Recently, I interviewed a woman who was pregnant. She had researched thoroughly the materials used in building their new home. In fact, given her history, she would be considered an expert on building a sound home. She was impressed to learn about the harmfulness of products she bought on a regular basis, and delighted to know that safer ones were available. I showed her the website, nottoopretty.org which delineates those products that can harm the baby in utero. She was amazed indeed. What world you do if you were in her shoes? Would you make some different choices in your purchases? Would designing a room with the right space and furniture be as important as providing a toxic-free environment for the family and baby to be?

The Center for Children’s Health and Environment is our nation’s first academic research and policy center to examine the links between chemicals and a slew of problems like learning disabilities, infertility, asthma, allergies, and cancer. At risk are many people, pregnant women, couples who want to have children, school-aged children, senior citizens…women who work from home…and the list goes on. A PBS special, Chemicals and Children, with Bill Moyer, highlighted the depth of the problem both for the child in utero and the adult whose mother may have been exposed to toxins. The documentary even went as far as to link the implications of a person whose DNA would reflect such exposures. In other words, the long-term effects of toxins can be expressed in our genes. What will it take, therefore, to create a more conscious consumer?

In a word…PATIENCE…one customer at a time…one household at a time…one generation at a time. I have spent my career helping people define the level of wellness they wanted to experience in their lives. Likewise, I have spent many days on the sidelines asking such questions as, “Exactly what will it take?”

Some people criticize the American medical establishment because it would appear to be committed to treating disease rather than preventing it. The same might apply to the parent who, finding a child asthmatic, seeks only medical attention without thinking about the environmental exposures n the home that contribute to the unhealthy condition. What if there was something you cold do to change the quality of your life…would you do it? What if that one solution was to change the products you purchase to safer, healthier ones? Women’s asthma has recently been documented as having increased 65%…could that be a result of unconsciously buying the very products that lead you to your inhalant? Ask anyone who has ever been threatened with an inability to breathe…what would they do to breathe again? Would they be willing to become more conscious consumers?