NON-TOXIC PAINT - Friday 10 August 2007

Dr Greg Emerson from Emerson Health and Wellness Centre specialises in environmental medicine. Dr Emerson says the common complaints associated with solvent fumes are foggy thinking, fatigue and rashes.

"Anything that we can do to reduce our exposure to a toxic burden we should be trying to do," stressed Dr Emerson.

Ten years ago professional painter Steve Williams walked away from his career to escape the side effects of paint fumes.

"I developed dermatitis and I saw a lot of other painters that I was working with developed dermatitis as well. There was also breathing problems asthma," explained Steve.

But recently Steve picked the brush up again after discovering non-toxic paints.

"So there's two synthetic brands that we use."

One, called EcoStyle, is made in Yandina by Rockcote. Another is an Italian range called Oikos.

Floor polishers, EnviroFloors, has also made the switch.

"We started to get sick ourselves, headaches like a hangover symptom," said Owner Andrew Mowbray.

EnviroFloors now uses non-toxic environmentally friendly floor polishes, which are water based rather than solvent based. Apart from being fume free, Andrew says the non-toxic polishes are better for the timber, won't discolour over time and also dry quicker.

"They can live in the house. Depending on how the house is set up you do one half of the house while they're living in the other."

Contacts

Name: EnviroFloors
Phone: 0414 800 454
Web Address: http://www.envirofloors.com.au

Name: Natural Painting People
Phone: 07 3269 9987
Web Address: http://www.naturalpaintingpeople.com.au

Name: Dr Greg Emerson
Phone: 07 3399 4338
Web Address: http://www.drgregemerson.com

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