Allergies? Check Your Household Cleaning Products

Sneezing? Coughing? Sinus drainage? Unexplained rash? Itchy skin?  Believe it or not but these symptoms can be traced back to chemical allergies found in everyday household cleaning products.  Unfortunately, most people and even medical professionals associate these symptoms with seasonal changes in plants, trees, pollen, etc. instead of household cleaning products in the home.

Every day we are literally exposed to hundreds of different chemicals in the products we use to clean our homes, personal care products we use on our skin, in the pesticides we spray in our homes, lawns, offices, gardens and playgrounds as well as in our food, water and air. In other words we walk in a chemical soup mix.

Not convinced? Pick out your favorite household cleaning products that you use the most often.  If your home is like most, these cleaners usually “live” under the kitchen sink.  Now begin reading. Don’t worry if you cannot pronounce all the ingredients, most cannot, but yet recognize they are chemical names. Next, if you have some time, take this list to your computer and type some of the ingredients into your search engine and add +dangers. You may be very surprised to find that many of these ingredients are actually toxic chemicals that can harm health and well-being and yet marketed as being safe or even natural.

Did you know that the chemicals in many household cleaning products are also linked to reproductive concerns such as changes in sexual behavior, decreases in fertility, menstrual changes, changes in the onset of puberty, cancers of reproductive organs, miscarriage, premature birth and other health issues? In fact, many scientists now believe that even low-level chemical exposure can have adverse impacts on the entire endocrine system.

Facts about Household Cleaning Products

Tens of thousands of chemicals placed in household cleaning products are released to the environment with very little if any information on the possible consequences for human health. The government gives little oversight.

Currently there are no legal requirements for ingredient labeling on household cleaning products.  As such, we have very limited access to information about which products contain chemicals ingredients we may want to avoid.

The chemicals in household cleaning products also pollute the environment when sprayed in the air or washed down the drain which can cause harm to our ecosystems.

The United States Geological Survey found breakdown products of laundry detergents in 70% of North American streams.  These chemicals can cause harm to fish, frogs, turtles and other aquatic life.  Studies have shown that even low-level exposure has reduced the number of fertilized trout eggs and caused reduced embryo survival and abnormal embryos in another fish, the Japanese Medaka.

Below are some interesting tests results from Women’s Voices For The Earth about popular household cleaners and the health concerns they may cause.

Testing Results From Popular Household Cleaners

*Health concerns listed are those which have been determined in the scientific literature through exposure to the chemical listed, by at least one route of exposure: inhalation, ingestion or skin absorption. In most cases, research has never been conducted to determine if exposure to the chemical through use of the cleaning product is associated with the health outcome.

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Loretta Lanphier is a Naturopathic Practitioner (Traditional), Certified Clinical Nutritionist, Holistic Health Practitioner and Certified Clinical Herbalist as well as the CEO / Founder of Oasis Advanced Wellness in The Woodlands TX. She studies and performs extensive research in health science, natural hormone balancing, anti-aging techniques, nutrition, natural medicine, weight loss, herbal remedies, non-toxic cancer support and is actively involved in researching new natural health protocols and products. A 17 year stage 3 colon cancer survivor, Loretta is able to relate to both-sides-of-the-health-coin as patient and practitioner when it comes to health and wellness. “My passion is counseling others about what it takes to keep the whole body healthy using natural and non-toxic methods.” Read Loretta’s health testimony Cancer: The Path to Healing. Loretta is Contributor and Editor of the worldwide E-newsletter Advanced Health & Wellness.