Homeowners Be Aware

Breathing Clean: Transforming Your Home into a Healthier Haven with Therese Forton-Barnes

• George Siegal • Season 2 • Episode 135

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May 14, 2024

135.  Breathing Clean: Transforming Your Home into a Healthier Haven with Tee Forton-Barnes

Unlock the secrets of a healthier home with the help of Therese Forton-Barnes, an advocate for green living who's dedicated to helping families breathe easier. Together, we uncover the sobering fact that the air within our walls might be teeming with more pollutants than the world outside. This episode isn't just about identifying problems; it's a treasure trove of actionable advice on how to eliminate toxins from your living space and revolutionize your home environment. Learn how to join the battle for change and take definitive steps toward a toxin-free existence by equipping yourself with the knowledge to demand and create safer products and practices.

Here’s how you can follow or reach Tee:

 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/833051790530511/about/

 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/GreenLivingGurus

 

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/greenlivinggurus/

 

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW7_phs1GZUPzG21Zgjnqtw

X: https://twitter.com/teeforton


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George Siegal:

Did you know? There very likely are unseen dangers lurking in your home. In fact, the air inside your home may be more harmful than the pollution outside. My guest today is Tee Forton- Barnes, a passionate healthy home advocate and the visionary behind the Green Living Gurus LLC and Tee's Organics. T has dedicated her career to enlightening others about the benefits of a low-tox lifestyle, with a special focus on cancer prevention. In today's podcast, we will explore the common yet overlooked sources of indoor pollution, from the chemicals in our cleaning supplies to the carcinogens that could be lurking in personal care products. With Tee's expertise, we'll also provide actionable insights on how you can reduce your exposure to these toxins and safeguard your health. I'm George Siegal, and this is Homeowners Be Aware the podcast that teaches you everything you need to know about being a homeowner. Tee thank you so much for joining me today.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

You are welcome. Happy to be here.

George Siegal:

Yeah, it's great to have you. I mean, we've been going back and forth with different scheduling things and I think I got lost in cyberspace with you and then I had to reschedule you with me. But thank you for sticking with it and making this work out.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Oh, you're welcome. Happy to be here.

George Siegal:

Now, the subject we're going to talk about is so important and I bet a lot of people don't turn that around and go. What is the air like inside our homes? And that's really important. What should we be thinking about there?

Tee Forton-Barnes:

So very important and people don't realize it because you think the air in your home is cleaner than the outdoor air and actually the EPA has put standards out there and said that the air in your home is cleaner than the outdoor air. And actually the EPA has put standards out there and said that the air in our home is anywhere from two and it can go up to 100 times more polluted than the outdoor air. So our indoor air quality is not that great unless you're doing some things that I'll teach you here a little bit today that can help with your indoor air quality. I personally have indoor air quality monitors. I take them to clients' homes, I see what's in them and once people understand what they're breathing in their home and how they're ingesting these fumes, you start realizing you've got to pay attention to the air in your home. You're living in your home, sleeping, breathing in it, and it's something that you really got to pay attention to.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

The air in your home. You're living in your home, sleeping, breathing in it, and it's something that you really want to pay attention to. So that's where we'll start, and there's so many different ways that your indoor air quality can be hurting, let's just say your health and affecting your health, and so many homes these days are made that they are. You know, everything's about making sure no air gets in right the windows, the doors, whatever and that's not great in a home where you want air to circulate. I actually spoke to a man here in Buffalo where I live, and he said he does some of these home inspections and he can just tell that they're and it was crazy how he said this but some of them are like coffins, he said. I don't even know how they're living in them because they must be tired all the time because there's no air circulating in these homes.

George Siegal:

Now we're talking about different than walking in and smelling that they had bacon for breakfast. We're talking about things that aren't necessarily the obvious smell. What's the source of all these issues we're talking about?

Tee Forton-Barnes:

So a lot of your cleaning supplies. That's probably number one on my list where I get people to start looking at. What are those ingredients that you're spraying in your home, using on the surfaces? Cleaning with the word fragrance on cleaning supplies is a big, huge no-no. The chemicals that you are spraying in your home so many people want these fragrances in their home. Worst brain in your home so many people want these fragrances in their home. Those are some of the worst culprits of bringing in toxic air into your home and polluting. It is really how I look at it. You're not cleaning your house. With you're not cleaning your house, you're more or less putting dangerous chemicals in your home.

