How to Find Toxic-Free Appliances
Toxic-Free Talk Radio
Archives of radio interview transcripts with leading toxic-free innovators recorded 2013-2015
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
How to Find Toxic Free Appliances
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Andrea Fabry
Date of Broadcast: August 27, 2015
My guest today is Andrea Fabry, toxic free blogger and owner of Just So Natural Products. We’ll be talking today about toxic exposures from appliances and how you can find the safest ones. Following a health crisis in 2008, Andrea and her family discovered the wonders of natural living. Andrea is a former journalist and the mother of nine children ranging in age from 29 to 13. She is also the founder and president of momsAWARE, an educational organization designed to empower others to live healthy in a toxic world. www.it-takes-time.com
Transcript:
DEBRA: Hi, I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world and live toxic free. It’s Thursday, August 27th, 2015. I’m here in rainy Clearwater, Florida. Today, we’re having a series of storms in the morning and I woke up this morning to thunder and lightning.
Anyway, it was about how my morning has been going too. My computer that I usually use for the show, I took it last night to get a new hard drive that would speed up my computer three times faster. But something else broke when they opened my computer and now I’m without my computer, so I have to use my laptop. I plugged in my laptop and I was running out of battery power because the technician who was here unplugged my power to my laptop.
This is what my morning has been like, one thing after another. I’m sure you’ve had days like that. But the show must go on and here I am and I’m actually connected and I have a guest. So we’re going to have a show.
What we’re going to talk about today is actually one of my most frequently asked questions, which is about appliances. People have questions about washing machines and refrigerators and stoves and things about how to buy the ones that are least toxic. We’re going to talk a little bit today about what those problems are that people are asking about and get some answers.
My guest is Andrea Fabry. She’s a toxic free blogger and owner of Just So Natural Products. She was a former journalist. She has nine children and they all live toxic free. We’ll ask her about her story there.
She’s been on the show before a couple of times. And with her journalistic background, she really knows a lot of stuff that I think that many people don’t even think of. I found her because I was looking for information about immersion blenders and she had written a blog post about toxic parts of immersion blenders.
So here’s Andrea. Hi, Andrea.
ANDREA FABRY: Well, I think my morning has gone a little better.
DEBRA: Good.
ANDREA FABRY: In Arizona, it’s only 9 a.m., so a lot could happen for me in the next few hours, but nonetheless, I am so happy to be here, Debra.
DEBRA: Thank you. I’m so happy that you’re here. It’s nice to have somebody whose day isn’t so chaotic as mine. But it’s not usually that way. Usually, I’m a very organized person, but it’s when I start making changes that that’s when everything gets chaotic. If I’m trying to change something, then things happen. And this is actually a topic related to the topic of the show, which is we’re asking people to make changes in their lives to be less toxic. But every time you make a change, you’re disrupting the order of your life.
ANDREA FABRY: That’s true. It’s so true, of course. Anytime we deal with computers, Debra, let’s face it. If something goes wrong in my computer, I have [inaudible 00:04:03]…
DEBRA: I know! I actually have somebody who comes to my house now. Instead of taking my computer, he comes to my house. He deals with it in my own home environment. He sees it in its context and all of those things. He’s my personal computer tech now because I’m trying to make a lot of changes in speeding up my computer and doing things more efficiently and things like that. So I’m going through an adventure.
ANDREA FABRY: I certainly hear you on the issue of change. When it comes to appliance shopping, it is more of a change of a way of thinking, which of course is what you described as well, to think differently about our appliances.
The way we have been prompted to think is “Energy efficient, energy efficient. What’s the latest or the greatest? What’s going to get me the furthest? What is the best purchase for my money, best investment and so forth?” And very rarely do we think about our health when it comes to appliance shopping. And I think that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
DEBRA: That is what we’re going to talk about today. So which appliance would you like to start with?
ANDREA FABRY: Well, I’m a fan of washing machine.
DEBRA: Okay, let’s start there.
