By Lisa Frack, EWG Social Media Manager

Of course it shouldn't take the arrival of Earth Day to spur us to greater greenness. But the truth of it is, it works. Last year, it was on Earth Day that I (finally!) committed to taking my kids to school on the bus once a week. And while once a week may sound lame to the bolder greenies among us, for me, at that time, it was what I could do. And it was, a bit embarrassingly, because of Earth Day that I did even that.

Earth Day 2011: The Plan
It's almost a year later, and Earth Day is right around the corner. So naturally I'm pondering my next move, and thinking through what "next step" makes the most sense for my family - and the planet. My list is (unfortunately) long, but it will get shorter as I green our routines, one by one, over time, until it is just part of how we live.

At EWG, in celebration of Earth Day 2011, we're challenging ourselves to take that next step, to take at least one new green action to improve our health and environment. Will you join us in taking ONE ACTION between now and Earth Day on Friday, April 22nd?

Don't underestimate the power of taking one step or making a single change. Whether it's watching an awareness-building documentary, broaching a conversation with friends or colleagues about environmental hazards, or simply committing to shop smarter. If you've done one thing, you've done something.

1. Eat Healthier Food
Most of us aren't eating the way we would like. What have you been wanting to change to make your diet more green and healthy? Here are some ideas:

• Go organic. Organic produce contains no Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and no pesticides are used to grow them, which means no pesticide residues in your body or polluting our water. Don't have access to organics or find it too expensive? Use EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce to go organic when pesticide residues are highest on conventional fruits and vegetables.


• Eat fresher foods - shoot, grow them! The average American eats too much meat and too few fruits and vegetables - plus a whole lotta processed food (those middle aisles in the grocery store). So why not make an effort in the next few weeks to buy and cook more fresh foods? They tend to come without toxic packaging, too! And if you plant some seeds in your very own garden (backyard, schoolyard, community plot, median strip!), all the better. Because that is the freshest food around. And, if you haven't noticed (you have, right?), it's also all the rage.
  
  
• Stop eating so much BPA. With 200+ studies now linking this hormone-disruptor to serious health issues, trying to reduce your exposure is a no brainer. And it turns out that it not only works (a recent study showed that some families reduced their BPA exposure by 60% when they changed several eating habits), but it's not that hard and it's healthier because you wind up eating more fresh foods. What are you waiting for? Here's how.

• Take a close look at your kids' school lunch routine. Whether your kids eat "hot lunch" provided by their school or you pack it at home, is it as healthy as it should be? Have you joined your child for hot lunch yet this year - that's the one way to really get to know what's for lunch. Chef Ann Cooper has loads of ideas - both for what to put in that lunchbox every day, and how we can improve our country's school lunch program at the policy level.

• Learn a thing or two about the Farm Bill. If your first reaction to this suggestions is "me? why?" then you should watch EWG Prez Ken Cook's recent TEDx talk on the matter - now. We're trying our very best to turn the farm bill into a healthy food bill.
  

2. Drink Cleaner Water

• Get that water filter. Most tap water should be filtered before you drink it. But many people aren't quite sure how to go about picking the perfect filter - that doesn't break the bank but saves you from whatever's in your water that shouldn't be. Why not cross this off your environmental health "to do" list (you have one, right?) before Earth Day (you could take the first sip ON earth Day!)? Simply visit EWG's tap water site to finally figure out what filter to get - then get it.

• Say buh-bye to bottled water - for good. You know you should. The water quality is not necessarily better than tap (in fact it often IS tap), the labels tell you very little and are under-regulated, and then there's the pesky single-use plastic. Get a reusable water bottle (preferably non-toxic) and, well, use it! It's easy once you're in the habit. And yes, you CAN lug it on the airplane (no excuses!). Need it all in a nutshell? Then watch the short Story of Bottled Water.

• Do the research - find out what's in YOUR drinking water. The first step to clean drinking water is figuring out what's in your water that you might need to filter out by reading the local drinking water report. Water providers are required by law to provide you with certain contaminant and water quality info (unlike bottled water), because we water drinkers have a right to know what we're drinking. Let's exercise it! Just search by zip code in EWG's tap water quality database.

