Put Your Home in Detox
And make your indoor environment healthier 

Diana Swift

It’s common knowledge that the air Canadians breathe indoors is often five times more polluted than what they inhale outside. That may be hard to believe when you think of all the heavy-metal particles, vehicle emissions, industrial contaminants, pesticides, herbicides and airborne animal feces out there—all wrapped up in a nice mantle of smog.

“But you can easily track home all these pollutants on the soles of your feet or the wheels of strollers, and many of the household products you buy create air-quality problems of their own,” says Kathleen Cooper, senior researcher at the Canadian Environmental Law Association in Toronto.

Your dwelling’s air may contain contaminants such as formaldehyde, off-gassed from that cool modern particleboard desk in your home office. Then there’s the lead in dollar-store jewellery and old paint in pre-1975 homes. Computers, TVs and furniture materials can contain toxic flame retardants called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which end up in house dust. Phthalates are harsh chemicals that occur in soft vinyl products such as toys, flooring, packaging and cosmetics. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) abound in cleaners, solvents, paints, air fresheners and dry-cleaning chemicals. Perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) can be off-gassed from stain repellents in carpets and coatings on non-stick pans.

Studies have suggested links between such chemical pollutants and a host of problems—from breathing difficulties to cognitive and behavioural defects, reproductive abnormalities, nerve damage and cancer. Unborn babies and growing children are at particular risk. (See Child Health and the Environment, by Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and the Environment.) So turn the page and join Canadian Health on a quick room-by-room tour to identify some basic things you can do in each to improve your environment.

Taming Toxins Room by Room

Front Door

1. Invest in a good outdoor mat with strong scraping bristles.
2. Remove footwear at the door and place on a washable mat that is laundered separately.
3. Keep a cloth handy to wipe off stroller and shopping-cart wheels—and even Fido’s or Fluffy’s paws.

Living Room

1. Vacuum floors, carpets, drapes and upholstery once a week (carpets twice if you have a crawling baby) with a HEPA-filtered unit. Wipe down surfaces with a damp cloth to reduce airborne allergens and pollutants.
2. Cover or ditch furniture with exposed foam, which releases noxious PBDEs. Consider replacing synthetics with wood, wicker, wool and cotton (buy cloth without stain repellents).
3. Discard any vinyl miniblinds manufactured before 1997, since their surfaces release lead as they deteriorate.
4. Reserve wood fires for celebrations; burn beeswax candles for less pollution. Make your air freshener fresh air: open a window instead of using a spray.

Kitchen

1. Buy green, non-toxic cleaners or make your own from the instructions given at www.lesstoxicguide.ca. Spray cleaners into a cloth with nozzle covered, not into the air. For pest control, use non-toxic products such as diatomaceous earth and glue traps.
2. Opt for cast-iron and stainless-steel cookware, not non-stick or aluminum pans, which can leak pollutants. Microwave food in glass or ceramic dishes, not plastic ones, which may release phthalates and bisphenol A into food.
3. In pre-1990 houses, run taps for a minute after a period of non-use to reduce exposure to lead from water resting in pipes.
4. Store brooms, mops and vacuum cleaners away from  food. Ditch dishes made with lead (e.g., lead crystal).

Bathroom

1. Stock gentle personal hygiene products such as those given at www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep2. Look for nail polish and remover with no toluene or formaldehyde. Always open the window when using conventional products.
2. Keep bathroom well ventilated to prevent the buildup of moisture, which promotes the moulds that trigger allergies and exacerbate asthma.
3. Keep a digital thermometer rather than a mercury-based one in your medicine cabinet.

Bedroom

1. Before hanging them in the closet, remove dry-cleaned clothes from bags and air outside for two or three hours. Better, find a cleaner that does not use the solvent perchloroethylene.
2. Make sure mattresses have no exposed foam. If your family has allergies, wash bedding once a week in 58°C water to kill allergenic dust mites.
3. Toss lead-based items from your jewellery box (they make a dull, grey mark on paper).
4. Leave your computer off when not in use to reduce PBDE release. Buy kids’ toys made of wood, cotton and non-flexible, phthalate-free plastic.

Basement/Utility Room

1. Tightly seal opened containers of adhesives, solvents and garden chemicals. Better, opt for natural, non-hazardous alternatives. Choose latex paints with lower VOC levels.
2. Have your chimney and furnace professionally cleaned once a year, and use a dehumidifier to control dampness and mould growth.
3. Avoid letting pets into the basement, where they can pick up contaminants on their paws.
4. Make sure the clothes dryer is well vented to the outdoors. Dispose of dryer lint, which may contain chemical contaminants. Buy oxygen-based, non-chlorine bleach and fragrance-free fabric softener.