This recipe is a nontoxic cleaning basic. It is a simple floor cleaner, but there are so many uses for its simple scented-vinegar formula that it has found a permanent spot under every sink in our house. It’s so easy!

Ingredients:
White distilled vinegar, water and an essential oil for fragrance. We like peppermint for our floors.

What Else You’ll Need:
A 16 oz. squirt bottle.

How to Make: Fill the bottle with equal amounts of white distilled vinegar and water. Add 15-20 drops of pure peppermint oil. Shake to mix.

How to Use:
Squirt this refreshing cleaner directly onto the floor and wipe clean with a rag or mop. Use it for linoleum and tile floors in your kitchen, bathroom and laundry room. It’s good for polyurethane and finished wood floors, too. Vinegar is a natural acid that has quick cleaning power and helps to remove the film that typically accumulates on a kitchen floor, but if you have an especially dirty, greasy floor, you may want to use a liquid soap on it first. This recipe is also handy to have in the bathroom because  it will cut a light soap film. You can use it to eliminate the soap ring in the tub or sink, the film on the shower walls, and the globbies in the soap dish or shower stall. Make sure to get white distilled vinegar, not the brown apple cider kind. Don’t forget to add the scent to make this floor cleaner sing. We like to use a peppermint oil or apple fragrance. You can purchase both at most natural food stores.

Have fun adding fragrance to your white vinegar! Use about 1/4-1/2 tsp. of fragrance for every gallon of white vinegar. Scented vinegars are great for removing odors left by pet stains, vomit, mildew, sour milk, and more. When someone in our home has the flu, we use scented vinegars to get rid of the smell and bacteria on clothes, sheets, carpet, and floor. Vinegar is reputed to have some germ-killing action.

For extra cleaning power for smudges and scuff marks, sprinkle on a little baking soda and rub. Baking soda gets those smudges up fast. Sprinkle the baking soda, rub and then squirt on the vinegar for a fast action fizz that dissolves dirt quickly.

In an article written by Catherine Zandonella, M.P.H, from The Green Guide,  12 highly toxic chemicals have been exposed – those that are found in personal care products and are often best avoided. When shopping, be prepared to spend some time reading labels; even brands that advertise themselves as “natural” or “botanical” have been known to include some of these:

1. Antibacterials
Overuse of antibacterials can prevent them from effectively fighting disease-causing germs like E. coli and Salmonella enterica. Triclosan, widely used in soaps, toothpastes and deodorants, has been detected in breast milk, and one recent study found that it interferes with testosterone activity in cells. Numerous studies have found that washing with regular soap and warm water is just as effective at killing germs.

2. Coal Tar
Coal tar is a known human carcinogen used as an active ingredient in dandruff shampoos and anti-itch creams. Coal-tar-based dyes such as FD&C Blue 1, used in toothpastes, and FD&C Green 3, used in mouthwash, have been found to be carcinogenic in animal studies when injected under skin.

3. Diethanolamine (DEA)
DEA is a possible hormone disruptor, has shown limited evidence of carcinogenicity and depletes the body of choline needed for fetal brain development. DEA can also show up as a contaminant in products containing related chemicals, such as cocamide DEA.

4. 1,4-Dioxane
1,4-Dioxane is a known animal carcinogen and a possible human carcinogen that can appear as a contaminant in products containing sodium laureth sulfate and ingredients that include the terms “PEG,” “-xynol,” “ceteareth,” “oleth” and most other ethoxylated “eth” ingredients. The FDA monitors products for the contaminant but has not yet recommended an exposure limit. Manufacturers can remove dioxane through a process called vacuum stripping, but a small amount usually remains. A 2007 survey by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found that most children’s bath products contain 10 parts per million or less, but an earlier 2001 survey by the FDA found levels in excess of 85 parts per million.

5. Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde has a long list of adverse health effects, including immune-system toxicity, respiratory irritation and cancer in humans. Yet it still turns up in baby bath soap, nail polish, eyelash adhesive and hair dyes as a contaminant or break-down product of diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea and quaternium compounds.

