Pollutants inside your home can be from two to more than 100 times higher than outdoors, according to the U.S. EPA. Big culprits are the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that evaporate, or "offgas," from home decorating and cleaning products.
One problem are so-called air fresheners. In homes where aerosol sprays and air fresheners were used frequently, mothers experienced 25 percent more headaches and were 19 percent more likely to suffer from depression, and infants under six months of age had 30 percent more ear infections and 22 percent higher incidence of diarrhea, according to a study published in New Scientist.
Beware when you shop for somethingsafer. "Just because a product says it's natural doesn't mean it's nontoxic," says Jeffrey Hollender, CEO of Seventh Generation. I am a fan of his company’s eco-friendly cleaning supplies and household products. Hollender advises that the word "natural" is undefined and unregulated by the government and can be applied to just about anything under the sun -- including plastic, which comes from naturally occurring petroleum.
Because no standards exist, claims such as "nontoxic," "eco-safe," and "environmentally friendly" are also meaningless, according to Consumers Reports' Eco-labels.
David Steinman, co-author of The Safe Shopper's Bible, recommends looking at labels for specific, eco-friendly ingredients that also perform effectively. These include grain alcohol instead of toxic butyl cellosolve as a solvent; coconut or other plant oils rather than petroleum in detergents; and plant-oil disinfectants such as eucalyptus, rosemary, or sage, rather than triclosan.
Or mix your own cleaners, as does Annie Berthold-Bond, green living editor at Care2.com and author of Clean and Greenand Better Basics for the Home.
Reflecting Annie’s approach, Karen Noonan Logan, author of Clean House, Clean Planet, makes these suggestions:
Avoid toxic cleaning products – and save money. You can do a lot to make your home sparkle with baking soda, vinegar, soap, lemon juice, and salt it seems.
• Clean your windows and mirrors with plain club soda.
• To disinfect bathroom or kitchen surfaces, try Earth Power's EPA-registered herbal disinfectant or Seventh Generation sanitizers. White vinegar helps kill bacteria, mold, and viruses, according to Berthold-Bond, who uses it on everything from kitchen surfaces to toilet seats.
• the only sure way to kill food-borne pathogens such as salmonella or E coli is to use soapy, hot water. Wash all dishes, knives, cutting boards and surfaces that have touched eggs or raw meat.
• Olive oil is a dense, delicious and healthy choice for salad dressing – and it works as a furniture polish.
• While cleaning is never fun, it will be more pleasant if you scent your baking soda or vinegar with a few drops of your favorite essential oil.
• To remove stains from clothing, try soaking fabrics in water mixed with borax, lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide, washing soda, or white vinegar. Or, look for "non-chlorine bleach" made from sodium percarbonate or sodium perborate, available from Bio Pac, Ecover, Naturally Yours, Shaklee, or Seventh Generation.
Discover more over at the Green Guide and in Grist magazine's book (thank you Brangien Davis and Katharine Wroth!) Wake Up and Smell the Planet.
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