Insecticide foggers, also called”bug bombs,” are still causing injuries in the U.S., despite the fact that manufacturers worderedderd to modify the products’ labels in order to make them safer. The study team notes in the Centers for Disease Control’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report noted that some types of incidents even increased.

The best precaution is not to have bugs inside your house in the first place, so depriving food, shelter and water from insects. If these steps don’t work and you want to use insect ships, it’s necessary that you read and follow the label directions.” – Walter Alarcon of the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety via email to Reuters.

Due to high injury rate the EPA required bug bombs to have improved instruction labels after 2012, with images emphasizing safety precautions such as leaving the home for at least two hours and ventilating the area well for an additional two hours. But the rate of illness related to bug bombs was not reduced. Some types of incidents even increased.

Related: Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

If you’re going to use foggers or bug bombs follow all instructions and keep them away from heat sources and evacuate the building. The EPA has put out a series of videos regarding fogger safety.

Obviously, we at OLM contend there are better ways to eliminate a bug problem other than through the use of toxic chemicals, though eliminating the problem in the first place by depriving them of food, water, and shelter is the right first step. Keeping the home as clean as possible, use essential oils like neem and lemongrass to wipe down, spray, and clean every surface insects may come in contact with.

Alarcon and colleagues used several health surveillance databases to see whether the relabeled products changed the statistics, characteristics, or severity of illnesses with bug bombs between 2007-2015. In particular, they looked at data from pesticides programs and poison control centers in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, Washington, California, Louisiana, New York, Oregon and Nebraska. Among 3,222 illnesses, common symptoms included coughing, vomiting, nausea, respiratory pain and abdominal pain. Five percent of cases happened in children less than five years of age, and 14% of injuries occurred in adults over age 60.

Exposure narratives in case reports indicated that most users didn’t read or follow label directions,” Alarcon said.

Individuals who did not leave their houses throughout the insect bomb installation were much more likely to report illeness. Others had problems following re-entry to their homes too early or by spraying themselves from simply pointing the nozzle in the wrong direction.

Foggers are obsolete residential pest management apparatus for many reasons. It isn’t too powerful for several insects, like bed bugs or cockroaches. It certainly introduces a fantastic concern for human exposure to pesticides following usage as residue is left on surfaces which individuals, particularly toddlers and young kids, develop into contact afterwards.

It is quite simple to abuse them adhere to the directions correctly. I have a tough time following the specific instructions.”- Dr. Alex Lu of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston (wasn’t involved in the study).

A limitation of this study is the poison control centers might not have info from those who had moderate cases and did not report their encounters. A few of the cases might also be considered”false positives” because the symptoms might not be brought on by foggers, the authors note. Moreover, the analysis only includes data from 10 nations and also for three years following the new EPA label conditions have been in force.

Recommended Reading:

• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet
• How to Make the Healthiest Smoothies – 4 Recipes
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones
• Sugar Leads to Depression – World’s First Trial Proves Gut and Brain are Linked (Protocol Included)

Most know about garlic’s antimicrobial properties. A healthy diet rich in raw garlic is the best defense against fungal, bacterial, viral, and parasitical infections. Garlic may also be used topically to treat vaginal yeast infections and athlete’s foot.

WWI soldiers used crushed garlic on infected wounds suffered in battle. Hippocrates, considered by many to be the “Father of Medicine,” also used garlic to heal cancerous tumors. Garlic’s history is as rich and plentiful as its benefits. It is a truly amazing herb and one that many naturally minded healthcare practitioners will tell you is one of nature’s most incredible plants.

Be forewarned, garlic does burn the skin. It’s not pleasant, but the results are amazing. Here’s a personal story about treating a spider bite with garlic:

In Los Angeles there was a spider with a bad attitude in our apartment. He bit me nine times over the course of four nights. I do not know what kind of spider it was, but he was nasty, and five of those bites got very infected.

I’m not one to get infections easily, but the spider that bit me was a potent little bastard! The bites were on my left arm near my elbow. I couldn’t move my elbow and I was starting to look like an Ebola virus victim. One of the bites was so bad that there was almost a third of a cup of green and greenish yellow, thick, oozing puss that I spent 5 hours carefully extracting, only to have it fill up the next day. I was taking tons of supplements and eating well; I was doing everything I could to ensure I did not get an infection, but this toxin the spider bit me with was unrelenting.

