Environmental Toxins and Poisons

Here are some suggestions to keep in mind throughout your home:

• Wash your hands before preparing food. Learn about hygiene.
• Wash thoroughly any fruits and vegetables that may have been sprayed with pesticides, or buy organic produce.
• Avoid insecticide sprays. Roach pesticides can contain organophosphates and carbamates which are neurotoxins. Exposure to pesticides during pregnancy has been found to increase the incidence of autism by 60%.[5]  Use baited traps that don't contaminate the air, your mops and your brooms.
• Avoid touching or breathing powdered detergents or dishwasher soaps.
• Avoid using Teflon pans at high temperatures because they generate toxic fumes.
• Avoid fumes from the stove oven's cleaning cycle and from food cooked at high heat because harmful chemicals are created at high temperatures.
• Avoid breathing the spray of oven cleaner aerosols. Sprays like EASY-OFF oven cleaner contain highly caustic sodium hydroxide.
• Don't use charcoal grills indoors because they produce poisonous carbon monoxide.
• Avoid microwave popcorn that uses diacetyl as an artificial butter flavoring ingredient. This chemical has been associated with fixed obstructive lung disease in microwave-popcorn factories.

• Drink purified water
• Do not eat foods with hydrogenated fats because they double your chances of a heart attack.
• Avoid foods preserved with nitrites because they may cause cancer by forming nitrosamines.
• Do not eat spoiled food because you may get food poisoning.
• Avoid undercooked meat and seafood because it may have parasites.
• Avoid smoked foods because they increase risk of colorectal cancer[2]
• Avoid foods contaminated with mercury or heavy metals which typically include shellfish and large marine fish.
• Don't use glazed ceramic dishes that may leach heavy metals.
• Don't use leaded crystal because it contaminates food and drinks with lead.
• Don't use pewter dishes or cups to avoid metal contamination.
• Furniture polish or other furniture cleaners can contain naphtha that can cause central nervous system problems.

• Avoid touching gasoline or breathing gas fumes. Gasoline or petrol usually contains benzene which is a carcinogen.
• Don't touch automotive fluids (windshield washer, transmission, oil, etc.)
• Avoid battery acid. It can cause severe burns.
• Antifreeze containing ethylene glycol has a sweet taste and can poison a pet or a child even in small quantities. Keep antifreeze and other dangerous chemicals out of reach of children, and clean up any spills.
• Don't breathe automobile exhaust fumes or the exhaust fumes of generators or other internal combustion motors.
• Don't idle cars in enclosed or attached garages.
• Fishing weights, bullets, and solder contain lead which is toxic.
• Avoid breathing spray paints and paint remover fumes. Choose low-emission paints and well-ventilated work areas.
• Don't touch or breathe pesticides.
• Don't touch or breathe paint solvents.
• Insect repellents containing DEET may irritate skin. Use natural repellents made from lemon or eucalyptus.

• Avoid skin contact with perfumes.
• Don't breathe hair sprays.
• Avoid contact with after-shave lotions.
• Avoid hair colors, such as Grecian Formula, which have lead acetate.
• Don't mix chlorine bleach with other cleaners like ammonia because poisonous chlorine gas is generated.

• Old surfaces painted with lead paint may flake and pose a poisoning hazard.
• Read the labels of prescription medicines to avoid taking the wrong medicine or the wrong dosage by accident.
• Avoid fabric softeners because they can cause respiratory problems.[3]
• Avoid cigarette smoke. Even second hand smoke has been shown to cause cancer.
• Don't burn candles or incense. They are both fire hazards that produce smoke and contaminate the air.
• Eliminate fireplace and wood stove use. Use unvented combustion appliances such as stoves and kerosene heaters only with adequate ventilation.
• Avoid smoky rooms.
• Avoid dusty places.
• Recently dry-cleaned clothing can release perchloroethylene, a probable human carcinogen. Hang the clothing in a ventilated porch or garage until it is free of chemical smell.
• New plastic products made with polyvinyl chloride can emit phthalates which are used as plasticizers or polybrominated diphenyl ethers which are used as flame retardants.
• New carpets and the adhesives used to install them can emit volatile organic compounds. Keep newly carpeted rooms well ventilated.
• The proteins from the hair, saliva, or urine of household pets may cause allergic reactions.
• Flea collars for pets may expose you and your children to insecticides.
• Don't allow babies or young children to chew on soft plastic toys containing phthalates.
• Reduce your time outdoors when the pollen count is high or when there is automobile exhaust pollution.