ANDREA FABRY: Okay. Energy efficient washing machines, of course, we all have one. Some of us don’t have dryers. I have a friend who doesn’t have a dryer. She just uses the sun. I think that’s awesome. I wish I was that committed because I do live in Arizona and I do use my clothes line a lot, but I’m not doing…
DEBRA: Let me ask you a question about that because that is highly promoted by people in the energy efficient arena. I have tried that in the past because I used to live in California and I now live in Florida where there’s plenty of sunshine. But the reason I don’t do it is because my clothes get stiff.
ANDREA FABRY: Stiff, I know. I know.
DEBRA: So what’s the solution to this?
ANDREA FABRY: Well, that’s what I asked my friend. She said, “We got used to it.” I think when you don’t have a choice, you live with a lot. And frankly, what I do if things just feel a little too stiff after I’ve dried them is I put them in the dryer for five minutes. I feel like, “At least, I’ve used five minutes as opposed to 45.”
DEBRA: Right.
ANDREA FABRY: Maybe your listeners will write in some suggestions. I’d love to hear them.
DEBRA: I’d love to know that too. It’s certainly more work, but you need to exercise anyway. So why not hang up your clothes?
ANDREA FABRY: Oh, and you’re outside and you’re out in the sun. I like to agree related to these appliances. So I think it’s all good. It’s just out of convenience, the fact that we have them.
DEBRA: I don’t know what year the first electric dryer or gas dryer was made, but prior to all of these industrial things, everybody hung up their clothes outside in the sun all the time. That’s the way it was done.
ANDREA FABRY: Yeah. Or inside on a rainy day. We have all these hang lines and so forth.
DEBRA: Yeah.
ANDREA FABRY: It has changed a lot. And that’s one more reason to go into appliance shopping with our eyes open and thinking in terms of our health. It happened so fast in the last 50 years, didn’t it? It’s just one gadget after the other and the latest and greatest and without really much thought about the implications long term.
So when it comes to washing machines, I think two ways (and I do with pretty much any appliance). I think any appliances that involve water, I think mold because our story (as you alluded to, we have a story), that was a very high exposure to toxic mold in our home. The whole home was contaminated. But after that, of course, I think mold. Before, I didn’t think mold.
And the other way to think is electrically. What types of electromagnetic fields are coming from this?
So when it comes to washing machines, I’m thinking in terms of that. So let’s talk about toxic molds. And the number one thing if you are shopping for a new washing machine is to choose a top loader. Front loaders, because of the way they’re designed, they are more energy efficient and they do less water. However, they are a breathing ground for mold.
There have been many class action lawsuits in this regard. If you go to safer products – I can’t remember. Anyway, it’s linked on an article I wrote. You just see one complaint after the other, one person’s story after the other and maybe someone listening has had this happen. I do notice black growing on the inside of my front loader.
DEBRA: Yeah.
ANDREA FABRY: So if you’re in the market for a new one, it’s worth the investment, just that alone. If you have a front loader and you see black, you have to decide and you have to weigh keeping it. And if you have some health issues, some respiratory, some allergy issues, I would consider getting a new one, but that’s me. Otherwise, I would clean it as best as you can and keep it clean. Keep the door open on the front loader between washes. Keep the room ventilated and so forth.
As far as electromagnetic fields, that’s an issue with any appliance. These are big appliances. They use a lot of energy. And anytime they’re plugged in, even if they’re not being used, they emit electrical fields. If they’re being used, they emit magnetic fields. That’s just a byproduct of electricity.
And they are starting to make appliances that are low EMF. I’m not as up on that. We haven’t been in the market…
DEBRA: I didn’t even know that they were doing that. So that’s good to hear.
ANDREA FABRY: It’s coming, slowly. But the key is to think where you are putting the appliance to where beds are in relation to because these fields go right through wall and you just don’t want to sleep next to any type of major appliance like a refrigerator or a washing machine.
DEBRA: On the other side of your wall, if it’s very close to the other side of the wall. Also keep in mind that electromagnetic fields decrease exponentially. For something to be two feet away is much farther away than one foot away.
I heard the music for the break, so we need to just take a break for a minute or a couple of minutes, I think it is. We’ll be right back. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Andrea Fabry. She’s the toxic free blogger, owner of Just So Natural Products. That’s at JustSo.com. We’ll be right back.
