A Brief History
Today, we spend most of our time indoors in our homes, conducting our everyday activities. Homes can be regularly cleaned and disinfected, however, that does not change the fact that there are certain things in the house that we often overlook but can impact our health negatively. They are between the choices we make at home, such as how we manage our food waste, gardening, the chemicals we choose to bring home, and many others. We have gathered the top 4 things at home that you probably never thought can affect your family’s health.
Digging Deeper
1. Air Conditioning and Furnace Filters
Shutting your windows and making sure air pollutants are out of your home is not going to make your indoor-air clean enough for your family. Researchers have discovered that indoor air quality can be worse than outdoor; if you do not regularly clean and replace your air-conditioning or furnace filter.
Changing your air filters are a necessity, although, this can be tricky nowadays after a lot of brands changed their filter sizes; however, you can find companies in the market today that specialized in providing AC filters of many types, including custom sizes with the best performance rankings. Changing them regularly can help in ensuring your indoor air is as pollutant-free as possible.
2. Types of Plastic
Whether you use plastic in toys, lunch boxes, or for storing water or food, you need to know which grade to use. There is always code on any plastic product, but if your product does not have one, then dispose of it immediately. Plastic codes can be a wide range of numbers, but generally, use codes 2,4 and 5, and stay away from 1,3,6 and 7. The reason being is code 1 contains PET, which can produce trioxide and phthalates. Both are dangerous to your family’s health. While code 3 contains PVC which contains BPA, lead, mercury, and cadmium all will cause serious asthma and cancer.
3. Cleaning Products
It is shocking that you can increase the pollutants in your home while cleaning it. Unfortunately, it is true as some cleaning products contain amounts of acetone, benzene, and formaldehyde. Those pollutants are called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and large concentrations of them can lead to serious health risks; however, by reading the labels on your cleaning products and using a high-quality air purifier, your air can become free from any of these harmful chemicals.
4. Wall and Furniture Paint
If your home was built before 1978, then the walls are most probably painted with lead paint. This is not a problem until the paint starts to peel, chip or gets damp. You need to watch out because it is a hazard and will need immediate replacement. There are other lead-based products that might still be used today in furniture, cribs, bassinets, kids’ toys, kitchen bowls or utensils. So, it is better to check labels and test paint before using it.
Although this list can be longer, start by working on being more conscious of the above 4 items in your home. Work on keeping your indoor air clean, replace your filters regularly and avoid using cleaning products with dangerous chemicals. These changes can prevent any serious diseases to any of your family members and provide you with a healthy home environment.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Wentz, Dave, Myron Wentz, et al. The Healthy Home: Simple Truths to Protect Your Family from Hidden Household Dangers. Vanguard Press, 2011.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by congerdesign, is licensed under the Pixabay License.