George Siegal:

So it's naive to assume that that $5 filter or $9 filter or even the more expensive filter that we think we're buying I've actually heard those are the worst thing, because then no air is circulating through if it blocks everything. So it's more than just slapping a filter on your system, isn't it?

Tee Forton-Barnes:

forced air filter. Is it right for your furnace, everything. Those are important because you are filtering out you know something, but it's really what you're putting in your home and so that your cleaning supplies are one. One other huge area that I get people to change immediately is your laundry detergent. People, you're sleeping in it, you're living in it pretty much. If you're breathing in any kind of from your clothes you're wearing all day and you're polluting it with your dryer and the outdoor air for that matter too. But the laundry detergents can be very harmful, toxic to the air that you're breathing in your home the fragrances, the outgassing. So some laundry detergent is fragrance free. That's a good step in the right direction, but fragrance is probably the number one thing I try to get everybody with. If you want a cleaner, greener, healthier air in your home, stop using anything with the word fragrance on it. Fragrance is a law from the 1940s when Chanel number five went to the government and said they didn't want to tell anybody their trade secret what the ingredients were in their perfume. 1940s. This law still exists.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Perfume fragrance industry is massive, tied in with all the chemical age companies as well, and it's made with a whole list of potentially harmful chemicals that you think your laundry detergent is lavender scented. It's not lavender scented. It's chemicals to make it sort of smell like lavender or ocean breeze or lemon scented or lime scented. Whatever they tell you, those are all chemicals, and they have been starting to find benzene in some of these fragrances, which is a known carcinogen. So that's just one area that you can make the greatest impact on eliminating anything with the word fragrance or perfume or parfum in it. Perfume is another prime example too. If anybody's wearing perfume, you are putting chemicals on your skin and that you're breathing in all day. So in the air in your house it's circulating, and candles is another one Burning a candle.

George Siegal:

So the scented candles aren't a good thing.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Horrible, absolutely horrible. In addition to a wick that potentially is lead. And now you're heating the chemicals, which is even worse, your sink. You're sitting over your sink with, I think, dove I don't know what people use that is green and blue and it's scented, and you're cleaning your dishes with these soaps that are fragranced with chemicals. You're breathing them in, with hot water going into your lungs. So these are just some of the areas that you can start making little changes that would really really clean the air up in your house.

George Siegal:

What about those scented sticks that you buy in those holistic places where there's sage and different things, and they're?

Tee Forton-Barnes:

burning them yeah yeah, the the ones you put up and they kind of like I can't think what they're called.

George Siegal:

But they slowly, they're like sparklers, but they're not.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Yes, exactly exactly yeah, yeah, um, they are not. Some of them are, um, scented with chemicals. Uh, it all depends you. I know you have to be so careful. So many of these I hate to say it come over from China too. We have no idea what's in them, no idea what they're made of, and they're allowed to sell them on the market, specifically our laundry soap and our detergents and our cleaning supplies. They do not have to list all the ingredients like they do on other products that we buy. So these are just areas that you really want to pay attention to, to reduce those chemicals that are floating around in your house, that you can't really smell, but they're there, the VOCs. What they emit into your air is not good for your lungs and it's not good for your overall health.

George Siegal:

Yeah, there's a really good documentary that I saw about perfumes in things, and I forget the name, but it was this dad who was ordering pajamas for his daughter, and then he started investigating. Do you know the name?

Tee Forton-Barnes:

I know exactly the one you're talking about and I love it. I've watched it a few times. I can't think of the name of it, and yes, and he really. I've watched it a few times. I can't think of the name of it, and yes, and he really. It's not the Stuff Project, is it?

George Siegal:

No, no, but it was arsenic in it there was things in it that human beings should not be breathing? Yes, and yet we put them in children's clothing. And you know, I can only imagine my daughter, 13, is into nails and hair and all that stuff, and her room smells like a freaking nail salon. There's no way that can be good for her.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

No, no way. It's good for her Air purifier. If I were you, I'd get an air purifier a good one and I put it in her room.

