Toxins In Your Home

This is Cheryl McNeil again with more education
about toxins in common household products.


I wanted to share with you this article from the
Chicago Daily Herald, June 7, 2005.


HOW COMMON HOME PRODUCTS CAN MAKE LIVING IN YOUR HOME
HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH


BY SUSAN STEVENS
Daily Herald Health Writer
Posted Tuesday, June 07, 2005


Most calls to poison control centers are from acute
exposures. A toddler swallows a handful of pills. A
man drinks pesticides stored in an old pop bottle. It's
the hidden toxins that might be more insidious.


Household cleaners, plastic food containers, even the
flame retardant in your sofa cushions leach chemicals
into the air and onto your skin. They persist in the
blood and make their way into women's breast milk.


Scientists and advocacy groups admit we don't know
for sure how bad these are for you. Human tests have
never been conducted on most of the 18,000 chemicals
produced each year. But evidence is mounting. Some
of the worst chemicals have already been banned, and
states are looking at stricter regulations for others.


Many of these toxins are lurking just behind your
front door. Take a deep breath - surprisingly, the air
inside your home can be more polluted than what's
outside - even if you live in a busy urban area,
according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.


Modern building materials, furniture, everyday cleaning
solutions, dry-cleaned clothing and other household
products release organic chemicals that linger in the
still air of a well-insulated home. Even if you are
vigilant, chemicals can enter your home in unexpected
ways.


Labels advise using paint strippers, adhesive removers
and spray paints in well-ventilated areas, but gases can
leak even from closed containers. The products contain
methylene chloride, which causes cancer in animals.


Carbon monoxide and benzene - a known human carcinogen
present in auto exhaust - can leak from an attached
garage right through porous drywall and into the house,
said Leeann Sagula, owner of Healthy Home Consulting, a
home environment business in Pennsylvania.


"The room above the garage is not the room you want to
have for your nursery," Sagula said. "It's probably one
of the least healthy rooms in your home."


The glues, paints and adhesives holding your house
together can pollute the air, too. Off-gassing from new
construction can irritate the eyes, nose and throat,
said Dr. Jerrold Leikin, a toxicologist at Rush University
Medical Center and author of a toxicology handbook.


Pressed-wood products emit formaldehyde, which at
elevated levels can cause wheezing in people with asthma.
Usually, there are no permanent effects, Leikin said.


But you could be dosing yourself repeatedly; plug-in air
fresheners release a steady stream of pleasantly scented
formaldehyde into your home.


Scientists are uncertain how much exposure, or how long,
is necessary for many of these chemicals to harm your
health. Some people are more sensitive than others.
Those with asthma or pulmonary conditions often react
more strongly.


"Most people don't realize that the air can be dangerous,"
said Glen Ellyn resident Nicholas Nardella, owner of
Environmental Technology Solutions, a firm specializing
in indoor air quality. "They figure if you can't see it
and you're breathing, you feel fine. But sometimes you
feel nauseous, you feel weak, maybe your kids are always
sneezing."


Nardella's firm recently retrofitted several rooms at the
Hilton O'Hare Airport with hardwood floors, non-vinyl
wallpaper and all-cotton bedding. All the building
materials, from the furniture stain to the bathtub caulk,
are free of volatile organic compounds. The cleaning
staff will use only non-toxic products.


The rooms are so pure that if a maid accidentally sprays
Lysol, an alarm will sound. The hotel is planning to
replicate its "Enviro Rooms" in other cities to cater to
travelers with asthma, allergies and chemical sensitivities.


Nardella is taking the technology home. He's building an
Enviro Room for his 4-year-old daughter, who has asthma.
You don't have to gut your house to make it healthier.
When Sagula built a new home in St. Charles two years
ago, she and her husband couldn't afford hardwood floors
in every room. Chemical-free, "green" building materials
were beyond their budget.


So they installed air cleaners on each floor, cleaned the
ducts before they moved in and kept the windows open so
fresh air could flush out chemicals that are more
prevalent in new construction. When they moved in,
Sagula didn't suffer any of the headaches, joint pain or
respiratory symptoms she experienced in a previous new
house.


"It's just amazing with what little we did the difference
it made," she said.


Sagula has since moved to Pennsylvania, where she
advises clients on ridding their homes of toxins. The
biggest problem, she said, is the harsh chemicals in
cleaning products.


"If it's 'fatal if swallowed' or it has to be used in a
well-ventilated area, chances are you can find a safer
alternative," Sagula said.


TV is bad for you - Some toxins arrive incognito, in
products without ingredient labels. The flame-retardant
chemicals used in thousands of household appliances
and textiles can leach out into your home.


Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, have turned
up in dust bunnies, dryer lint and the gray film that
accumulates inside windows. Children, who tend to stick
dirty hands in their mouths, appear particularly at risk of
exposure.


PBDE's persist in the environment and build up in your
body over a lifetime. Scientists have detected them in
women's breast milk, human hair and fat cells. In lab
animals, PBDEs disrupt thyroid hormone balance and
alter brain development.


This spring Illinois legislators joined five other states
and the European Union to phase out penta and octa,
two types of PBDEs often used in appliances like
televisions, computers and coffee makers. After 2006,
retailers can't order new stock with penta or octa.


It was a largely symbolic victory. Once states like
California began banning penta and octa, major U.S.
chemical manufacturers quit producing them. The focus
has shifted to deca, the third major PBDE compound,
which is widely used in upholstery, mattresses and
other textiles.