= COMMERCIAL BREAK =
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Andrea Fabry. She is a toxic free blogger and owner of Just So Natural Products. We’re talking about appliances. We’ve been talking about choosing a washing machine.
Andrea, do you know anything about – I get a lot of e-mails from people saying, “I’ve got an odor in my washer.”
ANDREA FABRY: Do you know what type, is it chemical or a mold?
DEBRA: They’re talking about rubber like rubber parts having odors. And also, I wanted to ask you about buying a new washer versus buying a used washer and especially issues about fragrance.
ANDREA FABRY: I have strong feelings about this. If you are going to invest in a washing machine, I would go new and I would go stainless steel in the basket.
DEBRA: Yeah.
ANDREA FABRY: I know it’s more expensive, but this is such an integral part of your life daily for me at least. I mean, for some people, it’s several times a week, but that’s still a lot.
And you’re dealing with water in your home. Any appliance that has anything to do with plumbing and water, you want the safest. And so, to buy a used washing machine, you haven’t been able to control the level of chemicals that they’ve used. I do make my own washing detergent. I’m sure you do too or use that.
DEBRA: I use soap nuts.
ANDREA FABRY: Oh, soft nuts are great. So you have control over the amount of chemicals. That stuff stays in there and people are letting you know that it does.
These are strong fragrance. Fragrance chemicals are just extremely strong, very difficult to eradicate. It’s not impossible with enough ventilation to make it livable.
But if you’re going to go through that trouble, I say buy new. That’s my opinion and definitely stainless steel basket, as much stainless as you can get because it doesn’t harbor as much microbial growth and it doesn’t hang on to these scents either nearly as much as something plastic or rubber.
DEBRA: Right. I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as stainless steel tub. I bought a new washer/dryer set. You know one of those ones that have the washer on the bottom and the dryer on the top? I have a very small bedroom in my house and it just fits right there. I didn’t even know at the time that I bought it that there was such a thing as a stainless steel type. So I’m really glad that you mentioned that.
What happened for me was I bought a “new one.” It was a return and they refurbished them and so then price is less. So I thought, “Well, this is just a return.” And when it was delivered to me, even though I didn’t notice this in the store, when it was delivered to me, it had such a strong fragrance that was horrible. It was really horrible. Obviously, somebody had used one of those brand name detergents that have a familiar smell.
ANDREA FABRY: Yes. So what did you do?
DEBRA: Well, it took me about a month of trying all these different things and I really tried everything. And what I finally had to do was there’s something that you can buy at the supermarket called washing machine cleaner. It’s not toxic free. It’s got a lot of chlorine in it, so it’s like super strength chlorine bleach. If you run it through a cycle with that washing machine cleaner, it just totally removes all the fragrance.
ANDREA FABRY: Wow!
DEBRA: So that was something that I had to do once and use a toxic product, but then it was done with. I tried every nontoxic thing I could think of, baking soda, vinegar. And then, it was getting into my dryer because I was washing things. I was trying to get it out of the washing machine. I had to wash an old towel and blah-blah-blah.
So I’ll just tell you if you have a scent in appliance, in a washing machine, this is the thing to use. You just want to use it and stay out of the room.
ANDREA FABRY: Yes, and be done with it.
DEBRA: But then you’re done with it.
ANDREA FABRY: You know what I use in my washing machine? I have a basket cleaning cycle that’s an hour long on hot. I use 33% hydrogen peroxide. Have you ever tried that?
DEBRA: I haven’t.
ANDREA FABRY: But it’s dangerous. It could burn you. It’s very, very concentrated hydrogen peroxide.
DEBRA: It doesn’t have fumes, dangerous fumes to breathe, but it is caustic.
ANDREA FABRY: Yes, it’s very caustic.
DEBRA: And so it will burn your skin.
ANDREA FABRY: But that’s the only thing I use it full strength for. I dilute it for other uses. You can dilute it obviously down to 3% and you’ve got a pure product and it can go a long way. But I do use it at 33% and I’m very careful when I pour it in. But that’s another option for your listeners too.
DEBRA: Yeah. I use 55% hydrogen peroxide in my pool.
ANDREA FABRY: Oh, really?
