HealthyStuff.org tested over 3,300 home improvement products. Here’s a summary of what they found:
Heavy metals and other additives are commonly found in residential flooring and wallpaper. These chemicals include lead, cadmium, flame retardants, tin compounds and phthalates — harmful chemicals that are linked to asthma, reproductive problems, developmental and learning disabilities, hormone problems and cancer.
Home improvement products are largely unregulated for chemical hazards and contain hazardous chemicals additives, called phthalates, at levels prohibited in children’s products by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). CPSC prohibits the presence of 6 phthalates in children’s products at levels greater then 1,000 ppm. Download flooring phthalate test results.
PVC building materials were 7-times more likely to contain hazardous additives, compared to non-vinyl alternatives tested in this study. All PVC materials tested – 1,350 of 3,019 contained hazardous additives; Non-PVC materials – 18 of 273.
Over 1/2 (53% – 1,234 of 2,312) and 15% (119 of 793) of flooring had one or more hazardous chemical additives.
Levels of hazardous chemical additives in flooring and wallpaper are commonly found in household air and dust at levels 5-100 times higher then outdoor concentrations.
There is no adequate system in place to regulate or restrict these chemicals, whether they are made in the US or abroad. Changes in the law are needed to keep lead and other toxic chemicals out of home improvement products.
Read more at www.healthystuff.org/departments/home-improvement/about.findings.php.
At HealthyStuff.org you can search thousands of brand name products to find what toxic chemicals they contain. You can also search for products that contain low levels.