George Siegal:

We have those and you know the challenge with those and tell me how you deal with this. That probably reveals a whole other problem. You got to clean those regularly because so much dust gets drawn into them.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Well, here's the deal. It depends on what air purifier you're using. It's not about the bells and whistles on the air purifier, it's about the actual filter. I only promote the Austin air purifier, which happens, weirdly enough, we made here in Buffalo but their filter, which you only have to change once every five years. It's really about the filter and it gets out 99.9% of pretty much all the fumes that you want to eliminate and it's a HEPA grade. It's an amazing air filter and it's 100% made here in Buffalo, new York. No parts are even made in China. That's the problem with so many of these air purifiers, because it's such a big business now, especially with COVID, that these companies overseas. And if you have done my research on them, because somebody will come to me, what about this one that says it's made in Arizona? Sure enough, I'll dive into it. Yeah, it's made in Arizona, but all the parts are coming from China.

George Siegal:

I'm looking at the one I have in my office, but it's too far away for me to see the brand.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Oh, I'm curious Air Doctor is a big one.

George Siegal:

I mean, hang on, I'm going to edit this part out, but I'm going to go get the name so we can.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

OK, OK okay and tell up here alan oh, alan, yeah they.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

They pay a lot of money to promote the alans. Yes, um, I know the alan. My girlfriend reached out to me about the alan and they're they. They advertise in a lot of the you know nice magazines out there and they look nice and everything. I'm not sold on them, I can't. I think I did my research for her. I thought they were made in Thailand, I can't remember. But an air purifier I mean, if you have one, great you know, keep using it. If I had children I would have an air purifier in their room on constantly, just because what you said, your daughter is using all these products and if you don't get an air quality monitor and see for yourself what's outgassing in her room.

George Siegal:

Yeah.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

So it's just. I take it to the whole next level because I want to be, I want my air in my house to be as clean as possible. Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. I mean, if you're bringing in carpeting, if you're bringing in wall-to-wall carpeting, the glue and whatever they use underneath the carpeting is toxic. Our furniture, some furniture now they're starting to think. Thankfully not spray all furniture with fire retardants. Another one you know that's a whole nother story why that even was the case, but those are just. I mean, I want to make sure our air is as clean as possible. So these are things that I do. There's some simple things everybody can do your dry cleaning. When you pick it up, don't leave it in your car, first of all, because in those bags are chemicals that they use on your clothes. Try to out, gas it outside, if you can hang it up outside, instead of bringing it in your house.

George Siegal:

For how long?

Tee Forton-Barnes:

house for how long as much as you possibly can. I make my husband put it in the garage for a few hours. So you know what? What? How many chemicals are out guessing I don't know, but that's what they use to clean your clothes.

George Siegal:

That's dry cleaning and what do most of us do? We bring the bag with the baggie on it inside and hang that in the closet.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Yep, probably the worst choice yep, exactly yep, and in your car. So your fans any ceiling fans that you have make sure they're always constantly cleaned. If you have window units, air conditioner, windows units I went to a girlfriend's house. Whenever I go there, I'm always like I mean my friend's house, I'm always constantly looking for these things. Every window unit has a filter that opens up, typically, and this little filter comes out and you clean it.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Hers was so disgusting. I stayed in a room, and why I knew that is that the air conditioner was not getting the room cold, so I opened it up and it was just loaded. It looked like she's like I haven't cleaned that in years. I'm like I know I can tell so you don't want that air blowing in your house through that dust and whatever else it collects, so take your shoes off when you come in your house. There's so many pesticides and herbicides that people are, unfortunately, are spraying on their lawns that blow all over the place on the bottom of your shoes, potentially in your house. These are things that you just are so easy, so simple, so cheap, free, that you can do to avoid some of these toxins from coming in your house.

George Siegal:

Now, do people like it when you come over or do they go? God, he's going to find everything I'm doing wrong. Now I'm going to look like an idiot.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

I know, you know what they appreciate it. They really do. I don't say anything unless somebody really says it or asks me, but if it's a really good friend I will open up my mouth and say something. I had pots and pans, the ones that oh gosh brain Teflon.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Teflon thank you, and they're okay. I would never use them. But if they're not scratched? If they're scratched, there's another way. You are cooking chemicals into your food, into the air in your kitchen. That's what they're made of, but Teflon should not be scratched and too many people are using these pans that are scratched. That are horrible if you're still using those. So I only use stainless steel and the Lodge cast iron pans. So I know some people. They just can't give up their nonstick pans and there's other ones. There's ceramic ones on the market right now that are pretty good. But it's just another area that you don't realize when you're cooking, that those fumes are polluting your indoor air, and it's just some areas that you want to pay attention to.