6. Fragrance
The catchall term “fragrance” may mask phthalates, which act as endocrine disruptors and may cause obesity and reproductive and developmental harm. Avoid phthalates by selecting essential-oil fragrances instead.

7. Lead and Mercury
Neurotoxic lead may appear in products as a naturally occurring contaminant of hydrated silica, one of the ingredients in toothpaste, and lead acetate is found in some brands of men’s hair dye. Brain-damaging mercury, found in the preservative thimerosol, is used in some mascaras.

8. Nanoparticles
Tiny nanoparticles, which may penetrate the skin and damage brain cells, are appearing in an increasing number of cosmetics and sunscreens. Most problematic are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide nanoparticles, used in sunscreens to make them transparent. When possible, look for sunscreens containing particles of these ingredients larger than 100 nanometers. You’ll most likely need to call companies to confirm sizes, but a few manufacturers have started advertising their lack of nanoparticle-sized ingredients on labels.

9. Parabens
(methyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, butyl-, isobutyl-) Parabens, which have weak estrogenic effects, are common preservatives that appear in a wide array of toiletries. A study found that butyl paraben damaged sperm formation in the testes of mice, and a relative, sodium methylparaben, is banned in cosmetics by the E.U. Parabens break down in the body into p-hydroxybenzoic acid, which has estrogenic activity in human breast-cancer cell cultures.

10. Petroleum Distillates
Possible human carcinogens, petroleum distillates are prohibited or restricted for use in cosmetics in the E.U. but are found in several U.S. brands of mascara, foot-odor powder and other products. Look out for the terms “petroleum” or “liquid paraffin.”

11. P-Phenylenediamine
Commonly found in hair dyes, this chemical can damage the nervous system, cause lung irritation and cause severe allergic reactions. It’s also listed as 1,4-Benzenediamine; p-Phenyldiamine and 4-Phenylenediamine.

12. Hydroquinone
Found in skin lighteners and facial moisturizers, hydroquinone is neurotoxic and allergenic, and there’s limited evidence that it may cause cancer in lab animals. It may also appear as an impurity not listed on
ingredients labels.

—————
What You Can Do
* Complain to your drugstore when you see unhealthy ingredients in their consumer products. They may be
unaware.
* Visit www.safecosmetics.org/companies to find companies that have signed the Compact for Safe
Cosmetics, a pledge to remove chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and other health problems.
* Take action in support of your right to buy safe personal care products at www.safecosmetics.org/action.

Resources
* Campaign for Safe Cosmetics: www.safecosmetics.org
* Skin Deep: www.cosmeticdatabase.com
* National Library of Medicine’s Household Products Database: www.householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov

1. Open Windows

Often the most economical and efficient way to clean the air in your home is to just open that window and cross-ventilate. Consumer Reports magazine says that “just opening a few windows may do the job… even in the winter, cracking open a window a couple of inches won’t raise your heating bill by more than a few pennies an hour.” To control pollen from outdoor air, purchase a window filter.

2.  Replace Toxic Cleaning Supplies

First address the toxicity of cleaning products by reading the labels. Check for signal words such as caution, irritant, danger and warning. Our opinion is that it is best to not use any cleaning product with these labels. Many people are unaware that they can cause serious illnesses such as cancer (view the Dirty Dozen list).

Replace them with safer cleaners (make sure to dispose of them at a household hazardous waste facility.) There are many great resources online for greener and healthier cleaners made from a few simple ingredients that have low or no toxicity. When you know what each ingredient can do, you can use your own recipes!

Here are a few essential ingredients and their function:

Baking Soda: This alkali powder neutralizes acids—which makes it effective at absorbing odors, loosening grease and removing some stains such as blood, wine and grass. It’s mild abrasive quality makes it an effective scouring paste. You may also use it as a carpet deodorizer, room deodorizer, litter box freshener or laundry booster.

Vegetable-based / liquid castile soap:
Castile soap, made from plant oils, has one simple purpose: to lift oil or dirt from a surface and suspend it so that it can be washed away. Use it for lifting oil and dirt off dishes, floors, counters and your body. Mixed with baking soda, it makes a great all-purpose cleaner with scouring action.

Hydrogen peroxide (brown bottle in first aid aisle):
Peroxide works by breaking down cell structure which also makes it good for lifting stains like grass and wine. To sanitize bathrooms and kitchens, spray on peroxide to let it evaporate. Peroxide breaks down harmlessly into water in about ten minutes. Hydrogen peroxide must be stored in a dark bottle and in a cool place so it doesn’t break down.

Distilled white vinegar:
As a mild acid, vinegar kills germs and mold, polishes chrome, stainless steel and windows and dissolves mineral deposits. It neutralizes odors, cuts soap scum, dissolves grease and adhesives, softens laundry and more. Don’t worry about the slight scent when it’s wet, dry vinegar leaves no odor.

3. Replace toxic personal care products with natural ones.

This applies to ANY product you put on your skin.  Even those products that claim to be “natural” or “green” may contain highly toxic ingredients. Search your personal care products’ toxicity levels with EWG’s Skin Deep Data Base. In this site, you can actually type the name of the shampoo you used this morning, and you will find out how safe or unsafe it is to use.

4. Avoid Foods High in Pesticides

Pesticides are known to be toxic to the nervous system, cause cancer, disrupt hormones and cause brain damage in children. Pregnant women are advised to avoid foods containing pesticides. A study by Harvard School of Public Health found children exposed to pesticides had a higher risk of developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

When possible, avoid the fruits and vegetables that have the highest pesticide levels -or- buy them organic!

• Apples -
• Celery
• Strawberries
• Peaches
• Spinach
• Nectarines
• Grapes – imported
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Potatoes
• Blueberries – domestic
• Lettuce
• Kale / collard greens

According to the EWG’s Shopper Guide to Pesticides in Produce, the cleanest 15 produce items with the least amount of pesticides are:

• Onions
• Sweet Corn
• Pineapples
• Avocado
• Asparagus
• Sweet Peas
• Mangoes
• Eggplant
• Cantaloupe – domestic
• Kiwi
• Cabbage
• Watermelon
• Sweet Potatoes
• Grapefruit
• Mushrooms

Eating five servings of fruits and vegetables from the “dirty dozen” list would mean you’d get an average of 14 different pesticides. By choosing five from the clean list, you’d consume fewer than two pesticides.

5. Use a Shower Filter

Tap water often contains high levels of chlorine. More chlorine enters the body through the skin’s absorption and inhalation while showering than through drinking tap water. Skin’s pores widen while showering, making dermal absorption of chlorine and other chemicals found in water possible. Chlorine is also a suspected cause of breast cancer. Women suffering from breast cancer are all found to have 50-60% more chlorine in their breast tissue than healthy women. The prices for shower filters range from $30-$120. We recommend doing some research to find the best shower filter for your home and budget.

6. Reduce the use of toxic plastics in foods or toys.

The numbers 1-7 in chasing arrows on a plastic container tell you one thing: the basic resin that serves as the building block for that product. They can be handy in identifying which plastics can go in the recycling bin. But many durable plastic containers are not labeled at all. Labels never list the chemicals added to make a plastic tall, soft, colored, clear, stable or shatter-proof. Here’s what we do know; some of these additives are toxic, and some may “migrate” from plastic into food or drink when subjected to heat, wear and tear, and contact with greasy foods, saliva, etc.

• Avoid PVC and vinyl – Plastic #3
Plasticizers added to PVC and vinyl can leach into food and drink. Sometimes PVC plastic is labeled with recycling number 3. Other times, you’ll find it in cling wrap and candy twist-wrappers,  plastic trays, in boxed cookies or chocolates and candy bar wrappers. Remember, however, that even though Glad, Saran, and Ziploc tout its products as being PVC-free, staying away from plastics spares the landfill of yet another long-term squatter who won’t be budging for the next 1,000 years.

PVC can also be found in mattress covers and shower curtains / liners. Choose mattress covers and shower curtains made from tightly woven polyester or nylon. These are water-resistant materials that may be laundered.

