LET’S STOP POISONING OUR CHILDREN
Are you concerned about the air your child breathes? It may shock you to know that, according to an EPA Report to Congress on Indoor Air and the subcommittee hearings on the Indoor Air Quality Act of 1989, indoor air pollution is one of the nation’s most important environmental health problems. According to the EPA, most homes have airborne concentrations of hazardous and toxic chemical that are two to five times higher indoors than outdoors. In one five year study, the EPA reported that a number of homes had chemical levels that were seventy times higher inside the home than outside.
One reason chemical concentrations are so high in some homes is that cleaning products and some personal care products release toxic vapors into the air when they are used – and even when they are stored. This process is called out gassing.
It’s alarming that indoor air is so full of chemical vapors because most children spend twelve to twenty hours a day in their homes. Physiologically, children are more vulnerable to toxic vapors than adults because of their higher metabolic rate. But, adult are far from safe with these toxins.
Most poisonings happen slowly, over a long period of time, by daily exposure to toxins in the air, and toxic chemicals that come into contact with the skin. Household products are among the most toxic substances we encounter daily. In one study conducted by the EPA & the American Cancer Association over a fifteen-year period, women who worked at home had a 54% higher death rate from cancer than women who had jobs away from the home. The study concluded that the increased death rate in the women was due to daily exposure to the hazardous chemicals found in ordinary household products.
Our point is this—why are these lethal products in your home at all? Probably because you didn’t realize how dangerous they can be. You probably weren’t aware that there are products on the market that are effective, much safer, and more economical than grocery store brands. The fact is, by using safer household products, you would no longer be taking unnecessary chances with your children or yourself.
We think it’s important to say that household cleaning and personal care products are not the only source of chemicals in your home. As you have seen, however, they are some of the most toxic and deadly. Fortunately, they are also the easiest to replace.
We hope that you will take this information as a wake-up call and take the necessary steps to remove the toxins from your home. Your children are at the highest risk. Make your home a safe haven for them and teach them to do the same so that future generations will be better informed and at less risk.
Don’t take our word for it, check some of these sites;
Learn About Chemicals Around Your House is interactive, fun and very informative for adults too!
Be sure to read page 2 of this article from American Family Physician. It gives some interesting statistics about the most commonly ingested poisons by children less than six years of age.
The article The 10 Most Dangerous Toxins in Your Household lists the 10 toxins and where they might be found in your home. This article was published in the September-October 1998 issue of E/The Environmental Magazine. (E magazine was founded in 1988 in an effort to educate, inspire and empower Americans to make a difference for the environment. The magazine has won many awards and has been twice cited by the media-watch organization, Project Censored, for investigative reporting on top issues “overlooked or underreported by the national news media.”)Aerosols Linked With Baby Illness reveals the effects of aerosols on pregnant women and babies.Can A Poisoned Environment Play A Major Role in a Child’s Ability to Learn? is a very informative commentary by Stephen B. Edelson, M.D., F.A.A.F.P., F.A.A.E.M. of The Edelson Center for Environmental and Preventive Medicine. Stephen B. Edelson, M.D has been practicing medicine for more than 30 years and is a Professor of Medicine. He realizes that traditional medicine, an approach which diagnoses an illness and then prescribes a drug to suppress the symptoms, has not been able to solve the problem of chronic disease. He believes that what is needed instead is what both environmental and preventive medicine have to offer… an early biochemical, immunological, applied toxicological, and molecular approach to illness using nutritional, environmental and psycho-neuro-immunological (”mind-body”) techniques. The Edelson Center is an innovative medical clinic offering most services involved in the practice of chronic disease medicine, with a great emphasis on looking into the risk factors for disease, exploring the environmental factors on health, and preventing the chronic diseases of mankind.The report, In Harm’s Way, authored by Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, links chemicals widely used by industry and commonly found at home to learning, behavioral and developmental disabilities. This link takes you to a list of key findings in the report where you may also download an 8-page Executive Summary or the entire report. (Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility is an affiliate of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), a national organization of over 15,000 physicians, health care professionals and supporters. PSR was formed in 1961 to address the health consequences of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. It has since broadened its mission to include the health consequences of environmental pollution and degradation, and also the reduction of violence and its causes. PSR’s international federation, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, was awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to translate the abstract concept of nuclear war into medical and personal terms.)Children’s Special Vulnerability To Environmental Risks is Chapter 2 of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s report, Our Children At Risk: The 5 Worst Environmental Threats To Their Health. Although I’ve chosen to highlight this chapter here, the entire report may be read on the website. (The Natural Resources Defense Council uses law, science, and the support of more than 400,000 members nationwide to protect the planet’s wildlife and wild places and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things.)Children Are Not Miniature Adults!, on the site of the Children’s Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC) is a concise list of facts related to disease in children that is impacted by environmental effects. (CHEC strives to inform parents about the preventable childhood health and developmental problems caused by exposure to toxic substances found in homes, schools and communities, and to change government and corporate policies to protect children from environmental hazards.)According to the Center for Children’s Health and the Environment of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, as explained in the article The Coming of Age of Environmental Pediatrics, children’s environmental disease has been recognized as significant for more than one hundred years, but infants and children’s special vulnerabilities and unique exposures to environmental toxins are only beginning to be understood. CCHE’s mission is to promote the health of children by conducting environmental health and policy research.
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