Chemicals lurking in your furniture, walls and cleaning supplies could be making your family sick WORDS HEATHER DUGE & CARRIE STEINGRUBER
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EBECCA BLACK HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PROBLEM-SOLVER.
So when her son, Barron, now 10, was diagnosed with autism in 2009, her fix-it mentality kicked in: After diving into research on autism, Black, 40, decided their Highland Park home needed to be gutted. Built in 1915, the house had been renovated several times, but Black suspected that behind the walls lurked mold, a toxin that can cause developmental delays. Testing confirmed Black’s suspicions: Mold was found between the framing of the house and the brick. She also found out the paint on the outside of the house contained lead. “When your child is struggling, everything is a big deal,” Black says. In addition to developmental challenges, Barron was “covered in rashes” and had eczema and stomach problems. Black’s daughter, Avery, was experiencing severe sinus issues. “I didn’t want one thing on my house that had touched lead paint,” Black says. But as Black found during the 18-month renovation, mold and lead were just the first two ingredients in the chemical cocktail cooking in their home. Average Americans spend 90 percent of their life indoors, much of that time at home, says Samantha Dunne, sustainable designer and process analyst at TreeHouse in Dallas. “We are breathing in and exposed to whatever toxins are within our walls,” she explains. That’s especially scary considering that furniture, cookware and even your shower curtain can contain chemicals like phthalates, formaldehyde and other carcinogens—yet many of us aren’t even aware of these toxins or the ways they are damaging our family’s health. “Effects from exposure to these toxins can show up in subtle ways, such as coughing, sneezing or an itchy throat—essentially indoor allergies,” Dunne says. “However, effects can also be much worse—causing headaches, chronic migraines, asthma, increased risk of cancer, and even damage to the kidneys and central nervous system.”
Erin Maxwell, NMD, a naturopathic doctor with a practice in Lewisville, adds that many of the toxins found in homes can affect children’s behavior. “A child might be hyperactive if he comes in contact with certain chemicals,” she explains. Maxwell reveals she’s seeing a “significant increase of toxins in the home.” Yet these substances are often scantily regulated and poorly labeled so parents often have no idea their families are at risk—or how to go about coming clean. TOTAL DETOX
Black’s family of four moved out in 2010 and began the process of making their craftsman home toxin-free from top to bottom, starting with the wood. Like most manufactured products, composite wood off-gasses, or releases harmful chemicals, as it breathes and expands—think that “new” smell. Formaldehyde is the most common output. At low levels, it causes irritation; at higher levels, it’s a known carcinogen. In 2016, the EPA published a new rule on formaldehyde emission standards to limit the offgassing potential of composite wood—the results of a yearslong research process after the Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products Act was passed by Congress in 2010—but the rule doesn’t take effect until December of this year. Black checked every piece of wood entering her home to ensure it came straight from the lumberyard. But she says some wood used in the new framing may have been manufactured to allow it to bear more weight, an opportunity for formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to be introduced into the wood—and from there, into the air inside her home. “The best way to fight off-gassing if these toxins are in materials is to let them breathe,” Black explains. “We not only allowed the wood to breathe for six weeks, but we also soaked it with water hoses to speed along any offgassing in order to rid the wood of toxins prior to walling the house.”
northtexaschild / march 2018
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