"Sick Building Syndrome" (SBS) is a term used to describe situations in which building occupants experience acute health problems and/or discomfort that appear to be linked to time spent in a sick building.
The average American uses about 25 gallons of toxic products per year in their home (Source: Prosperity Without Pollution, by Joel S. Hirschorn and Kirsten V. Oldenburg, 1991).
"There are many, many things that you can do that will take literally two minutes or less, things you do every day anyway. Why not just try to do them a little differently? Some things take no extra time, things like using laundry soap instead of laundry detergent. It takes the same amount of time to do your laundry. It takes the same amount of time to do your shopping but it makes a difference [to the environment]." - Marjorie Lamb
EPA studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that indoor air levels of many pollutants may be 2-5 times, and occasionally, more than 200 times higher than outdoor levels. Cleaning products and other household products are among the many culprits. (Source: EPA)
Cleaning products can be among the most hazardous chemicals in your home or office and are therefore regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. These products create hazardous waste -- threatening human health and the natural environment. Borax, ammonia and baking soda are safe alternatives that can clean and disinfect to meet hospital standards and are much cheaper than name brand cleaners. There are many green products available that are just as effective as traditional ones.
"A Word About Molds, Bacteria, and Yeast"
MOLDS
Molds are a type of fungus, that reproduce tiny spores to reproduce. When mold spores appear on damp areas indoors, they may begin growing. Mold spores can be found in your heating & air conditioning system and may appear in other areas of the house.
Not all molds can cause health problems, however, certain molds when inhaled even in small amounts can produce allergens, irritants, and sometimes toxins that may cause reactions in humans. Health problems may include respiratory nasal & sinus congestion, throat irritations, watery and red eyes, and may add to other existing health conditions.
BLACK MOLD
Black Mold or Stachybotrys is a known and documented aeroallergen. Stachybotrys (Black Mold) is a mold of great concern due to numerous reports by the medical community of its potentially serious health risks, including immune system suppression, central nervous system problems, lung hemorrhaging, and in some cases even death.
BACTERIA
Bacteria grow in a wide variety of habitats and conditions. Most bacteria may be placed into one of three groups, ie, aerobic, anaerobic and facultative anaerobes. Much of our experience with bacteria involves disease, though some bacteria live on or in the human body and prevent disease.
In most cases the bacteria that cause disease are not part of the bacteria that normally inhibit the body. They are picked up instead from sick people, sick animals, contaminated food or water, or other external sources. Bacterial parasites that cause disease are called pathogens. Some dramatic bacterial killers are Colera, Tuberculosis, and Legionnaires Disease.
YEAST
Fungi are types of parasite plants that include molds, mildew, and yeast. A fungal infection is an inflammatory condition in which fungi multiply and invade the skin, the digestive tract, the genitals, and other body tissue, particularly, the lungs and liver.
Systemic fungal infections occur when spores are touched or inhaled. Such infections are most often a serious problem in those with suppressed immune systems.
Fungi are widespread in the environment, so it is not unusual that their spores end up being inhaled into the lungs or landing on the skin.
What Can We Do?
THE POWER OF NON TOXIC LIVING
If we were to let you know a way that you could do a common household task that would save the rivers, oceans and the environment we live in, would you be interested in hearing about it. Some people probably would, some wouldn't. But if we also told you that this same thing would also be a safe alternative to this common household task that would protect you, your family and your pets from daily poisonous and toxic exposure, most of you would probably want to hear more. We are going to introduce you to one aspect of the world of non toxic living and the powerful effect it can have on people and the environment.
Most household cleaners that are commonly available at your local supermarket contain toxic, caustic and non biodegradable ingredients that we expose our selves, our families and our environment to daily. In fact, within 26 seconds of exposure to these chemicals they can be found in every organ in our body. You may ask yourself, then why don't I get sick or violently ill when I clean my house? Some people actually do. Some just feel a burning in there throat or lungs or have trouble breathing or have watery eyes. Some may not feel anything. But this constant exposure to low level toxins in our lives has a profound effect on who we are and how healthy we will be.
In the past several decades, there has been a significant increase in the asthma rate amongst children, in fact a dramatic 118 percent between 1980 and 1993, and lung cancer in adults. In fact, six out of every 100 janitors in Washington State have lost time from their jobs linked to toxic cleaning products, specifically glass and toilet cleaners and degreasers, according to the Janitorial Products Pollution Prevention Project. A key reason for this is the fact that since World War II at least 75,000 new synthetic chemical compounds have been developed and released into the environment; fewer than half of these have been tested for their potential toxicity to humans, and still less have been assessed for their particular toxicity to children.