George Siegal:

In this film I have hopefully coming out this summer. Built to Last Buyer, beware we interviewed a guy down in Naples who is building houses with a polyurethane product. So in a sense it's hard hardened plastic and the brilliance of it is it's waterproof. Nothing gets in. It can be built on top of an existing first floor, so you don't have the weight of putting concrete. But the question I asked him is well, what gases does that emit? And there's not enough studies to know if it does. You have to worry about construction materials a lot, don't you?

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Absolutely. You know the construction materials again, so many of them come from overseas. I've seen reports about drywall that has to be recalled because of what it was made with and there were some chemicals in it that were carcinogens. And you just have to be mindful. You have to pay attention to everything. Unfortunately, some people are like well, why would it be on the market if it weren't safe? Well, guess what? There's 80,000 chemicals on the market. The US disallows 11. Do you think they have time to check 80,000 chemicals? Do you think the chemical companies really know this? Care about it? No, a woman puts on her skin on average, just puts on her skin 168 chemicals a day. A man's more like 120.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

But those are things that are in your home, on your skin. You're breathing them in constantly in the air that is circulating throughout your house. So we, as consumers, have to be our own advocates, just like we do have to be our own advocates when we own a home or buy a home. You have to look at everything. You can't trust anyone or anything. That's why you get somebody to come in and inspect your home.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Right, I wish there was a regulation where somebody could come in with an air quality monitor. If I were a home inspector, I'd be using an air quality monitor and showing you here's what you are going to breathe in this house the levels of VOCs and the other chemicals that it would monitor. That's a little drastic, I would guess, but that's just who I am and I just know that. I want to live in a house that doesn't have all these chemicals or you can't get rid of all of them obviously. I just bought a pair of rain boots and I'm going to New Orleans this week for Jazz Fest and, oh my God, I opened up the package and just horrible smell. I can't. They're outside, couldn't even bring them in and it things like that. You know there's so much plastic on the market and made with petroleum and just crappy ingredients, so you just have to pay attention to it.

George Siegal:

Yeah, people are going wow, that tea is about as much fun as George to be around. Because I'm exactly the same way. I mean I don't trust or believe anything anybody's telling me because I don't think they put the time into doing the work that if you're not your own best advocate, we're speaking the same language. You have no chance if you don't look out for yourself. And with scented things, with all this stuff that's out there, it's like we can't assume somebody's checked all that stuff. Why do we want to be breathing it?

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Yeah, I mean, the list goes on and on and on. You know, from even children's toys, dog toys. Think about some of the smells that if you buy anything for a child ever and first of all look at see where it came from. It probably came from China. I'm sorry to you know.

George Siegal:

No, please bash them like crazy. They deserve it.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

So you know, and do, I buy some of these once in a while. And all of a sudden I'm like, what was I thinking? My husband came home with a candle the other day from the body shop and I'm like, get that out of here. And he's pretty good. He's like, oh, I thought it was. You know, I bought it for somebody. I thought it was scented with whatever. It was Like. No, it's not. It's scented with major chemicals that are making people think, you know, that it's lemon fresh or whatever it was. So.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

But the government doesn't test all these chemicals. No, so they're allowing them to use them in all these products and, unfortunately, it's failing to sufficiently protect our health. And it's apparent. It's apparent in so many illnesses that are out there, so much cancer. I've never remembered so many people getting cancer in my entire life, especially kids. What are they using on them? What are they drinking, what are they eating? Everything it's just, it's overwhelming. But you can take it slow and slowly, start to detox your home, one room at a time, and these are just some tips that I offer people. You know on your show that they can start with.

George Siegal:

Those are great tips. When we were shooting my film, my crew had this app. Everybody was playing with this app. I think it's pronounced Yucca.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Y-U-C-A-A.

George Siegal:

And you can scan everything with that, like from perfumes, fragrances, food. And I started scanning the shampoo I was using, the sunscreen I was using, the shaving cream I was using. Everything I was using was incredibly toxic, so this could be my last show. I mean, this stuff was horrible and so I've now replaced all of it. You know maybe.