Illinois' new legislation calls on public health
Officials to analyze deca's effects and report to the
General Assembly by the end of 2007.


Manufacturers could switch to less-toxic flame
retardants, or use chemicals that are bonded to
products so they don't leach out, said Frances
Canonizado, environmental advocate for Illinois Public
Interest Research Group. Dell, Apple and Sony
stopped using PBDEs. Ikea's furniture is PBDE-free.


"Companies have the ability to use safer materials,"
Canonizado said. "We can't as consumers sit idly by
not knowing what we are being exposed to."


Making life easier - Convenience might come at a cost.
Nonstick and stain-resistant coatings typically contain
perfluorochemicals, or PFCs. They show up in Teflon,
Scotchguard, Stainmaster and Gore-Tex. They're in
cookware, clothing, wallpaper, paint and food packaging,
including some McDonald's paper products.


They're also in us. PFCs turn up in the blood of more
than 95 percent of Americans tested. Yet they remain
something of a mystery. Scientists aren't sure how they
get into our cells or accumulate in the environment. The
EPA has launched an investigation to find out.


In animals, they cause cancer, birth defects and
developmental problems, as well as high cholesterol.
3M, the maker of Scotchguard, has already reformulated
its product in favor of less-toxic chemicals, but they
remain in other household goods.


These chemicals are turning up in unexpected places,
including the water supplies of cities with no large-scale
commercial use. One known source is cooking. Heating
Teflon-coated pans to high temperatures releases the
fumes that kill pet birds and sicken people temporarily.


DuPont says Teflon is safe. Consumer advocates say
the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act places too high
a burden on the public; the EPA can require a
manufacturer to test the safety of a new chemical, but
only if the government can prove it poses an unreasonable
health risk.


The sheer number of chemicals heading to market mean
many have never been tested for toxicity.


"The EPA just doesn't have the power to get health
data before products go on the market," said Lauren
Sucher, spokeswoman for the Environmental Working
Group, a coalition of scientists and public policy
advocates.


"Banning a chemical is an uphill battle," she said.
"Consider that asbestos is still legal in the U.S. We
can't even ban asbestos and we know hard-core that
it kills people."


Baby bottle battle - California law makers are
considering a bill that would ban certain chemicals from
plastic baby products. Phthalates are in some soft vinyl
toys and in cosmetics such as nail polish and hair spray.
A study published in the journal Environmental Health
Perspectives last month found that infant boys born to
mothers exposed to phthalates had a higher chance of
genital abnormalities.


The California proposal would also ban products
intended for children that contain bisphenol A, or BPA,
the key building block of hard, clear, polycarbonate
plastics.


BPA is found in baby bottles, food storage containers
and water bottles such as Nalgene. It's also used in
resins that coat the inside of food cans and in dental
sealants for children.


BPA's health effects have been hotly debated. Some
studies - including all of those funded by the industry -
show no ill effects. But evidence is mounting that the
chemical causes reproductive abnormalities in lab
animals at low doses.


Much of that evidence has come in the past five years,
said Frederick vom Saal, a biology professor at the
University of Missouri-Columbia who has studied BPA
for a decade. The last time the EPA assessed the
health risks of BPA was in the 1980s.


"This chemical acts like the estrogen in birth control
pills," vom Saal said. "As an adult man or woman, you
are putting a sex hormone into your body that's going
to alter your reproductive system. You decrease fertility.
You cause sperm abnormalities."


No human studies have been conducted, however, and
whether BPA harms human health remains controversial.
The plastics industry says polycarbonate plastic is safe
and that small amounts of BPA pose no health hazard.


In studies, exposing plastic to the heat of a microwave,
dishwasher or hot foods caused more BPA to migrate
into food. Heating degrades the chemical bond that holds
polycarbonate plastic together. But some studies have
detected leaching even at room temperatures. Heavily
scratched or worn plastic degrades faster.


Polypropelene and polyethylene plastics, which are
marked with product codes 1, 2 or 5 on the bottom,
appear safer, vom Saal said. The problem is polycarbonate
is commonly added to other plastics and might not be
on labels.


"There is no such thing as safe microwaveable plastic,"
vom Saal said. "As you heat it, you degrade the chemical
bond. You can't see this happening. You can't taste it,
you can't smell it, but you are getting dosed at a higher
and higher amount."


Toxic outlook - The long-term health effects of small doses
of chemicals are difficult to study. They don't always show
up in blood tests, or if they did, effects might take decades
to develop. Animal studies don't necessarily translate into
equivalent effects on human health.


"We need more data," said Dr. Helen Binns, a pediatrician
at Children's Memorial Medical Center in Chicago and a
member of the American Academy of Pediatrics'
environmental health committee. "The hard thing is
sometimes the data come too late," she said. "The PCBs
are out there. The DDT is out there."


The most common environmental hazards are nothing
new. The EPA identifies lead as the top environmental
health risk for children. Tobacco smoke is another killer,
even when parents only smoke outside.


Other household products that contain potential hazards
have in fact made our lives easier. Cooking your eggs
in a nonstick pan means you can use less artery-clogging
oil. Extra-strength cleaners make housework go faster.
Plastic baby bottles don't break. These are definite
trade-offs. �A lot of these are things that have made it
more tolerable to live in our environment," Binns said.
"We always need to approach their use with caution.
Where clear, better alternatives exist, we need to choose
the alternatives."


To get more information on keeping your family safe
and removing toxins from your home, contact:


Cheryl McNeil
Wellness Consultant
817-902-2580
www.shaklee.net/jcm