• Find out about fracking. If you're not yet familiar with fracking, you should be. It's the new(ish) process to drill for deep natural gas that relies on a toxic cocktail of water and chemicals and has a short but serious history of contaminating drinking water and being dangerously under-regulated. Is it happening near you? Check this map to find out. And whatever you do, watch Gasland - it almost won an Oscar and will bring you up-to-date right quick.

3. Use Safer Cosmetics
We all use a few cosmetics every day. But are they safe? Here are a few ideas to educated yourself and make your cleaning and preening routine a bit greener.

• Get acquainted with EWG'S Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. If you've ever wondered whether there are toxic ingredients you should avoid in those l-o-n-g ingredient lists on all those bottles in your shower and bathroom cabinet (you know you have!), Skin Deep's for you. Simply type in your product and voila, a score! And an explanation. And a list of safer alternatives to start using instead.

• Go through your cosmetics! We all let them pile up. The shampoo that made your hair too fluffy, the greasy lotion, and that awful color lipstick. But since this is for Earth Day, we can take it a step beyond mere tidying up and tossing. Let's consider which ones are toxic (Skin Deep, again), and which ones get to stay because they're not. It might come to this: take them ALL out, look them up, and put back only the safer ones that earn a spot on your shelf.

• Lighten the load. If you're like most Americans, you use more than a few cosmetics every day (beyond the basics). Think you could use fewer? Many contain harmful ingredients that could harm your health - why risk it? Plus, the fewer products you use (do you really need the hair spray? the foot, hand, body, and face lotions?), the easier it is to navigate the labels - an added bonus!

  Phew! That was a long list. And maybe we missed the Earth action that makes the most sense to YOU?! If so, what is it?

  In the next two weeks, we'll be posting tips and reporting out on Facebook as we make our way through our own lists of personal changes that directly affect the earth - and our health. In the end, they are one and the same.

By Lisa Frack with Sonya Lunder

There may be 12 days of Christmas and eight days of Hannukah, but EWG has boiled the shopping hullabaloo down to the number five: five ways to detox your holiday shopping. And, no, our list does not include a golden ring. (We're not keen on jewelry for kids.)

Finding great gifts for the kids in your life should be fun. Yet there are toxic chemicals in children's toys that simply shouldn't be there and there's no guarantee that what's on the shelf is necessarily safe. We've seen progress in recent years (specifically the 2008 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which strengthened rules and tightened oversight on lead and phthalates), but our laws have a l-o-n-g way to go.

Which is why we whipped up these simple but important toy shopping tips:

1. No cheap jewelry. Some baubles contain the toxic metals lead or cadmium, and plenty of kids (young and old) chew and even swallow them. Earlier this year, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission advised parents to throw out their kids' cheap jewelry because the odds were high it contained toxic substances.
2. Choose arts and craft supplies carefully. Many contain toxic chemicals. Read labels closely - but keep in mind that these products aren't sufficiently regulated, tested or labeled to ensure safety for children. Here are a few to watch out for:

   Paint. Paints should be water-based and colored with natural, non-metal pigments. Oil paints contain toxic solvents.

   Clay. Don't buy polymer clays that stay soft at room temperature or can be hardened in a home oven -- they're made from PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and often contain phthalates.

   Coloring. Common crayons often contain paraffin wax, a petrochemical product. Look for alternatives like soy and beeswax. Don't buy dry-erase and permanent markers, which contain solvents. No plastic-encased crayons. No scented markers: scents encourage kids to sniff them, but those fragrances contain chemicals that are not listed on the label.

   
   
3. Get creative! Give a little differently:
Six ideas to get you thinking about gifts that don't require a toxic analysis:


Books make wonderful gifts - especially when they're used. Amazon has an extensive used collection and EWG benefits when you shop through our unique Amazon link. Of course there's always the local used book shop, too!

Say no to disposables. Choose toys made to last. They may cost more, but disposable toys waste your money (which = your time, right?).

Give activities, not things. Take your child to a play or a favorite restaurant, or sign her up for that gymnastics class. Time together and special activities make wonderful, non-toxic gifts!

Rediscover game night. It's an easy way to make family time. Share your beloved childhood games - chess, checkers, backgammon, Scrabble, parchesi, mah-jong, bingo, Life, Jenga, Connect Four, Yahtzee, Uno, and, of course, cards. Remember to keep small pieces away from little hands and mouths.

