Thailand Detox

How Many Harmful Chemicals are in Your Home?

There are dangerous chemicals everywhere these days. Some companies have been in trouble for polluting our waters with harmful chemicals. Farmers are realizing how harmful the chemicals they use on their crops can really be. Landfills have become hazardous waste zones because of the amount of dangerous chemicals dumped in them each year. Your home is another place where there are probably quite a few harmful chemicals.

You should keep products with harmful chemicals locked up and away from small children in your home at all times. Even if you and your family do not ingest these dangerous chemicals, you can still have health problems from exposure. Just being around some of the harmful chemicals in your home can be bad for you. Repeated exposure to these chemicals in cleaners and other products in your home is very likely to cause health problems for you and your family.

The following are some harmful chemicals commonly found in your home:

• Acetone - Acetone is in many types of nail polish remover. If you inhale products with acetone, you can develop lung, throat and nose problems, as well as headaches and a increased heart rate. Serious health problems like going into a coma or damage to the liver, nerves or kidneys can also occur.
• Alkylphenol Ethoxylates (APEs) - This is a chemical that is commonly used in cleaning products for the home. It is thought that this chemical affects the endocrine system because it acts like a hormone. Exposure can lead to reproductive problems, immune system problems, ADHD and cancer.
• Benzene - This chemical is in everything from hygiene products to pesticides. If inhaled, it can cause headaches, increased heart rate, shaking, loss of consciousness and possibly be fatal. There may be an increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma with exposure to benzene.
• BHA and BHT - These chemicals may be in the cans of food you have in your kitchen cabinets. They are also in some hygiene products. While they are thought to to be to dangerous for human use in some countries, they are allowed to be used in manufacture in the United States.
• Formaldehyde - You will probably see formaldehyde as an ingredient in some of your cleaners, bath products, hygiene products and nail polish and remover despite it being a known carcinogen and neurotoxin. Exposure can result in mucus membrane issues, spasms, edema and other health issues.
• Hydroquinone -This chemical is in products used to color hair and lighten skin. This is a dangerous chemical that affects skin structure and increases skin cancer risks.
• Phthlates - This chemical can be a variety of products including plastics, perfumes, and lotions. Exposure could result in thyroid problems, hormonal issues, kidney damage, birth defects and reproductive system issues.
• Tolulene - This chemical is in many home cleaning products and in nail care products. It can damage the lungs if inhaled and is linked to liver and kidney problems, increased cancer risks, hallucinations and bone marrow problems.

This is just a sampling of the many harmful chemicals that you might have in your home right now. You can’t completely get away from all harmful chemicals in today’s society but you can try to buy products for your home that are as healthy and chemical free as possible. All you have to do is look at the ingredients on the cleaners and other household items you buy regularly.

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Cell Phones are Hazardous to the Environment

Cell phones are a relatively new invention but almost everyone has one. Companies are constantly coming out with new cell phone technology and people feel lost without their cell phones. The rapid growth of technology and popularity of the cell phone has some dangerous consequences, however.

Making Cell Phones is Hazardous

As soon as a factory starts to make a cell phone, the environment is negatively affected. A lot of our natural resources go into the production of cell phones. Valuable elements like gold, copper, palladium and silicon are all used in cell phone production. These elements have to be drilled or otherwise extracted from the ground, which uses a lot of energy and water and creates a lot of hazardous waste.

Making a phone or two is not too much of a hazard but millions of cell phones are produced every single year. A lot of people have a phone for personal use and a work phone. People usually only use their cell phone for a few years before replacing it with a more modern cell phone model. The more phones we use the more dangerous waste is produced and released into the environment and the more resources we use.

Disposing of Cell Phones

Cell phones are hazardous to the environment because we generally just throw our old phones away when we get new ones. The problem with all the cell phones ending up in the trash is that there are toxic metals like lead and mercury in the phones that can harm our environment.

The large number of cell phones in our landfills is a serious environmental problem. No matter how well taken care of the landfill is, the toxic metals in the cell phone make their way into the environment at some point. That can lead to toxins in our water and soil that can get into our food supply.

If everyone would recycle their old cell phones, that would greatly reduce the harm to the environment. Unfortunately, most people do not recycle their cell phones and may not even know that it is an option. There are no laws requiring cell phones to be recycled. It can actually cost you to recycle your cell phone so that causes a lot of cell phone owners to be discouraged and simply throw their phones in the trash.

Dangers of Cell Towers

The more cell phones we use the more cell phone towers we need so we have a signal wherever we go. Cell phone towers use up valuable land that could be put to a better, more environmentally-friendly use. Cell phone towers also require the use of natural resources to build. There can be other dangers to the environment as well.

Cell phone towers work by sending out a frequency that we cannot hear. It is unknown what the long term effects of this frequency are. Birds can become disorientated and fly right into cell phone towers in some cases and that may be from the frequencies. Some farmers report problems with their cows’ health if they are near a cell phone tower. There are no scientific studies to show exactly what effect these frequencies have on humans or animals, however. Cell phones make it possible for us to always be in contact with our friends and family. However, the popularity of cell phones has negatively affected the environment.

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Your Health and Hazardous Waste

You probably don’t give hazardous waste a second thought most days but chances are you encounter it in some form almost daily. You probably encounter some sort of cleaning products daily in your home or at work and these can contain dangerous chemicals. The electronics we use every day are full of mercury and lead. The fuel you put in your car is full of hazardous chemicals. When these products are thrown out, they become part of the hazardous waste problem.

Hazardous waste has four main characteristics:

1. It is corrosive. That means it is capable of destroying some other materials. For example, very acidic or alkaline liquids can burn through metals and your skin and the vapors can damage your mucus membranes.
2. It is ignitable. That means it catches fire easily, which makes for a dangerous situation. This often goes along with being an irritant. Some examples are varnish and gasoline.
3. It is reactive. That means it has the potential to react dangerously with other chemicals. The reaction could be an explosion or dangerous fume production. Bleach and ammonia are two reactive products.
4. It is toxic. This means it is poisonous. If you breathe, inhale, drink or even touch these chemicals, you can be severely injured. An example of a toxic material is a pesticide.

The characteristics of hazardous waste and their health issues refer to the effects that happen right away with exposure. Other kinds of exposure occur when hazardous waste is filtrated into our water or into the earth. This can affect the food supply, which is very dangerous. If people are exposed to even tiny amounts of these chemicals in this way over many years, there can cause serious health issues.

Lead paint was a common form of hazardous waste that used to be in many homes. The paint would chip and children would ingest the paint chips. If this happened on a long term basis, the children often suffered physical and mental problems as a result. Lead poisoning is linked to ADHD, kidney problems, reproduction issues, neurological problems and hearing issues.

There are other forms of hazardous waste that are just as dangerous to our health. One example you have probably heard of is asbestos, which is linked to cancer. Other forms of hazardous waste cause a variety of health problems including liver problems and can affect the immune system. There are close to 100,000 chemicals that we know of that are used frequently all over the world so it is nearly impossible to avoid exposure.

Hazardous waste can be very damaging to the environment and to the health of people exposed to it. Proper disposal of hazardous waste is very important to lower these risks. We as a world need to try to produce less hazardous waste and properly dispose of the waste that is created so health problems do not result from exposure.

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