Is Cleaning Bad for Your Health?

     If you're anything like me --a Gen-Xer raised by Baby-Boomer parents-- you most likely grew up in a traditionally cleaned home. You know the type of place I'm talking about: streak-free windows, vacuumed carpets, with polished furniture and waxed floors. People from our parents' generation had a knack for clean. I myself had more than a few chores, which required me to uphold the cleanliness factor at our house. Every Saturday, my mother would hand over the squirt-bottle, filled with an alluring, sapphire liquid. This pretty blue bottle was my responsibility. Aerosol products were even better. I was always thrilled to use the bright yellow aerosol can when it was my turn to polish. And I'll admit that same can, with it's oh-so-accurate spray nozzle, was the perfect weapon against a bratty older sister. Never once were chores like cleaning the windows and mirrors, or polishing the wood furniture, considered a bad thing. 
    But is it possible that using some of these cleaning products presents a considerable health risk, most especially to our children?
    If I posed that question to my mom, she would most likely roll her eyes at me. If I asked my grandmother the same, the very subject would be comparable to blasphemy, with her squeaky-clean point of view.
    The truth of the matter may surprise you.
    
    In an indicative pamphlet by R.M. Barry, frightening facts are revealed regarding the everyday cleaning products that most of us use. Products that were once believed to refine the hassle of cleaning and sterilizing the household, items sold at your local grocery store, such as dishwashing soap, laundry detergent, window cleaners and furniture polish, can instead have devastating effects on your family. Can you imagine products such as these causing third-degree burns, severely blistered skin, or a scarred esophagus? 

   Household cleaning agents, and the numerous chemicals they contain, are an especially hot issue for families with young children. According to The Consumer Product Safety Commission, cleaning products can be classified as one of the most dangerous substances in the home. I myself am a mom, and the last thing I want to picture is my 5 year old in the Emergency Room, suffering from a burned interior of the mouth; one of the many possible results from accidentally ingesting dishwashing soap. The outcome of such a seemingly benign occurrence can actually be much, much worse. Statistics report that more toddlers die from accidental poisonings in the home, than are killed accidentally with guns in the home. This fact alone absolutely floored me. Parents know that kids will be kids, and the tiny ones especially are prone to investigate every interest they have with their mouths. All it takes is that few minutes' distraction that all parents are prone to, for tragedy to find its way into your home.     

    Personally, I want to remove myself, and the products I use, as serious risks to my kids. There has to be a better way to keep your household clean and healthy. I'm on a mission to find the most risk-free, non-toxic, healthy products for both the home and the planet.         

   Join me on this journey as I explore the benefits of Going Green. Tune in weekly to see what I can find...

                                    (Image Thanks to Google Image Search)