Healthy Homes Asia

Keeping our children safe and healthy is the first concern of most parents.

So you buy soap, moisturizer and bubble bath labeled ‘gentle for baby’ and feel comforted knowing that even if you can’t control the environment ‘out there’, you are doing your best at home.

But are you really? If you look down the list of ingredients on the back of many ‘baby safe’ products, you will find that, in fact, many contain a range of potentially harmful ingredients.

Ingredients linked to skin and eye irritations, eczema, respiratory and mental problems, and even cancer and birth defects.

Once upon a time, we thought our skin was a barrier that protected us from most things.

We now know that anything we use on our skin can be absorbed directly into our bodies and stored over time in our organs and can lead to serious illness.

Surely our governments and major well-known manufacturers would not allow the use of such ingredients in baby (or indeed any other) personal care products?

Sadly, the discoveries of melamine in baby formula, diethylene glycol in toothpaste, and talc (asbestos) in baby powder have shown us that their quality control systems are not failsafe.

Feeling overwhelmed? What it it were as simple as being aware and choosing differently? Here's how.

• Be aware of the potentially harmful ingredients commonly used in food, cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, moisturizers and other personal care products, including in those labeled ‘gentle for baby’, 'all natural', 'wellbeing' etc
  
• Take a list of these ingredients with you when you go shopping to make sure you don’t buy products containing them
  
• Identify companies committed to using only safer, effective ingredients, and use only their products, and
  
• Invite your local shops to add more chemical free food and non-toxic personal care products to their shelves. In some countries you'll need to take a magnifying glass with you to read the labels!

Would that be easy? Give it a go. See what a difference YOU can make.

Join the Help 15 Project to take a simple, practical step to make a real difference in your community.

Register with us here to receive a free handy pocket list of ingredients to avoid and the conditions they are linked to. Available in English, Korean, Japanese, simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese.

Take these handy pocket guides with you when you go shopping for food, beauty, personal care or household products so you know what chemicals to avoid.

If you can't find what you're looking for, ask us and we can introduce you.

Why do manufacturers use these chemicals if they are potentially harmful? That is an excellent question and one we should ask more often.

Fortunately, more companies are starting to produce products with fewer, or even totally free of potentially harmful chemicals.

Our job is to know and choose what truly works for us and our families.