Following our suggested Recipes for Household Cleaners (Vol. 15, No. 1, Winter 2007), which recommended using borax in the dishwasher, a BCAM member wrote to tell us of her experience using a “green” product. Shortly after she started using borax instead of a commercial dishwasher powder, she began having disturbing heart palpitations. Her doctor and a cardiologist both thought the palpitations were caused by anxiety but, when she thought about what had changed around the time the palpitations started, she realized the dishwasher had been in use more than usual. She then used the dishwasher only when family or friends visited, and the palpitations disappeared.
Then, about a year later, she tried a dishwashing powder containing melaleuca (tea tree) oil and again experienced a bad reaction — a tingling, burning sensation in her mouth and then mouth ulcers!
In both cases, an aging dishwasher appeared to have left harmful residue on her dishes. She is wondering, as are we, if this is an isolated incident.