Clean Up Your Home & Make It Safe! June Meeting 2007

Topic Description: Our homes can be the source of some very scary toxins that cause an endless list of health issues, especially for your little ones! Learn how to clean up your home and make it safer for everyone.

Speaker Overview: There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects. Because the toxic effects of pesticides and toxins are worrisome, representatives from the Melaleuca company came to educate us on their company and natural product line.

Melaleuca is a company dedicated to providing organic and toxin free products. Representatives from the company inform us that when you use a natural product, you see positive side effects versus when you use pharmaceutical products, you see negative side effects. They say that the digestion of their products will not harm you due to their natural ingredients.

Both speakers from Melaleuca use these household products in their home.


*Some information taken from Environmental working group newsletter

Information from the Melaleuca representative Heidi Scheer/ heidi@assemblyshows.com:

According to the book, Safe Shoppers Bible by David Steinman and Samuel Epstein, here is a list of some common household products that contain known carcinogens, and/or neurotoxins. Carcinogens are chemicals that cause cancer. Neurotoxins are chemicals that adversely affect the nervous system reducing emotional well being, mental alertness, coordination and other functions associated with intelligence.

Lysol Disinfectant
Bon Ami Foam
Citri-Solv
Fantastik All-Purpose
Formula 409
Pine-Sol Multi-Action Spray
Glass Plus
Ajax Cleaner
Speed Stick Deodorant
Secret Deodorant
Dove Soap Bars
Johnson's Baby Shampoo
Etc.

Information on Organic Food: http://www.foodnews.org/

Buy These Foods Organic: Peaches, Apples, Sweet Bell Peppers, Celery, Nectarines, Strawberries, Cherries, Pears, Grapes, Spinach, Lettuce

Foods Lowest in Pesticides: Onions, Avocado, Sweet Corn, Pineapple, Mango, Asparagus, Sweet Peas, Kiwi Fruit, Bananas, Cabbage, Broccoli, Papaya


Idea Swap: Please bring one suggestion you have for making your house safer for your family. Your suggestion could refer to anything!

Our members shared a lot of great safety tips. Here they are:

• Keep toothpaste away from children under 6 years old. If a child under 6 ingests a pea-sized amount, call poison control immediately!
• For children under 2 years old, 1-2 tsp. salt can can be lethal- call poison control!
• Allowing children to play with your pots and pans may be sending them the wrong message; they may be confused as to why it is okay to play with them on the floor but not while they are on the stove top.
• Make sure you wind cords from blinds, curtains, etc. to avoid strangulation. You can easily hammer a nail at the top of your windows to wind the cords on.
• Allowing children to watch more that 1 hour of television a day can cause significant developmental delays.
• Parents should spend at least 2 hours of 1 on 1 time at 15 minute intervals with their children from the time they are born.
• Keep sharp objects (knives!) out of sink and drying rack. Little hands can reach up and grab them.
• Ask Maria about her kitty litter design :)
• Consider buying a bathroom garbage can with a lid to avoid little people from getting into your bathroom garbage.
• Use the back burners on your stove top so that children cannot grab at them.
• Keep hand sanitizer away from children. It is toxic if they ingest it.
• Be cautious if your home windows open from the bottom; they can malfunction and come crashing down on children or their little hands.
• Use a clear, plastic picture holder magnet to house "Emergency numbers" on your refrigerator; include cell phone numbers, your home address, grandparents' numbers, neighbors' numbers, poison control, etc.
  
  *Information regarding safety tips was taken from various sources.
  

To get more information regarding Melaleuca, contact Heidi (address listed above.) Also the following websites may be helpful to you:

http://www.melaleuca.com/

http://www.saferforyourhome.com/

http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/index.htm

Members, please leave comments on what you thought of the meeting and what products you may have tried. Also, we would love to hear additional safety tips!

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