I routinely mix saw dust with yard waste, vegetable garden waste, kitchen waste, and fireplace ashes in my compost pile. I hit the whole thing with a small tiller to mix it up well and have had very good results in my vegetable garden. The key is to mix up the types of materials added to the pile. Straight saw dust works pretty good as mulch as it tends to form an almost solid sheet on the ground and gobbles up the nitrogen in the soil which keeps weeds from growing. I've spread a layer of saw dust along a fence line and then put a thin layer of cedar mulch over it for appearance.
Aside from any useful properties that you may find it has, I would treat it like the poison that it is. I suspect it's not nearly as bad as your typical weedkiller, but it's not as "natural" as it may seem either. I'm probably biased because I'm allergic to it.
How can wood dust/shavings not be "natural"? By definition it is because it came from nature herself. You may be allergic to it but many are allergic to ragweed, poison ivy, and as you point out many/most species of wood but that doesn't mean it's not natural. Now, add some MDF to it the mix and it's a whole different kettle.
In any case, I have places on my property where I spray Roundup, or worse, but if saw dust works, well, two birds. I think I'll make a path back through the trees, too, so that I can dump more. ;-)
In my case the vast majority of the sawdust is from solid wood with a relatively small amount coming from plywood (CDX, luan) so I don't worry about it.
Also, the glues are well cured by the time it becomes part of the saw dust. As compared to the components being in a liquid state it will degrade slowly. As such it is highly unlikely it would ever come close to reaching a toxic concentration in the ground or water... The run off from nearby roads and parking lots concerns me more! The amount of kerosene, hydraulic fluid and diesel fuel that utility and DPW road crews lost on the road next to my property last year COULD kill ya!
Possibly, but I think it's the Formaldehyde that gets me. I can get a medium reaction from just opening a door of some of the new cabinetry at a home shop (catching a wisp of "dust" in my face). I eventually got smarter and unbox stuff like speakers in my garage and leave them there for a few days to "out-gas" before bringing them into my home. FWIW, I get a similar reaction from those aerosol cans of compressed "air". After I figured out what was going on, I bought an electric solution.
I hope that it's clear, I was in no way telling the OP what to do--I was just sharing my experience. For many people, the problem comes from "over-exposure", so some mindfulness can't hurt. I've had the sensitivity since being a young teen, so I'm not sure if I was "inadvertently" over-exposed.
I am very familiar with this problem... Back in the early '90s it took me 2
1/2 years to figure out that I was suffering from what is known as multiple chemical sensitivity (environmental illness). Myriad doctors couldn't figure out why my ear drums were bulging and I felt like I had the flu for months at a time. I finally figured out it was from chemicals outgassing from new pillows I bought for my bed! The sicker I felt the more time I spent in bed... it was debilitating. In the summer months when the windows were open the concentration of chemicals dropped off and the symptoms were less severe.
Once I figured it out I immediately threw the pillows away and started feeling relief within a few days. After that it was avoidance. New winter coats in department stores, new carpet in the university library, new shower curtains... they all made me ill. After maybe 5 years I didn't have any more problems. I only wear natural fabrics for warmth now (primarily wool, some down) and like you I let items outgas before introducing them into my home. New sleeping bags and tents sit outside before I use them. I leave new vehicles sitting in the sun with the windows rolled up to get the interiors hot to cook off the chemicals...
Regarding wood, I use sheet goods for construction purposes but very little in my fine woodworking. In my home renovation the only plywood I used was for the subfloor. That was in a part of the house where I could leave the windows open and it was isolated from the rest of the house. I avoid sheet goods of all types inside the house... drywall is an exception. I'll be making solid wood Shaker style cabinets for the kitchen and bathroom and all new casing and millwork... There is a logging truck worth of poplar sitting waiting for me to mill it! I'm collecting oak logs for plank flooring. A 3 HP shaper, molding machine, and power feeder (in addition to my cabinet saw, jointer, thickness planer, etc.) will make this possible. I'd not consider doing it without the power feeder. I'm mounting the power feed on the jointer, table saw and shaper for each step. Hand feeding thousands of board feet of material through those machines multiple times is not my idea of a good time!
