There are several reasons that I made the decision to start leading a clean life that is focused on clean eating and chemical free cleaning. My reasons are my three children and my husband. I want to do my part and create a strong foundation to make sure my family enjoys a long, happy and healthy life.
It’s easy to fall into the mindset that having lots of cleaning products with chemicals around the house is ok. Maybe you’ve been cleaning with chemicals for many years and neither you or your kids have ever had a problem. Maybe deep down you feel that the chemicals in your cleaning products aren’t the best thing for you, but you don’t use them very often and don’t believe you’ll ever notice the impact that they are having on you. Besides, if something were really that bad for us wouldn’t the government step in and stop the sales of those products?
Mr. Yuk!
Well, there is a reason that they still hand out Mr. Yuk stickers to young children. Not all cleaning products are safe and many can be quite dangerous. Incidents may not always get our attention when they don’t hit close to home, but they do occur. Unfortunately we recently had another stark reminder of just how dangerous cleaning chemicals can be.
Candy or Chemicals?
In August, a 7-month old boy in Florida died after eating a laundry detergent “pod”. Regardless of how the boy came across the detergent, it is concerning that it was poisonous enough to be fatal. Laundry detergent pods are especially dangerous because they include highly concentrated detergent that is packaged in a way that is appealing to children. Through the first seven months of 2013 there were already 5,753 children under the age of 5 to have an incident. That is up significantly from 2012 when there were 6,231 cases all year! I would guess that most people who have switched to using laundry pods still keep them in the same place that they used to keep their old detergent; that means there is a good chance that the increase in incidents comes from the way the pods appeal to children with their ‘candy-like’ looks.
My prayers go out to the family of the little boy; children are so curious and there are so many ways that they can come across something dangerous. While I applaud Procter & Gamble for trying to improve safety with new packaging that is less appealing to children and more secure, it is a good reminder of why I seek to reduce the chemicals in my home. The best way to keep your children safe from the dangers of chemicals is by not having chemicals around in the first place.
For more information on the case, see an article from the New York Daily News, Florida baby dies after eating detergent packet — death comes after surge of related poisonings.
Simply Natural Clean 