DEBRA: Yeah. We would buy it in 55 gallon drums. But you have to wear all this protection and equipment to add it to your pool.
ANDREA FABRY: I know. Yeah, that’s strong stuff.
DEBRA: But what’s great about it is that it bubbled in the water. When I was in the pool, the water was like champagne and it had all these little hydrogen bubbles. I loved it. I loved it. Oxygen bubbles, I should say. Anyway, okay, so anything else about…
ANDREA FABRY: Sorry, Debra. There’s one more thing on the washing machine because it is a big appliance. Maybe we can go through refrigerators after that.
I always keep my washing machine pulled away from the wall and regularly – I’m not obsessive-compulsive about this though I could easily be. I peek over there just to make sure there are no leaks.
Sometimes, that happens with our appliances. They’re pushed up close. We just assume everything is working fine and then all of a sudden, we’ve got this major problem back there. So that’s just a little tip.
DEBRA: Good! That’s a really good tip. We’ve got just another minute until the break. So I’m trying to think if I have anything else to say about washers.
ANDREA FABRY: Well, I probably do.
DEBRA: Okay, go on. We’ll talk about refrigerators after the break.
ANDREA FABRY: I love the idea of soap nuts. But honestly, the product you use with your washing machine does make a difference. I get a lot of questions about the homemade. It’s a combination of baking soda, castile soap and washing soda. Pretty much, you’ll find that everywhere in the internet. It’s a very simple little formula.
And is it good for high efficiency machines? Absolutely, it is! With HE machines, you don’t want too many bubbles. That’s the idea. Less is more when it comes to any kind of soap. If you do buy a HE washing machine, go ahead and use these chemical-free options because they are very conducive for that.
DEBRA: That’s a good tip. I don’t have a HE washer, so I don’t pay attention so much to the exact mechanisms of that. But I think that that’s really good for people to know because a lot of people do have them now.
We’re going to take another break. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Andrea Fabry. She is a toxic free blogger and owner of Just So Natural Products, which is at JustSo.com. When we come back, we’re going to talk about refrigerators. We’ll be right back.
= COMMERCIAL BREAK =
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Andrea Fabry. She is a toxic free blogger and owner of Just So Natural Products. We’re talking about choosing toxic free appliances. So refrigerators.
ANDREA FABRY: Refrigerators. As I mentioned at the beginning of the program, Debra, I think in terms of mold, if there’s water involved in any way, shape or form and I think electrically magnetically, if you will (which isn’t really a word), in terms of what kind of electromagnetic fields are coming from this and where I locate the appliance.
In terms of mold, this is what we have done. We inherited our refrigerator when we bought this home last year, so I had no choice on this. They came with water, so you can access water. We disabled that immediately.
When we were shopping for a refrigerator a couple of years ago before we moved, we got the simplest thing possible. I don’t want any type of water complications in any appliance if I don’t need it.
DEBRA: I agree. Another thing about water is that when they put those doors into the door for the water, those little areas, it’s so that you can get water out of the refrigerator (chilled water I’m assuming) out of the refrigerator without opening your refrigerator door.
But where is that water coming from? You don’t want to drink that water in it. It’s not filtered. I want to drink my filtered water. If I have to open the refrigerator to get some chilled water out of the refrigerator, I’m going to do that because I want to drink good water. I don’t drink tap water. I drink filtered water.
ANDREA FABRY: Right.
DEBRA: So to have an automatic icemaker, any of those things that have that plumbing coming through the refrigerator, I would say stay away from them.
ANDREA FABRY: Yeah, absolutely. And this is where you save money. You don’t need all those gadgets. You don’t.
I have stainless steel ice trays. I pour filtered water in there and that’s how we get ice when we need ice. And we get our filtered water when we need our filtered water by a water filter. As we said at the beginning, it’s just a different way of thinking.
The good news is if you’ve already been in that habit and you have these gadgets, I think if you’re handy, you can disengage these. I think we had a plumber and we said, “Hey, can you just disable this whole thing?” I just feel better now.
