Why Dusting Makes a Difference to Your Health – It’s Not What You’d Expect
When you saw this title, you probably immediately thought about allergies caused by dust mites because dust mites aren’t good for you. But, dusting matters for other reasons.
After reading this, you may want to move dusting closer to the top of your housekeeping list.
Chemical Flame Retardants Settle Into Household Dust
It may be time to pay more attention to dusting especially if you live with young children. Here’s why. Chemical flame retardants escape from all sorts of home products and settle into household dust.
The products with flame retardants include electronic devices (computers, TVs) and anything made with polyurethane foam (sofa cushions, mattresses, pillows, car seats), among many others. Unfortunately, flame retardants are found in many products in your home.
Inhalation And Ingestion Risks
The flame retardant dust can be inhaled by you or even ingested by your small children who put everything into their mouths. Neither is good.
The EPA “is concerned that certain flame retardants like polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and decaBDE are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic to both humans and the environment.”
Enough said.
To think that all this time your cleaning has probably been focused on eradicating germs when you probably should have devoted just a bit more time to cleaning up toxic dust!
Learn how to reduce the levels of dust without dusting (yes, it’s true, there is a way). And try to dust more often… if you can manage it.
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Carol Trimmer
