Why Do I Clean Green? Part 1: Toxins in Your Air

Today I got a message from a friend asking me Why I make my own cleaners. . . . Looking back I guess I kinda realized that I was so excited about using them, I may have glossed over the motives for my using Homemade Green Cleaning Products. LOL I was just so darn excited! And trying to get the recipes out there for anyone interested in making the switch as well!
It's quite easy for me to just say "Commercial Cleaners are bad. Homemade Cleaners are good." LOL Not quite enough info, right? So I got to trolling (ahem, researching) and found some things that help to give my decisions some logical foundation.
Commercial cleaners are loaded with toxins. When you spray the cleaner, these toxins are released into the air. Then you breathe them in. Not Good. If you have breathing problems already, this will make it worse. If you don't have trouble, trouble could very well be right around the corner. My hubby has problems with his lungs due to years of working with granite and tile, not to mention after Hurricane Katrina, living in a **gasp** FEMA trailer. Yikes! It occurred to me that all my obsessive cleaning is not helping with that. So I began to look into Green Cleaning products. WOW are those expensive! Definitely not in my Frugal Mommy budget! Then I came across a message on a board about someone's homemade all-purpose cleaner . . . And here I am! Greener. Cleaner. Healthier. Happier. And with a little extra money to boot!
This may help you see what I mean:

A study published online yesterday in the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review says that 25 best-selling cleaning and personal-hygiene products emit an average of 17 chemicals each. Battelle scientists tested vapors emitted by the samples, which included hand sanitizers, deodorants and dish detergents.

The researchers found 133 individual chemicals. Of those, nearly 25 percent are classified as toxic or hazardous under at least one federal law, according to the study.

"These are chemicals that can damage the brain, the lungs, the central nervous system and cause cancer," said Anne Steinemann, a   professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Washington and the study's lead author.
"And some of these chemicals have no safe exposure level. This means that not even one molecule is risk-free."

 This is from the Columbus Dispatch, an article titled Beware Toxins in Products, Study Warns. This alone is a pretty good reason. But

Since 1950, at least 70,000 new chemical compounds have been invented and dispersed into our environment. Only a fraction of these have been tested for human toxicity. We are, by default, conducting a massive clinical toxicology trial, and our children and their children are the experimental animals.

[Source: Herbert L. Needleman, M.D., Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., Raising Children Toxic Free]

150 chemicals found in the home are connected to allergies, birth defects, cancer and psychological disorders.

[Source: Consumer Protection Agency (CPA)]

The average home today contains 62 toxic chemicals - more than a chemistry lab at the turn of the century. More than 72,000 synthetic chemicals have been produced since WW II. Less than 2% of synthetic chemicals have been tested for toxicity, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects, or birth defects. The majority of chemicals have never been tested for long-term effects.   http://www.karinya.com/toxins.htm

WOW, right? Pretty staggering.
Now we've talked about plastic bottles already, but I must point out that each time you buy a commercial cleaning product from the store, you are purchasing a plastic bottle - even when you are buying a refill, which I know they say cuts down on plastic waste, but really? Does buying a great big plastic bottle make you feel like you're cutting down on plastic waste? Guess what happens to the bottle when you throw it in the trash? Yep. It sits in a landfill for the next 450 years!