Your cleaners are laden with chemicals not only are you breathing them in but they are absorbing through your skin, getting in food from the counter, and the babies and kids and crawling all through them and absorbing them.
Here are some of the chemicals most commonly used:
1. PHTHALATES
Found in: Many fragranced household products, such as air fresheners, dish soap, even toilet paper. Because of proprietary laws, companies don’t have to disclose what’s in their scents, so you won’t find phthalates on a label. If you see the word “fragrance” on a label, there’s a good chance phthalates are present.
Health Risks: Phthalates are known endocrine disruptors. Men with higher phthalate compounds in their blood had correspondingly reduced sperm counts, according to a 2003 study conducted by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Harvard School of Public Health. Although exposure to phthalates mainly occurs through inhalation, it can also happen through skin contact with scented soaps, which is a significant problem, warns Alicia Stanton, MD, coauthor of Hormone Harmony (Healthy Life Library, 2009). Unlike the digestive system, the skin has no safeguards against toxins. Absorbed chemicals go straight to organs.
2. PERCHLOROETHYLENE OR “PERC”
Found in: Dry-cleaning solutions, spot removers, and carpet and upholstery cleaners.
Health Risks: Perc is a neurotoxin, according to the chief scientist of environmental protection for the New York Attorney General’s office. And the EPA classifies perc as a “possible carcinogen” as well. People who live in residential buildings where dry cleaners are located have reported dizziness, loss of coordination and other symptoms. While the EPA has ordered a phase-out of perc machines in residential buildings by 2020, California is going even further and plans to eliminate all use of perc by 2023 because of its suspected health risks. The route of exposure is most often inhalation: that telltale smell on clothes when they return from the dry cleaner, or the fumes that linger after cleaning carpets.
These are just the top 2, but i think you get the point. Here is a great article where I got this information and it has 6 more.
8 Hidden Toxins in Household Cleaners.
Solution:
I cant tell you how EASY it is to make your own disinfectant counter and bathroom spray. It will keep off even the toughest bacteria, viruses and fungus from the surfaces of your home. Even better, its granite counter top safe!
Simply find yourself a spray bottle, glass is best, fill and shake before use. Oh, did I mention it smells AMAZING! And I don’t have to worry abut the kids using it- which means they get to help clean more, thats a win win.
Take a tool at the Kitchen and Bathroom Cleaner recipe for more information and ingredients.