So now that we have raised your interest level, you may be inclined to go to you cupboards and take out your cleaning products to look at the ingredients. You will probably find that most of the products do not list their ingredients on the labels. This may seem unbelievable. How can a product that is in our house not fully disclose their ingredients, especially products with questionable ingredients? The reason is that a long time ago these chemical companies, notice the word "chemical", lobbied with Washington and contested that their ingredients were trade secrets and that by making the companies disclose their ingredients would essentially give their secret ingredients to the public. While this seems reasonable, do you think that if some of these ingredients were poisonous or dangerous to you and your family, don't you think you have a right to know if you were bringing these chemicals into your house. We do. That is why several years ago we decided that this was unacceptable to us and decided to use only non toxic cleaning products that have full disclosure of their ingredients on there labels. In fact, we even purchased a company that made the best all natural non toxic cleaning products that we were using in our home.
There are many great all natural, non toxic cleaning product manufacturers out there that fully disclose their ingredients and want to make a difference in peoples lives. These products range from kitchen and bathroom cleaners, laundry and dish soaps and air fresheners. The ingredients that you most want to avoid are phosphates, ammonia, butyl ethers or chlorine bleach. They are highly toxic and extremely bad for your health if it gets into your system by touch, taste or osmosis, the process of liquids entering into your body through your skin. For instance if you wipe down your kitchen table with these chemical cleaners not only can these toxins enter your body when you breath them, but also if your food touches the table and gets ingested or by your hands touching the table as you sit to eat. And this holds true for your entire family! How many times have you sat down at a restaurant and seen them spray and wipe a table after a party has just finished their meal. The next party sits down, takes the silverware out of the napkin and places it on the table. Now the cleaner that was used is all over their hands and eating utensils. This is just within one minute of sitting down.
If this were to happen once, it may not be that bad, especially if you are an adult. But just think you and your kids are exposed to this day after day after day. A child's body weight is so much smaller than yours. The dosage per body weight they are receiving is so much greater that an adult. And then think of the babies crawling across the floor you just "cleaned". Now that their hands have been sliding across the floor, where is the next place they go, into their mouth. Putting everything in the mouth is a crucial part of normal development; this is the way a baby learns about the world.
There are alternatives out their today that are safe and effective. The goal of this article is that we may have persuaded some of you to at least take note of one of the ways toxins can affect you, your family and the environment and what you can do to take steps to make changes. It is also our hope that we have convinced the others to go our and purchase all natural non toxic cleaning products and start using them in your home. Please be aware that if you do make the switch, the old cleaners in your cabinets are most likely toxic and should be disposed of correctly.
Written by: David and Linda Zielski www.seasidenaturals.com
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Children and Toxic Chemicals in the Home |
"Now we know what we have suspected for years, that toxic chemicals are bringing anguish to thousands of families in this country." |
-- Larry Silver, M.D., President,
Learning Disabilities Association of America,
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,
Georgetown University Medical Center
Chemicals play a major role in our every day lives. They are part of what we eat, where we work, and how we live. Despite their prevalence in our lives, many chemicals are hazardous, or toxic. Toxic chemicals can be found in our soil, water, air, and bodies. This contamination has seriously effected the health of humans and wildlife everywhere.
Children are often more vulnerable than adults to the harmful effects of chemical pollutants because they are growing and developing rapidly. In addition, children’s behavior, including increased hand to mouth activity, a tendency to crawl and play in spaces that could be contaminated, and a lack of awareness about proper safety and sanitary habits, all put children at a higher risk. In some cases, childhood exposure to toxins can cause serious health damage to an individual later on in life.
Our built environments, including schools, residential areas, and places of work, can all be sites of hazardous chemical contamination. In fact, many toxic chemicals can be found right in your home.
Various health effects can result from toxic chemical exposure, including allergic reactions, asthma, migraines, dizziness, nausea, eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritation, various forms of cancer, and even death. The health effects resulting from exposure depends upon many factors, including how toxic the chemical is and the degree of exposure.
You can help protect children from the hazards of toxic chemicals at home and in school.
Make an effort to use nontoxic products. Use natural products for cleaning agents such as baking soda, soda ash, vinegar, and cream of tarter. A variety of nontoxic products can be found in health food stores and some supermarkets. Make sure to check labels carefully and keep all hazardous products well-marked and away from children. Check to see if various school and household appliances, toys, and learning materials are hazardous. Keep living, playing, and learning areas, especially the kitchen and bathroom, clean and safe.
Educate yourself! Learn more about toxic chemicals by visiting informational websites. Become active with groups working to promote policies designed to protect children from toxic chemicals.
