From Asthma to the #1 Household Poisoning, Are Your Cleaners Making You SICK?

The Real Dirt on Clean~

When it comes to being your healthiest, what you use on and around your body is just as important as what you put in your body.

So you know that good, healthy feeling you get when you clean your home? Sorry to spoil it, but you may have made it dirtier :(

Think of it this way, you wouldn't let your kids play with toxic chemicals, so why would you let them play on the floor that’s just been cleaned with them?  

Let’s talk about the dangers:

How Dangerous? Just take a look:

*Over 90% of poison exposures happen at home

*Common chlorine bleach is the #1 household chemical involved in poisoning

*Studies now show using bleach may be making you sicker

*Of chemicals commonly found in homes, over 150 have been linked to allergies, birth defects, cancer, and psychological abnormalities

*Children are highly vulnerable to chemical toxicants. Pound for pound of body weight, children drink more water, eat more food, and breathe more air than adults. The implication of this is that children will have substantially heavier exposures than adults to any toxiciants that are present.

*Common cleaners give off fumes that can potentially increase the risk of kids developing asthma, the most common chronic childhood disease.

*If your home is anything like the average U.S.home, you generate more than 20 pounds of household hazardous waste each year. (The EPA designates toilet cleaners, tub and tile cleaners,oven cleaners, and bleach as hazardous waste)

Your home should be the safest, healthiest, cleanest place in the world!

Turns out, there are some pretty easy things we can do to make our family safer and our home healthier. As it turns out, what’s good for our home is also good for the earth and everyone else on it.

So let’s help to make everyone healthier and safer!

Here are some ways to get started:  

1. Get the dirt. Educate yourself about what you bring into your home at

www.householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/products.htm

2. Have a clean-for-all. Put on the gloves and get rid of the nasty stuff in your home. Responsibly, of course. Local waste collection services have guidelines for proper household hazardous waste disposal, as well as collection sites for paint, batteries, cleaners, etc. Whatever you do, please don’t toss this stuff in the garbage, or dump down the drain or outside. Dispose properly.

3. Welcome healthy. Commit to carefully considering everything that crosses your doorstep.

Here are some safe, healthy things to have in your home:

• Cleaners that are truly safe and green. I have trusted and used Shaklee cleaners for over 25 years.

• Fresh air. Open your windows to reduce indoor air pollution.

• Essential oils. Use these instead of candles or air fresheners.

• Plants. Besides being nice to look at, they can absorb harmful gases and help clean the air.

• Organic cotton bedding. Avoid standard bedding treated with chemicals.

• Floors made of recycled and renewable resources.

• Healthier paint. That new paint smell can be as nasty as it smells. Choose low VOC paint.

4. Clean up our collective home. Make Earth healthier for all of us who call it home by using:

• Energy Star-rated appliances. Save money and energy.

• A low-flush toilet. Replace the largest user of water in your house!

• Low-flow shower-heads. Same pressure. Less water.

• Your flicker finger. Turn off lights and appliances when you’re not using them.

• Gray water system. Install one to recycle used household water for your lawn.

• Tankless water heater. Save money, energy, and space in the broom closet.
*Rain Barrel. Collect rain water to use for indoor/outdoor plants, filling bird baths, etc.

I hope you have found this information useful.  But mostly I hope that the information has intrigued you to review the products/chemicals/toxins you may have in your home and have been encouraged to REMOVE them!  If you have already made green changes to your home and cleaning regimen, Kudos to you!  Now, let’s go tell a friend-it just may improve their health or save a child or a pet from an unnecessary poisoning.

Be well,

Denise Gaskell                                       Gaskell Healthy Solutions  www.gaskell.myshaklee.com