How to Avoid Toxic Chemicals in your Home
VloĆŸit
- Äas pĆidĂĄn 6. 08. 2024
- With our home renovations we took steps to reduce VOCs, lead, and other toxic chemicals, as well as microplastics where we could to try have a healthier and more sustainable home.
My Chemical-Free House (www.mychemicalfreehouse.net/c... ) was a very helpful resource for low-emission and non-toxic building supplies and other home products.
The Aquasana water filter we installed: www.aquasana.com/under-sink-w... (gifted)
If you're wanting to reduce your microplastic exposure, also check out our post, 10 Ways to Avoid Consuming Microplastics: mygreencloset.com/how-to-avoi...
Timecodes:
00:00 Intro
00:55 VOCs
02:40 Long-term Off-Gassing
04:10 Opinion on Air-Quality Monitors
05:11 Lead
06:08 Water Filter for Lead
07:51 Microplastics
08:57 Wear Safety Equipment
09:27 Conclusion
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Hi! My name is Verena but most people call me Erin (my middle name). I studied Fashion Design & Technology and through this became aware of and passionate about environmental and ethical issues in the fashion industry. On this channel I share my journey to live more consciously and create videos to help you build a wardrobe that reflects both your style and values. đ
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#homerenovation #vocs #nontoxichome - Jak na to + styl
Great video with lots of interesting information, thank you!
People tend to forget the CUMULATIVE effect of toxic chemicals, which makes everything more complicated. If you eat a lot of meals that are stored in PFAS lined packaging, AND if you also cook mostly in non stick pans, AND if you wear makeup everyday, AND wear mostly clothes with PFAS right against your skin such as leggings and you sweat in them, AND if you use a yoga mat that picks up PFAS from your carpet, AND if you drink tap water that contains PFAS, well⊠even if itâs a small amount of toxic chemicals for each product it can add up to dangerous levels that can trigger serious health issues.
Another concern is the COCKTAIL effect, when many different toxic chemicals create strange sets of symptoms and illnesses when they accumulate in a personâs body.
This is very difficult to study because every person reacts differently and scientists donât know how this mix of chemicals is truly affecting our body. Since there are endless possibilities regarding the type of chemicals, their toxicity level, their concentration and the way they interact with other chemicals in our blood, organs etc⊠there really is no way to study the effects all these toxic chemicals have on our body.
The future doesnât look good though, as we use more and more plastics including silicone cooking molds and a million other products that are supposed to make our life easier.
People donât realize that they are ingesting very unhealthy particles and feeding them to their kids too đą
If we could just wake up and go back to simpler products made of healthier materials like linen for our clothes, and cast iron or glass for our cooking molds, now that would be a good start.
When people want to exercise they go play soccer or softball on an athletic field covered with Astroturf filled with crumb rubber, which is made of tiny pieces of old car tires đ€ź
Nobody seems concerned about the heavy metals and other toxic chemicals found in this recycled rubber, itâs really puzzling.
Then they take their kids to a playground that has a soft ground cover made of rubber pellets glued together aka PIP (âPour In Placeâ rubber flooring) which is also from old car tires. Nobody seems worried about their kids crawling all over this type of flooring with bare hands then eating a snack without washing or even wiping their hands to avoid ingesting too much rubber dust, no problem!
Only a few counties in the US have banned these rubber pellets but most towns are now installing a PIP rubber flooring in their kids playgrounds and Astroturf on their athletic fields.
No wonder kids who play several times a week on those fields have such a high rate of leukemia or other cancers, especially the goalies who are in contact with the toxic rubber pelletsâŠ
Our homes are filled with toxic stuff, and people have no problem putting pieces of furniture like IKEA in their kids room, not realizing that the glue in these particle boards releases toxic airborne formaldehyde particles that are very unhealthy, especially for youngsters.
Even smart people are still heating up their food in a microwave in a plastic container or worse in a cardboard box from the restaurant, not realizing that there are PFAS in the lining of the box.
I have a friend whoâs all about clean living, healthy lifestyle etc⊠but she has no problem putting her kidsâ plastic lunch boxes in the dishwasher everyday, itâs dishearteningâŠShe doesnât want to hear the fact that BPAs and other toxic chemicals get released because of the heat in there đ
I have another friend whoâs an environmentalist but she mostly wears synthetic fabrics and doesnât care about the tiny pieces of nylon or polyester that her clothes shed during each wash in her machine. Where does she think all these microplastics end up if not in the ocean?
Itâs really sad because we now have access to lots of information about this stuff online but most people donât want to change their bad, lazy habits.
Iâm afraid the force of inertia is far too great, and people love their stretchy clothes, silicone cooking molds, cheap furniture and stain resistant sofas way too much to give them up.
How can we remain hopeful when even smart people donât want to hear the truth about toxic chemicals in their clothes, homes, playgrounds etcâŠ?
You are great at presenting. Also, Germanic beauty. ;)
And yeah lead solder is just... Better than leadless, at least functionally. Of course it's a disaster for our health. In many countries it is still used to solder electronics.
Thank you for this video, I have had a kitty that had pneumonia and asthma and our current kitty is sneezing despite the fact we have an air purifier. So vet recommended antibiotics to treat potential feline herpes virus. But he is still sneezing daily and frequently. We do have carpet all around except for kitchen and bathrooms. Wondering if itâs the fact that we have a lot of those fleece blankets and fuzzy beds for them to sleep in, as well as having fluffy pillows. If I understood correctly, they are releasing micro plastics but if I vacuum them (or wash the blankets) more often, then that might help? I donât have a hesitancy towards getting rid of the fluffy pillows, but their beds and everyoneâs blankets is a bit harder since I donât know what else they would use to be comfy when resting on the floor. And I live in really cold weather (snow and all) so blankets are the things that help me survive it. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas please let me know. I am on board with decluttering but I donât want to have to buy a lot of things all at once to replace the âbadâ ones.
Vacuuming, dusting, and washing regularly will definitely help with reducing microplastics in the air! Carpet is also bad with not only microplastics but trapping dust and other allergens so it needs to be vacuumed well. I don't think you need to get rid of everything at once, but if you have items that are visibly shedding or wearing out/deteriorating I'd recommend replacing those. There are natural fibre options like knit cotton or wool blankets, cotton fleece, or cotton flannel that are still nice and cozy. For things like pet beds it's likely much harder to find natural materials, but you could try covering the bed in a cotton blanket.
A suggestion I have is switching out your cleaning products, especially laundry, with brands on the EWG website. There's a lot of chemicals causing asthma and allergies etc. and it would reduce kitty's and your exposure :)
Thank you both so much!
So is the new car smell an off gas VOC?
Yup. There's a whole bunch of VOCs in new cars