The other issue is cooling trays and that thing for self-defrosting mechanisms. Again, I don’t mind a little frost accumulation. It’s just simple. Just keep it simple, simple, simple with any appliances, that’s my thing. But you just really want to watch your trays and your drainage and all of that. So yet again, with an appliance like a refrigerator, pull it back frequently. You can’t always the way they are designed. You can’t pull it out and see. But just make it so that you can see behind there.
That’s just a regular. You want to keep your coils dust-free. That makes it more energy-efficient. And dust, that’s not good for us to breathe. So there’s just certain maintenance and one more reason why simpler is always better with this.
DEBRA: So I’m thinking of those little pads that they advertise on TV where you put them under heavy things like furniture and refrigerators. So you could get some of those little pads. Then, it would be easier to slide your refrigerator in and out. They’re not made of toxic materials. I even have some.
I also want to mention the interior of the refrigerator. That’s often a big deal because there’s so much plastic inside of a refrigerator. You open the refrigerator and the plastic fumes just hit you on the face. I don’t know of a plastic-free refrigerator. I think that there are some that have stainless steel inside. I’m trying to remember. I haven’t looked at this in a while. I think there are some that are stainless steel inside. They’re pretty expensive.
I’ll say that the refrigerator I currently have is 10 years old and I bought it new. It wasn’t so bad. But after a while, it outgases. I would be willing to buy a used refrigerator because it will have outgas some of that plastic smell. The one I have is called Trio. It’s got the freezer down below and it’s got two doors on the top that open from the middle like French doors.
ANDREA FABRY: That’s what we have.
DEBRA: Yeah. And I love that design. I had a side-by-side before and I didn’t like it at all. I just love this design. You can have the shelves be all the way across the whole width of the refrigerator and that’s what I wanted.
ANDREA FABRY: That’s what we have. I agree on the plastic. This is why less is more, all the different things we’ve got in there – and compartments. I’m just happy with some shelves. Mine are glass shelves.
DEBRA: Mine are glass shelves too.
ANDREA FABRY: Yeah. I mean, it’s a little awkward to clean or to take it out. But again it’s simpler, simpler, simpler.
DEBRA: I also want to say that a lot of these products, these household products like appliances use PVC, polyvinyl chloride, which is one of the most toxic plastics. And they could very easily replace the PVC with a less toxic plastic and I wish that people would do more of that replacement.
I’m starting to see those replacements in the medical industry. Instead of using PVC bags to hold the blood, they’re now using…
ANDREA FABRY: Right.
DEBRA: Yeah. And so we just need to get the appliances to start using these less toxic plastics too.
ANDREA FABRY: It’s coming obviously.
DEBRA: I think it is.
ANDREA FABRY: You’ve been in this for so long, Debra and the fact that you see hope is really good.
DEBRA: I see hope. I see hope.
ANDREA FABRY: Yet again, the placement of any bedrooms around the refrigerator, that’s another huge magnetic and you’ve got the magnetic fields going 24/7. So just don’t back up. Just don’t sleep right next to it through a wall. That’s all.
DEBRA: My refrigerator is completely on the opposite side of the house from my bedroom.
ANDREA FABRY: Good, right. Yeah, me too.
DEBRA: Yeah. That’s very good. Okay, so we’re coming up on break again, but we still have a couple of minutes. Do you want to talk about stoves?
ANDREA FABRY: I was thinking stoves. So where do you come down on the issue of gas or electric?
DEBRA: Let’s start talking about that and then we’ll continue after the break. I think it’s [inaudible 00:33:42] the other. Here are my pros and cons for each.
First, I’ll say I use gas. And when I first became chemically sensitive all those many years ago, I said, “No gas. No gas. No gas.” That’s a rule for people that are chemically sensitive.
But the thing is what you don’t want to be breathing is what are called combustion byproducts. There are a lot of toxic chemicals in these combustion byproducts. So if your gas stove is well adjusted, if it’s vented properly, if you’re not just letting these go all over the house, but instead, you have overhead fan that are just whisking them out of the house immediately, if you manage it right, I think it’s okay to have gas. I say that because the downside of electricity is electromagnetic fields.
We’ll pick this up when we come back. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Andrea Fabry. She is the owner of Just So Natural Products, natural products that she makes for around the house. They’re very simple like she says. It’s at JustSo.com. We’ll be right back.
