Healthy Home Tips

If you've kept up with this blog, you already know that we're big fans of the Environmental Working Group and the wealth of information they offer consumers. Last month they began their Healthy Home Tips Series for Parents. You can sign up via e-mail to be alerted of the next installment of the Healthy Home Series, and you don't have to be a parent to benefit from the content. The series is check full of ways that you can ensure your home is as healthy as possible. The latest installment is all about personal care products and how you can be a better label decipherer. Click your way on over to a healthier home for you and your family!

Do You Have a Health eHome?

WebMD and the nonprofit Healthy Child Healthy World have partnered to produce Health eHome. Wander through the kitchen, family room, bathroom, bedroom and even out to the yard and find out what items may be impacting your health or that of the environment. Click on the shower curtain in the bathroom, for example, and you'll get a short blurb on cleaning options and PVC health issues. Want to know more? You can click to watch a video about offgassing, or read about ways to prevent mold and allergies. Learn about the issues, test your knowledge and find out ways that you can take action...it's all at the Health eHome!

It's All Good...

I am a frequent user of the Environmental Worling Group's Cosmetic Safety Database, so I was extremely excited to see another product database called GoodGuide. GoodGuide ranks products not only on environmental performance and health performance, but also on social performance. Rankings go from 0 (the worst) to 10 (the best). This "higher number is better" scale is the opposite of the Cosmetic Safety Database, so be careful. GoodGuide also goes beyond personal care products to include toys and household chemicals. I, for one, am excited to dive deeper into this new resource!

No More Sushi Blues

Now you can be a sushi aficionado AND an environmental aficionado at the same time! Thanks to a collaboration between the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Blue Ocean Institute and the Environmental Defense Fund, it's easy to make sushi choices that safeguard ocean wildlife and human health. The folks that brought us the easy-to-use seafood wallet cards have a new pocket guide dedicated to sushi. As with the originals, the new sushi guide takes into account fishing and farming practices as well as mercury and PCB contamination that could be harmful to human health. So, pile on the wasabi and go for it!

The Makeup of Your Makeup

Sorry that it's been so long since the last Eco-Smart post. I've been busy struggling with the moral dilemma of whether to replace my BPA-containing water bottles with BPA-free bottles that (a) are made in the USA, but from a company that resisted the phasing out of BPA or (b) are made by a company that was quick to provide a no-BPA alternative, but produced overseas. Nevermind my moral dilemma...check out this book! Not Just a Pretty Face is by Stacey Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. That will sound familiar to you if you've checked out the Environmental Working Group's Cosmetic Safety Database (a GREAT resource!). Malkan takes a close look at the chemicals found in our daily beauty routine and tells the stories of folks she has met who are trying to make our products safer. Grist recently interviewed Malkan about the book. You can also learn more at the book's own Web site!

Hydrate Carefully

We've all heard the criticisms that bottled water is a needlessly wasteful product. Many consumers concerned with the health of themselves and the environment are drinking their water out of reusable containers. Unfortunately, there are dangers lurking there as well. Polycarbonate water bottles (like Nalgene) release small amounts of Bisphenol A (BPA), an estrogen-like chemical. Makers of water bottles have long-claimed that the levels were safe, but a growing number of scientists are beginning to have their doubts. Studies have shown BPA to have negative impacts in animal studies, and the human health concerns include increased cancer risks, reduced fertility and childhood behavioral problems. In a recent study, University of Cincinnati scientists tested both old and new polycarbonate water bottles exposed to boiling water. Their results showed BPA being released as 55 times the normal room temperature rate. BPA is not a rare chemical, either. Besides water bottles, it is found in many baby bottles, the epoxy resins lining most tin cans and dental fillings. Some retailers, such as Mountain Equipment Co-op of Canada, have actually chosen to pull their polycarbonate water bottles from their shelves until more conclusive research is done. Don't give up yet on your quest to remain hydrated. Companies are already coming up with alternatives, like CamelBak, which is now offering a new BPA-free water bottle. Drink responsibly!

Seafood Watch Pocket Guides

It's hard to keep up with which seafood is sustainably harvested and which isn't. You don't have to, because the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program does it for you! Just order one of their FREE handy-dandy pocket guides so that you can make smart seafood choices. The guides are meant to empower consumers and businesses to make choices for healthier oceans. Options are broken down into three categories - GREEN - best choice, YELLOW - good alternative, and RED - avoid. But don't harvesting practices, aquaculture techniques and species populations change? Yes, and that is why the cards are updated twice a year! But aren't different options available in different places? Yes, which is why Seafood Watch offers guides specific to your region! But shouldn't health concerns also be considered? Yes, which is why the cards indicate which choices have health concerns associated with them! Quit asking questions and order your card already so that you can make smart, sustainable seafood choices. Go to http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp to learn more!