07 Jul Is your house making you sick?
In the past 20 years childhood allergies and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have increased by 400%, 1 in 4 people have asthma, breast cancer has more than doubled since the 1960’s, the age of puberty is dramatically declining, sperm count has dropped by 50% and IVF is where you go to have children.
Here is my latest interview on Sick Building Syndrome on Fx Medicine (31 July 2016).
Could these conditions be linked to the homes in which we live?
Yes! Since World War II we have unleashed tens of thousands of chemicals into the environment – the great majority of which have not been tested to determine their impact on human health. When you consider that it takes up to five years for the European Union to investigate one chemical, despite the release of hundreds of new chemicals for commercial use every year, you can get a glimpse at the hopelessness of the situation. Furthermore our desire to give our kids the latest in technological gadgets is increasing their exposure to potentially harmful forms of electromagnetic frequencies that weren’t around when their grandparents were growing up. Even toxins that have been banned such as leaded paint and asbestos continue to be a threat to many children and yet few families take this into consideration when they are renovating their home or nursery.
Our home is our castle and, for most of us, it is the biggest financial investment we will ever make. Despite the fact that we spend over 90% of our time in buildings, few people, health practitioners or even general practitioners have a good understanding of the hazards that lurk inside a home. When you consider that we live in a society that assumes consumer goods are safe until proven otherwise, where dividends are more important than the ethics to do what is right for the environment and human health, we can no longer make assumptions about the safety of products we bring into the home. This website along with the book Healthy Home, Healthy Family was developed to educate you about the health hazards in the built environment.
Find out how plants clean indoor air
The air within our homes can be seriously more polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities.