Investigators on the case noted that “Whitfield and her children had only lived in the home a short time and she was trying to deal with a serious insect problem.” About half a dozen used insect foggers were found in the home and the contamination was so severe that a hazardous materials team was called out to help get rid of the foggers.

Now hopefully, you’re never in a situation where you use many foggers over a short period of time, but this is an excellent reminder that insecticides are meant to do two thing well; poison and kill. No matter how careful you are with toxic household chemicals, you can’t be safe enough. When you bring deadly chemicals into your home, they leave a trace. Even if you clean. In fact, one report shows that most US kitchen floors have some insecticide residue on them including traces of organochlorine insecticides, such as chlordane, heptachlor and DDT. All of the former mentioned insecticides were withdrawn from the market or banned in the 1970s and 1980s, so time isn’t even on your side.

According to that same report above, about 78 million U.S. households, or 74%, use pesticides in their homes annually. The exposure risks to your family are very real and dangerious. Why use harmful pesticides where your family lives? You don’t have to.

Instead of pesticides, insecticides, and other harmful chemicals you can…

• Use natural bug fighting methods and keep yourself and your kids safe from insecticides.
• Learn 10 ways to get toxins out of your home.
• Avoid unnatural fragrances.
• Use earth and people friendly store bought cleaners or make your own homemade safe cleaners.
• If you do use toxic insecticides use them sparingly, and always vacate your home for a substantial amount of time after use.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

Baby death due to insecticides

There are plenty of non-toxic products that have all sorts of handy household uses, health uses, and other cool uses, for example…

Vodka - it's not just for drinking!

Vinegar – I’m so not a vinegar fan. I can’t stand the scent. However it does have a multitude of uses and it’s totally non-toxic. Even though I hate the smell I have to admit it’s good for making eco-friendly cleaners.

Vodka – you always hear about vinegar as a product with multiple non-toxic uses, but vodka? Vodka is a natural product and according to the Daily Green, vodka has 12 great uses from cleaning to heath care to flower preservation and more. Who knew?

Chalk – traditionally chalk is not 100% eco-friendly, however, it’s a natural resource, it’s non-toxic and has a ton of uses.

Baking soda – ah non-toxic baking soda, as useful as vinegar, but without the gross smell. You can clean with it, brush your teeth with it, deodorize with it, shine silver and much more.

Table salt – basic table salt will remove rust, clean hot oven spills and so much more, without a toxin in sight.

Lemons – lemons are one of my favorite multiple use items because they also smell lovely. They’re perfect to clean with, beautify with, and have other uses you’ve likely never thought of.

[image via stock.xchng]

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Green uses for six everyday products

Why you should get involved:

• 33 years ago Congress passed that nation’s chemical regulatory law, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TCSA). To date the Environmental Protection Agency has tested just 200 of the more than 80,000 chemical compounds developed for products used in the home.
• Right now, EPA does not even have the authority to gather (or demand) the information it needs to evaluate a chemical’s risk.
• No-one; not product manufacturers nor the EPA are required by law to prove a chemical’s safety as a condition of use.
• 1.25 million kids younger than six years of age are unintentionally poisoned in the home each year by things like cosmetics and personal care products, cleaning substances, pain relievers and cough and cold medicines (American Association of Poison Control Centers) that contain harmful chemicals.
• Studies by the Environmental Working Group show that nearly 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants have been found in the umbilical cord blood of newborns.
• Your friends and family don’t know how dangerous chemicals are. Recent studies show that most people think toxic cleaners are pretty darn safe.
• Why should your kids be exposed to dangerous chemicals in basic household items?

How you can help…

• Visit Million Baby Crawl and create a crawler that represents why you want chemical reform. The Million Baby Crawl will help to present the Kids Safe Chemical Act to Washington by collecting signatures from Americans who support toxic chemical reform.
• Post about the Million Baby Crawl at your own blog.
• Follow the Million Baby Crawl discussion on Twitter #mbcrawl.

Hopefully the end result of your support will be the Kids Safe Chemical Act, which will require chemical manufacturers to conduct safety testing before a chemical is used in products.

Post from: Blisstree

The Million Baby Crawl

Clean and disinfect with zero bleach:

Did you know that the Environmental Protection Agency actually recognizes soap and hot water as a legitimate disinfectant? They do. However, for hot water and soap to do its job you must clean well. To disinfect hands use hot soapy water and wash for about two minutes. To clean surfaces in your home well with hot water and soap read the following…

• Hot Water for Cleaning – Yeah It Works
• How to clean properly with cloth vs. paper towels

For basic cleaning a spray of white distilled vinegar followed by a 3% peroxide spray will disinfect.

Tea tree essential oil, pine essential oil, and lavender essential oil are all said to have natural disinfecting qualities you can add drops directly into say a toilet, or make up a spray of water and essential oil to spray on surfaces. To learn more about making your own homemade cleaners read; 25 Safe, Non-toxic, Homemade Cleaning Supplies.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

Do you need bleach to disinfect?

1. Do a green cleaning audit. Get out any toxic cleaners you’ve been using and replace them with eco-friendly, non-toxic alternatives – either homemade green cleaners or store bought green cleaners.
2. Use Skin Deep to help you make smarter choices about the beauty and body care products that you and your family use on your body.
3. Burn soy candles over wax – they emit somewhat less soot.
4. Bring some plants inside to help improve your indoor air quality.
5. Go organic and natural with your lawn care. Not only do lawn care pesticides get into the soil, air, and water, but when you walk in your yard you drag those pesticides right in with you.
6. Keep your home clean on a schedule. Green cleaners work great on a mostly tidy house. If you get mold you’ll need harsher cleaners, which by the way don’t even always work to kill mold. Prevent mold and mildew now.
7. Buy your kids green toys that are free from lead based paints and other toxic chemicals.
8. Make sure that you always buy the most pesticide ridden food in organic form. See the Dirty Dozen for a list of the most toxic conventional fruits and veggies.
9. You spend untold of amounts of time in bed. If you purchase one piece, and only one piece of organic, toxic free furniture, an organic mattress will get you the most toxin protection bang for the money.
10. Get all plastics (or most of them) out of your kitchen.

[image via stock.xchng]

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Ten ways to get toxins out of your home

Why introduce a green seal?:

“The Good Housekeeping Seal was originally created to protect consumers from potentially dangerous products and false claims,” said Rosemary Ellis, editor-in-chief of Good Housekeeping. “Today our readers are interested in making choices that are healthier for their families and for the planet, so we’re continuing our legacy of consumer advocacy with the Green Good Housekeeping Seal, offering consumers a guide, backed by scientific research, for products making significant steps towards being environmentally sound.”

“There is an overwhelming number of products making green claims in today’s market,” said Miriam Arond, director of the Good Housekeeping Research Institute. “We are recognizing mainstream products making significant efforts in the right direction, and as advances are constantly being made in sustainability efforts, we will continue to reevaluate our green criteria on a regular basis.”

The product categories:

The first two categories being evaluated for the Green Good Housekeeping Seal are cleaning products and beauty products. Eventually they’ll be introducing other categories.

The green criteria:

For the current product categories, a product cannot earn the Green Good Housekeeping Seal if they contain “Certain harmful ingredients or any ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs) above 0.001%, produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) above a certain threshold, or have been tested on animals within the last five years (unless required by government regulation).” Specifically, there are a bunch of rules a product must adhere to, and the list of green criteria is long, but some examples include…

• Products containing Group 1 or 2A IARC carcinogen or under California Proposition 65 as causing reproductive and/or developmental toxicity at a weight of 0.001% or greater in a form that allows for a route of exposure in typical consumer use are not eligible.
• Any product that does not meet California’s Regulation for Reducing Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Consumer Products is not eligible.
• Renewable energy in product manufacturing is assessed.
• They look for a reduction of water use in product manufacturing facilities vs. 2006.
• They conduct a comparative hazard assessment of ingredients
• They’re looking at sources of materials and ingredients, use of certified materials and ingredients, and use of recycled content in materials and ingredients.
• Biodegradability of products.
• Packaging considerations include – sources of packaging materials, use of recycled content in packaging, biodegradability of packaging, use of PVC in packaging, and recyclability of packaging.
• Greenhouse emissions are also looked at, for example, the product’s and company’s carbon footprint.
• A slew of corporate responsibility issues are assessed.
• And more.

Overall:

At first glance, I do like the criteria list that Good Housekeeping is using it’s very comparable to the issues I look at when I review green products. But I think that like many third party green certification folks, they’re missing one major piece of the puzzle. Coming up, we’ll take a look at the missing piece pluswhich products made the list and won the new Green Good Housekeeping Seal. Some are greenish, and some are fairly questionable.

Post from: Blisstree

Is the Green Good Housekeeping Seal Green?