Encourage outside play. Kids love and need to play outdoors (and plenty say they don't do it often enough). Encourage them to head for fresh air with fun outdoor equipment like sleds, soccer and dodge balls (and goal posts!), snow shoes and skis, roller skates, skateboards, bikes, jump ropes - even pogo sticks! Give helmets, too, and make sure the kids wear them.

Think twice about battery-operated toys. Batteries contain heavy metals, so the fewer we use the better! If you must, grab some rechargeable batteries and a charger.

4. Simplify your approach to non-toxic shopping. It can be frustrating - if not downright impossible - to figure out what this year's "must have" toy is made of. Instead, ignore fads and buy items you know aren't toxic. Work from a list you trust, like HealthyStuff.org or U.S. PIRG's Toy Safety Tips. And shop where you can get straight answers. Of course, the fewer gifts you buy, the fewer you have to research.


5. Shift your traditions to raise a greener generation. Parents have an opportunity to shape the next generation's holiday traditions - and tamp down commercialism. Some ideas: draw names for large families so there are fewer gifts to give, agree to a dollar limit, or shop at resale shops.

Most of all, have fun! Don't let the threat of toxic chemicals in toys get your holiday spirit down!

Whether you're entertaining 20 of your nearest and dearest, baking cookies with the kids, or just filling up a bowl of chips, chances are you're going to spend a lot of time in the kitchen this holiday season. So will we. And, like you, we want it to be a green and healthy holiday kitchen.

Go ask Jane!
Jane Houlihan (right), EWG's Senior Vice President for Research and the visionary behind our popular cosmetics database Skin Deep, is the person EWG staffers go to for tips on greening our kitchens (or our anything, really!).

Whether it's for smart tips on storing leftovers or food choices that are better for your health and the environment, Jane's our go-to this time of year. Her tips are sure to make it a bit easier for you to shop for healthier foods and stock your holiday kitchen, so that you can truly enjoy peace of mind through the winter holidays.

As a busy mother with environmental health on her mind, Jane has lots of ways to green her holiday celebrations -- and now she's letting us in on how she does it. So go ahead, make your holiday kitchen safer and healthier (thanks, Jane!).

It's actually pretty easy -- just follow these simple tips as you shop, cook and eat together:

1. Choose food low in added chemicals and pollutants
Food can contain ingredients we don't want to eat -- from pesticides to hormones to artificial additives to food packaging chemicals. Some simple tips to cut the chemicals:

• Buy organic when you can. I make sure fresh fruits and vegetables are on the menu, and I go organic when I can. Organic produce is grown without synthetic pesticides (I prefer my dinner without, thanks!). Organic meat and dairy products also limit your family's exposure to growth hormones and antibiotics.
• It's OK to choose non-organic from our "Clean 15" less-contaminated conventional fruits and vegetables, too. EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides ranks popular fruits and vegetables based on the amount of pesticide residues found on them. Check out our Shopper's Guide to Pesticides (and get the iPhone App).
• Cook with fresh foods, not packaged and canned, whenever you can. Food containers can leach packaging chemicals into food, including ">food can linings that leach the synthetic estrogen bisphenol A into food. Instead, head for fresh food or prepared foods in glass containers. Pick recipes that call for fresh, not canned, foods.

I like to check in with EWG's Healthy Home Tip: Go organic and eat fresh foods when planning grocery trips.

2. Use non-toxic cookware
Using a great pan makes a huge difference when I cook. I skip the non-stick so that my kids (and our new puppy) don't have to breathe toxic fumes that can off-gas from non-stick pans on high heat. Non-stick cookware is in most American kitchens. Is it in yours?

• For safer cooking, EWG suggests cast iron, stainless steel and oven-safe glass. Yes, there are many new products on the market, but most companies won't tell you exactly what they are. Even if they're advertised as "green" or "not non-stick," manufacturers do not have to release their safety data to the public.
• If you're in the market for a new cast iron pan, purchase it through Amazon and a portion of your purchase total will go to EWG!
• Cook safer with non-stick if you're 'stuck' with it. You can reduce the possibility of toxic fumes by cooking smart with any non-stick cookware you happen to own: never heat an empty pan, especially at high heat, don't put it in an oven hotter than 500 degrees F, and use an exhaust fan over the stove.

Learn more about cooking safely in our Healthy Home Tip: Skip the non-stick.

