Did You Know?

• The average home today contains 62 toxic chemicals - more than a chemistry lab at the turn of the century.

• According to the EPA – there are 150+ toxic substances in your home that are 3 times more likely to cause cancer than any other causative factors.

• Many scientists and doctors are discovering that there is a connection between our increased use of household chemicals and the increased incidence of chronic illnesses in children like cancer, asthma, ADD, birth defects, and a host of other problems.

• More than 72,000 synthetic chemicals have been produced since WW II.

• Less than 2% of synthetic chemicals have been tested for toxicity, mutagenic, carcinogenic, or birth defects.

• The majority of chemicals have never been tested for long-term effects.

• An EPA survey concluded that indoor air was 3 to 70 times more polluted than outdoor air.

• Another EPA study stated that the toxic chemicals in household cleaners are 3 times more likely to cause cancer than outdoor air.

• CMHC reports that houses today are so energy efficient that "outgassing" of chemicals has no where to go, so it builds up inside the home.

• We spend 90% of our time indoor, and 65% of our time at home. Moms, infants and the elderly spend 90% of their time in the home.

• The National Cancer Institute released results of a 15-year study concluding that women who work in the home are at a 54% higher risk of developing cancer than women who work outside the home.

• Cancer rates have almost doubled since 1960.

• Cancer is the Number ONE cause of death for children.

• There has been a 26% increase in breast cancer since 1982. Breast cancer is the Number ONE killer of women between the ages of 35 and 54. Primary suspects are laundry detergents, household cleaners and pesticides. There has been a call from the U.S Canadian Commission to ban bleach in North America. Bleach is being linked to the rising rates of breast cancer in women, reproductive problems in men and learning and behavioral problems in children.
  

• Chemicals get into our body through inhalation, ingestion and absorption. Even touching a surface that the chemical has been on for days or even months before can be absorbed into our bodies.

• We breathe 10 to 20 thousand liters of air per daymost dishwashing detergents include naptha, which is a central nervous system depressant; diethanolsamine, a possible liver poison; and chlorophenylphenol, a metabolic stimulant that is considered toxic.

• There are more than 3 million poisonings every year. Household cleaners are the Number ONE cause of poisoning of children.

• Since 1980, asthma has increased by 600%. The Canadian Lung Association and the Asthma Society of Canada identify common household cleaners and cosmetics as triggers.

• ADD/ADHD are epidemic in schools today. Behavioral problems have long been linked to exposure to toxic chemicals and molds. Use of Ritalin has skyrocketed since 1990.

• Chemical and environmental sensitivities are known to cause all types of headaches.

• Labeling laws do not protect the consumer - they protect big business.

• The New York Poison Control Center reports that 85% of product warning labels were either inadequate or incorrect for identifying a poison, and for first aid instructions.

• Formaldehyde, phenol, benzene, toluene, xylene are found in common household cleaners, cosmetics, beverages, fabrics and cigarette smoke. These chemicals are cancer causing and toxic to the immune system.

• Chemicals are attracted to, and stored in fatty tissue. The brain is a prime target for these destructive organics because of its high fat content and very rich blood supply.

• The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health has found more than 2500 chemicals in cosmetics that are toxic, cause tumors, reproductive complications, biological mutations and skin and eye irritations.

• Side effects of Chemical exposure can contribute to fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, circulatory disorders, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, and Hormonal problems. Pesticides only have to include active ingredients on the labels, even though the inert (inactive) ingredients may account for 99%, many of which are toxic and poisons.

• Most air fresheners interfere with your ability to smell by coating your nasal passages with an oil film, or by releasing a nerve deadening agent. Known toxic chemicals found in an air freshener:

• Our homes should have a complete change of air 3 or 4 time a day. New homes are built so air tight that it is impossible to get a complete change of air. We should leave our windows open on each side of our house for better cross ventilation.

• Just in Alberta in one year accidental poisoning the statistics were as follows:

  Between the ages of:
  0 - 4 years - 11, 515 Poisonings
  5 - 10 years - 1,524 Poisonings
  11 - 19 years- 1,019 Poisonings
  20 and over - 7,799 Poisonings

• Bleach is a strong corrosive. It will irritate or burn the skin, eyes and respiratory tract. It may cause pulmonary edema or vomiting and coma if ingested.

• If you mix bleach with ammonia it may cause fumes which can be DEADLY.

• Most laundry detergents on our shelves contain Lye and it is the #1 polluter of our nation’s rivers, lakes, streams and oceans. It is also a carcinogen.

• According to the U.S. National Research Council, no information of toxic effects is available for 70% of the more than 48,500 synthetic chemicals listed by the Envoronmental Protection Agency. Less than one-tenth of these chemicals have been tested for chronic, reproductive, or mutagenic effects.

• When phenol touches your skin it can cause it to swell, burn, peel, and break out in hives. Can cause cold sweats, convulsions, Circulatory collapse, coma and even death

• Most Furniture Polishs contain Petroleum Distillates: Highly flammable, can cause skin and lung cancer. Phenol: (see Air fresheners, Phenol.) Nitrobenzene: Easily absorbed through the skin, extremely toxic

• Anti-bacterial Cleaners. may contain: Triclosan: Absorption through the skin can be tied to liver damage.

• Lice Shampoo is a pesticide and is especially vulnerable are children. It contains Lindane and Inhalation, ingestion, or ABSORPTION through the SKIN causes vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions and circulatory collapse. May cause liver damage, stillbirths, birth defects and cancer.

• A women's fertility has also been negatively affected by the increase use of chemicals. In 1934 only 21 cases of endometriosis existed in the entire world. Today over 5 million women have this condition, which causes infertility in the US alone.

• “Indoor air pollution is a suspected culprit in sudden infant death syndrome, which will take about 5,000 U.S. lives this year. The incidence of SIDS is higher in the winter, perhaps because decreased ventilation in the cold months traps air indoors, where contaminants become concentrated. It’s no coincidence that SIDS was recognized after the introduction of synthetic chemicals,” according to Nancy Green Sokol the author of Poisoning Our Children (Noble Press 1991).

• Unless a physician is one of those few thousand out of a half million doctors in the United States who has had special training in environmental medicine, he or she probably has little knowledge of the relationship between sickness and the toxins in our environment.

• Each day , Americans pour more than 32 million pounds of household cleaning products down the drain (that’s almost 12 billion pounds per year).

• Note: One other aspect to consider - and it not a minor one at all - is the high probability that women who wear a bra (and synthetic underwear in general) continually wear a TOXIC SKIN PATCH! Now that is a daring statement and we explain...

• Most modern laundry detergents are still alkaline-based with fancy ingredient names such as washer protection agents, processing aids and brightening agents. Simply put, however, the main ingredients are salt, sand and acid.

• The water softeners are aluminosilicates which are aluminum-based salts. Aluminum has been identified as a likely contributor to breast cancer!

• Frequently-found "processing aids" are sodium sulfates which are a salt derived from sulfuric acid - an effective drain cleaner. That is why washer protection agents such as sodium silicate is included because it protects your machine’s porcelain and metal from being eaten up by the "processing acids".

  Now, imagine what is happening to your clothes. Rinse water cannot be 100% effective in removing these toxic ingredients because some of them - such as fabric brightening agents - are formulated so that they can’t be rinsed out! Since your clothes are in direct contact with your skin, whatever they contain can be transferred into your body through the skin and that is why clothes become a big, toxic dermal patch throughout your entire life!

  What can one do about this? The first step would be to either change to a different, less toxic, laundry detergent or to eliminate detergents...