Eight Costly Health Hazards You Can Eliminate

Eliminating the following pollutants saves money and improves air quality for everyone, especially babies in utero, children, seniors, and those with chronic health problems such as asthma, allergies, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities.

Pesticides and Herbicides

Bug spray, ant and roach killer, flea bombs, flea collars, herbicides (weed killers); all are hazardous to health even when applied as directed. Many people have developed MCS following exposure to pesticide treatments applied by licensed operators. Instead, use effective, inexpensive Alternative Pest Control.

Tobacco Smoke

The health effects of second-hand smoke are well known. Also, a single whiff of smoke could make a person with MCS sick for hours or longer. Smoke lingers on skin, hair, clothing, furnishings, car seats, and in the lungs. If you are going to be around a person with MCS, please do not smoke.

Burning Wood or Trash

Even pleasant-smelling smoke from a fireplace, incense, or burning leaves consists of air-polluting carbon particles and toxic chemicals. Both a lit cigarette and a pile of burning leaves create smoke, tars, and formaldehyde; burning trash adds other dangerous chemicals. Learn not to burn. Wood Smoke and Your Health

Harsh Cleaning Products

Harsh and scented cleaning products and soaps such as ammonia, bleach, Ajax, Windex, Mr. Clean, Lysol, and Scrubbing Bubbles all contain toxic chemicals. Artificial fragrance chemicals are added to everything from Raid to Tide, so the average person is bombarded with scented products on any given day. Choose cheaper, healthier, fragrance-free Less Toxic Products

Dryer Sheets

Clothes dryer sheets and fabric softeners are harmful to health. They pose a fire risk in your dryer and on your clothing and pollute your neighbors’ air when vented by clothes dryers. They make a walk in the neighborhood or an open window impossible for chemically sensitive neighbors. Use alternatives in the washer like vinegar or unscented softener. Seven hazardous air pollutants and 25 volatile organic compounds

Scents and Fragrances

Fragrances such as colognes, perfumes, and scented personal products severely affect many people, especially those with asthma, allergies, and chemical sensitivities. Both artificial and natural scents are potent stimulators of the nervous system (witness the popularity of Aromatherapy) and trigger an immune and emotional response. The best odor is no odor. Eliminate superfluous scents in your life. Less Toxic Products | Five ‘Must-Knows’ on the Dangers of Synthetic Fragrance

Air Fresheners

These products contain toxic chemicals and only pollute the air even further.   86% of air fresheners tested contained phthalates. They also contain formaldehyde and VOCs. People with MCS are made ill by using bathrooms in which air fresheners are used and even react to residues of these products on the clothing of others.  Instead, use good ventilation. The Indoor Doctor

Spraying anything

Products such as Windex, hair spray, paint, and pesticides were never intended for your lungs. Spraying releases a vapor of toxic substances and propellants that may take 12 to 36 hours to settle completely and can be breathed in and contacted long after spraying. Those with MCS can be made ill by something they don’t know you sprayed earlier. Switch to solids, liquids, and powders, which are generally safer.

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