Chemical exposures come in a variety of forms but many exposures can come from our homes.

The average American spends approximately 70% of their time at home. In the average home there are household cleaning products, furniture, rugs/carpeting, paint and synthetically fragranced products. All of these items offer the opportunity to expose the occupant to chemicals.

Now you may ask how this is possible that the items in our homes can harm us but it occurs quite easily when the chemical compounds present in the home turn to vapor or gas at room temperature.

Here are some of the ways we are exposed daily to chemicals:

• When using certain cleaning products, absorption of chemicals through the skin can occur. Additionally, the fragrance present in the product is a synthetic chemical fragrance and when the product bottle is stored, opened or applied, an exposure occurs.
• Certain pressed wood used in furniture, the treatments that are applied and the glue/resins used, convert to an odorless gas resulting in the occupant breathing the chemicals into their lungs.
• The paint used in our homes often contains chemicals. The new paint smell is in fact chemical compounds that you are breathing into your respiratory system.
• Fragranced products including air plug-ins, room fresheners and fragranced candles, all provide the home with a clean fresh smell yet the fragrances are chemical based providing an exposure to the body.

Everyone should try to eliminate the sources of chemicals in their lives where possible, here are some tips:

• Use natural based cleaning products (they should not contain danger, warning or caution on the label).
• Use furniture that is manufactured by companies that use low or no VOC emitting wood and materials.
• Use low or no VOC paints
• Try to stay away from plug-in air fresheners, synthetically fragranced candles.

By making small changes in our daily behaviors, everyone can make a difference to improve personal health, the environment and reduce the demand for unnecessary chemicals.

AirMD is proud to announce the upcoming launch of the Pure line of household cleaning products. The product formula is a result of a scientific achievement using colloidal micelle technology that derives its cleaning power from the activity of the molecules in the formula and not synthetic chemicals.

The products contain no synthetic chemicals and are completely natural, conscious of human health and the environment.

To request more information about the products visit us at www.airmd.com/ask-airmd

The post Chemicals in our Homes appeared first on Air Quality Testing by AirMD Since 2007.

Have you ever watched a crime movie where you figure out or discover the culprit of the crime before the people you are watching with do? You wait in anticipation, excited to see when they will get it. Sometimes though they never seem to get it or understand how you get it so early in the movie and that feeling of excitement can turn to frustration because for whatever reason, they do not get it.

Well that is the feeling I have had for quite a while as I watch so many people use gallons of cleaning products annually. I know they are harmful to their health, there is a lot of information out there about health issues and chemicals, but still they do not seem to get it.

Newly acquired information has come to light that re-emphasizes what the medical and scientific community has been trying to tell the general public for a long time and that is, chemicals used in the production of household cleaning products are bad for our health.

The accumulation of multiple studies from around the world have identified strong correlation between chemicals used in cleaning products and increased asthma rates for those living and using household chemical cleaners.

There is no argument that asthma is affecting more and more people at an accelerated rate. Children and adults alike are increasingly being diagnosed with asthma. The scientific review and results of these studies have identified one of the many causes of exposures to chemical cleaners is the increase in asthma, especially from chemicals in aerosolized form. Inhaling the vapors from these cleaners irritate the respiratory airways. Some of the many statistics from these studies identify that women employed in domestic cleaning, are 46 to 109 percent more likely to develop asthma than those that are not employed in domestic cleaning.

Another study of 3,500 European women cleaning their own homes showed that those using spray cleaners at least 4 days a week were more than twice more likely to have physician-diagnosed asthma than those who used the cleaners less often or not at all. This is why more and more children have asthma, their respiratory systems are developing and they are constantly being exposed to chemicals.

I could provide more information and many studies supporting my constant rhetoric that we do not need these chemicals in our lives. Asthma is just one of many health related issues with exposure to these chemicals others include cancer, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder) and immune disease.

So I am here to tell you I get it and I am waiting for you to get it because just like the crime movie, I am anxiously waiting for you to get it and I want to be excited knowing that you understand that we all can live free from chemicals that should have no part in our lives.

Another reason I am excited is that we (AirMD) have just finished the production of our line of chemical free household cleaning products that are nano-technology based and are like no other products on the market today. We are proud to do our part in the effort to live chemically free and our products are ready for sale on May 1st, 2009.

The post Asthma – A Result of a Chemical Cleaner Crime appeared first on Air Quality Testing by AirMD Since 2007.

Continuing with our blog series identifying harmful ingredients in common household cleaning products, we discuss ammonia which is commonly found in household disinfectants. Ammonia has been part of family life for decades using it for cleaning toilets, sinks and baby areas. Although ammonia has a rather distinct and strong odor, many people associate the smell with cleanliness.

Ammonia also known as ammonium chloride, ammonium hydroxide, benzalkonium chloride, and quaternary ammonium compounds are not what I consider favorable ingredients in household cleaning products.

Consider the following; Ammonia used in normal applications is an irritant that affects the skin, eyes, and respiratory passages. In concentrated forms, ammonia vapors are extremely toxic when inhaled.

Repeated exposure to ammonia even at low concentrations can lead to bronchitis and pneumonia. Additionally, ammonia can cause chemical burns, cataracts, and corneal damage and medical studies have shown exposure to ammonia produces skin cancer.

Listed as a toxic chemical on the EPA’s Community Right-to-Know list it again is another chemical that is produced that has no right to be placed in the ingredients of common household cleaners.

With 2,000 new chemicals being synthetically developed each year and government and regulatory agencies only reviewing and testing less than 5% of these chemicals, it is all of our responsibilities to remove the harmful chemicals from our everyday lives. AirMD is proud to be involved in this process.

While ammonia has some beneficial uses in our society, it is unnecessary to use as a disinfectant in a home environment.

Let us all continue to work together to live healthier lives and protect our families.

The post Cleaning Products: What to Know – Disinfectants appeared first on Air Quality Testing by AirMD Since 2007.

Continuing with our blog series of identifying harmful ingredients in common household cleaning products, the ingredient ethylene glycol monobutyl ether commonly found in all purpose surface cleaners is examined.

The name alone causes me concern especially when I tell you that this HIGHLY TOXIC SYNTHETIC SOLVENT is found in a wide range of all surface cleaners available on the market today.

What is the rationale behind putting a chemical solvent like this in cleaning products used to clean kitchen countertops and sinks? Is it to kill bacteria and viruses because if it is I am here to tell you that something as toxic as this is not required to kill bacteria and viruses. There are other green cleaning products that are safer containing natural ingredients that are as effective.

Health effects associated with exposures to ethylene glycol monobutyl ether include irritation of the mucous membranes and liver damage. Readily absorbed through the skin it is classified as a neurotoxin.

Exposure to this solvent as part of cleaning products ingredients is unlikely to have an immediate neurotoxic effect but it may overtime and repeated exposures to this chemical are not recommended and unnecessary.

Immediate effects to products containing this chemical include irritation to the mucous membrane. The mucous membrane includes all body cavities with openings to the outside. The moist layer of tissue lining the digestive, respiratory, urinary and reproductive tracts are considered the mucous membrane.

Although it is important to clean down surfaces in our environment to control the numbers of bacteria we are exposed to, there are other alternatives to strong chemical based surface cleaners like green cleaning natural based cleaners with germicidal properties.

Our efforts for living in a healthy indoor environment should include joining a community like AirMD’s to obtain the necessary information to live healthier, as well as having periodic evaluations of your living space completed. Together we can keep our families safe.

http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/environment

The post Cleaning Products: What to Know-Surface Cleaners appeared first on Air Quality Testing by AirMD Since 2007.

When I was young, a part of my families cleaning routine was the dusting of our family home. It was one chore both my brother and I would try to pass off to one another. The use of a cloth and furniture polish to remove dust was not our idea of enjoying the weekend.

This basic cleaning procedure using furniture polish actually allows for many harmful chemicals to be expressed into the air. Furniture polish commonly contains PETROLEUM DISTILLATES and MINERAL SPIRITS though the contents are never listed on the bottle. These contents categorize furniture polish as highly flammable, moderately toxic, associated with skin and lung cancer, irritant to skin, eyes, nose, throat and the lungs.

The spraying action of the furniture polish in an aerosol container emits the polish as a fine spray. An aerosol spray will often consist of very small droplets some of which will be ideally suited for breathing deep into the lungs. Larger droplets will be trapped in the nose, throat and upper part of the lungs.

With the concern over the furniture polish contents and the aerosol spray, we must ask ourselves why do we need to use chemicals to remove dust and why do we need aerosol sprays?

The chemicals in the polish have no role to play. A damp cloth with a natural cleaning product is as effective at trapping dust. Dusting primarily results in agitating the dust and re-suspending it into the air, while non aerosol based sprays are as effective as aerosolized at delivering liquid products.

Traditional furniture polish smells good and we think it is doing a good job reducing dust in our homes but in fact it is the opposite. The reality is we don’t need a powerful chemical to clean or remove dust from our homes; there are many natural based cleaners available to us that do as good a job at cleaning and in my opinion smell a whole lot better.

The post Home Cleaning Products: What to Know-Furniture Polish appeared first on Air Quality Testing by AirMD Since 2007.

I remember many years ago, my wife asked me to help clean the tile floor in my home. As I poured bleach into the bucket I looked at the label and the warning signs placed on the bottle. I noticed the CONTENTS! Much to my surprise I realized I was sensitive to several of the ingredients. After some research I found my sensitivities to bleach caused me to have respiratory issues.

Around the world nearly all households have a bottle of bleach or a solution containing bleach under the sink. We use it to wash our kitchen floors, toilets and showers. Yet we fail to ask ourselves the important question, WHY DO WE USE IT WHEN IT CONTAINS SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE AND WHAT IS SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE.

The simple answer I can come up with is we are all conditioned to use bleach. I know I was conditioned to use bleach from my parents (I call it conditioned behavior). Today, we are now in a world where people question what they use, which leads us to bleach and its ingredient sodium hypochlorite.

Sodium hypochlorite is a corrosive material that irritates the skin, eyes and respiratory tract, can cause pulmonary edema or vomiting and if mixed with other chemicals to make other household products causes chlorine gas resulting in nasal irritation, irritated throat and coughing.

There are warnings all over the bottle and we are told to keep it out of the reach of children. Why do we use such a hazardous product in our homes?

Is it because we are trying to kill all the bacteria or is the disinfectant smell, subconsciously telling us our homes are clean. The reality is we don’t need a powerful chemical to clean or remove bacteria from our homes; there are many natural based cleaners available to us that do as good a job at cleaning and in my opinion smell a whole lot better.

I have attached a link that explains sodium hypochlorite and its health effects.

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts184.html

The post Home Cleaning Products: What to Know-Bleach appeared first on Air Quality Testing by AirMD Since 2007.