When I was a teenager my brother was a painter and I used to help him scrape lead paint off the walls without a mask...I remember being covered in what looked like flour....lead based paint was not good to breathe,but who knew back then

I grew up in an area - Ft McCellan - where the army trained with live biological & chemical weapons. My dad was in the service. Gasses like mustard gas, sarin, etc. were stored there & used live from WWI to the 1990s. It is literally a toxic hell. And was made worse hi by heavy chemical dumping in a nearby area by Monsanto. Monsanto has paid out $800 million plus in settlements related to their dumping & years of cover-up.

But Monsanto settlements, chiefly for health claims, were available only to non-military resident families. To this day the VA has yet to act to address the health effects of soldiers based at Ft. McClellan & their families. It is shameful.

Hugs.

Myself, I worked as an industrial insulator which puts me in a high risk category for sure. I've worked with asbestos, calcium silicate, ceramic fibre, fibreglass, diatomaceous earth. and of course being on heavy construction sites has exposed me to chemicals and toxins that I couldn't even guess at. H2S for sure, chlorine, bleach, welding fumes from galvanised steel is extremely bad, Who knows how many others. It's the asbestos that worries me the most and it is like cigarettes in that some people will get asbestosis or mesothelioma with very little exposure while others have had severe exposures, or long term exposure and never have a bit of trouble from it.

Which reminds me of something

The effect all these things have on our lungs, or health in general, seems to be more determined by how our bodies react to them. Some people end up with emphysema who have never smoked or smoked very little, and then on the other end of the spectrum is the oldest lived woman (verifiable, not claimed oldest) who lived to 128 If I remember correctly, and smoked like a chimney from her teens to her grave. Odd that... I posted it here maybe a half year ago, but I had been looking at a site online that gave bio's on the 10 oldest recorded men, and 10 oldest recorded women on record and oddly enough several were smokers. One woman finally decided to cut herself back to 3 a day when she turned 110. So it's just the roll of the dice on the genetics we get. If your body is more prone to inflammation, or lacks the gene that protects the lungs it may not take much at all to give you issues. If you are one of the lucky ones like they were you can be pretty much immune. It's the luck of the draw certainly, but not one worth gambling with.

hi! I grew up in a highly industrialized area for which my many doctors have attributed the cause for my lung disease, also stage 4 copd, started off as pulmonary sarcoidosis in my early 20's & progressed from there. now I live in a beautiful private community where there aren't any burn laws so when it's nice weather, the bonfires & leaf burnings bothers me. also my parents have hired people to renovate my home so the drywall dust has really affected my breathing as well. just walking by someone who smokes seems to make me almost ill too as I realize I used to smell just as sickening when I was a smoker! house candles, even soy, bothers me...perfumes, nail polish & removers, hairspray, anything with strong odors just about, even if my car window is open & I'm parked behind a running vehicle fueled by diesel fuel bothers me...I'm very sensitive! great post!

gosh, what wasn't i exposed to?
i grew up in a house that had the old asbestos "popcorn ceilings" , and i assume lead based paint.
we never wore masks when sanding cars or anything.
now i am finding out about "silica dust" from the crusher where i worked for many years...even in the 90's my company didn't have people wear masks.
heated my house with wood & then oil for many years...in my area there still is a lot of heating with wood & oil done.
and pesticides, herbicides & fertilizers sprayed by everyone.
i'm not sure what the "mosquito" patrols sprays down all once a week our streets now days.
so i think of me growing up all the things we were exposed to, but for this being a whole new millineum all the things that still are exposing us, our children, granchildren etc.
i thought living "rurally" saved me from that nasty city pollution, but rural has it's own quirks....in fact my grandkids were just cleaning out an old chicken coop---i hope they wore masks!

YIKES!!!! Some horror stuff out there! Quitting smoking is somehow made to seem like farting against thunder.

While we may not be able to control the big bullies that poison the air we breathe, we can at least take control of the chemicals we use in our homes. I no longer use any of the commercial cleaning aerosols/fluids - a 50/50 solution of water and white spirit vinegar works just as well, if not better for windows, floors, kitchen counters, tiles, toilets, baths , etc. If you tuck a jar lid with a mix of borax and icing sugar into your cupboards you won't have any problems with pesky critters invading nooks and crannies.

