Tips For a Healthier Home - Protect Your Family From Toxins

The statistics are alarming regarding the chemical "Body Burden" of modern Americans. Cancer rates have skyrocketed, along with rates of autoimmune disorders, infertility, and leukemia, cancer and developmental disorders in children. There is a growing body of knowledge that links these pressing health concerns to toxic chemical exposure.

Exposure to toxins is cumulative, and every little bit that you can reduce your exposure helps. There are several things you can do to safeguard your health and the health of your children and pets:

1. Use Non-Toxic Household Products: Conventional cleaning products contain numerous, harmful synthetic chemicals that have detrimental health effects, ranging from asthma to cancer. Thankfully, there is a wide range of non-toxic, natural cleaners available. Always check ingredient lists. Avoid products with fragrance, chlorine, formaldehyde, parabens, phthalates, dioxins and Triclosan. And always, if there is a significant warning on the label (poison, danger), you should think twice about using the product in your home. Don't take manufacturer claims at face value; they can claim products are safe with no accountability. Always do the research on ingredients.

2. Use Natural Personal Care Products: Conventional personal care products contain toxic chemical ingredients that have not been tested for safety. Men use an average of 6 personal care products a day, and women sometimes use up to 20! That means we may be exposed to the same harmful chemicals several times a day. Buy products that have ingredients you can pronounce. If you don't know what an ingredient is, find out before buying.

3. Buy Organic Whenever Possible: Not only is it a better choice for the planet, it is better for your bodies. As the demand for organic products increases, organics will become increasingly more available and more affordable. Reduce your dependence on canned foods (the lining of cans contain Bisphenol-A, a known endocrine disruptor linked to reproductive dysfunction)--fresh or frozen is better. Use filtered water rather than plain tap water or bottled water for drinking and cooking.

4. Use Green Pest Management: Common lawn care and indoor/outdoor pesticides can be dangerous to children and pets and hazardous to our health. There are several pest control products on the market today (Eco Smart is one) that are chemical-free, safe to use in your home and just as effective.

5. Choose Plastics Carefully: Avoid any plastics marked V, or 3, 6 or 7. They may potentially contain phthalates (linked to asthma, cancer, birth defects, hormone disruption), Bisphenol-A (linked to reproductive dysfunction, endocrine disruption and possible carcinogen) or other harmful synthetic chemicals. Replace conventional baby bottles with those marked "BPA Free", and replace any toys or products made of soft plastic (think the consistency of a rubber ducky or shower curtain). Aim for toys made of wood, cloth or metal that are colored with non-toxic paints. Use glass or ceramic containers to store or heat/microwave food, and use stainless steel bottles for your drinking water.

6. Clean Up "Indoor Air Pollution": Furniture treated with flame-retardant chemicals (virtually all new furniture and mattresses), vinyl shower curtains, particleboard furniture, and synthetic carpet contribute greatly to the toxins in the air circulating in your home. Open windows whenever possible, use only non-VOC paints, keep houseplants in every room (certain plants, like rubber trees and spider plants, absorb toxic chemicals from the air), buy organic mattresses, avoid Teflon, and change filters (in vacuum cleaners, heaters, a/c units) regularly. Look for furniture manufacturers that do not treat their products with flame-retardants (like IKEA), and choose sustainable hardwood flooring or natural fiber carpet and rugs instead of synthetic carpet for your home. If you notice a product has a strong smell (think "new car smell"), either return it or sit it outside for about two weeks or until the smell diminishes.

These things may not be easy to do all at once--believe me, I know. It can be rather overwhelming. I am still in the process of transforming my home as I learn more and more about what can be harmful. Just take it step by step: concentrate on changing one thing at a time until you have eliminated most of the sources of toxic chemical exposure for your family. Your health and theirs depends on it!

A Toxic World - What You Should Know About Our Chemical "Body Burden"

In a study done in 2004, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) tested randomly chosen blood samples of ten Americans for toxic chemicals. By "toxic chemicals", I mean chemicals known to cause harm to our health, such as carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, teratogens, and the like. This study was the first attempt at getting a true look at the chemical "body burden" of modern Americans.

The results were astounding: each blood sample contained an average of 200 toxic chemicals, some as many as 287. Chemicals found included 100 different chemicals from food packaging, 133 linked to cancer in animal tests, 151 chemicals linked to birth defects, 153 hormone disruptors, 185 chemicals that can cause infertility, 130 that cause immune system toxicity, 157 neurotoxins, and over 30 chemicals that have been banned for over 30 years (like DDT)!

The most astounding thing about these findings were that the samples were taken from umbilical cord blood. That's right, from newborns. Our children are being exposed to toxic synthetic chemicals in what we think of as the safest, most protected spot on earth: the womb. Alarmed yet?

Experts around the world are waking up to the realization that our modern lifestyle , which immerses us in a literal bath of synthetic chemicals each day, is causing chronic and life-threatening health problems . As of today, one in three women and one in two men will develop cancer in their lifetime. The infertility rate has increased by 20% in the last 30 years, and childhood brain cancer has increased 40%. Autism, leukemia, birth defects, ADHD/ADD and other learning disabilities are on an unprecedented rise among children, and have been linked to chemical exposure.

As conscientious parents, we lock up our cleaning products, alcohol, and medicines thinking that this will keep our families safe from the harmful substances in our homes. Unfortunately, most of us don't realize that the air in our homes can be primary sources of toxic chemicals and harmful substances. In fact, indoor air can be as much as 11 times more polluted than outdoor air. Considering this generation spends up to 90% more time indoors than we do outdoors, we need to take a closer look at this "indoor air pollution".

Unknowingly, we may be contributing to indoor air pollution with the household cleaning products we use, furniture we buy, and ways we eliminate pests, among other things. For the past 50 or more years, chemical companies have been developing and releasing thousands of new chemicals each year, most of which have not been proven safe for use around humans. These chemicals are put in our cleaning products, our carpets, our furniture, our cosmetics, our personal care products, into everything.

The government has failed to protect us from these potentially harmful substances. The U.S. government has taken the stance that assuming a chemical is safe as long as it has not been proven otherwise. Operating under The Toxic Substance Control Act created in 1976, the government does not require any testing when a new chemical is introduced, and had only reviewed 200 of the 62,000 chemicals used at that time (30 years ago). It takes an enormous amount of time and effort to ban even the most toxic of chemicals (think how long it took to ban DDT, for example), even when we know the detrimental effects outright.

The chemical industry and large corporations that use these chemicals have tried to deny or cover up the facts, claiming that their chemicals are safe (and they come up with any number of studies, personally funded, to prove it). Think about the tobacco industry and how they denied smoking causes cancer, even though experts had suspected it for 30 years. This is what is happening now in the chemical industry.

The public has been kept in the dark about the dangers of chemicals contained in products we use every day. Without knowing, we may be using cleaning products, purchasing toys, or buying furniture that could be detrimental to the health of our families. Learn how to avoid these dangerous products in our next article "Tips for A Healthier Home: Protect Your Family From Toxins".