Let's Stop Poisoning Our Children!

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Why should three-year-old Jason Whitely have died a lingering and horrible death? Two weeks after drinking three ounces of hair conditioner containing ammonia, the little boy died. And why should seven-month-old Adrian Gonzales have died? He crawled through a puddle of spilled bleach giving him third-degree burns on 50% of his tiny body and burning his lungs from the fumes. It took him four agonizing days to die.

And why should little Peter Schwab have suffered so? He crawled over to the dishwasher to watch his mother unloading it. Suddenly, he put a finger into the detergent dispenser and ate a fingerful of undissolved Electrasol. In minutes his face was blistered and the inside of his mouth was burned. Luckily, Peter was in the hospital within minutes and recovered in a few days. Not so for the little girl across the hall who ate dishwasher detergent and required seven operations to reopen her scarred esophagus. Or the eighteen-month-old boy who had to eat and breathe through tubes for five months and required at least thirty operations because of dishwasher detergent.(1)

Every year five to ten million household poisonings are reported. Many are fatal, and most of the victims are children.(2) The real tragedy is, accidents like these can easily be avoided. But most parents aren’t aware that there are effective products on the market that are much safer than nationally advertised brands and, in most cases, cost less.

Please read this information carefully. Your child’s health and safety may depend on it.

Household Chemicals – A Loaded Gun

The average home today contains more chemicals than were found in a typical chemistry lab at the beginning of the 20th century.(3) The Consumer Product Safety Commission determined that cleaning products are some of the most dangerous substances in the home. Go look under the sinks where you keep your cleaning and personal care supplies. What have you found? Window cleaner? Bleach? Detergent? Shampoo? Mouthwash? These products can be lethal poisons with the potential to injure or kill your child.

Would you keep a loaded gun under your sink? No! Yet these products can be just as deadly. Maybe you keep these products locked away. Would you feel comfortable keeping a loaded gun there? Would you bet your child’s life that they could never get to that gun? No! Yet, according to the CDC, more children die of accidental poisoning than are accidentally killed with guns.(4)

So why are these hazards in your home at all? Probably because you didn’t realize how dangerous they can be, and that there are products on the market that are effective, safer, and more affordable than name brands.

Long-Term Health Hazards of Household Products

Most poisonings happen slowly through daily exposure to toxic chemicals that are in the air or come into contact with the skin. The average American uses twenty-five gallons of hazardous chemicals a year in their home. The Consumer Product Safety Commission found 150 common household chemicals that have been linked to allergies, birth defects, cancer, and psychological abnormalities.(5)

In one ground-breaking study, subjects were studied over a twenty-year period. Researchers discovered that the use of common household cleaners could deteriorate lung capacity. The study concluded that, with regard to lung function, using household cleaners as little as once per week equates to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.(6) Children are exposed to these same chemicals at home.

With your child’s long-term health at stake, why risk it when it’s so easy to switch to safer products?

Indoor Air Pollution

Are you concerned about the air your child breathes? The EPA reports toxic chemical vapors are often up to ten times higher indoors than outdoors and can lead to cancer, organ failure, or nervous system damage.(7)

Children spend 90% of their time in their homes. They are susceptible to these hazardous toxins because they breathe rapidly, allowing them to absorb more pollutants than adults. Children are also closer to the ground where some of the highest concentrations can be.

These shocking statistics make indoor air pollution one of the leading threats to children’s health. Luckily, parents can do something to reduce their family’s exposure to airborne toxins from household products. They can switch to safer brands.

To Concerned Parents

Household cleaning and personal care products are not the only sources of chemicals in your home. However, they are some of the most deadly. Fortunately, they are also the easiest to replace.

Knowing that the chemicals in your home can seriously harm or even kill your child, wouldn’t it be better to get them out of your home? There are affordable, safer alternatives. Why place your child at risk another day? Don’t wait! To make your home a safer place, call the person whose name appears below. Call today!

Sources

1. Shirley Camper Soman, Let’s Stop Destroying Our Children (Hawthorn Books, 1974).
2. Debra Lynn Dad, Home Safe Home (Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2004).
3. Dadd, Home Safe Home.
4. Ten Leading Causes of Death by Age Group, United States – 2015. (National Vital Statistics System, 2017)
5. Tara Rae Miner, Your Green Abode: A Practical Guide to Sustainable Home (Skipstone, 2010).
6. The European Community Respiratory Health Survey, Cleaning at Home and at Work in Relation to Lung Function Decline and Airway Obstruction, (AJRCCM, 2018).
7. Volatile Organic Compounds’ Impact on Indoor Air Quality, (EPA).


~ Richard M Barry

Let's Stop Poisoning Our Children! Success Stories

I have ordered the Let's Stop Poisoning Our Children! pamphlets in the past and they were a success when I was trying to tell about Melaleuca company. These pamphlets talk about the harm that the store brand cleaners do to children. They are small enough to carry and are easy to read and understand.

~ Anna

The reason I joined Melaleuca is for safer products, especially safer cleaning products. I did a lot of cleaning before with the regular store brand cleaners and I noticed that I was coughing a lot because my lungs would be so irritated. One of my friends introduced me to Melaleuca products and I've been a customer since then. I started studying the Let's Stop Poisoning Our Children! pamphlet and shared it with my family members. It helped them to become interested in becoming preferred customers in Melaleuca, thus helping me grow my business.

~ Nadezhda

Many years ago I came across one of your Let's Stop Poisoning Our Children! pamphlets on a table at an event and I picked it up. I used that little pamphlet for years as an inspiration to me. I need to have little "reminders" throughout the day because the most important action in life IS stopping the use of toxic cleaning products in our homes. It's an honor to be able to help others in this way...The Melaleuca Way!

~ Beth