1 post tagged “household items”

There’s no place like home. But what if the place we call home can jeopardize our health and we don’t even know it?

Forbes.com has listed the lurking house items that we thought were just ordinary stuff and safe to use but in reality is secretly and slowly are creeping their way to bring health problems.  Time for  spring cleaning, even if it’s still December.

Blameless items

Have taken note of the five household items that are just sitting blamelessly around our cribs but are harmful to our health and we should use with more cautious than we usually do.

Common house cleaners – these range from your cleaners for your oven, kitchen sink, insect and window sprays, and furniture polish.  The Environmental Protection Agency dubbed these items as harmful to the eyes, nose, ear, throat and can send you six feet under if swallowed.  So, always cover your hands and nose and wear eye goggles when using them or go for non-toxic stuff for cleaning such as vinegar and olive oil to wipe your fridge and newspaper dripped in water to get your windows squeaky clean.

Bathroom floor, moist places– just seeing it makes one avoid it. The substances that make up a mold are the ones that are really harmful specifically to the respiratory system. Think you don’t have one around? Well, it’s good if you don’t have one. But just to make sure, check out your bathroom.

Pipes – yes, the harmful effects of lead have been strongly emphasized and strongly enforced this year. Kids toys that were made from China have been recalled.  But lead isn’t only traced from toys, but your home’s water pipes. Best protection? Purchase a home wipe kit to check the lead level.  A number going over 10 micrograms is considered dangerous. But health experts are urging Congress to lower the accepted level to just 5 micrograms. 

Coal and charcoal burning appliances – these appliances range from water heaters, generators. They contain carbon monoxide which can be fatal but totally undetected until all is worst.  To stray away from health risks, install a battery-operated carbon monoxide detectors at home.

Flame retardant furniture – examples of this type of furniture are couches, television and other small appliances. In a basic these are actually helpful as flame retardant furniture were made to resist fire thus makes a person buy more time to escape when fire occurs.  The downside, high and over frequent exposure can led to harming the thyroid hormone.  So, just  use them efficiently.

Hey, I’m not condemning these household items.  I actually have all of them at home as well.  But it will never hurt to know the good and downside of using them to protect ourselves from health complications so that our home can be truly the safest place to go to after a tiring day from work.