Leave the House Dirty

In the most recent edition of Conceive magazine (of which I am not a proponent in general, but it had some interesting articles) I learned of the potentially hazardous effects on our children’s fertility from certain household cleaners!

In short, things to avoid are: fragrances, petroleum-based surfactants, and solvents. You can read more about the results of the recent study’s findings here. To give you a taste, though, here is a tidbit about the dangers of fragrances I found compelling: ” The manufacturers want you to smell the fragrance when you open the box, when you use the product, and then later when you smell the clothes…. However, fragrances in nature disperse quickly; phthalates bond the fragrance to the clothing so you keep smelling it.” Scary. Another group of chemicals, alkyl phenoxy ethoxylates (APEs) are found in many laundry detergents and some of them are actually ingredients in spermicide as well. Enough said!

So, what are we to do? What are some favorite brand names or, better yet, recipes for safe home cleaning options that will not endanger our chances of becoming grandmothers?!