Cleaning for a Healthy Home
Again, pure soap is your best bet. Under neither the EPA or FDA jurisdiction, “soap” is in
a category all on its own and has been used for
eons to keep our hands free of bacteria, viruses,
mold, and the like with no negative side effects.
“We’re fragrance-free around here!”
The one ingredient “fragrance” or “parfum”
can actually be a complex mixture of dozens of
chemicals, so striving to use unscented products is usually a safe bet. But this area is also a
bit hazy due to the addition of masking agents
used to “cover” the offensive smell with yet
more chemicals.
And if a fragrance is desired, simply add a few
drops of your favorite, organic essential oil. If
a product has a smell, be sure you can trace it
back to a naturally-derived oil on its ingredient
list.
“The toxic stuff is safely towed away, for
use only if really needed.”
Imagine walking down the cleaning aisle of a
grocery store. Pretty strong smell, right? Even
with tightly sealed, never-opened lids, chemicals are seeping out. While your home may
only contain a few conventional products, you
can bet noxious odors are leaching out in the
parts-per-million level, creating a low-level
chemical soup over time. The truth is, you don’t
really need them.
Pure soap mixed with a natural scouring agent
like baking soda or Bon Ami will effectively
clean the tougher items like ovens, tubs, tiles
and toilets. Soap also contains natural antibacterial, anti-viral and anti-mold properties.
Even the EPA recommends ridding bacteria on
surfaces by “washing with soapy water”.
24
“We use safe pest control.”
As research connects pesticides to adverse
health effects on the unborn fetus and developing children, eco-friendly pest control companies have gained attention. They tout their use
of “organic” pesticides; however, according to
Clemson University, “Some organic pesticides
are as toxic, or even more toxic, than many synthetic chemical pesticides.”
Others are advertised as plant-derived, when
they are actually synthetic derivatives of the
real thing. Pyrethroids, for instance, originate
from the chrysanthemum flower, but are classified by the EPA as “Likely to be Carcinogenic to
Humans”.
Instead, use natural alternatives that kill pests
by mechanical - not chemical - action. A powerful roach bait, for example, can be made from
equal parts powdered sugar, corn meal and
Boric Acid placed in small caps in out-of-reach
areas.
Reaping Benefits Year Round
This type of “Spring Cleaning” has the power
to go beyond organizing and de-cluttering to
reaping lifelong health benefits. We’ve heard
it time and again: Our children are especially
vulnerable to lurking toxins, pound-for-pound
breathing 2.5 times more than adults. It’s crucial we start looking beyond labels and stop
settling with just “doing better”. We should
have full confidence in what we’re spritzing and
spraying in our homes.
For more information on healthy living and
other cleaning tips, see branchbasics.com’s
“Healthy Living Library”.