= COMMERCIAL BREAK =
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Andrea Fabry. She’s a toxic free blogger and her blog is at It-Takes-Time.com. Andrea, tell us why your blog is called It Takes Time.
ANDREA FABRY: This is a journey. It can be overwhelming, just what we’re talking about. “Oh no, what do I need to do now? I need to change this. Do I have to change this too?”
I learned that once I let go of doing it all tomorrow and just let it be a journey, I really enjoy it. And I have such a passion to help especially young moms who are trying to sort through all of this.
DEBRA: Yeah.
ANDREA FABRY: Debra, it is so hard. So my heart really is to just – every small step makes a difference. Our mental well-being is huge too. And if we’re constantly stressed about every toxic thing around us, that’s free radical producing right there.
DEBRA: Yeah. I’m laughing so hard because I totally agree with you.
ANDREA FABRY: Yeah.
DEBRA: I totally agree with you that toxics affect your health, but they’re not the only thing that affects your health. If you’re upset and stressed about this, that’s causing harm to your body as well and to your mental state and everything else.
I understand what you’re saying. I try to provide as much information as I can so that people can know what the toxics are. But it’s even more important to me to tell people what they can do instead.
ANDREA FABRY: Again, I love the information now. I’m not afraid of it.
DEBRA: Me too.
ANDREA FABRY: Give me more.
DEBRA: It empowers me. It empowers me to make a choice.
ANDREA FABRY: Yes, exactly. And that’s where your heart is and it certainly comes across in everything you do. And I always hope that’s at the heart of what I do. It’s like, “At least you know.” And don’t worry about doing something now. If somebody today thinks about pulling their washing machine out and peeking behind it, that’s great. That’s a huge step, good.
DEBRA: Yeah. We were talking about stoves. I was saying that the reason that I choose gas over electric is number one, electromagnetic fields. And if you’re standing there, cooking in front of them, you’re going to be getting electromagnetic fields.
Number two is I’m a cook. I even have a food blog as part of all the things I have on my website. And I’ve been cooking since I was six years old. So this is a lot of years of cooking. And gas just cooks better.
ANDREA FABRY: Yeah, you need gas. Chefs need gas. There’s no doubt.
DEBRA: It’s one of the things where I said, “I’m a cook. I need gas. And how am I going to make gas safe in my home?”
ANDREA FABRY: Right. I’m very active in the field of building biology (an d I know you have heard or you’re familiar with Building Biology). And that’s the key with gas. It’s ventilation, ventilation, ventilation. That’s another keyword when you’re trying to have a safe home. It’s air flow, air exchange, open windows. Keep air moving because stagnant air is never good. So that is really the key, making sure that your ventilation systems with your gas stove are operating.
DEBRA: Yes. And also, there’s the thing about the self-cleaning ovens. I don’t think I even have a self-cleaning oven. I think that I managed to find one that didn’t have that. But at any rate, even if I had one, I would never use it. It’s chemicals. When you turn on that high heat, it releases chemicals.
You’ve said this a couple of times. I just want to say it again. Simple, simple, simple, just find the simplest appliance that you can.
I had a situation a couple of weeks ago where my TV stopped working. I just tried to turn it on and it wouldn’t go on. So I thought, “All right, I have to buy a new TV.” And this was just right after I had done this blog post on my blog about television. Somebody had asked me in my Q&A about televisions and why they smell so bad and blah-blah-blah. I thought, “Oh, I have to go buy a new TV.”
I went down to Costco in fact because I’m a Costco member (they have so much organic food and I save money buying organic food there), I looked at their TVs and they’re all smart TVs now. I said, “No, I don’t want a smart TV. I don’t want to get some WiFi.” There was only one TV that was just a simple TV, one! And the salesman said that pretty soon, there’s not going to be any.
ANDREA FABRY: I know it. This is huge. I’m so glad you brought that up because I did just publish an article on the washing machine issue we were talking about. Absolutely, absolutely at all costs, if possible, avoid a smart appliance. This is the direction we’re going, but the cost to our health, we do not even know yet because then we become wireless radiation dependent.