George Siegal:

I'm too old to have it make a difference. I hope it makes a difference. I scan food things my kids eat. I'm going, I'm giving you cheerios for breakfast. That gets a six out of a hundred um. The shaving cream I was using got a zero out of a hundred um. So everybody at the least could download that app and I've now got my whole family into doing it and I tell anybody that knows, just because that's a great way to get a head start on replacing stuff you know is crap.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Yep, absolutely. It's pretty amazing when you start to see what you're using and you don't. Well, you will never know the cumulative effect either. You did say did it help? Yes, it does help. It does eventually come out of your system, but whatever you can do is going to help, like you did. That's a huge first step in the right direction, george, and it opens up your eyes to looking at labels, reading those ingredients. Don't look at the front of a label ever. Turn it around. They want you to believe that it's healthy. They'll put an aloe plant on the front. Or if they say made with essential oils, it only needs to have 2% essential oils for them to say that. So that's another code word out there for greenwashing. So you just have to pay attention to all these different products that you're using on your bodies and in your home.

George Siegal:

And you want to be careful when they don't list everything. There's a store chain in Texas, heb great market Everybody loves them and they had this chicken rotisserie chicken and it had like 45, 50 ingredients in it and I was told it should have two ingredients chicken and maybe salt, and that's it. So I went to the manager and I said why are you doing all this, putting all this crap in your chicken? It's not necessary. About a month later I went back and there was chicken and then it said other ingredients Everything else was still in it. They just wrote the label differently and didn't list them.

George Siegal:

They didn't take out the 50 things you shouldn't be eating, so I don't even try. If I see other ingredients, I'm going, I'm out, I'm not getting that.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Other ingredients another code word to run from made with natural ingredients.

George Siegal:

Yeah.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

And if you're eating something made with natural flavors, again don't buy it. It's just their way of hiding what's in there but making you think that it's made with natural ingredients. So cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, made with natural ingredients Again it can be a drop of lemon, essential oils, and you know the other 30 ingredients are horrible for you. So it's a wild world out there, I must say.

George Siegal:

Yeah, it is. Do you ever feel like you're fighting a losing battle? I mean, I know you're making a difference. You can make a difference, one person at a time, getting your message out there, but it seems like the crap still keeps coming out. People keep trying to shove this stuff on us.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Yeah, it is, and they try to go like with BPA, which is a big thing. Now I just was reading an article in Time magazine BPA, which is a big thing now. I just was reading an article in Time magazine and he had his urine sampled, which you can do. That's another thing you can do too, by the way, which I love doing. I did it too and it'll tell you some of the chemicals inside your body and he had excessive amounts of plastic in his body. That, unfortunately, we all do, but you can limit that. But BPA is something that he found and how it was getting into his body, and it's through a lot of these products. I found BPA in me and it was in.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

I hate to tell everybody this, but it was our coffee maker that we were using because it's made with plastic. So a simple coffee. We use stainless steel French press, so the inside of a coffee maker is all plastic. Unfortunately, those K-cups are horrible for you. You're boiling plastic and drinking BPA. So what they do now is BPA free, but unfortunately, chemical companies they're ahead of us. They then make the BPA BPAS it's pretty much the same chemical but in a different format and they're using that instead.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

This is how crazy it is out there with the chemical companies that really are enormous and they're in Washington lobbying and it's hard for us Now. Are we making a difference? Yes, there's so many people out there like myself that are really making a difference and I feel, since COVID, too, and since for social media purposes and podcasts, we are out there and we are making a difference, and you are too, so you know every little bit helps and there have been some new laws that have come on to the. They've been passed and actually more are on the docket regarding all of this, so that is a huge difference. Monsanto is being sued by 165,000 people for the glyphosate that they're putting in their roundup. Those things are happening. Yes, they're a multi-trillion dollar firm that's fighting back, but people are becoming aware that you need to use as limit.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

You know, try to stop using as many chemicals as possible, whether it's in your home, on your property, spraying your lawns, the paint that you use, the carpeting that you buy that new carpeting smell. That's not new carpeting smell, by the way. That's all chemicals that you're smelling. That people think is new carpeting, but it's. These are things that you just pay attention to and we're so lucky that we have our scent that we can smell some of these things.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Unfortunately, a lot of people are almost addicted to some of those smells. It takes you to change some of your habits and you might not even know that you weren't feeling well until you start eliminating these chemicals and then you wake up in the morning and your head's not stuffy or you don't have a sore throat and your eyes don't feel itchy and you don't have a headache from wearing chemicals and breathing chemicals in your house all day. Those are some of the areas that I see very regularly, helping people detox their home and they start realizing they thought that they had allergies or it was a pollen, and it really wasn't. It was really the chemicals they're using in their house.

