations surround the marketing of 13 different drugs, including big sellers such as Viagra, Zoloft, and Lipitor.

As part of its illegal marketing, Pfizer invited doctors to consultant meetings at resort locations, paying their expenses and providing perks, prosecutors said.

"They were entertained with golf, massages, and other activities," said Mike Loucks, the U.S. attorney in Massachusetts.

Loucks said that even as Pfizer was negotiating deals on past misconduct, they were continuing to violate the very same laws with other drugs.

To prevent backsliding this time, Pfizer's conduct will be specially monitored by the Health and Human Service Department inspector general for five years.

Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli said the settlement illustrates ways the Justice Department "can help the American public at a time when budgets are tight and health care costs are rising."

Perrelli announced the settlement terms at a news conference with federal prosecutors and FBI, and Health and Human Services Department officials.

The settlement ends an investigation that also resulted in guilty pleas from two former Pfizer sales managers.

Officials said the U.S. industry has paid out more than $11 billion in such settlements over the past decade, but one consumer advocate voiced hope that Wednesday's penalty was so big it would curb the abuses.

"There's so much money in selling pills, that there's a tremendous temptation to cheat," said Bill Vaughan, an analyst at Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.
"There's a kind of mentality in this sector that (settlements) are the cost of doing business and we can cheat. This penalty is so huge I think consumers can have some hope that maybe these guys will tighten up and run a better ship."

The government said the company promoted four prescription drugs, including the pain killer Bextra, as treatments for medical conditions different from those the drugs had been approved for by federal regulators. Authorities said Pfizer's salesmen and women created phony doctor requests for medical information in order to send unsolicited information to doctors about unapproved uses and dosages.

Use of drugs for so-called "off-label" medical conditions is not uncommon, but drug manufacturers are prohibited from marketing drugs for uses that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. They said the junkets and other company-paid perks were designed to promote Bextra and other drugs, to doctors for unapproved uses and dosages, backed by false and misleading claims about safety and effectiveness.

Bextra, for instance, was approved for arthritis, but Pfizer promoted it for acute pain and surgical pain, and in dosages above the approved maximum. In 2005, Bextra, one of a class of painkillers known as Cox-2 inhibitors, was pulled from the U.S. market amid mounting evidence it raised the risk of heart attack, stroke and death.

A Pfizer subsidiary, Pharmacia and Upjohn Inc., which was acquired in 2003, has entered an agreement to plead guilty to one count of felony misbranding. The criminal case applied only to Bextra.

The $1 billion in civil penalties was related to Bextra and a number of other medicines.
A portion of the civil penalty will be distributed to 49 states and the District of Columbia, according to agreements with each state's Medicaid program.

Pfizer's top lawyer, Amy Schulman, said the settlements "bring final closure to significant legal matters and help to enhance our focus on what we do best -- discovering, developing and delivering innovative medicines."

In her statement, Schulman said: "We regret certain actions taken in the past, but are proud of the action we've taken to strengthen our internal controls and pioneer new procedures."
In financial filings in January, the company had indicated that it would pay $2.3 billion over the allegations.

The civil settlement announced Wednesday covered Pfizer's promotions of Bextra, blockbuster nerve pain and epilepsy treatment Lyrica, schizophrenia medicine Geodon, antibiotic Zyvox and nine other medicines. The agreement with the Justice Department resolves the investigation into promotion of all those drugs, Pfizer said.

The government said Pfizer also paid kickbacks to market a host of big-name drugs: Aricept, Celebrex, Lipitor, Norvasc, Relpax, Viagra, Zithromax, Zoloft, and Zyrtec.

The allegations came to light thanks largely to five Pfizer employees and one Pennsylvania doctor, who will now share $102 million of the settlement money.

FBI Assistant Director Kevin Perkins praised the whistleblowers who decided to "speak out against a corporate giant that was blatantly violating the law and misleading the public through false marketing claims."

To rein in the abuses, the government's five-year monitoring will force Pfizer to notify doctors about Wednesday's agreement, encourage them to report any similar behavior, and publicly post any payments or perks it gives to doctors.

Under terms of the settlement, Pfizer must pay $1 billion to compensate Medicaid, Medicare, and other federal health care programs. Some of that money will be shared among the states: New York, for example, will receive $66 million, according to the state's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo.

When Pfizer originally disclosed the settlement figure, it also announced plans to acquire rival Wyeth for $68 billion. That deal, which would bolster Pfizer's position as the world's top drug maker by revenue, is expected to close before year's end.

Shares of Pfizer dropped 14 cents to $16.24 in midday trading.

AP Business Writer Linda A. Johnson in Trenton, N.J. contributed to this report.