I
grew up associating the smell of bleach with clean. As a young adult,
my weekly allowance was earned by cleaning the many bathrooms in our
house. No doubt, using bleach and other chemicals to clean in enclosed
spaces caused me to develop asthma.
Yet no one put two and two together.
In today's antibacterial world, many of us associate the smell of bleach
or other harsh chemicals with "clean". The truth is that we've killed
off many of the good bacteria in our homes, and left chemical residues
all over the house for inhalation or ingestion. Remember: "clean" is
merely the absence of dirt: it doesn't have a smell.
You can protect yourself, your family, and our soils and water by switching over to non-toxic cleaning products for your home and office. Brands that I like are Ecover, Mrs. Myers and Trader Joes. For Christmas this year, I got everyone on my list a non toxic cleaning products starter kit. Why? Because I love them.
Cleaning by the Numbers
17,000: the total number of petrochemicals that are available for home use, only 30% of which have been tested for exposure to human health and the environment.
63: the number of synthetic chemical products found in the average American home, translating to roughly 10 gallons of harmful chemicals.
100: the number of times higher that indoor air pollution levels can be above outdoor air pollution levels, according to US EPA estimates.
275: the number of active ingredients in antimicrobials that the EPA classifies as pesticides because they are designed to kill microbes.
5 billion: the number of pounds of chemicals that the institutional cleaning industry uses each year.
23: the average gallons in chemicals (87 liters) that a janitor uses each year, 25% of which are hazardous.
