EVERYBODY IS GOING GREEN

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Biodegradable cleaners are finally in fashion .....

BUT ... Many of the cleaners that we buy in the supermarket - and some of the biodegradable cleaners that we buy in the health food store - release toxic fumes in our homes that can  adversely affect the our health and our children’s

health.  The prevalence of childhood asthma increased 74% between 1980 and 1994 and has continued to increase in the years since. Evidence has accumulated in recent years that some of the increase may be caused by early exposure to toxic chemical fumes in the home. Why is that?

The American consumer keeps demanding cleaners that work better (It's considered a big plus if they require no effort) and are easy to use (Don't bother with messy liquids and pastes—just spray it on).  And manufacturers have been willing to

oblige by adding ever more exotic chemicals to household cleaners and putting them in aerosol spray cans. And of course no one opens their windows any more. That would be wasting energy and contributing to global warming. The result is that these toxic chemicals accumulate in the air that we breathe in our own homes. In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency has stated that the air inside our homes is often more polluted than in Los Angeles or New York on a smoggy day.

A number of studies have pointed to an association between these toxic household fumes and  childhood asthma, but I'd like to focus on one  particularly good study on this topic that was published recently in the European Respiratory Journal (31: 54-57, 2008).  The results from this study was clear.  Higher household chemical exposure during pregnancy was associated with a 41% increase in childhood asthma in children with no known allergies.

What does that mean to us? It means that it is not enough to select household products that are safe for the environment. We also need to select products that we use in our homes on the basis of their safety for us and our family - not just on the basis of cost and convenience.

Dr. Stephen G Chaney