We would all like to think that our homes are the safest place on earth, would we not? The truth of the matter is that it really is not. The air in our home is usually more contaminated with pollutants than the air outside. We may wonder how this could be possible. The very products that are supposed to save us from illness may be the actual culprits that are making us sick.

When your child eats and leaves a mess in the high chair we may reach for the Lysol to disinfect it and make it as clean as possible right? Well, these products that help us keep a clean house are actually poisonous and harmful. They may cause respiratory problems, skin irritation, allergies and even death if ingested.

Now let us think about this, do we really want things in our home that could actually kill us or our children? Would we deliberately put our children in harms way? Probably not, but the fact is, with these poisonous products in the home, it could very well be putting our children in danger. The most common poison exposures for children are the ingestion of products in our home, chlorine being number one.

The people out there who get down and dirty to clean the bathroom can probably relate to this. This is what I used to do when I had the dirty job of disinfecting the bathroom. I would spray, spray, spray, then let it sit so as to eat up that soap scum in the tub, then I would hold my breath for as long as I could when wiping it out. Sometimes the fumes would be so bad it would make me cough. How can that be could for us? I do not think it can.

What about cleaning the oven? That toxic oven cleaner even says right on the can to have a well ventilated area, do not inhale, swallow, get in eyes or on skin. If this happens call poison control and seek medical attention. I do not think these products should be on the market if they could cause such serious adverse affects. The potential danger is too great, especially when there are children in the home.

The effects of all these toxic products over a long period of time is something that one may want to think about also. Our homes are usually sealed up in the winter because the heat is on and in the summer with the air conditioning running so there is really not much ventilation to let this toxic air out. We sit in our home thinking we are safe while breathing in these harsh chemicals. We get used to it so we do not even notice the smell anymore.

Take a moment to really think long and hard about this. It may just save your life or the life of your child. My children have respiratory problems and allergies and I believe a big contributing factor is the air in our home when I was using those chemicals to keep it clean so they would not get sick all the time. It had the opposite effect.