Gse...?

[_Cass_]

GSE. Grape Fruit Seed Extract.
I have heard many great things about GSE. My sister uses it in her birds water, and puts a little in the water that cleans the birds cage.
Does anyone use GSE?
Whats were your experiences with it?
Should I start to use GSE? Or does it even do anything...

 

[greycloud]

It is excellent for cleaning the fruits and veggies for your birds. A few drops in a bowl of water and rinse. I don't use in my birds water. I also use it to rinse when sprouting seeds for the birds.

 

[Spiritbird]

All of the above for what GC said and I also use GSE in my oral hygeine. You will find it contained in some of the better mouthwashes for us people. It is an excellent germacide and more. For our Aussie friends it is sadly by physican prescription only. You can purchase it most any health food concern in the US. I do not know about Africa.

 

[Mel]

For our Aussie friends it is sadly by physican prescription only. You can purchase it most any health food concern in the US. I do not know about Africa.

I didn't know that- thank you! I am able purchase natural products that are physician only through my business so am not sure what is limited to the general public, unfortunately I can only find it in tablet form here. My suppliers said it's out of stock everywhere. Damn TGA

 

[parrotqueen]

Wow, interesting. I really didn't realize how many uses GSE had. That's great! I'll see if I can get my hands on some next time I'm at the health food store.

 

[wildheart]

When ever I read something that I want then I google South African pages to try and see if it is available here.

I found a site and read the whole page and it is not nice, it is really worrisome! Please read it because it scares me and might be dangerous for your birds and for you.

Welcome to The Victorian Garden of the 1800’s, an English country garden with organically grown herbs and flowers from which our products are created by hand.

Some paragraphs from the page:

Grapefruit seed extract is not grapefruit juice. It is also not grapefruit essential oil and it is most certainly not an herbal tincture. Chemical manufacturers take the leftover grapefruit pulp, a waste by-product from grapefruit juice production, and in an intensive, multi-step industrial chemical process, change the natural phenolic compounds into synthetic quaternary ammonium compounds. Typically, in chemical synthesis of this type, chemical reagents and catalysts are used under extreme high heat and pressure or vacuum. Synthetic ammonium chloride is one of the chemical catalysts used in this process.

“Confirming an earlier study by researchers in Germany we found that some commercial grapefruit seed extracts contain benzethonium chloride, a synthetic anti microbial agent commonly used in cosmetics and only approved for topical use, at relatively high levels of 8%.'

The Swiss Toxicological Information Center of Basel, Switzerland, reports that “Grapefruit seed extracts containing benzethonium chloride in concentrations of 7-11% represent a major health risk if larger amounts of a concentrated solution are ingested...

 

[Spiritbird]

I would never advise anyone to take GSE internally. The bottle does say that also. It is used as a cleaning agent and in mouthwash which is spit back out. Kinda like the stronger product tea tree oil.

 

[wildheart]

Oh thank goodness! Didn't one user say that a 'friend' adds it to the bird's water, maybe I just read it wrong?

I guess I can look for it again.

 

[_Cass_]

When ever I read something that I want then I google South African pages to try and see if it is available here.

I found a site and read the whole page and it is not nice, it is really worrisome! Please read it because it scares me and might be dangerous for your birds and for you.

Welcome to The Victorian Garden of the 1800’s, an English country garden with organically grown herbs and flowers from which our products are created by hand.

Some paragraphs from the page:

Grapefruit seed extract is not grapefruit juice. It is also not grapefruit essential oil and it is most certainly not an herbal tincture. Chemical manufacturers take the leftover grapefruit pulp, a waste by-product from grapefruit juice production, and in an intensive, multi-step industrial chemical process, change the natural phenolic compounds into synthetic quaternary ammonium compounds. Typically, in chemical synthesis of this type, chemical reagents and catalysts are used under extreme high heat and pressure or vacuum. Synthetic ammonium chloride is one of the chemical catalysts used in this process.

“Confirming an earlier study by researchers in Germany we found that some commercial grapefruit seed extracts contain benzethonium chloride, a synthetic anti microbial agent commonly used in cosmetics and only approved for topical use, at relatively high levels of 8%.'

The Swiss Toxicological Information Center of Basel, Switzerland, reports that “Grapefruit seed extracts containing benzethonium chloride in concentrations of 7-11% represent a major health risk if larger amounts of a concentrated solution are ingested...

Wow, thats scary!:11:
The stuff that's sold here is for adults and children to put in their water/drinks!
"May put two or more drops in drinks for adult and children use. Do not mix with alchohol. May be used as a throat gargle, dental rinse, skin problems, and much more. Keep away from eyes."
Thats what it says on the back of mine.
The stuff I have is liquid.

 

[nofearengineer]

Frankly, I will not use GSE.

And by GSE, I don't mean "grape seed extract". i mean what they are calling grapeseed extract. The stuff that doesn't actually have anti-microbial properties until they put the benzethonium chloride in it.

Money-making scam aside, benzethonium chloride should never be taken internally. This is fine for you and I, who could conceivably use it as a disinfectant on surfaces, because we don't walk around using our mouth as a hand, like our parrots do.

Not to get too preachy, but I know how to read material data safety sheets, and this stuff scares me.

You would be amazed how clean you can keep your cage with a putty knife (metal blade and PLASTIC handle, NOT wooden), spray bottle of warm water and vinegar, paper towels, a toothbrush, and a steam cleaner for disinfecting. (Don't use sponges...they seem very convenient, but there isn't an environment on Earth more favorable for nasty bacteria.)

The trick is just to clean a little each day. The whole cage doesn't have to be surgically spotless every day. I tend to clean one face of the cage spotlessly every day or two, in a rotation. It takes 5-10 minutes a day, even if you add in changing the newspaper at the bottom. It keeps the whole cage in a remarkably clean state, given how messy a bird can be (Coming back from a week's vacation where the sitter only feeds, waters, and plays with the bird, but doesn't clean is fun, huh? )

 

[Bobby34231]

I've been using GSE for at least 20 years, tho never oraly for the birds with no ill side effects, some interesting facts on GSE........

Untitled Document

 

[bogo1]

Interesting discussion and references all. Thanks for educating me to both sides as I am totally unfamiliar with this product.

 

[nofearengineer]

Bobby, just to clarify.

I'm not saying the brand of GSE people are buying has those chemicals in it. But I am saying that if it doesn't have those chemicals, it isn't disinfecting anything.

However, birds have immune systems too, and a clean (but not disinfected) cage is still 99.99% better than a dirty cage. If it ain't broken, don't fix it. It just might be costing you extra money better spent elsewhere.

My point was also that anything we clean our parrots' cages with is in the end, "taken internally" since they constantly mouth everything.

 

[Spiritbird]

Even though this is an old post I will give you a link to read up on this fantastic product. I use it too. It is in the better mouthwashes you find in health food stores and I also use it in netti pot for sinus infections.

http://www.africangreys.com/articles/nutrition/grapefruit.html

In addition here is a link to an excellent article about avain therapy for stress through herbs and other items.
http://www.africangreys.com/articles/nutrition/nut_herbal.html