The Most Toxic Places in Your Home
Surprise: Your Lawn Is No. 1!
Moments after my first attempt to get pregnant, I totally freaked out. I wasn’t nervous about the idea of being knocked up (whee!). Instead, I was worried because my home suddenly seemed overwhelmingly toxic, filled with chemicals that might harm my growing baby, her father, and me. Peeling paint above us. Bleach-scrub residue on our counters, sink, and tub. The plastic in my water bottle. The water in my water bottle. Roach bait. I spun around and around. How had I not noticed this before?
Google didn’t ease my anxiety — there I learned that less than 5 percent of the more than 80,000 chemicals introduced in the United States since World War II have been tested for their effects on human health and development — but a close friend did. She suggested that I take baby steps to make what’s inside my home as pure as the organic apples and pears in my fruit bowl. My anxiety ebbed as I swapped my most toxic home products for more natural versions. Pretty soon I’d replaced everything from my vinyl shower curtain to my bedding, and I’d written a book — The Complete Organic Pregnancy — with that friend, Deirdre Dolan. Since then, I’ve been guiding families (including my own, which now includes an organic 2-year-old), friends, and total strangers through similar transformations.
(More here.)
Moments after my first attempt to get pregnant, I totally freaked out. I wasn’t nervous about the idea of being knocked up (whee!). Instead, I was worried because my home suddenly seemed overwhelmingly toxic, filled with chemicals that might harm my growing baby, her father, and me. Peeling paint above us. Bleach-scrub residue on our counters, sink, and tub. The plastic in my water bottle. The water in my water bottle. Roach bait. I spun around and around. How had I not noticed this before?
Google didn’t ease my anxiety — there I learned that less than 5 percent of the more than 80,000 chemicals introduced in the United States since World War II have been tested for their effects on human health and development — but a close friend did. She suggested that I take baby steps to make what’s inside my home as pure as the organic apples and pears in my fruit bowl. My anxiety ebbed as I swapped my most toxic home products for more natural versions. Pretty soon I’d replaced everything from my vinyl shower curtain to my bedding, and I’d written a book — The Complete Organic Pregnancy — with that friend, Deirdre Dolan. Since then, I’ve been guiding families (including my own, which now includes an organic 2-year-old), friends, and total strangers through similar transformations.
(More here.)
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