Toxic Chemicals and The Human Body

Your body is a very complex, very fragile system of chemical reactions and electrical impulses. When you consider a single cell breathes,uses energy, and releases waste much like your whole body does, you can begin to understand how even small amounts of harmful chemicals can affect the performance of the body's processes. Chemicals enter the human body in three ways: ingestion, inhalation, and absorption.

Ingestion: brings to mind the image of a young child opening the cabinet under the sink and drinking something deadly. Well, each year nearly 1.5 million accidental ingestions of poisons are reported to U.S. Poison Control Centers. The majority of the victims are under the age of twelve and have swallowed a cleaning or personal care product. It amazes me how many deadly chemicals are stored under sinks or on bathroom counters and bathtubs within easy reach of young children.

Inhalation: It may surprise you to learn that poisoning by inhalation is more common and can be much more harmful, than ingestion. When something harmful is swallowed, the stomach actually begins breaking down and neutralizing the poison before it is absorbed into the bloodstream. However, when you inhale toxic fumes, the poisons go directly into the bloodstream and quickly travel to organs like the brain, heart, liver and kidneys. Many products give off toxic vapors which can irritateyour eyes, nose, throat and lungs, and give you headaches, muscleaches, and sinus infections. The process of releasing vapors into the air is called outgassing. Outgassing occurs even when a chemical is tightly sealed in its container. If you doubt this, simply walk down the cleaning aisle at your local grocery store, and notice how strongly it smells of toxic vapors, even though the containers are sealed tight.

Absorption: Most people never guess this. Finally, you need to realize the potential threat absorption poses. One square centimeter of skin (less than the size of a dime), contains 3 million cells, four yards of nerves, one yard of blood vessels, and one hundred sweat glands. We've all heard the ads for nicotine patches and analgesic creams. These medicines work by being absorbed into the bloodstream through the skin. Even some heart medicines are administered through transdermal (through the skin) patches. Any chemical that touches the skin can be absorbed and spread throughout the body. This can even happen when you come in contact with a surface that was treated with a chemical days or even weeks earlier. I had no idea that my children could be harmed by crawling across the kitchen floor we had just cleaned. I thought that we were being conscientious, not reckless.

Switch stores and eliminate the threat to your precious loved ones, and yourself.

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