Let’s talk environmental toxins we don’t often think about and how to reduce our exposure. There are some environmental toxins we just don’t really look hard at until there’s a problem: lead, mold, and radon. These are all things we have personal experience with. I personally know people who have radon exposure in their home and we have had lead and mold exposure.
Here’s our story: We rented a place we thought would be great. It was a historic home that had been renovated by a professional contractor years and years before. After a while, it became clear LO (little one) was not gaining weight despite eating a healthy, good diet. LO didn’t gain a pound for about a year. We went to see a new pediatrician who asked if we lived in an old house built before 78. When we answered yes, she tested LO’s blood and said there were low amounts of lead in it. She wasn’t super concerned and just said we’d keep an eye on it, buy a HEPA vacuum, and we didn’t need to move.
My husband and I were sick to our stomachs and so shocked. We did tons of research and found that there are no safe levels of lead in the body. Any level of lead is classified as “lead poisoning”. Some side effects are: weight loss, constipation, and looking pale. This perfectly described LO. When we told our pediatrician that we thought lead was contributing to LO’s lack of weight gain, she said lead doesn’t cause that, however credible sources beg to differ (World Health Organization and Kids Health). Luckily we listened to our guts and and moved to an Air BNB soon after ( we checked first it was safe). After a year of no weight gain, LO gained 2 pounds within 3 months of living in the air bnb (same diet and everything).
When we asked our landlord, he said there is no lead paint inside but plenty outside. Before moving, we told our landlord how frustrated we were that he didn’t tell us about the lead paint on the outside of the home and that he was legally required to do so. His response was that we were renting the inside of the home, not the outside. We explained that lead could still get inside the home, he said the EPA doesn’t say anything about that. I say all this not to bad mouth him, not to scare you, but to bring awareness to issues like this that are not often talked about. This was a cool, renovated house by someone who was qualified and not just some creep, but a nice landlord. LO wasn’t eating it or anything like that.
A home doesn’t have to have lead paint inside to be dangerous. Peeling paint on the outside can expose you to lead dust (our case), lead inside the pipes, in the soil, rubbing against the outside of the house, etc. so please, ask the year the Home was built, if it was before 78, ask if there is any LBP (lead based paint) anywhere on the premises. If not, what method was used for removal and how long ago. Please don’t just trust they’ll follow the law and disclose if there is any. And if they do disclose any LBP on the premises, please don’t underestimate it. Don’t live anywhere near lead!
We recently took LO to the same clinic (natural combined with traditional medicine) that figured out my health problems all those years ago and they also found lead, but also mold in LO. We are now following steps to rid LO’s body of these toxins. As for mold, we all know how dangerous that is. The home we lived in was very nice and we didn’t see any signs of mold. This is another thing to inquire about. So ask if they have done an inspection for mold and if not, ask them to conduct one or have an inspection done.
As for radon, it’s another toxin that isn’t often thought about. According to the EPA, there are no safe levels of radon, it’s a carcinogen and “ breathing low levels of radon can lead to lung cancer.” Before renting or buying, ensure the home has been checked for radon or do it yourself. Theres a guide here. (Info from the EPA here and here)
So, again the point of this post is to enable and arm you with information, not to freak you out. So what do we do to stay safe?
1. Make sure they’ve done a mold inspection
2. Ask about year home/apt was built and if before 78, what extraction method was used and when. If you want to take an extra step, I’m pretty sure you can even test it
3. Ask if they have tested or test yourself for radon. Guide here
4. Buy a hepa vacuum. Wherever you live, these are so incredibly helpful in removing environmental toxins. More info on them here. We love our Dyson Animal. We bought it for an amazing price refurbished. I highly recommend buying them refurbished and you can find them on Groupon (where we got ours), Amazon, or Costco. There’s a refurbished one here, but you can likely find it cheaper if you wait and look other places. Normal vacuums do not remove these tiny particles
5. Buy an air purifier. We love this one. It mentions it’s also good for smokers, we don’t smoke or recommend it, but we love it for the other environmental toxins
6. Remove all toxins you have control over (fragrances, etc.)
7. Have people remove their shoes when coming into your home. Here is why it’s so important. We keep these on hand when people come to our home who may not want to remove their shoes.
Breakfast Sweet Potato