3. Store and reheat leftovers safely
Leftovers can extend the joy of a holiday -- by giving you a break from the kitchen! But be sure to avoid plastic when storing and (especially) when heating them. Here's why -- and how:

• Skip the plastic food storage containers if you can. The chemical additives in plastic can migrate into food and liquids. Ceramic or glass food containers (like Pyrex) are safer. ">Click here to get a 10-piece Pyrex set on Amazon (and a portion of your purchase will go towards helping EWG!).
• Don't microwave food or drinks in plastic containers, even if they claim to be "microwave safe." Heat can release chemicals into your food and drink. Microwaves heat unevenly, creating hot spots where the plastic is more likely to break down.
• If you do use a plastic container you already own, handle it carefully. Use it for cool liquids only; wash plastics on the top rack of the dishwasher, farther from the heating element (or by hand!); use a paper towel instead of plastic wrap to cover food in the microwave. Also, avoid single-use plastic whenever you can -- reusing it isn't safe (it can harbor bacteria), and tossing it fills up landfills (and pollutes the environment).

I hope these tips make having a green holiday easier for you -- Happy Holidays!

PS - If you're looking for a great, green cookbook (as a gift or for yourself!) - look no further than EWG President Ken Cook's personal favorites.

The good news is that there's a lot of information available these days about how to reduce your exposures to toxic chemicals at home. The bad news, of course, is exactly that: there's a lot of information available these days about how to reduce your exposures to toxic chemicals at home.

So here's the key question in it all: How to boil it down to do-able changes to avoid the toxic chemicals that really matter?

Get EWG's Healthy Home Checklist to see how you're doing
About a year ago, we started a monthly healthy home tip series based on our Parents' Guide to Going Green, so you could make one change at a time on a path towards an environmentally healthy home (these things take time!). As those who've been reading them know, each tip is chock-a block with the why's and how-to's for each subject. Lots of useful, science-based info to guide your way - and make changes where they count most.

This month we created a Healthy Home Checklist so you can see how you're going - and identify any important changes still on your "to do" list. We move through the house by room:

• Kitchen (think: cookware, plastics, tap water, and more)


• Bathroom (think: toothpaste, fragrance, liquid soap, and more)


• Laundry and cleaning closet (think: fewer, greener products, full ingredient lists), and


• All around the house (think: lead paint, toys, fire retardants, and more).

When we first released the checklist to our fans via email (not on our list? it's easy to sign up), we asked for feedback because we want to know how people's houses rated and how well the checklist was working as a tool for change. Is it a deep, multi-year green, or a lighter shade of "I just got started and need to lose the non-stick pans" green? From the many emails we received in response, here are a few inspiring comments:

Thank you for this comprehensive checklist, we already have an eco-friendly house (90%), of which I am very proud, but there are always some things to improve. Part of my eco knowledge, I owe it to you guys, so a big thank you for your wonderful work out there.

I'm excited that I only missed 2 correct answers: foam in furniture and I have a 1929 house (lead paint.) Since my 30's I have been becoming more and more environmentally aware. When I turned 40 I did a clean sweep of my house/life and ditched chemicals and parabens. It feels good, and I am pleased to have confirmation that I am on the right track.

I was pleased to see that I am doing all that I can at the moment (fabric shower curtains, stainless steel cookware, safe cosmetics, cleaning supplies and toys for the kids, organic food, organic garden, etc). The only thing that I would like to improve on is my furniture. Thankfully it is in good condition (no foam exposed) - but I am willing to bet it was treated with flame-retardents. When I can replace my couch I certainly will with something safe!

Thank you so much EWG for all the great tips! I truly rely on the information that I get from your site to make smart decisions to keep my family healthy and safe!!

Go ahead, assess your house
It's quick and eye-opening, and if your house "passes" with flying colors, you'll know where you stand. If your "to do" list is long, you'll know exactly where to dig in.

Get started with the Healthy Homes Checklist here.

Chef, author (and mom) Aviva Goldfarb knows first hand what can happen at 6 PM on any given night in a busy family: chaos.

Luckily, she's been helping families convert that chaos (hungry kids, tired parents, no dinner!) into a more organized, pleasant, and healthy mealtime. When we stare blankly at the fridge, hoping for a miracle, Goldfarb delivers with her online meal planning service, the Six O'Clock Scramble. The Scramble's mission is music to my ears: to help busy parents make healthy meals in a hurry by helping them plan ahead for a week of meals. What's not to love?