Sorry to hear about your experience. It's not so difficult to avoid someone else's new carpet, or "perfume" department. Mainly, I had to "clean up" my diet. No artificial this or that, no more fast food (maybe a Wendy's burger, but no fries from the same oil that they deep fry everything else in). This list is really too long to go into here, and as you say it was an arduous process of figuring out exactly what the list is. The kindest thing we can do it warn others. I had a favorite cologne for maybe 20 years, using a bit once or twice a week, and there came a day when I put some on and I almost couldn't breathe--I couldn't wash it off fast enough. That's how fast things change. My doctor says if I had lived 100 years ago, I would be unlikely to have any of the issues; he regards it as an "industrialization problem". Sensitivity issues seems to be increasing common, but the particular sensitivities people have vary--some people have issues with toner from copy machines... My wife buys "down" pillows, and I have never had an issue with them.
I believe formaldehyde use has been cut way back or eliminated since
1990. It's not toxic in amounts found in outgassing building materials (the body breaks it down quickly) but allergies are certainly possible. I'm extremely allergic to creosote. Any use anywhere near me causes a very bad reaction so can believe a similar reaction to formaldehyde.
Chemical sensitivity runs in my family. VOC and other air quality sensors are a lifesaver for me and I can usually correlate my symptoms directly with the VOCs in the air. I've found the key is to keep the indoors well-ventilated at all times (I try to have positive pressure in the house whenever possible, but H/ERVs are good alternatives.) My mother is the first person in our family who ever pursued treatment for it and only after years of doctors visits did we figure it out.
Gosh, I never heard of those. Could you please point me the right direction as to the type of air quality sensors that you have found useful?
So that makes 3 of us (victims) right here! I think there are more people suffering from this than many wish to admit. Like you, it took me several years to isolate the problem. It's my hypothesis that the chemicals we're talking about aren't good for anybody, it just that different people have different tolerances to them. Corporations spend a lot of money lobbying for the "right" to use various chemicals, so it's not a simple matter to protect people.
There is too much "fine print", much is hidden in the fine print (e.g. "artificial ingredients"), and much of the time there is None at all. My first encounter with "the problem" was when I encountered the soft drink "Tab" as a youngster. It being a new "diet drink", people debated it's merits/benefits/risks. It didn't take me long to figure out which side I was on, and my innocence was lost! ;)
I'm a bit busy today but I'll try to get links going this weekend. It's also largely the reason I prefer to mix my own shellac finishes instead of buying the pre-mixed ones from hardware stores. Fewer VOCs give me much fewer headaches when waiting for the shellac to cure!
It's because VOC-emitting glues tend to be cheap. Corporations lobby for the approval of these glues and compounds so that they can save on their goods at scale. I agree, I think it's high time that light be shed on this matter because I _doubt_ we're the only ones who experience this sensitivity. It runs so strong in my mother's side of the family that my sister, my uncle, my aunt, and I experience symptoms, though we're all sensitive to varying amounts. I also find that the more exposure to "clean" air I get (by going hiking in depopulated spots or camping or something) tends to make any flare-ups go away for a time. I went to a rural college and it was one of the best things for my health.
Ah you're talking about aspartame sensitivity, which is another in this constellation of sensitivity issues :) I don't suffer from it but others in my family do. They tend to get headaches or feel nauseous from the consumption of aspartame. I'm unaffected, at least so far.
It's also largely the reason I prefer to mix my own shellac
I shop "low VOC" too, when possible, just to err on the side of caution. At least availability seems to be increasing. Similarly, more grocery stores are providing more "organic" choices, and "minimally processed" meat choices. That confirms that the demand is there--or they simply wouldn't do it.
In both cases, the VOC is alcohol, whether you mix it yourself or buy pre-mixed (e.g bulls-eye).
I prefer to mix my own to get the cut that I want from the start, but I see no difference in VOC level between doing that (assuming one can even find fresh flakes anymore) and picking up a can of sanding sealer or blonde shellac.
A recurring theme I've experienced, and seen with others, is that the medical profession doesn't have chemical sensitivity training and the appropriate responding scripts in their bag of tricks. The only reason I found relief was by not giving up and by talking to a diverse set of people. The key in my case was a conversation I had with a director of disabled student services for a university. I figured that in her job she had probably encountered a very diverse set of issues among students. After chatting for a bit she went to a file cabinet and came back with a manila folder that contained some journal articles. She didn't say anything beyond "Read these and we can chat again..."
