Healthy Home, Healthy Family

I recently read Healthy Home, Healthy Family by Nicole Bijilsma as it gives some great tips on things to look for for when buying/renting a house. Admittedly I was focussed on mold but she also covers electromagnetic fields (EMF's), dust mites, mold, pesticides, building materials and so forth.

Now until I read this book, I didnt know too much about EMF's. I'd seen some interesting posts on Sarah Wilson's blog about her experience with EMF's and autoimmune disease. After reading the book  though, we did change a few things around in the house (namely moving Little B's bed as it was too close to the fridge) and I'm careful to keep the powerpoints of some items off at all times unless we are using them.

Last week, a Council of Europe committee called for a ban on wireless internet modems, mobile and cordless phones in schools due to the potential health risks to children. Interestingly, cordless phones are considered as dangerous as mobile phones to the brains of children. We originally abandoned cordless phones to save $$$ but seeing this, the good old analog phone is a bonus twice over. I also keep our modem off unless we are actually using the computer but it is in our main living area next to the lounge. After reading Healthy Home, Healthy Family, I now refuse to sit on the lounge unless the modem is off, but after reading the above article, I now refuse to have the modem on if Little B is playing in that room.

This might seem a little pedantic, but I figure in this day and age when kids are being diagnosed with multiple behavioural issues, it doesnt hurt to avoid the things that are proven to alter the brain. Especially when I have a child so young. These things didnt exist when I was young and nobody has lived an entire life time in the presence of all these new whizz bang technologies, so I figure better safe than sorry.

Anyways, this is a great book and well worth a read if you are interested in building biology. The bits on dust mites made great reading as well.