It’s probably safe to say that as a Realtor in Boston, I walk into more homes in a month than most civilians do in several years. One aspect of housekeeping that never fails to stun and amaze me is the use of chemical “air fresheners” – that’s Glade, Renuzit, Febreze, Air Wick and the countless generic brands that mimic them. This includes the purportedly “natural” oil-based products. And carpet cleaners – I can tell before I walk in when a desperate homeowner has sprinkled their wall-to-wall with a chemical cleaner to cover up an untrained puppy or worse, when they believe it “removes” the smell of cigarettes. Read the labels closely. “Baking soda” might be in 10-point print, but look at all the 4-point ingredients and put it back on the shelf.
These mass-marketed products contain carcinogenic chemicals. Period. And vaporizing agents, (in order to disperse the carcinogenic chemicals), that are also poisonous. Some visitors to your home, whether it’s on the market or not, could have sensitivity so acute to these chemicals that entering a room where the chemicals are present could cause anaphylactic shock, or worse, death. Our lungs are soft and absorptive and soak up these chemicals like sponges.
It’s the same stuff that’s in those “Little Trees” that hang from so many rear-view mirrors, but more lethal as science progresses and can now mimic the most obscure aromas and flavors, and get away with calling them “natural”! Big surprise: FDA guidelines for flavor and aroma labeling are a joke.
Instead of investing in more plastic-contained poisons to make our homes smell fresh and clean, we can invest, (much less money!) in baking soda, vinegar and other non-lethal household cleaners. Go to this site – the non-profit Environmental Working Group — to vet everything before you buy it. Learn the truth about the bath soap and shampoo you use, the laundry and dishwasher soap, and, heaven forbid, the fabric softeners — especially chemical-laden dryer sheets. And when you vent your dryer into your home or into the atmosphere, you are getting an even stronger dose or sharing these poisonous compounds with your neighbors – two-and-four-legged, winged and furry. Download this free guide to safer home cleaning.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publishing of Silent Spring, Rachel Carson’s history and expose´of synthetic pesticides and other chemicals developed since World War II. Let’s honor her memory by cherishing our health and the health of the planet.
For the bigger picture, visit http:www.silentspring.org. If audio is your preference, listen to a recent interview with Dr. Julia Brody, Executive Director of Silent Spring, and learn the basics of what mass marketing is doing for our and our planet’s health. I hope these teeny shards of information will help you to pause before purchasing and that you’ll encourage your homeowner clients to do the same – we’ll all breathe easier!
Linda Burnett
Jamaica Plain/Roslindale Real Estate Maven
Keller-Williams Boston-Metro Real Estate
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