Have you ever noticed that many commercial cleaning products come with a fine print that reads something like, “hazardous to humans and domestic animals”? Though what we want is a product that will kill germs and make our windows, dishes, sinks, toilets, and floors sparkle, what we don’t want is to harm ourselves, our loved ones, or the environment. And it’s scary to think we’re spraying and scrubbing the space we call home with toxins that could be doing more harm than good.
With chemicals currently being used daily in our society and making up an astonishing 96 percent of products and materials in America, it’s hard to believe that little regard is being given to their effects. But the Toxic Substances Control Act, which was passed in 1976, hasn’t been updated since day one. So as for those cleaning products? They’re basically untested and unregulated.
And to put the result of this into perspective, traces of about 300 pollutants, including chemicals used for household cleaning, have been found present in newborns’ umbilical cords, while the most common chemicals we use in our everyday lives have been found to cause a variety of illnesses, cancers, and developmental disorders.