The Scramble goes earth-friendly
This month, Goldfarb added a new cookbook to the mix: SOS! The Six O'Clock Scramble to the Rescue: Earth-Friendly, Kid-Pleasing Dinners for Busy Families. Which is great news because after getting food on the table and trying my darndest to make it healthy, it often feels like there's no chance to factor the planet in there, too!

But there is.

Thanks to Goldfarb's new cookbook, which infuses earth-friendliness right into the Scramble planning. The recipes are organized by season to help you choose seasonal produce (without thinking too hard about it). She highlights EWG's Shoppers' Guide to Pesticides in Produce, which helps people buy organic on a budget by listing the fruits and veggies with the highest and lowest pesticide residues - also known as "The Dirty Dozen" and "The Clean 15."

The book is also peppered with helpful tips on incorporating green habits into the family routine, from reusable shopping bags to simple food scrap composting.

Dig in - it's Earth Week!
Since Earth Day is tomorrow, why not program healthy, earth-friendly eating into your lifestyle today? You can easily start with small steps.

Here are Goldfarb's 7 tips you can use right now to make a sustainable difference:

1. Start Composting


2. Cut out meat for at least one meal per week


3. Bring reusable shopping bags to the grocery store each time you shop


4. Vow to pack trash-free lunches with reusable containers, and even cloth napkins


5. Shop local - with weekly trips to your local farm markets or even participation in a CSA


6. Eat seasonally - the taste is better and the reduced distance travelled makes a big impact on the environment


7. Plan and organize your meals to make only one trip to the store per week - you'll conserve gas and reduce food waste

Want to unscramble dinnertime at your house?
Goldfarb has a blog (the Scramblog, natch!), is on Twitter (@theScramble), and of course you can grab a copy of her new cookbook.

Check out this great interview with the author on Planet Green, who named her a Change Maker - with good reason.

Special to Enviroblog by Lindsey Carmichael, MPH, Author, Greening Your Family

My public health ethics class began with the intense, young professor asking a simple question: What do you value the most?

We were given a few moments to reflect, and were then asked to share our answers with the class. Fairly quickly a theme emerged, one focusing on relationships with family. For one student, her relationship with God trumped family, and for a few others the idea of freedom was the thing they valued the most, but people factored into the majority of responses to the question of what they held most dear.

I think it's safe to assume that for those of us who are parents, our children and their well-being rank at the top of the list of things we value. Collective well-being is what Greening Your Family is about.

There was a landmark, one-of-a-kind study conducted in 2004 by the Environmental Working Group called 10 Americans (watch the video). Researchers took samples of the umbilical-cord blood of ten babies and tested it for the presence of 413 toxic chemicals.

The results were alarming. More than 285 industrial chemicals were found in the cord blood, with an average of roughly two hundred chemicals per child. The testing revealed the presence of dioxins, volatile organic compounds, Teflon by-products, and pesticides.1 Exposure to some of these chemicals is associated with a host of serious adverse impacts on human health, including immune and hormone system disruption, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), infertility, birth defects, and cancer.2

How many of you reading this knows a child with ADHD, or has a friend who has had trouble conceiving?

Lobbyists in the industrial chemical industry acknowledge the presence of these chemicals in humans, but they assert that these chemicals exist at extraordinarily low doses, or concentrations, and that therefore any adverse effect on human health is dubious.

Ken Cook, EWG president, addressed this point in a presentation he gave about the 10 Americans experiment. He talked about the fact that many pharmaceuticals are designed to trigger the desired biological effect at very low doses, and discussed various examples.

The asthma drug Albuterol, he said, is designed to be effective at 2.1 parts per billion. Cialis, the erectile-dysfunction drug, is designed to trigger the desired biological effect at 30 parts per billion. Cook made the point that 97.5 parts per billion of the chemical Badge-40H (found in the liners of tin cans and linked to hormone system disruption) were found in a sample of blood taken from a man living in New York City.

The same person registered 45 parts per billion of perfluorocarbons (PFCs), the industrial chemical found in nonstick materials such as Teflon. In studies though PFCs have been linked to both hormone disruption and cancer. Thus, the concentration of some of these chemicals is minute, their effect is not. The impact of exposure to pharmaceuticals is regulated and well studied; the impact of exposure to industrial chemical cocktails is neither well regulated nor well studied.

