What's under your sink?

Shortly before Griffin was born, we went to a "Healthy Home" seminar. It had been something that had been on my mind to do for a while, but this specific seminar was led by our Prenatal instructor, and with the impending arrival of a fragile tiny human, it suddenly seemed more important.

Since this seminar, we've made a pretty big commitment to going "Chemical Free" in our home. With the exception of a few little things that are still kicking around, all of our cleaning products, and the majority of our personal care products (shampoo, toothpaste, etc) are now Au Natural. I know a lot of you are in the same boat. But some aren't.

The facts are frightening, and I wanted to share them with you because there is so much of this that people aren't aware of, and it's terrifying when you realize what you're inhaling, ingesting, and slathering all over yourself on a daily basis. Cancer rates are on the rise (it was about 1 in 50 around the turn of the century, now it's 1 in THREE women, and 1 in TWO men!!!!), Alzheimer's, MS, Birth Defects, Miscarriages and Infertility, Asthma, and A.D.D. are all on the rise along side it, and people wonder why? Well, we were shocked to find out that just about everything in our house is full of crap!!! Just about everybody has been touched by one or more of these diseases, and I want to tell you that THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES!!!

Surprisingly, the government has very little power to regulate manufacturers. You'd think that if it was on the shelf, it was safe, right? WRONG! Very little is actually tested before it hits the shelves, and most of it contains crap. Not only that, it's not required that companies list the ingredients at all. Here's a few disturbing facts:

- A product that kills FIFTY PERCENT of lab animals through inhalation or ingestion can be labelled non toxic. HALF of the mice or whatever they use can croak, and a product can still hit the shelves and be OK. And that's IF it even gets tested in the first place!

-There are safety standards in place for the workplace, and protective gear must be worn while handling chemicals. But some of the chemicals that you may handle in a workplace with gloves and respirators are IN YOUR SHAMPOO/SOAP and so on. Whens the last time you shampooed with gloves and a respirator on?? And remember all the hooplah a few years ago about removing phosphates from laundry detergents, because the phosphates were ruining the lakes and oceans? Well, it's out of (some of) the laundry detergent, but it's still contained in most shampoos!

- One of the most common items in personal care products is Formaldehyde, because it's a cheap preservative. Formaldehyde is what they EMBALM DEAD PEOPLE with!! Would you brush your teeth with Formaldehyde?? Chances are YOU DO, EVERY DAY!! Formaldehyde is a suspected carcinogen, that may be fatal if inhaled, swallowed or absorbed through the skin. It causes burns, and inhalation can cause spasms, edema, and chemical pneumonitis. Yet it's OK that it's in your toothpaste???

At the end of the day, selling cleaning products and personal care products is all about the Almighty Dollar. Cosmetic companies and Manufacturers of household products argue that there is so little of the bad stuff in their products, that it doesn't make a difference. But the danger lies in using it day in and day out, over and over for years on end. It's bound to build up in your system somewhere.

I urge you to take a look at what's under your sink and in your bathroom, that you use every day. The Canadian Cancer Society spends the majority of its money on research to finding cures for cancer, which I support, but one also has to consider PREVENTION - stop using this crap, find out what you can do to make your home a safer place for you and your kids (if you've got em) and pets too (if you've got those too.) And if you're reading this, chances are we like you, and we'd like y'all to stick around for a while!

You can check out this link for more information on cleaning products, and this link for more information on personal care products- you can read the article or watch the video on the right hand side of the page. If you want more information on chemical free products, I'd be happy to share.

(By the way, all the chemical crap in products is NOT exclusive to adult products - they put this shit in baby stuff too - shampoos, lotions, wipes...CRAP, CRAP, and more CRAP!!! It's sick!)