Many of us at 21 Acres are striving to reduce chemical exposure in our personal lives and have taken this on as a New Year’s resolution.  In our operations procedures at 21 Acres we strive to limit any use of chemicals or plastics in all of our activities, from cleaning to fixing to storing to packaging, we’re careful to use products that are gentle to the environment and to people’s health and well-being. Staff and volunteers are now taking some of these practices and using them in our homes.

The video, Unsafe: The Truth Behind Everyday Chemicals, is well worth a watch.  It’s not too long and is a helpful overview about the issues of toxic chemical exposure in our lives.  Experts make points such as: there are more than 13,000 chemicals in cosmetics and only 10 percent of those are tested before being readily sold to the public; Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical shown to cause breast cancer in animals, is used in food can linings and soft plastics (ie, food storage containers and baby toys), including packaging of snack foods; and the fact that flame retardants used on thousands of products, specifically those with foam padding such as upholstered furniture, is a point the video covers in detail.

Watch the video and let us know what you think.  We have a nice relationship with the experts at the Washington Toxics Coalition and they are a great resource we can tap if you have specific questions about also starting to live a more toxic-free life in the New Year.

— Robin