Green Cleaning: Are Your Cleaning Products Fertility Friendly?
When you’re beginning to think about having a baby, you may have doubts circulating in your head. “Am I of the right age?” “Have I been eating right?” “Do I have a stable job to financially support this decision?” What may not come first to mind is “How will my house affect this baby?” Yet, what we expose our bodies to on a day-to-day basis in our home and office matters, too—bigtime.
Why do cleaning products matter to fertility?
Greening your home products is extremely important for fertility, yet many people don’t do it. Why is that?
What you may not realize about your everyday household and personal care products is that they contain chemicals that damage fertility in many ways. It’s important to buy products to ensure you are protecting yourself, your partner, and your future baby.
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), more than 80,000 chemicals currently used in the United States have been adequately tested for their effects on human health. A particular group of harmful chemicals called endocrine disrupting chemicals, commonly referred to as EDCs, are at the root of numerous negative effects on female and male reproductive health.
What is Green Cleaning?
When you go down a typical cleaning products aisle of a standard grocery store, pharmacy or order online...most of the products are not “green.” Not only do they have bright neon colors, but if you look at the ingredient list there are lots of things that are hard to understand. Many standard cleaning products are focused on getting everything squeaky clean regardless of what it takes to do that….after all, we all want bleach-white t-shirts, right?
Green cleaning is cleaning with only eco-friendly materials and using cleaning techniques that are environmentally friendly and do not produce any pollutants. Green cleaning is not only beneficial to the natural environment around us but also to public health and our bodies. Fewer chemicals are released back into our water system, our environment and fewer chemicals are absorbed by our bodies.
Whether or not you clean your own place or someone else comes to do it, you want products used on your household to be green. This includes laundry detergent, soaps, and cleaning products. If you are lucky enough to have someone come clean for you, have them use your products.
In prior blogs, I’ve talked about toxin-free makeup and sunscreen. If you are trying to have a baby or just want to be healthier and lower your risk for chronic diseases such as some cancers, I suggest you do the full gamut and overhaul all your products. It’s worth the time because exposure over time = increased risk.
How do EDCs affect fertility and your baby?
Endocrine Disruptors are chemicals that act like hormones in the body and they are found in a lot of standard cleaning and make-up products. EDCs disrupt endocrine properties by either mimicking or blocking endocrine actions which interfere with receptor binding and the metabolism of hormones. This results in improper hormone signalling—signals can be weaker than normal, sent at wrong times, or fill more of the receptors than normal. The hormones that EDCs affect are: estrogens, androgens, progesterone, gonadotropin releasing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and thyroid hormones. These hormones are responsible for eggs and sperm, fertilization, implantation, miscarriage, and live birth rates.
Higher levels of EDCs lead to lower chances of having a baby—even with IVF! So, whether you are TTC naturally or pursuing IVF you should know that chemicals in your home matter.
A 2016 study examined 256 women in Massachusetts who underwent a total of 375 IVF cycles. Of the women with the highest urinary concentration of phthalates, 28% had a baby, compared to 50% of women with the lowest exposure.
Not only do EDCs affect fertility, but if you already have a baby, these chemicals can be detrimental to your child’s development. As babies grow, they are very impressionable to toxicity in their surrounding environment. Toxic chemicals like EDCs can negatively impact a baby’s well-being as they can lead to various neurodevelopmental disorders.
It’s important to remember that EDCs don’t just impact fertility—there are many consequences to using these products that result in poor health outcomes for all individuals that are exposed.
EDCs and toxic products found in homes
Below is a list of EDCs and what household and personal care products that are found in everyday products that can affect fertility.
Bisphenols (BPA/BPS/BPF): Widely used in plastic products, lining of cans and sales receipts printed on paper with a glossy sheen. Leaches from many products into food.
Phthalates: Added to plastics to increase flexibility and durability and found in toys, footwear, food packaging, medical plastic tubing, and personal care products.
Parabens: Used as a preservative and in antibacterial products, and found in food, cosmetics and personal care products.
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): Used in electrical devices and industrial lubricants and found in flame retardants in furniture. By-products of industrial processes such as metal and paper production, wood incineration or heating plastics.
Pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides: These kinds of products are found in most people’s garden sheds and sprayed on many food products and crops sold commercially.
Heavy metals (e.g. aluminium, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury): Exposure occurs through smoking, air pollution, dental fillings, consumption of contaminated food and drink, and contact with petrol, industrial and household products.
Taking a deep sigh? One thing clients often say when we talk about greening their home is “I don’t know where to start.”
After reading that long list of products that have been linked to infertility, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed and wondering what you should have done that is different. Well, don’t fret too much! There are numerous healthy personal care products and non-toxic household products that are viable replacements. This transition to healthy and safe products for you and your family can start with green cleaning.
How do I find green products?
First, don’t just read a label. There is no legal definition for “natural” and putting a tree on your laundry deterrent doesn’t make it green. I suggest you research using databases such as Environmental Working Group (EWG) which tests the products and helpful lists such as the Ultimate Toxin Free Cleaning Switch List on the Healthy House on the Block blog and Safe Cleaning Products for Fertility on the To Make a Mommy blog.
Also, both you and your partner should skip drycleaning for now as much as possible if you are TTC (one benefit of remote work and zoom….). The chemicals in dry cleaning are toxic and studies show that the greater the exposure, the more difficulty conceiving. There is also no one checking the legal definition of “organic drycleaning” that you see in some places. Also, ironing or steaming your own shirts, as annoying as it is to do, doesn’t add chemicals to your clothes.
Green Household Products
Here are my favorites:
Nature Clean Laundry Detergent. This brand is plant and mineral based, fragrance-free, contains no harmful preservatives and is considered human safe. (Yay!)
7th Generation Dish Soap. Fragrance free and uses plant based ingredients. Named just this week as the best dish soap by the Wirecutter in the New York Times. Widely available.
DIY White Vinegar, Baking Soda, Hot Water & Lemon Cleanser. Use this link to make a cleansing spray that’s safe for you and your family. Easy and fun!
Conti Castile Bar soap. Pure organic olive oil, non-drying, gentle-cleansing. A widely available brand.
Bon Ami Powder Cleanser. Contains no chlorine, dyes, perfumes, bleach or phosphates. It’s strong and effective. (I still wear gloves if I am going to clean with it). Widely available.
Still overwhelmed?
As part of my fertility program, we help you detox your home and green your products because it all matters for making a healthy baby. Join us and we can help you get started and support you with all your fertility needs in one place.