|
By Judy Stafford
Clean Green
Keeping our homes and environment safe
We work hard to create secure, clean, and healthy environments. We use seat belts and car seats. We teach our children basic safety: don’t run across the street, look both ways, don’t talk to strangers. We keep chemicals and toxins out of reach of curious fingers. Or do we? |
| |
|
|
|
Disturbing Stats
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average home has up to 25 pounds of toxic cleaning supplies. These toxins can affect respiratory and reproductive systems, hormone levels, cause neurobehavioural disorders, and cancer.
Each year 1 million children are accidentally poisoned in their own homes. The most common poisonous substances are household cleaners and many of these products are considered safe, according to the Healthy Home Tour. Liquid dish soap is the leading cause of poisonings in the home for children under the age of six; most brands contain formaldehyde and ammonia.
Canadians are exposed to toxic chemicals everyday through commonly used products in the home, such as perfumes, shampoos, air fresheners, cleaning products, furniture and appliances, Teflon frying pans and food and beverage containers. • |
|
What to do?
Government initiatives
• In 2007, Health Canada started a 2-year national program called biomonitoring that will track the levels of toxic substances in the bodies of 5,000 randomly selected Canadians aged 6 to 79. Subjects are tested on a regular basis to detect trends in the chemicals that appear, to see if there is a link between exposure and illness
• Canadian Environmental Protect-ion Act (CEPA) regulates toxic chemicals
used and produced by industry – the act currently is under a mandatory five year review that began in the Spring of 2006. Hopefully this will bring the regulation of toxic chemicals up to international standards. Canada is currently ranked as the third worst polluter in the industrialized world
• The federal government endorses environmentally friendly products with the Environmental Choice EcoLogo. The Canadian Standards Association has tested and certified products bearing this label. The Ontario Legislature passed Bill 164, making Ontario the first jurisdiction in Canada to reveal what chemical exposures are emitted by consumer products and industry. |
| |
|
|
|
Initiatives at home
• Read labels. If you can’t pronounce it, it’s a good indication you should avoid it
• Remove chemical-cleaning products from your home. It’s important to use a community hazardous waste program to dispose of corrosives (drain cleaners), flammables (turpentine), explosives (aerosol cans) and poisonous items (cleaning fluids and pesticides)
|
|
 • Use the Environmental Defense’s checklist, ‘Make Your Home Healthy’ for a room by room analysis at www.environmentaldefence.ca
• Change to non-toxic cleaning products. For a list of products bearing the Ecologo, go to environmentalchoice.com • |
| |
|
|
| Dangerous to your health |
|
Chemical |
Purpose / Use |
Health concern |
|
Acetone |
found in spot treatment cleaners, mark and scuff removers, etc. |
may cause liver and kidney damage; harm the developing fetus |
|
Bleach/sodium hypochlorite |
various uses including disinfectant |
irritates skin and respiratory tract; suspected neurotoxin and liver toxin |
|
DEA (Diethanolamine) |
foaming and emulsifying ingredient in cleaners |
suspected of causing cancer; toxic to respiratory and nervous systems |
|
Formaldehyde |
common in furniture polish |
a recognized carcinogen; suspected immunotoxin; neurotoxin; reproductive and respiratory toxin; skin irritant |
|
Fragrance |
scent in cleaners and air ‘fresheners’ |
negatively affects the central nervous system; triggers asthma; potentially causes cancer |
|
Naphthalene |
deodorizer |
recognized carcinogen; suspected develop- mental, neurological and respiratory toxin |
|
Phosphoric acid |
liquid dishwasher detergents, and bathroom cleaners |
suspected respiratory and neurotoxin |
|
Sodium lauryl sulfate |
lathering agent in cleaners |
known skin irritant; suspected liver toxin |
|
Triclosan |
anti-bacterial agent |
suspected of weakening the immune system; disrupting hormones and causing cancer |
|
Xylene |
spot removers and floor polishers |
suspected developmental, neurological,
reproductive and respiratory toxin | |
| |
|
The Win
It’s time to change the way we think about clean. Simpler is better, healthier for us, our families and our environment, and more economical. Let’s work together for simple change, one bottle of dish soap at a time – we’ll all share the benefits. • |
| |
| |
|
Do-it-yourself, health-friendly cleaning products |
|
• Baking soda: a deodorizer; mix with salt to clean surfaces; dissolve 4 Tbsp in a quart of warm water as an all purpose cleaner
• Vinegar: kills moulds, viruses and bacteria; mix in an equal part of warm water to clean windows; a few drops in hot, salt water cleans floors; cover faucets in vinegar soaked paper towels for 1 hour to remove hard lime deposits; mix with baking soda to scrub toilet bowls or make bathtub and tiles sparkle
|
|
• Lemon juice: Cuts grease and leaves a wonderful, clean smell. Throw the peels down your garburator to freshen up your home.
Recipes from toxicnation.ca H&L |
|
|
Send To Friend
Print
