If you have chronic and acute health problems, including cancer, mental retardation, and asthma, the chances of your condition being caused by your home environment is very high. The number and concentration of toxic chemicals used actively or passively for house cleaning, in toiletries, cosmetics, food, water and gardening in the average household is simply too sickening for any person's wellbeing.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the air inside the typical home is on average 2-5 times more polluted than the air just outside - and in extreme cases 100 times more contaminated - largely because of household cleaners and pesticides. Why is this? Well, since the 1980's, homeowners and construction companies "tightened up" or sealed up homes to prevent heat exchange in a effort to improve energy efficiency. However, this trend prevented natural air flow inside and outside the house and caused the entrapment of pollutants present in household products for longer periods of time.

These invisible sources of toxic indoor air pollution can be disruptive, debilitating and even deadly to you. Medical doctors and scientists have studied, analyzed, evaluated, and concluded that there is a definite connection between our health and the use of common household cleaning chemicals, according to teh Environmental Resource Directory.

Of the 17,000 chemicals found in common house cleaning products, only 30% have been adequately tested for harmful effects on human health. Even worse, chemical manufacturers are not required to do safety testing on their house cleaning, or personal care products before selling them to the public. These petroleum-based chemical toxins can accumulate dangerously in your body's cells with just one toxic exposure or from many smaller ones, writes Stan Halpern, the Cleaning Pro. This toxic load on your immune, respiratory, reproductive systems is dangerous. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has "identified 150 as linked to allergies, birth defects, cancer and psychological abnormalities with ten percent (10%) causing high blood pressure and migraines and twenty percent (20%) being responsible for mental disturbances. Cleaning products often contain carcinogens, asthmagens, endocrine disruptors, and genetic mutagens. For example, the "California Department of Fish and Game" tested the toxicity of common chemicals which were found in waterways. The most toxic substances to aquatic organisms present in the water were: household bleach, all-purpose cleaner, laundry detergent, and dish detergent.

The variety of harmful chemicals the average person uses in the home can be overwhelming when screening them for toxicity and so it is much safer to discard them all and replace with safe cleaning products. Although toxicity studies for known compounds like DDT, PCBs, and lead have lead to outright bans or reduced usage, there are many more toxic ingredients that have yet to be removed from retail shelves. If at all possible, please dump cleaning agents containing the following ingredients at the local hazardouse waste facility. This list of toxic ingredients represents the most commonly used dangerous cleaning agents.

Ammonia this ingredient is found in glass cleaners, metal polish, paint stripper is poisonous when swallowed, inhaled fumes can damage lungs, can burn the skin on contact.

Butyl cellosolve (aka butyl glycol, ethylene glycol monobutyl) contained in disinfectants and cleaners, air freshener, brake fluid, hair color is poisonous when swallowed and a lung-tissue irritant.

Chlorine bleach (aka sodium hypochlorite), exposure to this all-purpose whitening agent can irritate the lungs, eyes, and may cause mild asthmatic symptoms or more serious respiratory problems. If mixed with ammonia, releases toxic chloramine gas.

Dibutyl Phthalate is a neurotoxin, carcinogen, immunogen, and irritant found in floor and window cleaning products, cosmetics, colognes, and adhesives.

Diethanolamine (DEA) ingredient in antibacterial hand soaps can combine with nitrosomes to produce carcinogenic nitrosamines that penetrate skin.

Formaldehyde causes cancer, dermatitis, neurotoxic, sensitizer-poisonious, irritant to the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes.

Phenol is a corrosive and toxic ingredient in household detergents, baking powder, and mouthwash. Symptoms of exposure include shock, coma, pulmonary distress, severe burns and death if ingested.

Phosphates act as water soften in detergents and is of environmental concern due to growth of algae blooms feeding on this waste nutrient in our waterways, which can kill off fish populations.

Sodium hydroxide, found in drain, metal and oven cleaners, is extremely irritating to eyes, nose and throat and can burn those tissues on contact.

Sodium lauryl sulfate, a carcinogen, toxin, and genetic mutagen found in vegetable rinse, glue, teeth whitening toothpaste, hand soap, hair color and used as a sudsing agent.

These common volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and dibutyl phthalate toxins that are used in common cleaning agents were found in the blood and urine of a sampling of Americans. Indoor air inhalation exposure, skin absorption and ingestion from cleaning products adversely affect our health, wellbeing, and lifespan. Thus, house cleaning for health is a priority worth applying in every home, especially since we can avoid these serious threats to our health from house cleaning products and pesticides.

You can start cleaning for your health right now by eliminating some of the known public health and safety hazards of harmful chemicals listed in Toxic Household Cleanup List and replace them with safe house cleaning products at TheMiracleMerchant.com. Occupants in the home will breathe easier and be healthier when you discard all products containing toxic ingredients in favor of green cleaning home products. This move will also prevent toxic and hazardous chemical products at home from being discarded in the immediate environment, and potentially affecting the health of people, plants, animals, land and water.