The 10 Americans study confirms that babies today are born pre-polluted. We know that the most vulnerable times in human development are in the womb and in infancy. And we know, based on the results of EWG's research, among other sources, that as a society, we are not adequately protecting those who are most vulnerable.

It is time to start.

Lindsey Carmichael's Greening Your Family is available from the author's web site. You can read a review in The Boston Globe.

'Tis the season to be jolly cooking. Fa la la la la, la la la la.

In the next two weeks, you're probably going to do some (or possibly tons of) holiday cooking. You'll buy ingredients, cook, clean -- and enjoy some leftovers. It's a great time to do a little "greening" before the guests arrive.

EWG makes it easy to prepare your holiday feasts with your family's environmental health in mind. Just follow these simple tips as you shop, cook, eat and clean:

Cook with safer foods
The food we eat can contain ingredients we don't want to eat -- from pesticides to food packaging chemicals. To find safer foods, we suggest that you:

• Buy organic when you can. Organic produce is grown without pesticides, so when you eat it you're not also eating toxic chemicals. Organic meat and dairy products also limit your family's exposure to growth hormones and antibiotics.


• When you can't buy organic, look for less-contaminated conventional produce. Our Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce ranks popular fruits and vegetables based on the amount of pesticide residues found on them. Check out the Shopper's Guide to Pesticides.


• Avoid food containers that leach packaging chemicals into food, especially canned foods (the can linings contain bisphenol-A) and greasy fast-food wrappers. Instead, head for fresh food or prepared foods in glass containers. Pick recipes that call for fresh, not canned, foods.

Use non-toxic cookware
Skip the non-stick so you don't breathe toxic fumes (that can kill your pet bird!) while cooking on high heat. Non-stick pans are coated with a synthetic chemical (think Teflon), and, while convenient, they emit toxic fumes when overheated.

Non-stick cookware is in most American kitchens. Is it in yours? If it is, use it safely. If you can, cook with safer alternatives. Here's how:

• Choose safer cookware. We suggest cast iron, stainless steel and oven-safe glass. Yes, there are many new products on the market, but we don't know enough about them to know if they're safe. Even if they're advertised as "green" or "not non-stick," manufacturers do not have to release their safety data to the public. If you're in the market for a new pan, purchase it through Amazon and a portion of your purchase total will go to EWG!


• Cook safer with non-stick if you're 'stuck' with it. You can reduce the possibility of toxic fumes by cooking smart with any non-stick cookware you happen to own: never preheat nonstick cookware at high heat, don't put it in an oven hotter than 500 degrees F and use an exhaust fan over the stove.

• Skip the plastic food storage containers if you can. We know that chemicals routinely migrate, or leach, into food and liquids placed in plastic containers. Ceramic or glass food containers (like Pyrex) are safer.


• Don't microwave food or drinks in plastic containers, even if they claim to be "microwave safe." Heat can break down plastics and release chemicals into your food and drink. Microwaves heat unevenly, creating hot spots where the plastic is more likely to break down.


• If you must use plastics, handle them carefully. Use them for cool liquids only; don't reuse single-use plastics; wash plastics on the top rack of the dishwasher, farther from the heating element (or by hand!); use a paper towel instead of plastic wrap to cover food in the microwave.

Clean greener
You clean before holiday guests arrive and after they leave -- and while you cook. But do you clean green? We recommend that you do, because our homes aren't safe and clean if the air inside is polluted with chemicals from household cleaners. It's really quite easy:

• Choose safer cleaning products. Try natural alternatives (vinegar, baking soda and water!). Avoid anti-bacterials (here's how). Avoid the biggest hazards (acidic toilet bowl cleaners, air fresheners, oven cleaners, and corrosive drain openers).


• Adopt safe cleaning routines. Open the window. Use gloves. Keep kids away from toxic products. Dust and vacuum often because dust often contains toxics.


• A few tips for the kitchen. Microwave your sponge. Wash your hands with plain soap and water -- it's just as effective. Use a baking soda & water paste instead of commercial oven cleaner.

These tips are part of our Healthy Home Tips series - read all 7 and sign up for the rest here.