Children at risk

Household chemicals pose a significant threat to the health and safety of families, particularly children.  Approximately 1.4 million people in the United States are exposed to household chemicals and are referred to poison control centres every year.  More than half of these are children under 6 years of age.

Most commercial household cleaning products contain toxic and harmful ingredients.  Children are at risk because of their stage of physical development and because of their activities.  They are disproportionately exposed and susceptible.  Children’s body systems and organs are not fully developed and developing organs and processes are more susceptible to toxins.  Even in the womb they are more susceptible to common solvent chemicals.  A study found that babies of women who were exposed to chemical solvents in the workplace were more likely to have visual problems.  Manufacturers are required to release toxicology data in the workplace but not when the same chemicals are used in the home.  Neurological development is ongoing during infancy and childhood with critical stages in pregnancy, infancy and early childhood.  Children metabolise chemicals differently to adults, putting them more at risk of harmful effects.

Children’s lifestyle and activities put them more at risk than adolescents and adults.  Children are closer to the floor and often on the floor, therefore their breathing zone is different.  If they are on carpets they are usually exposed to toxins of giant proportions.  Children put things into their mouth routinely, and they spend long periods of time indoors.  All in all, at a time when their developing bodies need a clean and safe environment, they are often living in a toxic environment.

Carpet cleaners are loaded with toxic chemicals such as solvents (butoxyethanol, tetrachloriethylene and perchloroethylene), acids (hydroxyacetic acid, hydrofluoric acid, sodium carbonate), disinfectants (formaldehyde) and surfactants (nonyphenal ethoxylate).  For small children who spend most of their time either on, or close to the floor, this means more exposure to toxic chemicals.

Young children are at even greater risk of poisoning because of their inexperience in the world – unfortunately poisoning from drinking or eating household products is all too common.

Environmental toxins cause autoimmune diseases.  Children are experiencing more autoimmune diseases than at any other period in history.  They are experiencing personality problems, genetic alterations, learning disabilities, hyperactivity, fatigue, cancer, endometriosis, breast and ovarian cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, irritability, aggression, learning disabilities, behaviour disorders, impaired memory and concentration, impaired auditory and visual perception, allergies, and asthma.

We, as parents, believe we are doing the ‘right’ thing for our children.  Clever marketers have tried to convince us that to protect our children we must ‘clean’ and ‘disinfect’ all surfaces our children come into contact with, including their toys.  How common is it for children to put toys into their mouths?  When they put toys into their mouths they are also putting the chemicals into their mouths.

The impact of these chemicals on our children’s health depends, in part, on the chemical ‘load’ our children already have..  If an already sensitive child walks into a house where a lot of cleaning solvents are used that child will respond more adversely than a child without those sensitivities.  It is not just the chemicals in cleaning products that ‘load’ our children.  Apart from household cleaners, the biggest problems for children are second-hand cigarette smoke, lead (from paint), mercury (mostly from fish) and pesticides.  Pesticides work by impairing the nervous system of pests, so it can easily that those same chemicals will affect our nervous systems as well.

We may think we are not exposed to pesticides through cleaning products.  But we are.  We may think that an antibacterial soap is good, but it is a pesticide.  There are more than 300 different ingredients in anti-microbial products that the US EPA classifies as pesticides.  For the average home, use of antibacterial and disinfecting products are chemical overkill – simple handwashing with plain soap and water is all that is necessary.

As parents, we need to assume the role of public health officer and gain and maintain a knowledge base sufficient to make fully informed decisions.  In so doing, we will be able to reduce unnecessary exposures to harmful environmental toxins in our home.  Our job as public health officer is made more difficult because manufacturers do not put ingredients on products labels.  We have to play the role of detective and find out what is in the products we purchase to clean our houses.  We need to re-educate ourselves eg we think our bathrooms are clean when we smell either chlorine or air freshener.  We need to shift our thinking to think of cleanliness without these smells. 

An alternative is to use simple, safe ways to clean using commonly available and eco-friendly materials.