I was also using some of the most potent herbs I knew of, putting them directly into the huge hole left behind from the puss extraction. During the third time (seven days after the bite) of removing the puss (I was cutting open my arm and literally digging into the infection, scooping out this nasty pussy junk), I noticed streaking. Blood poisoning. So I decided to take drastic measures. I knew it would burn me badly, but I filled up the hole with garlic. I shoved a total of four large minced cloves into the infection, which gives you an idea of the massive size of the hole that was there on my arm just below my elbow. Then I bandaged the wound.

It itched so badly that night, but my whole arm hurt and itched so much already that the garlic itch didn’t matter to me. I taped my hands in my sleep so my fingers wouldn’t claw off the bandage while scratching in my sleep.

The next day I awoke to a huge purple welt. It was three times the diameter of a quarter, and it looked like something had eaten a huge chunk of my arm. It was ghastly! But it was also uninfected! I had no itch, and very little pain right there, unlike the other bites.

The other bites had to be drained for infection a few times, even well after the wound closed. I did not do the garlic trick with them, as the scar that I thought might be permanent was massive and disturbing to look at. It took a month for the other spider bites to heal, and it took 6 weeks for the garlic wound to completely heal leaving a very large scar.

But here is what I found most interesting. Today, one year later, every single spider bite left a scar, except the big one. The one I put the garlic into is less visible than the others. As massive and nasty as it was during the slow healing process, the permanent damage done was less than that of even the relatively insignificant other bites.

Garlic Potency – Allicin

A sulfur-based compound called alliin and an enzyme called alliinase are separated in the garlic’s cell structure when garlic is whole. Cutting garlic ruptures the cells and releases these elements, allowing them to come in contact with each other and oxygen to form a powerful new compound called allicin, which not only adds to the number of garlic’s health-promoting benefits but is also the culprit behind its pungent aroma and gives garlic its “bite.”

Allicin is garlic’s strongest antimicrobial component. This is also why researchers tell us that slicing, chopping, mincing or pressing garlic before cooking will enhance its health-promoting properties by releasing more allicin. Avoid boiling or cooking whole garlic cloves as this deactivates the enzymes.

By chopping garlic more finely, more allicin may be produced. Pressing garlic or mincing it into a smooth paste will give you the strongest flavor and may also result in the highest amount of allicin. Let it sit for five to ten minutes before eating or cooking. If cooking is required, do not expose to heat for longer than five minutes.

The processes used to create garlic tablets destroy allicin. Fresh garlic is best, but if you need to take it as a pill, don’t take garlic in tablet form. Use powdered capsules instead.

Garlic and Cancer

When garlic is a regular part of the diet, it has been shown in studies to help prevent cancer of the prostate, bladder, colon, stomach and breast.

One study of 40,000 postmenopausal women showed a 50% reduction in colon cancer.

Fingernails and Cuticles

Garlic strengthens nails and can heal cuticles. While ingesting garlic has a positive effect on skin and could, therefore, help cuticles, and possibly promote nail growth, people usually use garlic topically to enhance nail growth and repair cuticles.

Here’s a recipe for garlic infused nail polish.

Make sure to use nontoxic nail polish! Here are a few:

1. Piggy Paint, non-toxic, odorless, kid-friendly, kid-colored, water-based formula.
2. Honeybee Gardens, an alternative to solvent-based nail polish, water-based, odorless, removes with rubbing alcohol.
3. No-Miss, does not contain the three-to-avoid above, and also does not contain camphor.
4. Acquarella, water-based system of nail polish, conditioner, remover and moisturizer.
5. Suncoat, water-based nail polish that has been recognized and honored from the Canadian Health Food Association Expo.
6. Gaiam, created by New York City’s first organic spa, our non-toxic nail polish is free of known carcinogens.

Check out more nontoxic nail polishes at care2.com.

Alternatively, you can also soak nails in garlic oil, or apply garlic oil to nails regularly.

For damaged cuticles that don’t want to heal, take crushed garlic, apply to the cotton of a Band-Aid and wrap the finger. The way to do this is to open the Band-Aid wrapping, place the Band-Aid on a table or counter, place garlic in a “U” pattern to lineup with the cuticle line, and then put the finger, nail down, onto the Band-Aid and wrap the finger. It’s a little easier with help, but it’s not too difficult to do alone. It will itch for about 20 minutes. One finger is pretty easy to manage the irritation, but multiple fingers can get pretty difficult to bear. Leave it on for a minimum of 3 hours – 8 hours max. Once the Band-Aid is removed, let the skin air out for a few hours at least, but if there’s the potential to damage the cuticles again, wrap them up in new Band-Aids.

