Healthy Homes

What: Harmful cleaning products, such as drain cleaners, floor-care products, oven cleaners, window sprays, disinfecting wipes, furniture and metal polishes, pesticides and laundry products.

Why: These chemicals can irritate the eyes, skin and lungs, and worsen conditions such as asthma.

How: Use products that are third-party certified to be safer for health and the environment or make your own cleaning products. Get started with our Living Green Guide or watch our video on making a non-toxic, all-purpose cleaner. Carefully follow any instructions for use and storage provided on product labels.

Steps: Choose products that have a third-party certification like EPA’s SaferChoice, Green Seal or ECOLOGO and store them safely. Check the labels of household products for words such as “caution,” “warning,” “danger,” or “poison.” Do not flush these products down the toilet, or pour them into sinks, drains, storm drains or onto the ground. Check with your solid waste district for information on how to properly dispose of household hazardous waste.

What: Alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs – including prescription medications and cannabis.

Why: To prevent substances from being swallowed accidentally.

How: Keep potentially harmful substances out of sight and out of reach for children and pets.

Steps: Place harmful substances on high shelves, behind closed doors, install child-proof latches, lock medicine cabinet. Learn more about safe disposal

What: Lead is found in paint and older items in your home that crumbles over time into invisible dust.

Why: Anyone can swallow or be exposed to lead dust and become poisoned, but young children, pregnant women, and pets are especially at risk.

How: Use lead-safe cleaning and lead-safe work practices to keep your home free of lead dust.

Steps: When cleaning, use a vacuum with a HEPA filter, a three-bucket mopping system, and disposable towels to wet-clean windowsills and other hard surfaces. Repair chipping or peeling paint using lead-safe work practices (like wet-sanding and wet-scraping).

What: Naturally occurring contaminants found in soils and bedrock, like arsenic and uranium, can find their way in your drinking water. Water can also be contaminated by human activity, like manure from farm fields, leachate from septic systems, or runoff from road salt. 

Why: You can’t see, taste or smell most harmful contaminants in drinking water.

How: Know what’s in your water by testing it and installing treatment if necessary.

Steps: If you have a private well, have it tested every year for coliform bacteria and every 5 years for inorganic chemicals and gross alpha radiation. You can order test kits from a certified drinking water lab. Learn more about testing

What: Your indoor air may be polluted by things like radon, carbon monoxide (CO), secondhand smoke, and asthma triggers like mold and other harmful air particles.

Why: Breathing air pollutants can lead to allergic and asthmatic reactions, infections, and other health problems related to the lungs, nose and throat. Other indoor air pollutants, such as carbon monoxide (CO), can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, and even brain damage and death. Breathing air with radon increases the risk of getting lung cancer.

How: Take the necessary precautions to minimize the risks of indoor air pollutants in your home.

Steps: Order a free home testing kit to check your home for radon. Install CO alarms to alert you to dangerous levels of carbon monoxide (CO). Be on the lookout for mold in areas of your home with water or moisture intrusion, such as leaks in roofs, windows, or pipes—or where there has been flooding. Musty or moldy smells in these areas can be signs of mold growth. Make sure you hire a licensed contractor to handle mold problem areas that are larger than 100 square feet.