My Eyes Opened

A couple years ago, I thought I was doing pretty good... I was recycling, I composted kitchen scraps and I made sure my family ate healthy whole grains. Then, a close friend I grew up with went through cancer treatment with their 5 year old son and I began to look at things differently. I began researching and learned that my children are growing up in a world very different than I did. It also began to make sense as to why I would get a terrible headache when I cleaned the bathrooms - which I couldn't shake all day. I was also experiencing problems remembering things which wasn’t normal for someone my age (I won’t say how old but young enough). I realized I was being affected by the chemicals in the cleaning products and it really hit me what it could be doing to my family.

Today there are more than 80,000 chemicals registered for use in the U.S. and most of these did not exist 50 years ago. They also estimate that 2,000 new chemicals are introduced each year. Previously when I thought of chemicals... I imagined industrial companies but the reality is that we are exposed to these chemicals every day in foods, household cleaners, shampoos/lotions, cosmetics, toys, furniture, lawn care products and much more. Unfortunately, federal law does not require safety testing prior to releasing products on the market and of the 15,000 most common chemicals, more than 80% have not been tested for health effects on children. Those that have been tested, are only tested one at a time, but that is not how we are exposed, we are exposed to numerous chemicals at a time and there is no clear idea of how they ultimately interact with each other in our bodies. However, many believe we are conducting a huge experiment – especially on our children. Many specialists agree that the unexplained rise in childhood disease and learning disabilities are linked to toxic exposures.

My eyes opened to the need to protect my family from the invisible dangers. We bring our children home in a car seat, we purchase safe cribs, put locks on our cabinets ... all to protect our children. Then traditional manufacturers feed us commercials to feed our instinct to protect our children... unfortunately by using Clorox, Lysol and many other traditional chemical products, we are doing more harm that the germs and dirt that we want to remove.

Since then, I have switched to safe non-toxic cleaning products, shampoos and other skin care products and we are also trying to make more healthy food choices. I feel good about the choices we are making and hope that my children will learn good healthy habits that they are able to pass along to their children.