What Are the Dangers of Household Hazards?

While only one in five of the four million household chemicals created since 1915 have actually been tested for their adverse health effects on humans, there is a surprising amount of alarming information that underscores their negative impact. Consider the following statistics:

· Ninety percent of all accidental poisonings occur in the home. According to the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, more than seven million cases of poisonings are reported each year. That equates to 14,000 each day! Young children are the primary victims, with the elderly being the next most affected.

· According to a five-year EPA study, the air in an average American home has chemical contamination levels 70 times greater than outdoor air. The EPA maintains that half of all illnesses occurring in the United States can be attributed to chemical contamination of indoor air. In fact, a 1985 EPA report states that household cleaners are three times more likely to cause cancer than outdoor air pollution.

· A study by the Toronto Indoor Air Commission concluded that, due to increased exposure to household carcinogens, women who work at home have a 55 percent greater chance of developing cancer than women who spend the majority of their time outside the home.

· The National Academy of Science estimates that 15 percent of all Americans are multi-chemically sensitive due to chronic exposure to household and cosmetic products.

· In 1990 alone, more than 4,000 children under the age of four were given emergency treatment for poisoning by consumption of a household cleaner. In the same year, nearly 18,000 pesticide-related incidents were reported in which 74 percent of the victims were younger than 14 years of age.

· The Consumer Product Safety Commission has determined that more than 150 chemicals found in ordinary household products are directly responsible for producing cancer, allergies, birth defects, and numerous psychological disorders.

· Dr. Russell Jaffe of Serammune Physicians Lab in Reston, Virginia, studied the long-term effects of pesticides on humans. He believes that as many as 16 million people in the United States evidence some degree of adverse reaction due to constant exposure. Of this number, Dr. Jaffe estimates that for five million people the results are ultimately fatal, 11 million are plagued with muscle and joint pain, and 500,000 are afflicted with migraines, asthma, bronchitis, and eczema.

· In December 1984, the Los Angeles Times reported that “adverse effects from [household hazards and environment] chemicals include reduced male sperm count, testicle atrophy and infertility.” Several European studies in the early 1990s not only found that the sperm count of the human male has dropped by half since 1938, but that future generations are threatened as well. Prior to the boom of chemical industrialization, a healthy adult male produced millions of sperm per milliliter of semen, but this number is steadily declining. In 1975, the typical 30-year-old man measured an average of only 102 million sperm per milliliter. And in 1992? You guessed itthe average 30-year-old produced a mere 51 million sperm per milliliter. This trend is expected to continue.

· For children under ten years of age living where home or garden pesticides are frequently used, the risk of leukemia increases by four to seven times. Childhood brain cancer is also associated with the use of flea collars, herbicides, pesticides that target termites, and pesticide “bombs” used indoors.