8/7/2019 Removing Household Toxins

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BYNICOLETSONG

The Seattle Times

truck spewing exhaust prompts

many of us to hold our breath

when it passes by on the

street. But when it comes to

pollution, your own home might be

just as insidious.

People spend 90 percent of their

time indoors, and your home can be

two to five times as polluted as the air

outside, according to the

Environmental Protection Agency. Poor

indoor air quality can cause health

problems like asthma or sinus issues.

And a lot of those problems are trig-

gered by what is in your house, includ-

ing cleaning products, furniture and

carpets.

“Taking care to recognize your

house is properly ventilated and mini-

mizing toxins you’re bringing into your

home and in your shopping bag is

important,” said Thor Peterson, the

Residential Green Building Specialist

with Seattle Department of Planning

and Development.

It’s not pretty once you break it

down. Mold grows as a result of too

much moisture, dust mites set up camp

in pillows and mattresses, and outdoor

grime and pollution are tracked in on

your shoes. Your furniture might be

off-gassing formaldehyde and, if not

stored properly, paint cans are probably

leaking volatile organic compounds,which can cause nose and lung irrita-

tion, rashes and headaches.

It gets worse in the winter, when

people shut windows and seal their

homes up to be energy efficient and

trap everything inside.

So what can you do to minimize

your exposure?

For smokers, the No. 1 thing is to

stop smoking at home, said Aileen

Gagney, asthma and environmental

health program manager for the

American Lung Association of 

Washington.

For everyone, there are a few easy

steps to get started: Use fewer chemi-

cals, get rid of dust mites and open

windows even in winter.“With all these chemicals, we’re

really torturing our lungs,” Gagney

said. “It’s invisible, the air is invisible,

but boy, are they (lungs) important.”

EASY IMPROVEMENTSTo make your home even healthier,

see these home-improvement tips:

Check your ventilation. Moisture

results in mold, particularly in the

bathroom. Test your bathroom’s venti-

lation by placing a sheet of paper

against a working fan. If the paper

sticks, the fan is strong enough. If not,

the motor might be old or the ducts

may need work. Also, make sure air

vents to the outside, not into the attic.

Keep dry. Make sure the crawl

space is maintained and dry, that waterspouts are directed away from the

house’s foundation and that the ground

is graded to drain away from the foun-

dation. Keep gutters clean and clear to

keep water out of the house.

Buy a good vacuum. Air-quality

experts dislike carpeting in general, but

if you have carpeting, use a vacuum

with a HEPA (high efficiency particu-

late air) filter and a dirt sensor, a light

that lets you know when all the parti-

cles from a patch of carpet are vacu-

umed. “A lot of times,

people do not vacuum

as long as they need to,”

Peterson said.

The fewer cleaningproducts, the better.

Castile (vegetable oil)

soap, vinegar and bak-

ing soda will take care

of most cleaning duties

at home, Peterson said.

If you still want to buy

products, look for those

with the Good

Housekeeping Seal of 

Approval (www.

goodhousekeepingseal. com),

which usually are less toxic and work 

better.

Green Seal (www.greenseal.org)

is another organization that evaluates

household products for their environ-

mental impact and toxicity.One easy way to reduce toxins is to

pick cleaning products without hazard

warnings on them, Peterson said.

“If it says ‘caution’ or ‘danger,’ it’s

telling you there are toxins in the prod-

uct,” he said.

But Gagney recommends helping

the environment by using up what you

already have instead of tossing it, then

switching to safer

products.

Lock toxic com-

pounds in a cabinet.

Paints will leach

volatile organic com-

pounds (VOCs) once

they’re opened, as

will other smellyhousehold products.

Either use them up

when you buy them,

or place them in a locked cabinet in a

ventilated area like the garage.

Prevent lead paint exposure.

Homes built before 1978 generally

have lead-based paints, which produce

lead dust when they chip, Peterson

said. Wipe down surfaces in your home

weekly with a lightly dampened cloth

to minimize dust.

Watch out for the fireplace. Wood-

burning fireplaces are probably one of 

the biggest pollutants in your home in

the winter, Gagney said. Fires spew car-

cinogens and carbon monoxide into the

air, and wood smoke damages lungs.Eliminate dust mites. Dust mites

like warm, moist places like pillows,

but also live in furniture. Vacuumupholstered furniture, buy covers for

your mattress and pillows and washyour sheets weekly in hot water. The

water must be 130 degrees to kill dustmites, Gagney said, so if your water

heater is set lower, increase the temper-ature about an hour before doing your

laundry, or add a kettle of boiling waterto the load.

Change filters. The EPA recom-mends changing filters on central heat-

ing and cooling systems and air clean-ers according to manufacturer recom-

mendations. If instructions are notavailable, change every month or two.

MAJOR CHANGESReplace carpeting.

Carpeting picks up and holds

on to dirt and toxins, and adhesives

used to put the carpet together off-gasVOCs. Experts recommend installing

as much hard flooring as you can, but

if you still want carpet, natural materi-

als like wool are better than synthetics.

If you buy synthetic carpeting, ask the

installer to unroll the carpet in the fac-

tory 48 hours before installing to let

the adhesives dry. To find carpets with

lower levels of off-gassing, see

greenseal.org.

Pick safer floor finishes. Floor

finishes often contain high levels of 

VOCs, so you should choose water-

based finishes, which are less toxic

than oil-based versions. You also might

consider finishes that don’t contain car-

cinogens or toxins, zinc or ammonia

and have a VOC concentration of a

maximum 7 percent by weight, accord-

ing to Green Seal.

Seal exposed composite woods.

Particle board and medium-density

fiberboard are made with formalde-

hyde-based resins.

Formaldehyde is considered a prob-

able human carcinogen, and it can

cause respiratory problems and off-

gasses for years, Peterson said.

Countertops, cabinets and desks usual-

ly include some kind of composite

wood inside.

If composite wood is made for exte-

rior use, it is most likely sealed and

safe, Peterson said.

If it is installed inside a cabinet, andpart of the wood is exposed, it proba-

bly is off-gassing into your home.

Look underneath desks, in book-

shelves, inside cabinets and under

countertops. If there is exposed com-

posite wood, you

should seal it, experts

say. Peterson recom-

mends Safecoat, a

special sealant that

locks in gas.

The Ikea factor.Sweden-based Ikea is

required to adhere tostricter European

standards for toxins,and has phased out

fire retardants and uses low formalde-hyde-based resins. It is one of the best

sources for low-cost flooring and furni-ture that is safer for indoor air quality,

Peterson and Gagney said.

Household pollution can behazardous to your family’s health

Bakingsoda is anontoxiccleaningalternative.

Paints can

leach volatileorganiccompoundsonce opened.

Ikea productsare safer forindoor airquality.

RON BORRESEN/BRADENTON HERALD/MCT