What ever happened to stepping outside for a “breath of fresh air?” It is often said that the air inside a home could be more toxic than outside. However, it seems our environment is becoming contaminated, and scientists continually are finding links to the impact on human health. Air quality is not the only concern; the water we drink, food we eat, grass or gardens we cultivate, even the furniture on which we rest can affect our health.

Toxins are generally defined as anything that we contact that is poisonous, whether by touch, ingestion or inhalation. The longer we live, the greater our “total body burden” or accumulation of exposure, of toxic substances becomes. This can lead to an overload in the body, or state of toxicity, which is achieved once the body can no longer efficiently eliminate toxins. It sounds scary and it is scary, but we can’t all live in a bubble. We must educate ourselves by reading the articles in this guidebook, learning, and sharing, and using available resources to do our best – by consuming pure foods and water and by staying conscious of the materials we allow into our homes. If you are ready to act outside your home, seek out the top polluters in your area and contact them; tell the EPA not to weaken pollution reporting and to strengthen laws for chemical testing; volunteer with environmental groups and talk to your friends and neighbors about this important issue.