• Avoid Polystyrene – Plastic #6
This plastic is often labeled as recycling number 6. It may appear as styrofoam (in coffee cups, deli meat trays, take-out containers) or in rigid form (disposable soup and coffee cup lids). In contact with heat, fat or alcohol, this plastic can leach styrene, which can cause long-term or delayed effects on the nervous system or interfere with hormones.

• Avoid Polycarbonate – Plastic # 7
Science continues to emerge about the links between Bisphenol A (BPA), the building block of polycarbonate plastic, and a wide range of health problems. BPA is also used in the lining of cans and may leach into food and drink. The good news is that, after 50 years, polycarbonate is on its way out of the marketplace. Many retailers and manufacturers have responded by replacing polycarbonate with safer alternatives. Unfortunately, it can be hard to determine the difference between polycarbonate and a safer hard plastic. Polycarbonate is clear, hard and shatterproof.

7. Ditch the artificial fragrances.

If you love spraying air fresheners, and are not familiar with the possible health implications these bring, read:  The Truth About Air Fresheners & How to Improve Indoor Air Quality Naturally.

• Avoid “fragrance” in products when you can; fragrances can contain hundreds of chemicals including phthalates (also found in vinyl), which can disrupt hormones.

• Check ingredients to ensure that a product contains NO FRAGRANCE. Even “unscented” products may contain a fragrance to mask the scent.

Essential oils distilled from plants are a good alternative to artificial scents because they have very simple ingredients. A few drops of lemon essential oil in an open box of baking soda, for example, can freshen a room. However, it is important to use essential oils with caution. Just because something is natural doesn’t mean it’s always safe. Tea tree oil, for example, can kill germs—but it can also cause adverse health effects. Both tea tree and lavender oils are suspected of interfering with hormones in boys when absorbed regularly from lotion, shampoo and other personal products.

8. Avoid Non-Stick Cookware.

Non-stick coating for cookware is made with toxic, persistent perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). When non-stick pans are heated to 450°F, PFC-containing gases are released. A non-stick frying pan can easily reach over 700°F in about three minutes on an electric stove top.

• If you choose to use non-stick cookware, do not overheat or burn it, and discard it when non-stick coating is scratched or shows sign of wear.
• Choose alternatives to non-stick pans such as enamel-covered cast iron, cast iron and carbon steel.

9.  Skip the anti-bacterial (triclosan) in soaps.

Studies show that products containing triclosan don’t work better than regular soap at preventing illness, but it may lead to a greater chance of allergies in children, and may create bacteria that don’t respond to antibiotics.

10. Keep the Dirt Out

Soil near busy, highways, older buildings, old agriculture sites and industrial sites may be contaminated from car exhaust, pesticides, lead paint, mercury and other persistent pollutants. Offer a rough doormat for people to scrape the dirt off their shoes at the door, or provide a bench so that people may remove and store their shoes upon entering your home.

Every change you make to promote a healthy home is a good one, and every change that endures will benefit your family’s health!

These chemicals are used to thicken and cleanse and are added to soaps, bubble baths and facial cleansers. They are not carcinogenic in themselves; however, when combined with products containing nitrates, a common preservative, a dangerous chemical reaction takes place leading to the formation of nitrosamines.

Most nitrosamines are carcinogenic. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US recognized this threat; in the 1970s it urged the industry to remove these products from its cosmetics, however a FDA report in the late 1980s found that 37 per cent of products tested still contained nitrosamines.

US Dept of Health and Human Services’ National Toxicology Program, 1997 (NTP TR 478):
· clear evidence of carcinogenic activity
“Diethanolamine was selected for evaluation because its large-scale production and pattern of use indicate potential for widespread human exposure.”
NTP requested that the FDA require a warning label on all formulations containing cocamamide DEA

History:
1979–FDA warned that 42% of all cosmetics were found contaminated with NDEA (N-nitrosodiethanolamine) which is formed when DEA reacts with nitrosating agents (may be through actual addition of nitrite as a preservative, through degradation of other ingredients or by exposure to air)

1991–FDA found that 27 of 29 of the products they tested were still contaminated

No way of telling if NDEA has been formed…so avoid all DEA, TEA, MEA–in 1996, the Cosmetics, Toiletries, and Fragrance Association stated that “These chemicals…should not be used as ingredients in cosmetic products.”

