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Within each family, parents must assume the role of public health officer, maintaining a knowledge base sufficient to make fully informed decisions and thereby reduce unnecessary exposures to harmful environmental toxins.

Whether the products we purchase are cleaners, personal care products or building products, we must ensure that we are making the healthiest possible purchase before exposing our children. To do so, we must rely on the information given us on product labels. Herein lies the problem.

Different government agencies regulate consumer products based on guidance from various regulatory laws, each covering specific types of products, depending on the law. In some cases there may be overlapping jurisdiction as in the case of cleaners that are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and/or Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
There are plenty of limitations within the regulatory rules and some products fall through the cracks, like antibacterial soaps and lotions. In addition, manufacturers can withhold information, stating trade secret protections. Finally, even when regulation is in place, there may be little to no oversight or enforcement.

So we are faced with packaging that is not as helpful as we would like. The health and safety warnings we count on to protect our own health, and that of our children, are incomplete or missing as in the case of phthalates in cosmetics. Warnings about chronic exposures are rare. In certain cases, labels are often misleading, using unregulated claims like "natural" and "ecologically safe" to imply that a product is free from hazards.

Typically the special vulnerability of children is not taken into account in labeling requirements, thus we must provide that extra measure of protection before we buy.

We are familiar with the signal words: DANGER, WARNING or CAUTION. These help the consumer to gauge how harmful a product might be during use. In most cases the signal word reflects acute toxicity by skin contact and inhalation, as well as whether the product causes burning or irritation to skin and eyes, or allergic skin reactions. For CPSC-regulated products, the signal word also reflects whether a product is flammable or combustible. The dose required to manifest these effects is not given.

If the product contains neurotoxicants, carcinogens or hormone-disrupting chemicals, we are not informed.

Inert ingredients added to improve product performance or make them easier to use pose an additional concern. Unless an inert ingredient is determined to be highly toxic, it is not required by law to be identified by name or percentage on the label. For individuals who may be chemically sensitive, the slightest exposure can produce horrific results, similar to the kind of reaction experienced by someone severely allergic to peanuts, when unknowingly exposed.

Healthy Child has been working to unravel the intricacies of labeling and we profile the health effects and sources of common household chemicals and provide information on non-toxic ways of doing just about everything from cleaning to pest control.

Every day, Americans are exposed to harmful chemicals through air, food, water, soil and consumer products—environmental factors that are increasingly linked to chronic disease. Chronic diseases, such as asthma and cancer, account for 70 percent of deaths each year in the U.S and $750 billion in medical care costs.

Healthy Child Healthy World supports children's first line of defense against chronic illness—their parents.

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