Ten ways to remove toxic chemicals from your home

Some years ago, I became aware that I was reacting to numerous chemicals commonly found in the environment either at work or at home. My first realization arrived when I began to develop tiny little blisters in response to the chlorine in my bath and shower water. I'd originally thought it was some kind of skin allergy from my cleansers, but the problem did not clear up until I put a filter on my showerhead to remove all chlorine.

That was a fairly simple fix; my second attack was not so easily resolved. When walking to work at a major state university, I was exposed to the herbicide RoundUp. It wasn't a huge dose; I just walked by on the same side of the street within a few moments of spraying. They were treating the cracks in the walkway for weeds. Within ten minutes I felt dizzy and had a splitting headache so severe I went to the washroom at my office to be ill. The next thing I knew I was waking up on the stall floor some fifteen minutes after I'd entered, bruised and sore from an apparent seizure. I felt weak and disoriented. I thought it was all some kind of fluke, until a little research revealed that this occurrence is a common reaction to RoundUp and its ilk of chemical weed-killers.

I immediately had to go about removing as many chemicals from my home environment as possible, and to try to educate my coworkers. That meant politely asking them not to wear perfumes to the office, to avoid heavy use of hair spray, and to arrange for the office to be cleaned when I would be away for more than 24 hours. At home, it meant removing every form of cleaner that had remained after I'd discarded those containing bleach or chlorine.

You might ask how I clean the house; it is a common query. In fact, while I do use commercial products made by companies like Seventh Generation or Ecover for such tasks as cleaning mirrors, fixtures or toilets, 99% of my cleaning is accomplished using baking soda. Need to clean a sink or a tub? Baking soda is an effective scrub. Need to wash down a counter? Make a solution of baking soda in hot water, let it stand and cool, then spray it on the counter and wipe down with a washcloth. It's amazing to realize that, contrary to the sales efforts of major chemical cleanser companies, clean does NOT have a scent. In point of fact, clean smells like nothing at all. If you smell something...it's not clean...it's chemical.

Here are ten additional and simple ways to remove toxic chemicals from your home environment (yes, I'm aware the organization is discussing Canadian households, but the advice is as true for any other nation in the world): http://www.toxicnation.ca/go-toxic-free/top-10-ways .