BASICS:

Seventh Generation is arguably one of the most well-known green companies around. They were one of the first self-declared “socially responsible” companies and have been around for 20 years. The company makes a slew of products, some that are very green and some that could be greener, but all in all, they offer some great product choices for green households in various categories…

• Laundry Products
• Dishwashing Products
• Household Cleaners
• Household Paper & Supplies
• Products for Baby
• Feminine Care

ECO-PERKS OF SEVENTH GENERATION:

• Seventh Generation notes that they’re committed to helping consumers make informed choices and I’d say that they’re doing a good job in this area. They fully disclose all ingredients at their website and on their packaging plus offer MSDS sheets. If you want to know what’s in your Seventh Generation cleaner, they make it ultra easy to find out, unlike some eco-companies.
• Some of their packaging is made with recycled content (2 bottles (18%) are 75% PCR; remainder are 25% PCR; 1/3 of our boxes are 100% PCR; remainder are 30–40% PCR). Almost all their packaging is easily recycled and they disclose when it’s not.
• They donate 10% of profits to non-profit community, environmental, health, and responsible business organizations working for positive change.
• They recently eliminated synthetics in all fragrances.
• They make non-toxic products with zero chlorine bleach, phosphates, dyes, NTA or EDTA.
• Because the company makes recycled paper  products and less toxic goods, the company helps to save scads of trees, water, petroleum, and energy yearly.
• No animal testing.
• They have green corporate office policies in place – for example using recycle paper and recycling.
• Also, this is an eco-company that works. For example, while there are plenty of eco-companies around, but they’re only as good as their outreach to consumers. You can easily find Seventh Generation products at just about any store and in online shops. They promote their products and have actually built up a brand, which is something I wish more green companies would work on, because if consumers can’t locate products, if they can’t learn more about a company then they won’t buy those products, they’ll maybe buy other more toxic products. They’re also affordable and offer coupons often.

COMPANY NEGATIVES:

• They make disposable diapers that do not biodegrade. They also make diapers with SAP which is a questionable green debate right now – i.e. it could be ok, but maybe not. Their baby wipes also do not biodegrade.
• There’s non-biodegradable synthetic polymer in their auto dish powder and gel.
• Their new labels on cleaners rock – info wise. However, all of them peel off right away and then leave a lame sticky area on the back of the bottle. Annoying.
• While their cleaners are less toxic than many conventional cleaners out there, you’ve still got that new bottle to recycle. It’s still more eco-friendly to make your own cleaners, although, of course some people will always want to simply purchase cleaning supplies.
• They use plastic backing on their feminine care products; which yes, is made out of oil.
• Some cleaning products could be improved – for example, I’ve tried a few green dishwasher detergents that clean better than Seventh Generation’s brand.

OVERALL:

It’s hard to give a company a full on green rating, because I’m just one green girl with one opinion, but overall, I’d give them a…

3.5 out of 5 little trees. They’re a fairly good green company with many products that work well, a few that don’t and they could make some eco-improvements. However, I do love their disclosures and the fact that they’re continually setting and meeting new eco-goals. Stick around for some product specific reviews coming up.

MORE LINKS:

• Follow Seventh Generation on Twitter.
• Join them on Facebook.
• Read their blog.
• Read their latest corporate responsibility report online (flash). You can also read this report in pdf.

Post from: Blisstree

Green Company Review: Seventh Generation

Basically, you’ve got three eco-friendly options:

1. Make your own natural, non-toxic cleaners.
2. Buy natural, non-toxic cleaners.
3. Don’t clean.

I know, don’t clean really isn’t a great option; just making sure you’re awake.

If you’re going to buy green cleaners, one, expect to pay more than you’d pay for conventional toxic cleaners (in most cases), and two, don’t be swayed by greenwashing companies if your goal is a better green lifestyle. For example, Clorox Greenworks is in truth, a safe non-toxic cleaner, BUT there is WAY more to being a green company than simply making one product, dying it green, and calling it a day. Clorox also makes mostly not eco-friendly products, many are super toxic, and there are plenty of other actual green companies who make green cleaners day in and day out, making them a more ethical choice. Also if you buy keep the following tips in mind:

• Labels mean nothing. Ignore fancy ‘green’ packaging, cute little eco-labels and actually take the time to read your labels. See which ingredients are in said green cleaners. A little tip – if you can’t easily pronounce it, if you’re not sure what it means, there’s a good chance that an ingredient is not green.
• Look for products that don’t test on animals.
• Make sure the packaging is not excessive and make sure it’s recyclable. Buy the biggest container you can.
• Learn more about the specific dos and don’ts of buying eco-friendly cleaners.

Some green store bought cleaners I can actually recommend include…

• Biokleen All Temperature Laundry Liquid
• Biokleen Automatic Dish Powder
• Parsley Plus Surface Cleaner
• Orange Plus Surface Cleaner
• Also some Seventh Generation products (NOT their dishwasher detergent), almost all Earth Friendly Products, Ecover, Mrs Meyers, Method, and Simple Green are good.

