Green Calgary

Household Chemicals- Creating a Healthier Home

Studies suggest that on a typical cleaning day, the concentration of chemicals in indoor air can be hundreds, even thousands of time higher than the outdoor air in the most polluted cities. In 2002, the Nature of Things reported that household indoor air pollution levels are often high enough to trigger an inspection by health and safety authorities in any workplace setting. Poor indoor air quality has been linked to both short-term and long-term effects including eye and throat irritation, allergies, childhood asthma, respiratory diseases, emphysema, chemical sensitivity in adults and cancer.

Do you want to conduct your own healthy home audit? Simply looking for more ideas on improving indoor air quality? Check out the Healthy Home worksheet: Healthy Home's Calgary Healthy Home Worksheet

Additional Resources:

Detoxifying Plants - FloraSophia Designs

Natural Resources Canada - Moisture Problems Document

Less Toxic Cleaning Alternatives - Brands to Trust

Companies Offering Indoor Air Quality Testing in Calgary:

AirVironment Canada (www.airvironment.com): 403-295-8144
Alberta Toxic Mould (www.iaqalberta.ca): 403-243-2999
Enervibe (www.enervibe.ca): 403-988-5731
JAD Environmental Services Inc: 403-616-2182
Medaliion Healthy Homes of Calgary Inc (www.medallioncanada.com): 403-936-5026
Mould Dogs Inc (www.moulddogs.ca): 403-287-7823

Guides:

Green Cleaning Guide

Greenwashing Wallet Card - a handy little wallet companion to help you navigate the consumer choice world without being duped. It lists the 7 sins of greenwashing and highlights the reputable third party endorsements to look for on truly green products.

Links:

Environmental Defense's Toxic Nation - Toxic Nation shows how you are being polluted. It outlines what can be done to keep pollution out of you and all Canadians.

Environmental Working Group: comprehensive information on avoiding toxic chemicals in food, cosmetics, personal care products and other household products.

The Good Guide: environment, health & social performance for over 70,000 products.

Guide to Less Toxic Products - A Canadian site dedicated to providing information about the health risks of commonly used products, how to identify less toxic alternative for things like personal care, household cleaning, baby care and pest control.

Skin Deep: a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products (including toxicity ratings of commonly used brands).

Washington Toxics Coalition: a comprehensive website with information regarding 'safer products', 'healthy homes & gardens', 'sustainable agriculture', and more.

Video:

Method "Shiny Suds" from Cherilyn Anderson on Vimeo.