In my previous post I told you how I learned about harmful chemicals, vitamins versus medication and the journey that my son has lived in his short life due to meningitis when he was five weeks old.  This came about as I had asked Richard Hackman a friend of mine to write a blog about his company.  I have been using his products for the past three years, and I am a great fan plus very grateful that his company has such good healthy products for the home.  I also use several of their vitamins for their high quality.  I could give you a detail testimonial of the products he represents, but I am sure you have heard about Shaklee, since they have been around for 50 years.

Following is the article he wrote thinking of our industry. 

Make Your New Home a Healthy Home

Congratulations on your new home purchase!!  It may be your first home or it may be your dream home...either way you still have to think about keeping it clean, safe, and healthy for your family and pets. 

According to the EPA, There are many sources of indoor air pollution in any home. These include combustion sources such as oil, gas, kerosene, coal, wood, and tobacco products; building materials and furnishings as diverse as deteriorated, asbestos-containing insulation, wet or damp carpet, and cabinetry or furniture made of certain pressed wood products; products for household cleaning and maintenance, personal care, or hobbies; central heating and cooling systems and humidification devices; and outdoor sources such as radon, pesticides, and outdoor air pollution.

Since small children and pets spend most of their time closer to the floor, they are more likely to be exposed to the nasty toxic things we have in our homes.  Also, Children spend a good deal of time putting things in their mouths so there is always the potential for ingestion of chemical residues.  As a rule, pound for pound, children drink more water, eat more food and breathe more air than adults. The implication here is that children will have substantially heavier exposures than adults to toxins in water, food, or air. 

Many cleaning products are made using highly toxic, carcinogenic, or poisonous chemicals.  In fact, out of 81,000 chemicals registered with the EPA in the past 30 years, fewer than 20% of them have been tested for toxicity.  Women who work in the home have a 54% higher death rate from cancer than those who work outside the home.  In the United Sates, the prevalence of asthma increased 75% from 1980-1994 and asthma rates in children under the age of five increased more than 160% during that same period according to the Centers for Disease Control. An average of one out of every 13 school-aged children or nine million US children under age 18 have been diagnosed with asthma.  Chlorine Bleach is the chemical most frequently involved in household poisonings in the United States.  In fact, there's a long list of dangerous chemicals that are under most sinks in this country... they're even in some products that claim to be green. One of the best places to find information on chemicals in household products is through the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) website,  www.householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov.  To help build children's awareness of potentially dangerous chemicals found throughout the house, visit the Environmental Protection Agency's Kids Home Tour at www.epa.gov/kidshometour.

The bottom line is that if you are concerned about the health of your new home, you will have to become an informed consumer.  Don't absentmindedly swallow the ads about cleaning products that we are bombarded with daily.  Many people have been conditioned to believe that clean smells like lemon or pine oil, when the fact is that clean does not have a smell, it just is.  I personally avoid the cleaning aisles in stores like the plague, because the fumes that assault you are overwhelming.  You can opt for green, effective, alternative cleaning choices that will help you clean your home and still maintain a healthy home environment. Be an informed consumer and look for safe alternatives to traditional cleaning products that still offer a lot of muscle without using caustic chemicals.  You should seek out products that are:

•·       Nontoxic

•·       No harmful fumes

•·        Hypoallergenic

•·        No volatile organic cleaning compounds

•·        Formulated without hazardous chemicals such as:

•o       Kerosene

•o       Phenol

•o       Cresol

•o       Lye

•o       Hydrochloric acid

•o       Sulfuric acid

•o       Sulfamic acid

•o       Petroleum distillates

•o       Ammonia

•o       Sodium hydroxide

•o       Butyl cellosolve

•o       Phosphoric acid

•o       Formaldehyde

•o       Chlorine bleach

•o       Morpholine

So, in the final analysis, seek high quality, highly concentrated products made by a solid company with a rock solid track record of offering safe, powerful, smart, and green cleaning choices that give your family the best opportunity to live in a naturally clean and healthy home.  Not only will you enhance the health of your home and family, you will also save a great deal of money (a wonderful thing with that new house payment) and also do your part to help protect the environment overall. 

Richard Hackmann

Health Well

An Independent Shaklee Distributor

To buy or sale real estate in the Chesapeake, Norfolk, Virginia Beacha, Portsmouth or Suffolk, Virginia visit my website at  www.TereRottink.com