Is this “POISON!” in your home?
A friend of mine has 3 gorgeous boys. About six years ago now, she had taken one of them to an audition for staring in commercials.
This story is so great, after all these years of hearing it, I can still hear his little voice like it was yesterday. Caleb was given a few household items to “improv” with. They just wanted to see how he’d turn it on, how he’d present the products, and see how he “sold” it. What he did next is what has always stuck with me….
He choose a can of air freshener. With his steady stance, he held up the aerosol can, and with the conviction of a drill Sargent yelled, “POISON!” Yep, at 4 years old, this little guy knew more about the dangers of certain household cleansers and air fresheners than the people marketing them did! Fabulous Caleb, you are my hero kid.
Injury and Poisoning Due to Everyday Cleaners
“Every year five to ten million household poisonings are reported. Many are fatal and most of the victims are children.”1 Yes people, fatal! This is so sad, because it is something that can be completely avoided, if we choose our household cleaning supplies consciously. Please, please, please don’t fall victim to these marketing scams that lead us to believe that products we use everyday in our homes are making them cleaner.
Examples of such fatalities range everywhere from skin burns to scarring of the esophagus. Imagine your little one licking some dish washing detergent off of his finger he just pulled out of the dishwasher’s soap dispenser. This is a perfect combination for a severe burn of the esophagus, sometimes taking numerous operations to fix, sometimes fatal. My baby loves to open and close the dishwasher door, she loves to play with that little dispenser door also. (Ok, I will definitely be remembering this one.)
It is not surprising though. If you were to walk through the cleaning supplies aisle in a typical grocery store, you may find more chemicals there than in a chemistry lab! More than 400 synthetic products, many with numerous toxins inside. Yikes! If the labels were as obvious as Caleb’s sales pitch, most of these products would be labeled with skull and cross bones.
Over 300 billion, yes 300 BILLION pounds of man-made chemicals are produced each year, and only a fraction of them are even tested in a manner that allows us consumers to know if they are harmful to us. This is crazy. Not to even mention that once these cleaners: shampoos, toilet whiteners, drain openers, floor brighteners, window washers, diaper pail deodorizers (and the list goes on and on….) are used, and the vapors intermingle in the air of our homes, what newfound toxic vapors are created in our indoor air?
Babies breathe deep and often. In relation to their body size and ours, they breathe in 2-3 times more air than adults. Lets do them a huge favor, and keep our indoor air as clean as possible, clean of toxic fumes and chemical vapors. And the good news is that the cleanliness of our homes don’t have to take a back seat to that.
There are many safe alternatives available when it comes to household cleansers. Why take the chance with our babies of serious injury, or heaven forbid, death. Does this seem a little blown out of proportion? Well, according to Consumer Product Safety Commission, “of chemicals commonly found in homes, 150 have been linked to allergies, birth defects, cancer and psychological abnormalities.” Lets also remember that this 150 is only part of the small fraction of chemicals that have even been tested as being harmful!
It may even shock you to know (says the National Safety Council) that “more children under four die of accidental poisonings at home than are accidentally killed with guns at home.” But we would never dream of keeping a loaded gun under the kitchen sink would we?
We all know how curious and open babies are when it comes to investigating their new surroundings. Within what can seem like fractions of a second, they can have something off of the floor, and into their mouths. Not only this curiosity, but also the fact that they are always in very close contact with the floor, where lots of these particles settle, make having a home free of unlikely toxins crucial. Crucial for their brains, their reproductive systems, their lungs, their immune systems and crucial for their freedom to be safe, little explorers.
Labels on Cleaning Products Can Be Misleading
Remember our article last week about organic foods? The labeling laws here (or lack of them) with cleaning products can be just as misleading. So don’t let these labels fool you:
- non-toxic
- natural
- organic (laws for this word only apply for food, not cleaning supplies)
into believing that they are safe. They very well may just be another marketer’s poetic way of misleading you and your family into choosing an alternative that is not good.
A great example of labeling being misleading is made concrete by a recent test done by the National Resources Defense Council. “NRDC tested 14 different brands of common household air fresheners and found that 12 contained the hormone-disrupting chemicals known as phthalates. Only two, Febreze Air Effects and Renuzit Subtle Effects, contained no detectable levels of phthalates. The products that tested positive included ones marketed as “all-natural” and “unscented.” None had phthalates in the list of ingredients or anywhere else on the label.” 2
Yikes! I can hear Caleb now, with his steady posture belting out the truth, “POISON!” The unnecessary overuse of these synthetic “air fresheners” are coming at the expense of our babies health. Keep this out of your babies air, remember, he is breathing at a rate of 2-3 times more than we are, and his little respiratory system is just developing! This warning on synthetic air fresheners is very important to pregnant mamas also because the fetus is very vulnerable to these toxins.
Natural Cleaning Recipes You Can Make At Home
Make your own deodorizer that is effective and safe (as recommended by Green Home Environmental Products) by:
- 2 teaspoons of baking soda : 2 cups of water water. Mix in a bottle with a fine mister, and go to town knowing Caleb would be proud!
- Wrapping cloves and cinnamon in cheesecloth and boil in water. This is a great method to use if you have been cooking something that is strong smelling also.
- Leave herbal bouquets standing in open dishes for a fragrant smell.
So what are the safe alternatives to everyday household cleaners? “When investigating whether a company has green credentials, look for these words and phrases:
- Biodegradable in three to five days
- Plant-based
- Hypoallergenic
- Formulated without dye or synthetic fragrance
- Nonflammable
- Contains no phosphates
- Contains no chlorine
- Contains no petroleum products
- Contains no ammonia, acids, alkalis, solvents, nitrates, or borates”3
One of the above bullets mentions looking for products without chlorine. Great information to remember because “the number-one cause of childhood poisoning: chlorinated compounds found in cleaning products and pesticides.”4
Another thing to remember, even with biodegradable cleaners, it to keep them out of reach of your babies. If you can, put them at a level where they will not be able to reach them, and even there, it is a good practice to have a childproof lock on the door.
For everyday cleaning: you can make a cleaner mixing
- 2 teaspoons of white vinegar : one quart of warm water.
Sandra’s mom also replaces vinegar for fabric softener and says the clothes come out so soft. If you use cloth diapers, you already have vinegar around the house, so this is a great, easy and inexpensive way to keep bacteria and germs out, and your home clean and SAFE!
If you like the idea of making your own cleaning supplies, Karyn Siegel-Maier has a fabulous book, The Naturally Cleans Home: 100 Safe and easy Herbal Formulas for Non-Toxic Cleansers. In this book you will find 100 formulas that are easy to follow and make. And, of course, you can be rest assured that you know exactly what it is you are wiping your home clean with.
May your home, and your baby be radiant and safe!
Companies We Trust
Eco-Store, with a great motto…”No Nasty Chemicals”
1 Debra Lynn Dadd, “Home Safe Home”, (Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2004).
2 National Recourse Defense Council, Sept. 19, 2007 (Oct. 11, 2007).
3 Linda Mason Hunter, “Clean Green”, Mothering Magazine March-April, 2007, p.47.
4 Linda Mason Hunter, “Clean Green”, Mothering Magazine March-April, 2007, p.46.
Category: 0-1 yr, 1-3 yrs, 3-5 yrs, 5+ yrs, Cleaning Naturally
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
[...] presents Is this “POISON!” in your home? posted at SAFE ALTERNATIVES FOR [...]