Nice for public awareness but hardly "New, News":
- Nationwide, more than 32 million pounds of household cleaning products are poured down the drain each day (EPA).
- OSHA estimates that 30 and 70 million U.S. indoor workers and approximately 37 percent of the population suffers from chemical sensitivities, skin rashes, or allergies due to poor indoor air quality...
- A U.C.L.A. study indicates that "adverse health effects have been identified regarding common chemical ingredients found in 222 cleaning products."
- The Average American Uses about 25 Gallons of toxic, hazardous chemical products per year in their home... A major portion of these can be found in household cleaning products.
- The toxic chemicals in household cleaners are three times more likely to cause cancer than air pollution. (EPA)
- 150 chemicals commonly found in homes, have been linked to allergies, birth defects, cancer, and psychological abnormalities. — Consumer Product Safety Commission
- Consumer Products emit about 267 tons per day of VOCs during 2000 in California alone (ABR.gov)
- Cleaning products were responsible for nearly 10 percent of all toxic exposures reported to U.S. Poison Control Centers in 2000, accounting for 206,636 calls. Of these, nearly two-thirds involved children under six, who can swallow or spill cleaners stored or left open inside the home.
www.christopherhaase.com/blog/labels/Toxic2U.html
"The Wisconsin State Journal" Parts on Hazardous Homes
Hazardous Homes Part II: Household products that may be harmful
Though most of us think of our home as a place where we are safe from what seems an increasingly dangerous world, we are more often filling our houses with products and chemicals that may threaten our health. And much of the time we're not even aware of it.
Total annual calls to the Wisconsin Poison Center have risen more than 40 percent in the past five years.
From - Hazardous Homes Part I: The mold menace
Of the many toxins we are exposed to in our homes, few remain as controversial and as problematic as mold. And, according to Dr. Jon Ouellette, a Madison allergist who specializes in mold, more people are likely to be dealing with the problem in their homes because of ice dams that send water cascading down inside walls or flooding that accompanies thaws or even from this summer's torrential rains.
Despite many personal stories of people sickened and driven from their homes or workplaces by toxic molds, medical science is still trying to catch up with definitive research linking mold and illnesses. Full article text
For more on mold
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services have extensive information on their Web sites. Go to the EPA site at www.epa.gov/mold/index.html
Or the site maintained by the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, which includes health information and studies as well as tips on hiring mold contractors. The page is at http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/eh/mold/