Learn about the  most toxic zones around your home and how you can detox them, keeping yourself and your family safe

Your lush lawn:
Before you stretch out on (or let your kids run barefoot through) that green grass, consider that it may be blanketed with toxic pesticides.

• “The commonly used insecticides are all chemical cousins of the wartime gas ‘Sarin’.
• And the commonly used herbicides are chemical first cousins of ‘Agent Orange’. So that “healthy” lawn has the potential to increase your family’s risks of cancer or neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease.
• Safer ecofriendly and organic lawn sprays and other nonchemical options—from aphid-eating ladybugs to heat (electrocution) for termites—are surprisingly effective.

You may not have the most manicured lawn on the block. But to keep your family safe, you have to learn to live with a few dandelions.

Under your kitchen sink:
It’s where we keep our powerhouse cleaning products: bleach, ammonia, tile scrubbers, etc. They are potent—and dangerous. They’re effective cleaning agents because they’re reactive substances. You might want that in your kitchen sink, but you don’t want it in your lungs.

• Many common cleaning products are considered hazardous substances such as ammonia and chlorine bleach which can cause headaches, burn skin, and irritate the eyes and respiratory tract.
• Accidentally mixing the two releases toxic chlorine gas that damages lung tissue and impairs lung function.
• Regularly cleaning with bleach which generally contains chlorine, classified as a hazardous air pollutant is particularly harmful to kids because it can trigger and worsen asthma.

Thankfully, it’s simple to detox your kitchen. Replace potent products under the sink with milder versions from brands. Soap, water, and elbow grease are all you need.

Your child’s Toy Box:
The main threat here is lead-coated toys. In very high doses, lead can cause convulsions and brain damage in young children.

• If children are exposed to it in even small amounts, they can have a loss of IQ, a shortening of attention span, and behavioral problems. They’re also more likely to have dyslexia and to drop out of school.
• Checking every toy in the house for lead may not help because not all home tests are accurate. Instead ‘make smart buys’. Don’t get brightly colored plastic or painted toys.
• Other ways to protect your kids: Have them wash their hands after playing and before eating, and get them tested for lead.
• Many pediatricians test lead-in-blood levels at the 1- and 2-year-old checkups; if yours doesn’t, request the test.

Your closet:
Mothballs are really dangerous chemicals. The vapors are carcinogenic and are also irritating to the nervous system. In fact, if your child swallows one, it can be fatal.

• Inhaling mothball vapors overnight doesn’t mean you will get cancer tomorrow, but it does increase your long-term risk. So use safer moth-repelling alternatives like dried-lavender and cedar products.
• Are your work clothes swathed in dry-cleaning bags? They harbor perchloroethylene, the most common dry-cleaning chemical, which causes cancer in lab animals, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
• Heavy exposure to this substance can cause dizziness and confusion, even in adults, so it’s best to minimize your use of dry cleaning.
• Machine-wash whatever you can on the delicate cycle. Not everything labeled “dry-clean only” needs it.
• Another option: Find a professional cleaner who uses less-toxic solutions, like CO2, or does wet cleaning (a combo of water, biodegradable soap, and steam in special machines).
• If you have an item conventionally dry-cleaned, remove it from plastic and air it outside for several hours before hanging it in the closet. This will give the chemicals time to evaporate, reducing the health risk.

That half-renovated Rec Room:
Two of the most hazardous materials that can be knocked loose are asbestos insulation and lead. There have been cases of lead poisoning when families who were pregnant did renovations and sanded off paint that happened to contain lead.

• Renovations shouldn’t be considered a weekend hobby or time to save a buck. Vacate the house for the duration, if possible. Can’t leave for the whole time? Get out during the initial demolition (when mold, mildew, and dust are being stirred up) and in the final phase (when liquid-chemical products like paint and wood finish are being applied).
• If you have a half-renovated project, seal off the construction site ASAP (plastic tarps and tape usually do the trick), then have a home inspector test for lead paint and other environmental hazards. Depending on what he finds, you may need to hire a lead-abatement expert or ecofriendly contractor to finish the job and properly clean your home.

Your bed:
The average person spends about one-third of her life in bed. The problem: Most conventional mattresses contain brominated flame retardants, also known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs. Medical experts are currently investigating PBDEs and their possible links to cancer, immune and thyroid suppression, and IQ reduction in children. PBDEs affect almost every organ in the body, and levels are rising exponentially in blood and breast milk. You can be pretty sure that if they’re in breast milk, they’re going to be in kids’ bodies. Luckily, there are less-toxic alternatives.

• Consider an organic mattress. For a comparatively cheaper option, choose an organic-cotton or wool futon. Wool, unlike petroleum-based chemicals such as polyurethane foam (found in many mattresses), acts as a natural flame retardant.

Your litter box:
What’s in kitty’s box: It could be chemicals that affect lungs and may cause cancer. Anyone who has changed a litter box is familiar with that cough-inducing dust cloud. It likely contains low levels of crystalline silica, a carcinogen.

• To give the natural variety an odor-eating boost, mix in a little baking soda. And be sure to keep boxes in ventilated spots such as a screened-in porch

With thanks from Health.com

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