Toxic Chemical Information Resources
www.epa.gov/epahome/topics.html, website for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which can be searched for a variety of information about toxic chemicals and pollutants and US regulations regarding such materials
www.epa.gov/kidshometour, part of EPA’s website geared toward children information and a tour of toxic chemicals in the home
www.atsdr.org, website for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a government agency that provides information about hazardous substances, the health effects of hazardous substances, and relevant news updates
www.nrdc.org/health/default.asp, website for the Natural Resources Defense Council which contains a variety of information including an article about toxic chemicals and health
www.childproofing.org, the website for Childproofing our Communities Campaign, a locally based, grassroots effort coordinated by the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice (CHEJ), a national environmental organization dedicated to making the indoor and outdoor environment more safe for children. This site also provides many useful links to other organizations.
www.igc.org/psr/ihw.htm, a document by Physicians for Social Responsibility about various toxic threats to child development and information linking developmental disorders and toxic chemicals
www.greenhome.com/learn, an on line department store and information resource that sells environmentally friendly products from home appliances to apparel. It also contains various informational articles, including one on how to make non-toxic cleaners for your home which can be found at www.greenhome.com/learn/make/cleaners.shtml (Note: these products have not been officially tested by CEHN, nor are they officially endorsed by the Network)
www.eohsi.rutgers.edu/rc, the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute provides educational material about toxics, including ToxRAP material for classroom lessons
www.cehn.org, website for the Children’s Environmental Health Network, a non-profit organization that works to protect children from environmental hazards and to promote a healthy environment, with a useful resource guide to other organizations and links to other resources
Girl's Illness Traced to 'Toxic' School
ABC News Story aired Oct. 11, 2005
Some Doctors Alarmed by Hidden Chemicals at Schools
Kellianne King was a healthy, vibrant little girl until she started preschool. That's when she started to suffer from headaches, sinus infections, chest pains and seizures, says her mother, Kathy King.
What to do about Toxic Schools
It was a heart-wrenching time for the family. "She would stand on her bed and she would just scream, 'You have to -- you have to help me. Someone has to help me.' And we couldn't do anything," King said.
And Kellianne, now 13, couldn't enjoy many of the pleasures of being a kid.
"I feel like I didn't get to do much," she said. "I mean, I can ride a bike and read a book now but when I was little, I never got to do that. I learned how to do those things much later. So it was hard."
No one, it seemed, could figure out what was making the little girl so sick. "We took her to all the best doctors and they were just perplexed by her," King said. "They really just couldn't pinpoint what was wrong,"
Mystery Illness Revealed
When Kellianne was in the first grade, her parents learned the painful truth: There were serious air quality problems in her school that had sickened dozens of students and teachers.
"I was shocked that the only place, the only place I trusted to leave her was what was making her sick," said King.
Dr. Phillip Landigan chairs the Department of Community and Preventative Medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He is one of many doctors alarmed by hidden toxins in schools.
"Today, too many chemicals are put into schools that have never been tested for the possible impacts they have on young children," Landigan said.
Simple leaks can breed deadly mold behind walls and trigger an asthma attack; pesticides used to kill insects and weeds can damage a child's developing nervous system, lowering IQ and affecting attention span.
"Children live down on the floor," Landigan said. "They crawl on the rug. They're constantly putting their little fingers in their mouths. And all of those actions increase the child's exposure."
Alarming School Experiment
Just how quickly kids get exposed to toxins in school became clear when "Good Morning America" conducted an experiment in a classroom at P.S. 8 in New York.
First, we applied Glo-Germ, a non-toxic powder only visible under ultra-violet light, in areas where pesticides are most likely to be sprayed or to settle, like baseboards, windowsills and desktops. Then we invited the kids to play. After only 20 minutes, we showed them the stunning results.
Using UV light, we found traces of Glo-Germ all over their clothes, hands and faces.
"It was actually scary to see how germs can spread, toxins can spread all over the place," said teacher Olivia Ellis.
Kids spend nearly 90 percent of their time indoors. Yet there are no specific federal requirements limiting the use of toxins, such as pesticides, in schools, which is why it often takes teamwork to get a school to clean up its act and its air.
Patricia Berkey is the principal of Hastings Elementary School in Massachusetts, where Kellianne attended school and was exposed to toxins. "I think families need to feel comfortable when they send their children off to school that they're sending their children to a safe and healthy environment," Berkey said.
That school took action and, nine years later, Hastings is an award-winning example of a healthy environment school.
A health and safety team, composed of Berkey, a parent, teacher, school nurse and maintenance technician, regularly inspects the entire school looking for leaks, dirty ventilation filters and making certain that only non-toxic cleaners are being used in the classrooms.
"It's a really good feeling to know that if you take a little time out locally in your schools that the impact can be really far-reaching," said King.
How far-reaching? Thanks to King and other parents' efforts, every school in her district has similar toxin-fighting teams, protecting the health of some 3,500 students -- including Kellianne.
"I feel very proud to have a mom that would do that for her kid instead of just giving up and saying, 'Oh well, I can live with them being like this forever,'" Kellianne said. "Just fighting. Also, not just for me but for other kids."
Did you know that... Electric dryers account for 5 to 10% of residential energy consumption? Using cold water will save close to 85% of the energy and dollars you use on washing.
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