10 Ways to Protect Your Family From Pesticides
How to Keep Yourself and Your Children Safe From Environmental Chemicals
Jul 6, 2009
Many of us have held the hand of a sick child as they struggled through the night with a distressing fever and experienced how fragile the health of young ones can be. The challenges to the well-being of children are many, but perhaps none is so insidious and underestimated as that of environmental chemicals.
Many Conditions Linked
Pesticides, herbicides and other toxic repellents have been linked to, among other conditions, asthma, hyperactivity, behavioural problems and learning difficulties. Even worse, the latest news is that children are even more susceptible to pesticides than first thought, at least up to the age of seven and maybe beyond.
Know the Dangers
Understanding the threat and taking the necessary steps to protect yourself, your home and your family from environmental chemicals is an essential part of 21st-century house care, but it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Read on for the top ten ways to pesticide-proof your life and for resources to help you get started.
The Top Ten
- Pest control - First things first; explore alternatives to the everyday household chemicals used to keep bugs at bay. There are plenty of natural insect repellents on the market (still take care to keep them in a high, locked cabinet or garden shed), or you can make your own. Ants have a particular dislike of hot, soapy water; cockroaches will feed each other your boric acid in a mass bag-suicide pact, while a blob of eucalyptus oil keeps files at bay. See Eartheasy.com for more ideas.
- One of the most important and risky areas is your garden – or any grassy spot where children play. Research shows that the risk of asthma is much higher for children who play regularly on pesticide-treated lawns in the first two years of life. There are plenty of alternatives to common sprays and treatments, such as herbidical soaps and basalt dust. You can learn more about how to keep a healthy, safe, chemical-free lawn at Grassrootsinfo.org.
- Choose organic or locally grown, unwaxed fruit. It may be a little more expensive, but who wants to put a price on keeping their babes healthy? If it’s really too much of a stretch, peel fruits and use a Veggi Wash solution to reduce exposure to toxic surface pesticides.
- Never underestimate the important of every day healthy living – eating right, taking vitamins and exercising – in keeping resistant to environmental invaders.
- Mosquitoes are more than a painful annoyance – their link to illnesses such as Lyme Disease and West Nile Virus has put the irritating blood-suckers on the ‘danger list’. Instead of spraying mosquitoes, try snagging them in a mosquito magnet. It’s an extremely effective device that works by pumping out carbon dioxide, which tempts the bugs into flying into a hidden zapper trap.
- Buy bottled or filter water. Filtering your water is better because bottled water is only tested for a small number of the pesticides it may be contaminated with.
- Pregnant moms need to take extra care. Many studies have shown that it is sadly exceptional for a moms-to-be not to be carrying dangerous chemicals in their tissue that are capable of crossing the placental barrier. This means being extra vigilant about all of the steps outlined here.
- Keep a clean home – wash children’s hands, bottle and pacifiers regularly and in older children encourage good habits such as taking shoes off at the door.
- Find a safe, non-toxic head lice treatment for those inevitable bouts of itchiness. Two options are natural lice control products based on neem oil, or enzyme treatment, which essentially digests the lice without the need for harsh chemical applications.
- Make pest management an important of your home part of your research when buying a home, especially in a hot climate. Look for termite damage to walls or heavily treated areas in the local neighborhood. In your own home, try to eliminate the cause of the situation before you need to resort to spraying. Does the screen door shut properly? Are their structural problems that are allowing bugs and other critters in?
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