Your home should be safe for you and your family.
Multiple studies over many decades show this is not true. The late Dr Samuel Epstein stated “our homes are usually the most toxic environment most people will encounter”.
External threats such as industrial, agricultural pollution and motor vehicle exhausts are thought to be the most dangerous threats. Research shows otherwise.
In one study, students followed peak hour traffic in a large industrial city. They had backpacks with instruments to record air quality. The highest levels of toxins were recorded in their own homes before they took off the backpacks.
Your home is probably polluted with chemicals from cleaning products, air fresheners, perfumes, insect sprays, smoking and cooking. Plus off-gassing from furniture and floor coverings can last decades.
There is good news. We control our own home.
I became aware and changed my home. I now ensure all products are safe. I open windows and doors regularly to let in clean fresh air. Actually they are open most of the time as I live in the wonderful north Queensland climate.
Why do we accept Toxic Chemicals in our homes?
Because of advertising.
Many thousands of chemicals have been developed by giant corporations that geared up to make chemical weapons for World War II. Peace provided both excess supply and capacity to produce. Alternative products were developed to continue profits. Thousands of new, efficient “time saving” products entered our homes.
“In the 1930s the world produced 1 million tonnes of chemicals. Now that figure is almost 500 million tonnes. A number of the companies who make such chemicals are also involved in producing synthetic vitamins, and synthetic hormones and anti-cancer drugs” (Chris Woollams, MA (Oxon) 2014, in Everything You Need to Know to Help You beat Cancer)
I am a baby boomer and remember my Mum using plain soap and hard work or “elbow grease” to clean our home.
Initially consumers were concerned about the long-term effects of these new products.
Unfortunately, massive advertising campaigns convinced them to ignore caution.
The first time our home was sprayed for insects in the early 1960s I was amazed and upset. The exterminator saturated all the walls, floors, benches and even inside kitchen food cupboards with foul smelling white liquid that left a visible residue. I was very upset to find my beautiful ballerina clock badly marked with deep holes. If those chemicals could kill insects AND pit hard thermoplastic, what else did they do?
These new chemical “helpers” were advertised as modern and cost-effective to replace hard work. Our mothers and previous generations used basic and mainly natural products to clean while raising healthy families with efficient immune systems.
Baby boomers
We baby boomers were products of this booming post war era, eager to adopt change. Most of us were comfortable products ‘would not be allowed to be sold if they were not safe for us.’
Most of us were extremely naive and wrong.
These toxic time bombs were developed by industrial chemists usually driven by the highest profit margins possible.
Products work but are not necessarily safe. They either cause harm or at least place an unnecessary load on your body. I found out the hard way. See Noela’s Story
You can find safer products where I buy all my household cleaning and personal care products.
Use this link to receive a $10 credit on your first order.
Warnings ignored or maligned
Toxicologists such as Dr Samuel Epstein have insight into short, long term and accumulative effects on the human body either as single chemicals or complex compounds. Some scientists tried to warn the world in the 1960s.
Unfortunately, they were ignored and often professionally maligned by the almighty profit driven corporations, their media lapdogs, governments, health and education bodies. Donations and incentives from big chemical corporations or their respected go-betweens fund educational institutions, health councils, associations, consumer organisations and patient support groups. Drug companies provide free dinners and holidays for doctors to obtain their required continuing professional development (CPD) points.
We make it worse
On top of this, many effects are magnified by householders themselves. Several toxic products mixed together in the mistaken belief that ‘if some works, more is better”. Strong concoctions such as bleach are accepted as the only hygienic way to clean floors, benches, baths and showers. Residues continue to effect everyone in the home, especially the youngest. Skin rashes, allergies and headaches are accepted as uncomfortable norms. These conditions were hardly ever experienced before these chemicals were bought into the home. Ask great-grandma. Unfortunately many people do not make the connection between these their symptoms and the products used on their skin or in the house. I didn’t. My “nursing” hands were very cracked and often bled from the harsh hand washes and disinfectants used many many times every day. After I started safer products my hands and dry skin improved dramatically.
A young mother recently told me that she holds her breath to spray the shower, then runs outside to get fresh air. She accepts this as the only way to clean her shower!!! Add hot water loaded with chlorine and other fumes to the mix. No wonder this unpleasant job includes running eyes, sore hands, burnt throat and long fits of coughing. The sad thing is, while challenging her lungs, skin and eyes and overall health, the bleach only makes things look clean. Bleach does NOT kill bacteria or mould which survives to regrow another day. Organisms adapt to become stronger to cope with the chemical onslaught. Ordinary soap or mild detergent and friction are the most effective ways to kill bacteria. Strong anti-bacterial solutions increase bacterial resistance as they adapt to the latest strong solution on the market. Great grandmas vinegar, lemon juice, bicarb and scrubbing scientifically works!
Not tested for safety on humans
Alarming as it seems, most of the chemicals used in everyday products within our homes have never been tested for safety to adults let alone children.
The Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) rather conservatively estimates that over 150 chemicals found in the home are connected to allergies, birth defects, cancer and psychological disorders. 150 chemicals which could be in multiple products used multiple times per day. Accumulating in the body and or causing acute short term reactions.
Children more at risk
It is now known that our skin is NOT an effective barrier for these man-made chemicals. They accumulate in our body to affect all systems. They even cross the placenta into unborn children. Babies are now born with hundreds of these chemicals in their first bowel motion.
The World Health Organisation and the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) recognise that infants and young children are up to ten times more vulnerable to certain chemicals than adults. Even those approaching 16 years of age are estimated to be three times more vulnerable than adults.
Formulation matters as well as ingredients
In Australia, legislative protection was drafted when the scientific community believed “the skin is an impenetrable barrier that protects the body”. I was taught this as a student nurse in the 1970s. We now know the skin is one of the most effective ways to deliver drugs, hence patches to stop smoking, relieve pain, prevent angina and deliver oestrogen therapies.
Doubtful products damage the acid mantel of the skin. This is a very fine, slightly acidic film on the surface of our skin. Undamaged this acid mantle acts as a barrier to bacteria, viruses and other potential contaminants that might penetrate the skin.
Product particles can be so small they easily pass through the skin and tissue directly into the blood stream and proceed to your heart, brain, gut and other organs. Just like a small pin or needle slips through a tennis racquet. Some companies ensure product safety with safer ingredients combined with larger molecular size. These larger particles are like a tennis ball which cannot pass through the racquet strings.
Triggers for long term chronic disease
These chemicals put an unnecessary load on your liver, lungs, skin, kidneys and digestive tract. Your body struggles to protect you from substances it was never designed to combat. Exposure may cause irritation to skin, eyes, respiratory tract (wheezing, coughing, asthma) and nausea. Children may have learning difficulties because of interference with blood brain barrier. Adults may experience compromised thinking or foggy brain.
Many chronic long-term conditions are now recognised as auto-immune diseases associated with imbalance of your microbiome or gut bacteria required for healthy digestion, immunity and sense of mental well-being.
According to evolving science your microbiome is linked to allergies, autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s, asthma, arthritis, blood pressure, cancer, Crohn’s Disease, dementia, diabetes, eczema, hay fever, heart disease, irritable bowel syndrom(IBS), multiple sclerosis, obesity, Parkinson’s disease, strokes, wheezing and, of course longevity.
Play it safe.
Small Steps to an Easy Detox is a free report to gradually reduce the toxic load on your body.
Use this link to find the only products I consider safe for myself and my family. The link provides a $10 credit for your first order.
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