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Compelling evidence links the chemicals in household products to cancer, asthma, allergies, multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome—also known as environmental illness—hormonal disruption, reproductive and developmental disorders, and other conditions. Yet cleaning products are exempt from the full ingredient disclosure on product labels as required for food and personal care products and enter the marketplace with little or no testing for potential health risks.
Naturally Clean explains the dangers of traditional cleaners and provides illuminating statistics that illustrate how the chemicals found in almost every home are known or likely to cause a host of serious health problems. The book’s easy-to-understand introduction discusses basic household chemistry, concepts of toxicity and types of toxic exposure, and the difference between natural, organic, and synthetic chemicals.
A room-by-room guide provides tips for:
• A healthier kitchen
• Keeping your bedrooms safe
• Mold, mildew, and soap scum: spotless bathrooms
• Special precautions for cleaning children’s rooms
Naturally Clean also features a comprehensive product selection guide that analyzes over 300 natural and traditional cleaners: everything from laundry products through oven cleaners, disinfectants, spot removers, carpet cleaners, and bathroom cleaners. This handy, easy-to-use reference rates the household cleaning products found on the shelves of natural food and grocery stores, providing Seventh Generation’s pick of your healthiest and safest options. A resource guide tells readers where to find additional information, and an at-a-glance glossary helps understand key terms.
Royalties from the sale of Naturally Clean will benefit the Children's Health Environmental Coalition (checnet.org) in their efforts to educate parents about environmental toxins that can affect children's health.
Jeffrey Hollender is president of Seventh Generation, Inc., the leading brand of natural household products, and author of the bestseller
How To Make the World a Better Place. He speaks on social and environmental responsibility worldwide.
Geoff Davis is a freelance writer and editor of Seventh Generation’s consumer newsletter
Non-Toxic Times.
Meika Hollender is an author who specializes in personal care products.
| Introduction : protecting the place called home | ||
| Ch. 1 | Here come the chemicals | 3 |
| Ch. 2 | Our homes as test tubes | 5 |
| Ch. 3 | Household chemicals and cancer | 7 |
| Ch. 4 | Household chemicals and asthma | 11 |
| Ch. 5 | Household chemicals and hormonal disruption | 13 |
| Ch. 6 | Household chemicals and multiple chemical sensitivities | 17 |
| Ch. 7 | The burden our bodies bear | 19 |
| Ch. 8 | Toward safer homes and healthier families | 21 |
| Ch. 9 | A short history of chemicals | 25 |
| Ch. 10 | Top of the POPs | 27 |
| Ch. 11 | Bad behavior | 29 |
| Ch. 12 | Acute vs. chronic | 35 |
| Ch. 13 | What dose makes the poison? | 37 |
| Ch. 14 | A quick look at material safety data sheets | 41 |
| Ch. 15 | Household chemicals and the world outside | 43 |
| Ch. 16 | The incredible case of the shrinking label | 49 |
| Ch. 17 | Test- and approval-free for you and me | 53 |
| Ch. 18 | Meet the usual suspects | 55 |
| Ch. 19 | Unpronounceably unhealthy | 61 |
| Ch. 20 | Germ warfare and human welfare | 63 |
| Ch. 21 | Ten key ways to read labels and avoid toxic products | 67 |
| Ch. 22 | Trouble in paradise | 71 |
| Ch. 23 | Recipe for safety : making your own household cleaners | 79 |
| Ch. 24 | Coming clean in the kitchen, part one | 81 |
| Ch. 25 | Coming clean in the kitchen, part two | 83 |
| Ch. 26 | Coming clean in the kitchen, part three | 85 |
| Ch. 27 | Perfluorochemicals | 89 |
| Ch. 28 | Beating a better path to a healthier bath | 93 |
| Ch. 29 | Devils in the dust | 97 |
| Ch. 30 | Fighting the fungus among us | 101 |
| Ch. 31 | Clearly cleaner windows | 103 |
| Ch. 32 | What to pour on your floor | 107 |
| Ch. 33 | Airing our dirty laundry | 109 |
| Ch. 34 | Ten safety precautions for using chemical cleaners | 111 |
| Ch. 35 | Why our littlest ones face the largest risk from our homes' biggest hazards | 115 |
| Ch. 36 | A baker's dozen ways to help kids breathe easier | 119 |
| Ch. 37 | Just say no to VOCs | 123 |
| Ch. 38 | Phthalates are no phun | 127 |
| Ch. 39 | Tin soldiers on : an age-old material is a new toxic threat | 131 |
| Ch. 40 | How's the air in there? | 135 |
| Ch. 41 | Something in the air the most common indoor air pollutants | 139 |
| Ch. 42 | Indoor air repair | 143 |
| Ch. 43 | A room-by-room guide to better breathing | 147 |
| Ch. 44 | Air vs. machine : cleaning your air with filters and purifiers | 151 |
| Ch. 45 | Air fresheners stink | 155 |
| Ch. 46 | Use the power of plants to grow a healthy harvest of cleaner air | 157 |
| Ch. 47 | Ending bad air days one breath at a time | 161 |
Overview
Compelling evidence links the chemicals in household products to cancer, asthma, allergies, multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome—also known as environmental illness—hormonal disruption, reproductive and developmental disorders, and other conditions. Yet cleaning products are exempt from the full ingredient disclosure on product labels as required for food and personal care products and enter the marketplace with little or no testing for potential health risks.
Naturally Clean explains the dangers of traditional cleaners and provides illuminating statistics that illustrate how the chemicals found in almost every ...