My favorite choice is make your own. You save money, you know exactly what’s in your cleaners, you save packaging (you can reuse the same bottles again and again), and it’s easy. If you want to try your hand at some super easy, not at all expensive homemade green cleaners take a look at the following helpful links:

• 25 Safe, Non-toxic, Homemade Cleaning Supplies
• Hot Water for Cleaning – Yeah It Works
• Breathe In Some Green Air
• Homemade Spicy Apple Air Freshener
• Natural Air Fresheners
• Pennyroyal, Cinnamon, & Lavender Air Freshener

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

Alternatives to toxic cleaners

Yup, green cleaners are a super drag. I hate not being exposed to toxic chemicals in my home; it’s what I live for. But seriously, there are some major and real issues related to the use of conventional household cleaners. When I point out the backs of conventional cleaning packages to people, which of course note things like, “Use in a vented area… use with gloves only… wash skin right away when exposed” some of these people just don’t seem to think it matters all that much. That said I thought I’d offer up some research about it. Browse at your leisure and later I’ll list some better, safer, greener options.

University of California at Berkeley conducted about cleaning supplies in the exposure to indoor airborne chemicals study which showed that the inhalation exposures to air pollutants that can result from the use of common household products.

Household Cleaning Products Linked To Childhood Asthma and Childhood Leukemia.

Enough freaky research about cleaning products to hopefully make you ban them forever.

The The Washington Toxics Coalition notes that conventional cleaning products can burn skin or eyes, irritate the lungs, aggravate asthma, and cause death. They also note that home cleaning products are among the products most frequently ingested accidentally by children, which can of course cause serious damage.

Cleaning products are deemed so unsafe by OSHA that they’ve got an entire program developed around safety protocol for people who work with typical chemicals found in household cleaners. OSHA notes that health problems related to cancer, skin issues, permanent eye damage, and organ damage develop quicker than normal for those who work with these chemical cleaning products daily. Obviously pro cleaners tend to use full strength cleaners vs. diluted but it’s important to note that the exact same ingredients are found in both industrial cleaners and household cleaners. The amounts differ, but if they can make someone sick it’s something to ponder. Becoming sick slower because you use less of a product isn’t the best consolation.

The American Lung Association relates that the “household cleaning agents that contain potentially harmful substances that contribute to indoor air pollution is wide-reaching and diverse.” They note that these products can cause dizziness, nausea, allergic reactions, and eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritation and some can cause cancer. They recommend using a non-toxic alternative whenever possible.

If you want to see just how ’safe’ conventional cleaners are, look at the back of a bottle of a typical household cleaner, then enter some of the ingredients into the OSHA/EPA Occupational Chemical Database.

Are We So Clean That We’re Breeding Super Germs?

The EPA notes, “Every 13 seconds, U.S. Poison Control Centers receive a call about someone being exposed to a poison. Forty percent of those cases involve a child under three years of age. According to the American Association of Poison Centers, more than 50 percent of over two million exposure incidents each year involve children under six years of age. What’s more, poison center data reported over 70,000 calls made to poison centers with concerns about exposure to common household pesticides.” The EPA then goes on to say that the following conventional cleaning products should be of concern when it comes to your child’s health…

• bath and kitchen disinfectants and sanitizers, including bleach
• household cleaning or maintenance products, such as drain cleaner, paints, or glues
• automotive products stored around the home, such as anti-freeze or windshield washer fluid
• products used to kill mold or mildew

The European Respiratory Journal, reports that expectant mamas who use many household cleaning products may be putting their child at an increased risk of developing asthma as a youngster.

Household cleaning products don’t sound like a day in the park do they? Coming up, some safer, greener options.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

Green Cleaners Aren’t Worth So Much

• Typical cheap sponges made with toxic and non-renewable polyurethane. These sponges won’t biodegrade and will last and last in a landfill.
• Animal derived sea sponges which some people have an issue with because they are living at one point and some don’t.
• Sponges made from wood pulp cellulose. These will biodegrade, and are non-toxic, but some say they encourage logging because they’re made with tree pulp. However, they’re a better choice than polyurethane sponges.

There are better choices:

I used to buy wood cellulose sponges when I did buy a sponge (rarely) and now I haven’t bought one in over a year. They’re just not so necessary. I use old rags to clean with, and old washcloths if I need to wash a dish. Since I have a dishwasher, I really don’t need a sponge too.

Some people worry about how clean you can clean with a cloth vs. a paper towle or sponge, but you can get things clean so long as you use your rags correctly.

If you’re looking for more ways to cut down on sponge use try rinsing your dishes right away (after you eat) which means no scrubbing before the dishwasher. You can also grow and harvest your very own loofa plant – yup right at home.

What sort of sponges are you choosing and why?

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

What to use instead of sponges