George Siegal:

You ever wonder how these people sleep at night that run these companies and I think, well, they probably have so many chemicals in their body they just pass out at night. But I can't imagine how people do that and the lobbying that they do. So we want the the laws to change, but these people spread so much money around washington and then the state legislatures buying these politicians off. They're never going to vote all this stuff out or make it illegal or ban it, because they're making too much money off of it they are.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

But you know, I'm starting. I start seeing politicians, kids getting sick and they're starting to realize there is a major problem. Now we just had a law passed for our water in the United States. I've known this for years. I would never drink tap water. It is so polluted and the chemicals that are in our tap water, they, it's, it's. I have a reverse osmosis. That's the only water that I will drink, and if I'm traveling I'll buy something, of course. But there's a law that now every I think 2026, I think it is water filtration plant has to get these chemicals. They're specifically these PFAS chemicals which unfortunately are everywhere, and so they all realize we're all drinking the same water.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Whatever side you are on in Washington, it doesn't matter and you know there's no hiding from all of this. It's hard, but they're starting to open their eyes. I've sat on a lot of legislative sessions here in New York State and that they do remotely that I promote and push to try to get some of these laws changed and we've made movements and there's been a few that we've gotten past. We're still fighting for some more and there'll be more down the road, but it's good to see them starting to open up their eyes to all of these products. They have kids, they have girls, they have little girls putting on this lotion that has all these toxic ingredients on it, and hairspray and you name it. So it's getting people to just open their eyes a little bit. Read the labels that you're using, because consumers are going to be the ones to really change the way things are made and sold to us, because it's all about the money.

George Siegal:

What do you think of those water plants that are now recycling sewage and turning that back into drinking water? I saw a story about that on the news I was going. There's no way this could really be real. It's a water treatment plant that cleans and purifies the water and then puts it out there for drinking. I'm not sure exactly where it is. My guess would be California, but I'm not sure I'd have to see that.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Now you know we all drink water from. It goes down the toilet, it's going to our water treatment plants. Pharmaceuticals are flushed down the toilets. They and I will give you a tip Look up for Tampa, look up anybody's listening. Look up EWG Water. That's all you have to plug in.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

It's an environmental working group. It's a great organization that has been around for decades. I know them very well. I study them very well. That's like the first organization besides Silent Spring that really dove into this whole industry of pollutants and chemicals in our products. But they have a scientist on their team that analyze all the water reports that come from all these cities. I tried to look at buffaloes and it's like you know a different language, so they broke it down and it'll show you the chemicals that are in your drinking water and it'll show you the top 10 or 12 or whatever. There's so many more, but it'll show you the levels of that chemical and most of them are anywhere from like 50 to 300 times what they should be in our drinking water and most of them are potential carcinogens, which is horrific.

George Siegal:

So I have to stop taking the tap water in a restaurant. When they say would you like bottled or or tap water, I mean it just sounds like you always think, yeah, I don't want to spend another five bucks on a glass of water here I know, bring your own.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

That's what I do. I bring my own. I bring my own takeout container too. By the way, you don't ever want to put your food in plastic wow, you know fiji water.

George Siegal:

Fiji water gets 100 out of 100 on that app that I was telling you about.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Good yeah, Fiji's good. My girlfriend works for Fiji.

George Siegal:

But it's in a plastic bottle.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

It is, but if you're traveling, and that's all you can do, do it the Dasanis and all those other ones that Pepsi sells. It's tap water.

George Siegal:

Yeah, but if it says natural spring water, does it have to be natural spring water at least?

Tee Forton-Barnes:

I don't know that regulation so well, but I question that. I question the word natural at all.

George Siegal:

Yeah, you already did with other stuff, so it can't be different from water.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Yeah, exactly. So you just have to be mindful. And I drink a ton of water, I'm a big water person and I just want it. I want it to be as clean as possible.

