Pregnancy and Lampworking

[lisaul]

Bergina, you brought up"Hair dye" I have been a stylist for over 20 years. The chemicals in the Salon are defenitely toxic for stylists with repeated exposure. Before I opened my "nontoxic " salon, I had wrist rashes and sinus problems. When I became pregnant with my son in 1990 I began to wonder "If my body reacts this way in the Salon, what is it doing to my unborn child?" I had been teaching haircolor in Salons across the country and doing color all day every day in the salon. I researched a nontoxic haircolor and opened my salon wih nontoxic in mind, to protect MY health as well as my clients.
Now 14 years later I am manufacuring a line of permanent haircolor that is not toxic to pregnant women. I am also a new lampworker of five years(I think). Time flies when you're working in a Salon, runninig a haircolor business, taking care of two kids(My son is almost 14 and my daughter is now 6) and lampworking on my days off.
Pregnant women should be conscious of everything they expose themselves to:
drycleaning has been linked to miscarriages..stay away from dry cleaned clothes), don't eat too much basil, stay away from fumes,pesticides, nutrasweet(bad for babies developing brain),,eat organic, breathe,exercise, find time to nurture your spirit because you will learn that when you are out of sync, your children reflect that. This time is physically and spiritually a transforming one for you. Enjoy it to it's fullest.
When you get closer to he birthing process read anything by Penny Simpkin. She is the mother of doulas. It will help you get a real hand on the labor process. It is nothing to be feared.
There is a nice book on Natural Child Care by a local Midwife named Aviva Romm.Also check out the" Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" as well. Those are two books a new Mom will benefit from immensely.
Lisa
Ecocolors Haircolor Link

[Vince]

Lisa,

what epidemiological references do you have for your caution about basil? Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) is a culinary and medicinal herb of long history and is eaten as part of the diet of millions of Mediterranean women, including pregnant ones, every day. It is also widely used outside the region including right here in the USA.

So far as I know, the herb as used in cooking (including pesto) is perfectly harmless for all, including pregnant women. Where caution is warranted is in the medicinal use of essential oils and extracts from basil, either externally or internally, during pregnancy. I do agree that those extracts and essential oils should not be used during pregnancy but I've never heard that the herb as used in cooking is harmful in any way.

I'm not trying to persuade in one direction or another, but I would like to see what evidence there is before women give up their favorite pasta sauce or salad dressing for the duration. As far as I can discover, basil as used in cooking is harmless.

By the way, I commend your effort on finding non-toxic hair coloring products. I don't personally use hair coloring products, but I've known many women who do and I've always thought that some of these were much too toxic and had unspecified side-effects, perhaps even extending to mood-altering. I hope you do well.

Vince

[lisaul]

Vince,
My reference for Basil was from Susan Weed, an herbalist specializing in womens pregnancies..Her book is called Wise Woman herbal.
My point is to avoid anything that may trigger a miscarriage..I ate pesto during my pregnancy and ws fine, but someone else may be triggered by it.
Lisa

[Vince]

Thanks Lisa. I tried to follow the reasoning of Susun Weed, but found her to be long on pronouncements and short on evidence, so I can't tell anything from that source. The only real cautionary evidence I can find refers to the extracts and essential oils of basil, for internal and external use during pregnancy. The recommendation in that case is clear, don't use those extracts and oils, and I believe that reflects properly on the concentration of the herbal substances in those media.

I found no evidence that basil as used in cooking presents any problem at all. In fact, I even found several recipes specifically recommended for pregnant women that contained basil. So, if you wish to be super cautious, you can avoid ALL contact with basil during pregnancy, but I find no evidence that there is any risk as it is used normally in cooking. I suspect the Mediterranean cultures would have figured this out long ago if the problem were real. Each person needs to decide for themselves about this of course, but I would not worry too much about using basil in cooking.

Vince

[Janz]

You both make really excellent points there....I found that Susun Weed was often cautioning agaisnt infusions and essential oils...because those CAN be dangerous, but I always thought if you were going to eat the "fresh" herb or veggie it was cool. That's the great thing though, it that we can each decide what steps we want to take after reading that info.

I think the non-toxic hair colour is great Lisa! I always told my sister that when she started dying her hair red, it gave her a fiery temprement.


Janz

[margi]

Mags, Ofilia, and others--I know virtually nothing about pregancy, having elected never to have children myself, but your stories about your exposure to potential toxins during your gestation times, and the *possible* related outcomes really touched my heart. As someone said above , we all carry guilt around in our hearts for those "woulda, shoulda, coulda's, if only's," etc...And they do nothing but eat us up inside, since whatever has happened is obviously irreversible, and we are, and always have, done the best that we can and could to survive, based on what we knew or know right NOW.

Who knows--perhaps all of us will end up dying prematurely, and maybe even killing off or at least harming family members by exposure to the byproducts of lampworking--insidious toxic fumes and other gasses, substances, whatever, that we do not, in fact, adequately protect ourselves from, even though we may think that we are doing so based on WHAT WE KNOW NOW!

In my own case, I still wonder sometimes if my own mother's suicide could have been prevented if my last contact with her a couple of weeks before her death hadn't been the slamming down of the phone by both of us in a fit of fury...and then no more calls, even though we had been accustomed to talking EVERY DAY across 3000 miles--both of us too stubborn, hurt, angry, whatever, to break the silence. It took me a long, long time to stop tormenting myself over that one, but I no longer do--because there was no peace in that thinking for me. I hope that both of you, and others, can find a peaceful path for yourself in reviewing your past choices, based on necessity at the time, and/or poor information.

I think that I myself would avoid making beads during these next few months were I pregnant--but maybe play around with fusing instead? It can be just (well, almost!) as creative (not to hurt anyone's feelings!), and if you leave the room while the kiln is heating and have someone else around who can check your pieces for you when they're close to melting temp., then you could pretty much entirely avoid toxic fumes and materials, yes? And maybe make a lot of progress in a slightly different art form!

Margi

[daffodildeb]

I'd opt for no flames for a while. It's a short time, compared to the lifetime of a baby with birth defects. Although we now know my own daughter's spina bifida was probably related to a folic acid deficit and not to any previous occupation or hobby, it's no fun to torture yourself with the "what ifs" and guilt feelings. My concern (and it's purely uneducated) would be with brain development and intelligence, and I'd do anything to prevent that. Fortunately I lucked out--wheelchair or not, she's almost got her master's degree.

[brandybmw]

I have looked at the Hazards books but if you don't know what chemicals to look up, it doesn't help. I am surprised that no one know what the basic chemical equation is, and thus what the products of lampworking are. We know that working with frits, metals, and enamels is too risky so I am not interested in that. If you simply want to make beads with glass only, why can't someone create the chemical equation for melting Moretti glass with a propane oxygen mix torch? Why is it such a mystery?

[Karen]

Vince would probably know, but I suspect it's because different colors of glass have different metals and amounts of metal.

[Vince]

The problem, of course, is that the chemical content of different colors of glass are closely held trade secrets (for all lampworking glass types) and it is therefore not possible to create this chemical equation.

Vince