Fragrances, Hormones, Women, and Children

While these resources are primarily directed at women of childbearing age and children, they are really applicable to all of us. If a mother stops using perfume, but the father still piles on the scented deodorant, aftershave, and cologne, then his sperm, the mother, and children (born or unborn) are still being exposed to harmful chemicals.

If other family members, friends, and places like daycares are using scented laundry,  personal care, and cleaning products, they too are putting moms-to-be and kids at risk.

The adverse effects from these chemicals can be life-long, even longer. Our exposures can affect our grandchildren. Eliminating them from our lives now will ensure better health all around, including downstream, where fish and wildlife are also being affected.

The short video below, produced by Women in Europe for a Common Future  (WECF), provides simple, important information on how you can protect yourself and your child from Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs). They are found in so many places now.

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WECF have also developed a new website, NESTING, which is another good resource for all of us. They have assembled a lot of good advice there.

Here’s an example from their Cleaning & personal care page:

What is the problem with some detergents and personal care products?

Cleaning your home can increase the levels of chemicals in the indoor air, many times higher than the outdoor air in polluted cities.

Similarly, scented cosmetics and other personal care products can be full of toxic chemicals.

Many chemicals contained in household cleaning and care products are the same as those used in heavy duty, industrial cleaning agents. Especially fragrances in cleaning products can contain hazardous, corrosive chemicals. Also, the fragrances can deceive about the quality of the indoor air, which is an important health factor.

Also, EDCs in cosmetics can negatively affect the health of pregnant women, the expected baby, and young children in general. Since the bodies of children are still developing, they are especially sensitive to hazardous chemicals, such as carcinogenic or endocrine disrupting substances.

Disinfectants and products claiming anti-bacterial action may also contain carcinogen and respiratory toxins. Products containing antibacterial and anti-microbial agents kill beneficial bacteria too and contribute to the creation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (e.g. Triclosan in toothpaste).

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… A clean baby-room should not smell at all! Rather air it out and use potted plants…

Learn more about what to avoid and see tips on what to do: http://www.projectnesting.org/

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Our health, the health of our children, and the health of future generations is affected by everything we do now. Our current economic system is designed to generate increasing profits no matter what the costs to society are now or will be in the future. Our health and well-being and the ability of our planet to sustain life in the future are simply not factored into the equation now. We have to factor it in ourselves.

Here are more ways we can all take care, from Healthy Child Healthy World

http://healthychild.org/postpartum-pitfalls-infographic/

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When convenience products are harming our children and ourselves the way they are now (and we haven’t seen all the effects yet), they really aren’t that convenient. We need to demand laws and regulations that do more to protect our health and well-being, as opposed to protecting industry profits. We can also ask retailers to provide truly safe (not green-washed), non-toxic products and materials. If we don’t, who will?

Changes are already happening, thanks to people speaking up and taking action, but we have a long way to go before our everyday foods, products and materials are safe again. To make it possible for future generations to live long healthy lives, we have to act now.

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