Status Updates From Green Goes with Everything:...

🔌 🔋

A far more likely source of unhealthy contaminants in any house that’s been around a while is biological contaminants—bacteria, viruses, mold, mildew, fungus, pollen, animal dander, dust mites, moths, and other insects and pests. And you don’t have to have asthma to be affected by these hazards. 🦟🕸

Does your dry cleaner stink? Mine does—or at least the clothes they clean do. That distinctive, slightly sweet smell is tetrachloroethylene, also called perchloroethylene, or PERC, for short, the solvent used by the vast majority of dry cleaners.

First, clear polycarbonate plastic containers marked with a number 7 on the bottom, like most plastic baby bottles, can leach bisphenol A, the known hormone disruptor, cancer causer in lab animals, and possible source of hyperactivity and other behavioral disorders in children.

Did you know that a dead zone roughly the size of New Jersey appears in the northern Gulf of Mexico every year? I sure didn't. Know what causes it? Conventional farming in the Midwest. The Mississippi River and its tributaries drain more than 40 percent of the continental United States.

Disposable diapers became commercially available in 1961.

As with lotions, so with diaper cream and baby powder: It's all about what you put on your baby in the first place—in this case diapers. In the 1950s, diaper rash affected less than 10 percent of babies. By the 1990s, nearly 80 percent of babies had it.

Bar soaps often contain fewer chemicals than body washes and liquid hand soaps. Also, though it's a wonderful experience to bathe your baby, we probably do it far too often; other than cleaning that little tush after each diaper change, most experts feel a bath two to three times a week is all your baby needs until she's old enough to crawl....

Bottle nipples. Rubber nipples (typically yellow) have been shown to leach nitrosamine, a known carcinogen, when in contact with saliva. Plastic nipples (and for that matter, pacifiers) contain our old friends, phthalates,

The thing about lead is that it’s in visible and, as we know from the award winning researcher Dr. Hebert Needleman—the guy who got the lead out of gasoline and paint—even tiny amounts of lead can lead to long-term damage. So lead in toys and children’s jewelry is a real danger. Leaf cripples the normal development of the brain and nervous system.

Back in the sixteenth century, when most people worked in the firlds, you could tell who the rich and famous were because their skin was pale; they spent their largely idle time indoors.

Among other things, fragrances are the leading cause of allergic reactions from cosmetics. Fragrances can irritate the eyes, nose and throat.

There are lots of hard decisions to make when you consider the potential safety of household cleaners. But because of the potential misuse, this one is a no-brainer. Just don't use chlorine bleach. Happily, there are effective alternatives to chlorine bleach, including Shaklee Get Clean Nature Bright Laundry Booster and Stain Remover.

Chlorine Bleach and ammonia both produce fumes that can be dangerous for people with respiratory and heart problems and create even more toxic fumes when combined. Fragrances can cause allergic reactions in many people and often disguise the smell of chlorine or ammonia.

The word "nontoxic" means that the product is safe in small doses(though it doesn't mean there are no toxic ingredients in it). "Biodegradable" should mean the product will break down into harmless materials within a reasonably short period of time(though many manufacturers interpret this to mean that it will break down eventually—so you...)

For the most part, the EPA simply relies on voluntary testing agreements with major manufacturers.

Over at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), drug companies follow, and indeed embrace, a more rigorous and respected process of testing before a medicine in approved for public use. But most of the things you buy in a drugstore aren't drugs....