from Natural Life Magazine, May/June 2006
Clean Sweep
Have a clean, green and healthy home
by Kim Grant
It was the
last thing I expected. My mother, an active fourth-grade teacher, started to
experience asthma for the first time in her life. Baffled, she saw doctor after
doctor, but the problem continued to get worse. Soon she was tied to asthma
medications and spending her days living between attacks. It wasn’t until she
told a friend that she was also breaking out in hives that the answer became
clear. Her friend suggested that it might be something she was breathing or that
was coming in contact with her skin. We searched through her house, considering
anything and everything. Then, we found it. It was a commercial cleaner that she
was using to prevent build-up on her glass shower walls after showering. It was
supposed to save her time and hours of hard work, but instead...it had cost her
her health.
This experience opened up a whole new
world to me. Instead of stopping with the “culprit” cleaner, I went home and
decided that all cleaning products deserved my further attention. I was amazed
at what I saw. Aside from unpronounceable ingredients, warnings abounded on
every label, cautioning about ingestion and skin contact and the dangers of
children being exposed to their product. Suddenly, having a safety latch on my
cleaning cupboard seemed as well-meaning as wrapping radioactive waste in tin
foil.
But what could I do? Wearing a biohazard suit wasn’t an option.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t avoid all of the chemicals that were
present in so many of the things my family and I ate, wore and touched. Instead,
I learned all I could about natural cleaning and decided that there were many
ways I could limit my family’s exposure to chemicals. Whether you’re a “newbie”
like me or a pro, read on and you might find something that surprises even you.
Go back to the basics. Nothing will ever beat a little
soap and hot water, whether it’s washing your hands or cleaning dishes. Don’t
bother with all of the hype about antibacterial cleaners. All they do is kill
off the weaker germs and leave the stronger ones to propagate. And while the
convenience of hand gels is tempting, remember that they’re ...
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