By the time I finished the second article I had zeroed in on the pillows... When I chatted with her again it turned out that she had the same problems and had the same experience with the medical profession--after a couple years they imply it's all in your head, it's not real! Once I had that lead I dug deeper and found that there was a somewhat fringe literature on the topic. Skip ahead 30 years to the present and there is a wider understanding of the issue and a larger literature. The mold, radon and Chinese drywall debacles put a spot light on indoor air pollution but you're still not likely to find it through your doctor.
In the director's case she and her husband built a new house that had no sheet goods or paint. It was all solid wood construction with unpainted plaster walls and ceilings (over lathe as I recall). Solid wood sheathing, solid wood cabinets, hardwood floors, ceramic tile, air-to-air heater exchanger fresh air intake, etc. Protective finishes were carefully selected...
I mentioned my issues to an environmental engineer who used to focus on radon gas testing and remediation. The last I spoke with him he was working on protocols for the NYC library system in response to COVID. He was very aware of indoor air pollution problems... An environmental scientist I know was hired by the cruise ship industry to deal with the Legionnaire's Disease outbreaks on the cruise ships. In the case of Legionnaire's... that boiled down to the lack of maintenance resulting from fraudulent recording keeping--crew were tasked with taking monitoring readings of various systems on the ships and they weren't actually doing so. Rather they were simply making entries in logs that were within acceptable ranges. This problem was found to be wide spread and not just on a few ships. Those two guys are not physicians... they don?t see human patients, they see buildings, ships and systems as their subjects. More general communication is needed!
There is certainly a lot that's unknown an much of it likely won't. Not every reaction can be. There is also a thing called the "nocebo effect". And along the same lines, the myriad examples of mass hysteria.
Mold is easily and routinely detected. Radon doesn't cause any immediate reaction so of course it was hard to find. Chinese drywall, well there is that thing about melamine pet food, too.
If you want to go down the rabbit hole further... "Bottle of Lies".
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Then there was Alar. BPA. Aspartame, Power line EMI, and thousands more frauds foisted on the public.
This subject is a lot more complicated than doctors not caring to find the cause of your distress. If they could, is it a justifiable use of their time?
I agree with you 100% (and more!). I visited an allergist who said he couldn't really help me much, as I wasn't suffering from allergies "like from pet hair or food", and since I basically already aware of many of my sensitivities. He told me they weren't allergies, instead they were chemical sensitivities. He encouraged me to "experiment a little"--but the people at the ER told me to not do so (anymore). I had at least three related visits there over the course of a couple decades. It took me at least a couple of years to get appropriate help from my doctor...the problem was that I looked "fine" when I visited the doctor..but ultimately I think it was my "weight loss" which seemed to add more authority to my words. Anyway, I hope this is a contribution to creating "awareness" no matter how small it may be.
It's not an issue of doctors not caring, it's a training issue and what scripts they follow based on the symptoms they see. "Ear infection... that's what you have and here are scripts (as in prescriptions) for antibiotics." What they missed was there was no inflammation and it was both ears... clues that should have led them to dig deeper but their scripts never allowed for that and I was too naive at the time.
"Scripts" in this case refers to the framework for the action to take based on the symptoms. There are lots of scripts out there and an industry promoting them... For example,
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So yes, it's a justifiable pursuit to not blindly follow scripts and to take other possibilities into account, particularly with the ever growing incidences of toxic substances making people ill.
My PCP has been in practice for about 13 years and we have had some interesting conversations about the industry. I spent over 20 years in quality at health insurance companies and have been witness to plenty of incompetence, waste, fraud and neglect and have seen the disciplinary records of many providers. I've fired some of my personal providers and had them flagged for intentional billing fraud and up-coding. There is a home health agency in FL with a significant ding on their public record as I helped a friend file a claim against them with the regulatory agency... a claim that was substantiated. That is not to say all providers are bad or thieves but it is to say that you, as a consumer, need to be informed. Not informed like having every rare disease you find on Web MD... but informed as to process and taking some responsibility for your own health. ;~)
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