And you talked about the lack of privacy that can occur and even in the fine print in these manufacturers, it says, we are going to use this information for this and not in this. But we have gone wired. All of our computers are wired in our home.
DEBRA: Me too.
ANDREA FABRY: That’s a long journey. It was very hard, very overwhelming. And you can disconnect the smart component. If you already have that, I would encourage all of your listeners to shut off your wireless at night at the very, very least. Turn everything off at night. You don’t need to be on your devices anyway at night. And then begin to think differently about the latest, the greatest gadget. And the smart appliances to me are just alarming.
DEBRA: It’s just alarming. So you have something like a watch that you wear that is supposed to just carry all that information, but it’s also just electromagnetic fields going right in your body. Every second you’re wearing that watch, it’s like putting a cellphone in your pocket. These things are dangerous.
ANDREA FABRY: I did invest in a meter that measures the radiofrequencies and the magnetic field. It took me a long time to even learn how to use this. It’s $140, very affordable. It is the best thing I have ever invested in because I can see for myself what my appliances are doing. I can see where I’m sleeping and this becomes visible.
The problem with smart technology is it’s almost implied that we’re not smart.
DEBRA: Wow, I like that.
ANDREA FABRY: Electrical fields are very difficult to understand (the electromagnetic, there are so many variants here) and it seems smarter than us. No, that’s not true. We can learn. The meter is what brought it to life for me.
I have to tell you. When it came to my microwave oven, I don’t use that. I just know enough to know there’s something really off about that. I’d rather put things slowly and just intuitively. But when I held the meter up to the microwave oven, I was done.
And we had a more modern version of a microwave connected to an oven. So I wanted to unplug the microwave and use our ovens, but we can’t. So guess what we do, Debra. You’re not going to believe it. Outside, we turn off the switch to that on the electrical panel. What is it called?
DEBRA: Yeah. I forgot.
ANDREA FABRY: But that’s how. We go outside and we keep it off. If we need to cook in the oven, the kids go outside to turn it on.
DEBRA: Oh, I love it, Andrea.
ANDREA FABRY: When I saw it on the meter, that microwave is emitting, it’s pulsing. It is so high. It is in the red. That was enough. I don’t want that on in my kitchen and be cooking. I want to be cooking safely. I don’t want to be bombarding in my body.
That’s an easy thing. Everybody has gotten used to it. “Hey, I forgot to turn off the oven. Can you go outside?”
DEBRA: When you make that decision that you’re going to live this way, that you’re going to become aware of where the health dangers are, whether they’re toxic chemicals or electromagnetic fields, then you just say, “That’s my decision. How am I going to make this work?”
ANDREA FABRY: Right.
DEBRA: So it’s more important for me to live healthy.
I was just 60 this year in June and people are shocked because I don’t look 60 at all. And I say, “How old do you think I look?” “Forty?” And I don’t feel 60. I just am getting healthier as I get older. I think a lot of it has to do with my chemical free life and my low EMF life. All these things that are causing illnesses for people at my age, I’m not being exposed to those things that are causing those [inaudible 00:48:33].
ANDREA FABRY: Right. I just turned 58 and when I started my journey, I was way behind you. I was 50. I lived one way for 50 years, embracing the appliance world, the gadgets, every latest and greatest. It was such a change for me and very, very overwhelming. I feel so much better at 50.
DEBRA: I know. I know. Me too, me too. I just look at these things and I go, “Wait! We don’t need all this technology. We don’t need all these gadgets. We can think for ourselves.” I don’t mind if I record on my computer. I want to be well and healthy and alive.
When I look around and I see people who are dying at young ages, the research that I’ve done, every single illness or symptom can be associated now with exposure to toxics or EMFs. I just see the connection and not everyone else do.
Anyway, we’ve only got about 30 seconds left. So is there anything else you’d like to say quickly?
ANDREA FABRY: Just reviewing I guess that it’s a mindset and it’s an empowering one. When it comes to appliances, you are the consumer. Take your time. If you’re in the market for something, don’t hesitate to really, really take your time and go with your gut instinct. Less is more. Don’t be pulled into some of those advertising things that lure us in.
DEBRA: Yeah. Thank you so much, Andrea. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. Be well.