Learn more about toxic chemicals in personal care products.

Cloth shower curtains are better for you and the environment than their PVC counterparts. Shower curtains made from PVC (polyvinyl chloride) contains volatile organic compounds that give off toxic fumes, especially when the product is new. For routine cleaning, cloth shower curtains can be run through the clothes washer.

To take care of a mildewy shower curtain, whether cloth or PVC, wash it in the bathtub with warm water and a cup of baking soda. Rinse well then rub with half a lemon, squeezing to release extra juice on the problem areas. Hang outside to dry in the sun. Enjoy your clean, mildew-free shower curtains!

We all deserve to know what chemicals we’re consuming, whether applying lip stick, shampooing our hair or eating our vegetables—we have a right to know. So we’d like to thank the Environmental Working Group! They kindly supply all that information and much more – for free! EWG is on our side, doing the kind of work that the government and corporations aren’t doing.

We’re always checking one of their incredible guides—like the Sunscreen Guide, Skin Deep Cosmetics Database, Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, Cell Phone Radiation Report or the Tap Water Database. These guides help us stay safe and choose the right products for us and our loved ones.

Make sure to check them out! And hook them up with a donation to help their cutting-edge research if you can. These are the kind of amazing companies we all need to be helping out.

ABC channel 5 in Boston does a story on toxic chemicals in the home. It starts with Safer Chemicals campaign team member showing the news anchor danger in her home and ends with expert advice on ways to avoid some of these dangerous chemicals.

Tainted brands include:

Minute Maid, Mott’s, Gerber, Welch’s, and Great Value (Walmart) among others. See results from tests on other apple and grape juice brands.

Other brands that had at least one sample of apple juice that exceeded 10 ppb:

• Apple & Eve
• Great Value (Walmart)
• Mott’s

And these brands had one or more samples of apple juice that exceeded 5 ppb of lead:

• America’s Choice (A&P)
• Gerber
• Gold Emblem (CVS)
• Great Value
• Joe’s Kids (Trader Joe’s)
• Minute Maid
• Seneca
• Walgreens

Grape Juice

For grape juice, at least one sample from Walgreens and Welch’s exceeded 10 ppb. At least one sample of grape juice exceeding 5 ppb of lead came from:

• Gold Emblem (CVS)
• Walgreens
• Welch’s

Mounting scientific evidence suggests that chronic exposure to arsenic and lead even at levels below water standards can result in serious health problems.

View the full article here.

Dr. Wentz, author of The Healthy Home explains the several factors that make children more vulnerable to toxic substances in air, water, food, and other sources as well as expose them to more toxins than adults.

“From infancy onward, children eat more food, drink more fluids, and breathe more air than adults. Pound for pound, a baby girl under twelve months of age will consume twice as much food as a seven to twelve-year-old girl, and four times what a young woman over nineteen will eat. Children also breathe more rapidly and take in a relatively larger volume of air per minute than adults. Not only do they have a higher baseline rate of breathing, children breathe rapidly more often, especially during play.

Children are just setting out on the journey of life. They are constantly exploring their world through hearing and vision, as adults usually do, but also through taste, smell, and touch. The younger they are, the more time they spend on the floor or the ground, where toxins tend to settle and accumulate.

It has long been known that organs and tissues that are still developing are more sensitive to damage from toxic influences. The immature gastrointestinal tract and blood-brain barrier in children allow for greater absorption of toxics. And their yet-underdeveloped hepatic and renal functions are less efficient at metabolizing and excreting toxins. Children also have less protection due to their immature immune systems.

Children have a long remaining lifetime to accumulate today’s increased toxics, and they are developing degenerative diseases earlier in life. Increased exposure to toxins, combined with their heightened vulnerability, form the basis for my prediction years ago that children today will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.”