Different Kinds of Garlic

Garlic can be broadly classified into two groups known as hardneck and softneck. Hardneck garlic may be broken down into three types,  the purple stripe, porcelain, and rocambole. Within the softneck classification there are artichokes and silverskins. Hardneck varieties tend to grow and thrive better in regions with colder winters.

Hardneck cultivars tend to have are richer, spicier, and generally have a more complex flavor. Hardneck varieties, due to their plumpness and fairly regular clove shape and thicker skin, are considerably easier to peel. Softneck garlic is usually milder. Much of the softneck garlics are used in processed products and for garlic powder for seasoning. The cloves of softneck cultivars are also more difficult to peel due to irregular shape and tight, thin skins.

Pest Control with Garlic

Germs, parasites, and most animals don’t like garlic. If you have a garden that you want to protect or a pet you need to keep flea free, it’s easy to make a garlic spray that you can apply directly to plants and animals.

Garden Protection Recipe

• 1 whole bulb of garlic
• 1 small onion
• 1 teaspoon of powdered cayenne pepper
• 1 quart of water
• 1 tablespoon liquid dish soap

Chop all ingredients finely (or crush, or use a food processor), and put in blender with water. Blend at a low speed until well mixed and then strain. If you blend at too high a speed, you may have nothing to strain, and the mixture may be too thick for a spray bottle, but it depends on the sprayer.

Put liquid into a spray bottle and add dish soap. Mix well.

Use a spray bottle to liberally apply to plants, all over, including the top and underside of leaves.

Flea Control Recipe

• 1 whole bulb of garlic
• 1 small onion
• 1 lemon
• 1 quart of water
• 10 drops of peppermint oil clove oil or any other essential oils that pests don’t like.

Chop all ingredients finely (or crush, or use a food processor), and put into a blender with water. Blend at a low speed until well mixed and then strain. If you blend at too high a speed you may have nothing to strain, and the mixture may be too thick for a spray bottle, but it depends on the sprayer. Spray pet before it goes outside, and regularly if there are fleas in the house. Avoid spraying near the pet’s eyes.

Other Garlic Health Benefits, Tips, and Tricks

• Garlic might help prevent hair loss! Massage garlic oil into scalp.
• Garlic is definitely a low calorie food with 4 calories per clove.
• If you put a slice of garlic over a splinter and cover it with a bandage, it will help the skin push it out.
• Garlic has its own day of recognition! April 19 is National Garlic Day.
• Garlic is rumored to ward off mosquitoes and other vampires.
• Garlic helps babies gain weight while they are in the womb.
• Rub garlic on a cold sore to get rid of it.
• Put a slice on a skin tag and cover with a Band-Aid to get rid of it.
• Garlic is high in iodine – good for the thyroid.
• Garlic is high in vitamin C.
• Garlic doesn’t need to be refrigerated.
• Avoid CHINESE GARLIC!
• Garlic helps to regulate blood sugar.
• There are 300 varieties of garlic grown worldwide.
• Garlic has been grown for more than 5000 years.
• To quickly peel an entire head of garlic, put it in a jar and shake until the cloves come loose and the skin comes off.
• Grow a new bulb from any clove that sprouts.

Shillington’s Total Tonic, and Blood Detox are two of my favorite garlic recipes.

Menu

Garlic is my go-to herb for many ailments, and I eat it every single day. I put it in my salads and in the foods I cook. I eat it raw and cooked, but more often raw. I use it to reset my gut flora, I use it to detoxify my body, and I use it to make food taste better, but it does so much more.

Related Products:

• Mother Earth Organic Root Cider – Barrier Island Organics
• Shillington’s Echinacea Plus
• Shillington’s Blood Detox Formula

Recommended Reading:

• Make Your Immune System Bulletproof with These Natural Remedies
• Cayenne and Capsaicin, Natures Miracle Medicine
• Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases
• How to Optimize Curcumin Absorption – With Golden Milk Tea Recipe
• The Amazing Herbal Power of Ginger