I know there are bunches of home aids that we can use to replace harmful chemicals, so t he more we learn about them the better. Anyone got tips to share?

I grew up with a family of smokers, and later worked with solvents, asbestos, and chemicals at a camper company. I have of course used all sorts of stuff to clean my house, and put on my lawn. Now I am unable to stand the smallest scent it seems. This disease sucks.. I can no longer enjoy candles, body sprays, perfume, air fresheners, cleaning supplies (unless they are fragrance free...or Mark does the cleaning !!)

My first wife used hair spray for about 10 minutes every morning, despite the fact I was extremely allergic to it. You could say we had a toxic relationship, since hair spray contains phthalates and formaldehyde, which is allergenic and carcinogenic. This family of chemicals has been classified as environmental toxins and can cause birth defects. Formaldehyde can cause many problems, such as dermatitis, headaches and respiratory illness.

Formaldehyde is also found in new carpeting and particle board, which is used for kitchen countertops. cabinets and is used in furniture. Formaldehyde is also found in plywood, polyurethane paints and insulation. Because formaldehyde resins are used in so many construction materials, it is one of the more common indoor air pollutants. Last, but not least, formaldehyde is also found in cigarettes.

I stupidly signed off on my last company that I would not sue...I sampled raw materials to make drugs for human consumption...

Most of the Material Safety Data sheets for the material I sampled said "Unknown" for carcinogenic affects..I've always smoked too...so double trouble.

I should have never signed off I wouldn't sue..I could be a millionaire right now.

Evidence for the carcinogenicity of Monsanto's Glyphosate comes from a peer-reviewed study published in March of 2015 in the respected journal The Lancet Oncology:

Carcinogenicity of tetrachlorvinphos, parathion, malathion, diazinon, and glyphosate

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide, currently with the highest production volumes of all herbicides. It is used in more than 750 different products for agriculture, forestry, urban, and home applications. Its use has increased sharply with the development of genetically modified glyphosate-resistant crop varieties. Glyphosate has been detected in air during spraying, in water, and in food. There WAS limited evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of glyphosate.

Glyphosate has been detected in the blood and urine of agricultural workers, indicating absorption. Soil microbes degrade glyphosate to aminomethylphosphoric acid (AMPA). Blood AMPA detection after poisonings suggests intestinal microbial metabolism in humans. Glyphosate and glyphosate formulations induced DNA and chromosomal damage in mammals, and in human and animal cells in vitro. One study reported increases in blood markers of chromosomal damage (micronuclei) in residents of several communities after spraying of glyphosate formulations.

Have you ever tried essential oils like lemon, lime, and orange to clean with, to replace the commercial cleaners?

Rosalee= Many smells bother me, i clean a lot with baking soda (it works great instead of cleanser on tubs & sinks) and vinegar water.
I also like the dry dust cloths for quick dusting that a damp cloth can't do.
we had a discussion once about how our smelling get "acute" as our lungs diminish---it seems there are smell sensors in the lungs.
so many cleaners i can't stand the smell of is my problem more that what is in them.
lemon or lime sounds like it would smell good :)

Same with me, Jarca. A solution 50/50 water and white spirit vinegar makes a really good cleaning agent for almost all surfaces. Lemon would work well too but could be rather expensive.

Rosalee, essential oils are not kind to wooden surfaces, sometimes stripping varnish/polished surfaces. However, lavender is my all-time favourite - if you lay a couple of sprigs of lavender or rosemary on a baking tray and pop it into a warm oven to release the natural oils, the perfume will pervade your whole home.

King of the Baddies is house mold - a huge problem if it invades our celings, walls and cupboards. My neighbour had to vacate her home so that experts could strip it down to the bare bones to find and eradicate the mold that had taken hold under her floor boards. Beware of this one because the spores are air borne and cause untold harm to people who have sensitive lung issues. Urgh, run for the hills - it's real nasty. :-((((((

In Florida, I had a friend who imported Eucalyptus Oil and sold me gallons below wholesale. It worked great as a cleaner and sanitizes hot tubs. I even used it in my washing machine. After several years I got sick of the smell.