George Siegal:

Yeah, and does that thought process change when you're in foreign countries, like when we go to Europe? My research about it, but I don't trust it.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

I don't. Our water is unfortunately so polluted. I mean London could reverse osmosis all of their water and it might be okay. Naples, florida by the way, if I have that correct, I think it's Naples or Fort Myers somewhere down there, that community, it's Naples, now that I think about it, they do reverse osmosis for their water. That's what the entire country needs to be doing. Fort Myers, somewhere down there, that community, it's Naples, now that I think about it, they do reverse osmosis for their water. That's what the entire country needs to be doing for our entire every city.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

It's expensive, it's very expensive. India does it. India has horrible water. They reverse osmosis. You can't drink over there unless you drink the reverse osmosis water. So our water is just, I mean, unfortunately it's loaded with everything that's pushing into our waterways and our oceans and our lakes and our streams, coming off of all these different pesticide and herbicide sprayed lands and flushing the toilets with all this other crap. So I mean, even even putting lotion on and shampoo, it's going down the drain, it's going into our drinking water, all those chemicals. So it's just being mindful of everything you're putting in your body, on your body and bringing into your home.

George Siegal:

And you know, I think that's really a losing argument when we say that it's too expensive to do it because the cost of not doing it seems to be much higher to do it because the cost of not doing it seems to be much higher. Treating a community of people with cancer has to cost a lot more than slapping some filters on there and trying to avoid them getting cancer.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Exactly. You know, and I have friends that are very well off and I try to convince them to get a $600 reverse osmosis put into your house. This is a flight that you could take to a city. It's $600. I know not everybody has $600. It's hard and there are some decent small countertop units to use for your water. But it's really just like you said, you really want to pay attention to everything in your that you're using. Spend it on your body, spend it on your home. You want it to be as safe and as clean as possible. It's just and, as you said, you don't want to get sick. It's a lot more expensive to get sick.

George Siegal:

Oh, absolutely so. Let's, I kept you longer than I said I was going to. Okay, if you had to give somebody a takeaway of okay, here's the first, the number one thing, and I know we kind of touched on this. But just to put a bow on it, what's the first thing I can do to just start making my house healthier? I want to start working on the air.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

So what I would do is take a box with a bag, because I want you to tie it. Take all your cleaning supplies it includes your laundry detergent Put it in a box with a plastic bag, get it out of your house, go and get a fragrance-free laundry detergent, fragrance-free all-purpose cleaner. I have one that I make and sell, mind you, and Tea's Organics. A little plug there, sorry, george.

George Siegal:

No go for it.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Yeah, it's an all-purpose cleaner. That's all I use. I was brought up on in the 60s. My mother had us cleaning with vinegar, water and baking soda. I still do to this day, and so get rid of it. Don't get rid of it. Don't get rid of it. Don't throw it away. Put it in your garage, get it somewhere. Try for two months and see how you feel.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

I've never had anybody come back and say I can't live without those. I can't. I have everybody come back and say I can't believe I was living with those and sleeping in those and using those in my home and everybody. I mean I love it so much when people will call me and thank me and tell me how they feel better. And I was at a friend's house and, oh my God, I couldn't even spend the night. I had to leave because she used this horrible ingredients. So you start realizing what this all could potentially be doing to your body, to your mind, your thinking process, your sleep at night. Your body has to detox through the night and if you're on toxic load, you might not even be sleeping well at night. You might be waking up a lot because your body could be telling you like I can't work this hard to get these toxic chemicals out of your body. So these are all things that you could see. Those changes I'm never going to guarantee it with anybody, but this is definitely areas that have helped a lot of people.

George Siegal:

That's great advice, t. Thank you so much for sharing that. All your contact information and ways people can reach you I'll put in the show notes. I may have to start ordering some of your products just because I'm feeling a little toxic right now. I got to be honest with you?

Tee Forton-Barnes:

No, don't feel it. You know what it's good. If you start thinking that way, you will start reading labels on everything and, as you are, you're helping other people too and getting your kids to read labels, and I try to have fun with it. I know it can be a little depressing because it's overwhelming, but you take your time. Slow, go slow. Don't throw everything out, even though I love doing that for people. Don't throw anything. So if you really want to, I'll help you with that. But you know and it's just being more aware and reading- yeah, come by next time you're in Tampa.

George Siegal:

You'll have a field day at this house, just in my daughter's room.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

Love doing that I would love to. I'll be there in January.

George Siegal:

Okay, hey T, thank you so much, I appreciate your time today.

Tee Forton-Barnes:

You're welcome. Thanks for having me.

George Siegal:

I know a lot of you have stories about your experiences as a home buyer or renter and I'd love to hear about them. Fill out the contact form in the show notes and let's get you scheduled to be a guest on an upcoming podcast. By sharing your stories, you can help other people avoid making the same mistakes that you made. Thanks for listening today. I'll see you next time.

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George Siegal

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