What is Chemical Free Parenting?

"Our children will ask.... What were our parents thinking? Why did they produce toxic chemicals without testing them on the human body first? Were they so arrogant to think that human beings are that infalliable?"
– Dr Sarah Lantz (PhD)

For many parents, the importance of keeping our children as pure and toxic free as possible is critical. But it's not so easy to do these days. There are over 100,000 synthetic chemicals available on the market with over 1500 new chemicals being produced annually. Over half of these chemicals have never been tested for their toxicity on the human body.

These chemicals, used extensively in manufacturing and emitted into the environment, accumulate in the food chain and end up in our bones, blood, fat, urine, and breast milk, ovaries, and sperm. They are then passed onto the developing child across the placenta, through breast milk, in food and water, or the creams, lotions, soaps and personal care products we lather and bathe them in.

Chemical Free parenting is about conscious parenting. Because we initially make the choices about what our children consume, how they are washed, what they sleep in, what medications and drugs, if any, we recommend, and where they spend most of their time, we need to know about these chemicals and be able to identify them.

Chemical Free Kids: Raising healthy children in a toxic world , is a book about these chemicals   and the impact on the bodies and health of our kids - how they get into their bodies, the health and behavioural problems they cause, why kids are particularly exposed to chemicals and what we, as a society, industry, and parents, can do about it.

About the book

"Do you think you would be using the baby care products you are currently using if you knew they contained harmful toxic chemicals?"
– Dr Sarah Lantz (PhD)

Read the ingredient list on the back of the products you are currently using. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate? Cocamide DEA? Propylene Glycol? And some you probably can't pronounce - Methylisothiazolinone and   Diethanolamine? What are they? Are they to aid your baby's body and health -- nurture her, nourish him, p romote health and vitality? Are they natural or synthetic? And does it really matter?

Chemical Free Kids: Raising Healthy Children in a Toxic World is the first book of its kind in Australia and one of a few in the world to tackle the issue of chemicals and their impact on human health and specifically on kids and young people:

• What are chemicals?
• How do they get into the human body?
• What makes a chemical toxic ?
• What are the health and behavioral impacts?
• Why are kids particularly susceptible to chemicals?
• How do we currently measure chemicals and determine their safety?
• What are consumer assumptions we make?
• And what we, as a society, community, industry, and parents, can do about it?

Chemical Free Kids makes you think about all of the different chemicals you are ingesting, absorbing and inhaling in your everyday lives - food additives; personal care products; over-the-counter and prescription drugs; household cleaning products - and in a practical sense, teaches you how to read labels and identify toxic and harmful ingredients. Chemical Free Kids also brings together compelling research which includes interviews with Australian families and children who have been affected by environmental chemicals revealing how toxic chemicals in the environment play a critical role in our children's everyday health and wellbeing.

Understanding chemicals, even a little bit, is fundamental to our children's health and safety. This book explores both the extent to which chemicals impact our everyday lives, particularly our babies and children, and what it takes to live wisely in a toxic world.

Order your copy of Chemical Free Kids: Raising Healthy Children in a Toxic World here