16 Ways to Heal Your Home
Dear daniel stafford‚
Did you know that here in the US, about 80,000 industrial chemicals are registered for use in all of the products we eat, touch‚ wear‚ and use to furnish our homes… but that fewer than 20 percent have been tested for their impact on human health and the environment?
These include ingredients in our food, household cleaners‚ and body care products. They include chemicals used on and in toys and furniture and clothing and bed linens.
Wouldn't it make more sense to prove a chemical is safe before running the risk of harming people who use the product‚ workers who make it, and the communities where the manufacturing facilities are located?
That’s the idea behind the Precautionary Principle. It turns right-side-up the upside-down way our society makes decisions about risk. The Precautionary Principle requires proof that products are safe‚ and errs on the side of caution.
We’ve built our new Healthy Home Center on our Web site with the Precautionary Principle in mind. We’ve pulled together the best "healthy home" articles from our green-living newsletter‚ Real Money‚ along with new tips and strategies from the spring issue of our Co-op America Quarterly magazine.
We introduce 16 ways to heal your home, and there’s much‚ much more information in the Healthy Home Center.
Please forward this e-mail to your friends, and if you have a blog, myspace account‚ Facebook account‚ or other online site, please share Co-op America’s Healthy Home Center with your readers. Let us know and we'll link back to you in an upcoming e-newsletter.
Here's to healthy homes and a healthy planet‚
Alisa Gravitz
Executive Director
Co-op AmericaBelow‚ we outline the problems with 16 conventional household products. Click through to Co-op America's Healthy Home Center to learn about solutions – ways to heal every part of your home. (Also, all of the linked terms below, like "phthalates"‚ take you straight to our online glossary for a better understanding of the problems some of the worst chemicals can cause.)
1) Conventional body care products – More than one-third of personal care products contain at least one ingredient linked to cancer, and very few products are tested for safety. Some products contain phthalates‚ which don't appear in the list of a product's ingredients -- instead they are covered by the general term "fragrance."
2) Chemical Air Fresheners – Air fresheners contain dangerous ingredients like dichlorobenzene‚ naphthalene‚ and formaldehyde.
3) PVC Shower Curtains – Polyvinyl chloride, also known as PVC‚ the vinyl in your shower curtain‚ is a plastic that’s dangerous to people and the environment at every stage of its lifecycle.
4) Conventional Cleaners – Many household cleaners contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as formaldehyde‚ harsh acids‚ and hormone disruptors.
5) Paints and Stains – Conventional paints contain three chemicals worth worrying about: VOCs‚ fungicides‚ and biocides. Other problematic ingredients can include mercury‚ arsenic disulfide‚ phenol‚ and formaldehyde.
6) Furniture – Some wood furniture can release VOCs from adhesives and finishes. Urea formaldehyde is used in particle board furniture. Most upholstered furniture is treated with flame-retardant polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PDBEs).
7) Flooring – Wall-to-wall carpets harbor allergens and trap toxins. Most synthetic carpets and their adhesives also emit VOCs. Carpeting may be treated with benzyl benzoate or other chemicals for mothproofing or to repel moisture.
8) Vinyl Siding – Home siding can be the single largest use of vinyl‚ made from PVC‚ in a home. Vinyl siding often contains DEHP‚ an additive‚ and a phthalate.
9) Wooden Decks and Playsets – Until a few years ago, pressure-treated wood for decks and play equipment was routinely covered in chromium copper arsenate (CCA) to kill insects and prevent rot. CCA leaches arsenic that sticks to the hands and is absorbed through skin.
10) Pesticides – Too many homeowners needlessly use hazardous chemicals on their lawns, and these chemicals can drift into their homes and pollute indoor air.
11) Cookware – Non-stick pans with Teflon or Teflon-like coatings contain polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which break down into the air at high temperatures.
12) Plastics – Hard-to-recycle plastics often contain toxins that can leach into food and water‚ especially when heated.
13) Conventional Produce – Many non-organic fruits and vegetables carry pesticide residue. Twenty-three of the world's 28 most commonly used pesticides are suspected carcinogens, and several are possible neurotoxins and endocrine disruptors.
14) Seafood – Some fish can contain mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Some experts say that FDA and EPA fish consumption limits, established to keep pregnant women and children safe‚ are too lax.
15) Bed linens – Toxic chemicals that resist flames, water, moths, stains, and wrinkles are sometimes added to textiles like bedclothes. Labels like "permanent-press‚" "no-iron‚" "water repellent‚" and "flame retardant‚" may indicate fabric treatments that off-gas chemicals like formaldehyde and perfluorochemicas (PFCs).
16) Mattresses – Federal laws require mattresses to be fire resistant, so many manufacturers treat the mattress foam with flame-retardant chemicals. The most dangerous are polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)‚ which some manufacturers are phasing out voluntarily.
If you have a blog or a personal Web site, post or link to Co-op America's 16 Ways to Heal Your Home and help us spread the word. E-mail us to let us know you've linked to our site‚ and we'll link back to you in an upcoming blogroll.
Support our work to build a greener economy by donating to our Climate Action program. Help us build a greener energy future for America.
Visit Co-op America's Healthy Home Center to learn more about creating a healthy, happy‚ nontoxic home‚ and find articles on everything from green decks‚ to solar water heaters‚ to keeping allergens out of your bedroom.
Not yet a supporting member? Join today to receive the 2008 edition of our National Green Pages™ delivered right to your door. Membership is only $20 and includes a subscription to our bi-monthly green-living newsletter Real Money, our magazine the Co-op America Quarterly, and a copy of our Financial Planning Handbook. Your membership provides valuable support for our economic action programs for people and the planet.
A personal quest to promote the use of wind energy and hydrogen technology in the Great Lakes area of the United States. The Great Lakes area is in a unique position to become an energy exporting region through these and other renewable energy technologies. *Update 2014: Just do it everywhere - Dan*
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