Here are 7 such household items that you should take precautions against.

Air Freshener

Air Fresheners come in form of aerosol containers and cubes of scented fresheners.  While you want to keep your air feeling good you are poisoning your own body in the course. 

A study involving Public Health England's Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, warned that plug-in air fresheners produce 'considerable' levels of formaldehyde: described by the US government's National Toxicology Program as a known 'human carcinogen'. It is most closely linked with cancers of the nose and throat and at the very least, it can also cause sore throats, coughs, scratchy eyes and nosebleeds.
It is not the only chemical to fear in air fresheners. Other basic ingredients include petroleum products and such chemicals as p-dichlorobenzene.
 

In place of such harmful fresheners, you should opt for in house made fresheners such as refined vinegar and some drops of essential oils (like peppermint, lavender). Put the mixture in a spray bottle, mix it well and spray.

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Scented Candles

Scented candles are used in every household in order to keep the house and especially the bathroom filled with pleasant aroma, but it is not a common knowledge that scented candles may possibly contain toxins and carcinogens.

In March, a team of experts tested six scented candles, with such aromas as clean cotton, strawberry and kiwi fruit.
Behind their delicious labels, however, lay a host of potentially dangerous industrial chemicals, including formaldehyde at levels which, with long-term exposure, are known to raise the risk of respiratory problems and cancer.
The candles also gave off significant levels of VOCs. Furthermore, the study warned that you don't even need to light such candles because simple evaporation will enable them to pollute your home.
Other studies show the chemicals are capable of being absorbed by the body simply through touching the candles.
Most scented candles are made with paraffin, which brings other problems. The oil by-product gives off ultra-fine soot particles containing acetone, benzene and toluene, usually seen in diesel emissions, and known carcinogens.

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Shower Curtains

Shower curtains are present in every house hold bathrooms and though it might not be a big deal, most of shower curtains are made of plastic and may contain PVC.

The PVC is very harmful for the environment as it releases poisonous carcinogenic compounds. And it can do that when you are taking a hot shower, leading to respiratory and reproductive problems. To avoid such problems, use shower curtains made out of natural cotton.

Also make sure the plastic toys that you buy for your kids do not contain any PVC or lead as kids tend to put everything in their mouth and ingesting both these things can be very dangerous.

Carpet cleaners

Carpet cleaners are made out of very heavy and harmful chemicals as they need to remove some stubborn stains from the carpet.

Ingesting and inhaling such chemicals can invite trouble like lung cancer, as these cleaners have chemicals such as perchloroethylene and naphthalene. Naphthalene can be also dangerous as it is the main component of the widely used mothballs.

Use alternative methods such as sprinkling carpets with baking soda and then cleaning them with a mixture of water and vinegar. This cleaning solution is natural and won’t cause problems like throat and lung cancers. Otherwise choose steam cleaning.

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Dry cleaning products

Dry cleaning is done using chemicals like etrachlorethylene or Perchloroethylene. These contain harmful carcinogens which can be absorbed by your body when your wears freshly dry cleaned clothes.

Hence confirm that your dry cleaner does not use these ingredients in their process of cleaning clothes, as wearing such clothes can lead to various types of cancer.

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Insecticides and Pesticides

The names themselves are self-explanatory, but still it’s a good reminder that these things not only affect humans but your pets as well.

There may be harmful carcinogens present in the pet friendly tick and flea control products that you use, which in turn can harm both you and your pets. They may contain organophosphate insecticides, permethrin, and carbamates, which are more possibly dangerous and carcinogenic to humans.

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Antibacterial products

Recently tricolsan was banned in the EU. Why does it affect you? Well, tricolsan is the main ingredients in soaps and cosmetics which are marketed as anti-bacterial and safe for use by humans.

In fact, silver is a better option if you want something anti-bacterial and which does not harm the human body in any way. Otherwise be safe and buy only organic anti-bacterial soaps and cosmetics which contain naturally occurring bacteria fighting plants and essential oils in them.

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