Toxic Soil: Are Your Garden Crops Safe?
Organic gardening is a wonderful way to bring fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables straight from your garden to your table. To ensure that your produce is perfect, start with a soil test to make sure you are not planting in a toxic terrain.
After taking the necessary painstaking measures to ensure that your garden contains non-GMO seeds, no chemicals and pesticides, and organic compost to enrich and fertilize the soil, your hard work may be fruitless. If you plant your produce in soil that contains lead, arsenic, petroleum, pesticides, these and other toxins will make their way into your harvest – and into your mouth.
Sources of Soil Contamination:
Lead in soil is a very common problem, especially if you live in a pre-1978 built home or in a neighborhood of older homes. How does lead get into your soil? Sanding, prior to painting the exterior of an older home, can spew lead dust through the air. Flaking paint chips can also infiltrate into the soil. Lead dust can also be released through open windows when sanding a home’s interior walls. Even more disturbing, simply opening and closing windowsills that contain lead paint can release lead dust into your home and yard on a daily basis.
Another possible source of contamination is tainted compost. If you use public compost, you may be exposed to dangerous levels of lead and other toxins. Here’s why: When municipalities pick up lawn clippings and organic debris for composting, they don’t test first to see if the clippings and debris are free from contamination.
Flooding may also contaminate soil. Storm surges and flooding from storms and hurricanes, like Sandy and Irene, can spread industrial toxic contaminants to residential areas miles away. The floodwaters from Sandy carried an unthinkable mixture of wastewater, sludge, and toxins into people’s pristine yards, where many of the pollutants remain today.
Effects of Toxic Soil:
The damaging effects of ingesting these toxins – chromium, lead, petroleum, solvents, and many pesticide and herbicide formulations, among others – are extensive. According to Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF), these contaminants can be carcinogenic, and cause disease or other chronic health conditions.
What Can You Do?
The first line of protection for you and your family is to have your soil tested. A certified environmental testing company, like RTK, can tell you if your soil is safe. If the test reveals the levels of lead or other toxins in your soil are too high, several options exist to fix the problem – including soil removal, raising pH levels and adding organic matter, or mixing in new soil. A certified inspector can tell you which may be the best option for your situation.
Click here for more information or to schedule a soil test today.
First, we need to cover the basics. Illness due to exposure to household triggers is so common that there are even specific terms for it, such as “
Workplace health and safety policies are designed to protect employees from injuries and illnesses that could occur while on the job. These policies typically cover ergonomics, hazard communication, and emergency procedures, 
If certain risks in your workplace can’t be avoided, you should provide employees with the necessary personal protective equipment to keep them safe. This might include things like safety glasses or gloves. You should also ensure your workplace meets local and federal health and safety requirements. In addition, there might be some 
Regarding workplace wellness, employers are increasingly focused on promoting a healthy lifestyle for their employees. 
When it comes to creating a culture of safety in the workplace, there are a few key things to keep in mind. First and foremost, safety should always be a top priority for everyone in the organization, from the CEO to the entry-level employees. Secondly, a safety culture should be 
If you are running a fever, this pretty much rules out allergies. But the fever might be caused by the flu, a virus, a cold or something else.
Doctors note that cold is not usually associated with itchy eyes, so if your eyes are red and irritated, you may be allergic to pollen or an allergen like mold. If you have a cough with no fever, it likely doesn’t mean that you’ve contracted the coronavirus. Check with your physician if in doubt.
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a 
Tell the landlord about any mold or unusual odors you’ve observed in the unit before you move in, and ask the landlord to fix the problem prior to your moving in. If you are already occupying the space, you should promptly tell your landlord about any mold that you find or conditions that are likely to cause mold.
Avoid using pesticides and chemicals with strong odors because they contain volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which cause poor indoor air quality and health issues.
You can usually see suspect asbestos. Pipe insulation, 9×9 tiles, and popcorn ceilings are common areas that you may find asbestos. If asbestos has been damaged and become airborne, the only way to know is to have an air test. If the result is positive, you may have the right to withhold rent or move out before the lease ends without paying future rent if the landlord does not remedy the problem.
Unless you test for lead, you can’t be absolutely sure whether your rental home contains lead paint or lead dust unless it is tested. You should ask the landlord if the paint has ever been tested for lead. If it has, ask to see the results.
Place food in sealed containers, keep counters and sinks clean, and get rid of clutter such as newspapers and paper bags to prevent pests.
Although lead poisoning is the #1 preventable childhood disease in the US, every year, over 500,000 children under the age of six are diagnosed with 
To alert parents that they need to act to protect their children from the permanent and irreversible damage of lead poisoning, the U.S. Environmental Protection Action has designated Oct. 24 – 30 National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week. Early action, especially testing the home for the presence of lead paint and lead dust — will help to prevent serious health problems and save lives, since even small levels of lead exposure can irreversibly influence children’s development. Lead poisoning causes autism-like 
Lead was an additive in residential paint until 1978. When disturbed, it is highly toxic and dangerous to your health. Lead paint and lead dust, which forms when lead paint deteriorates, or is chipped away or sanded, both cause lead poisoning. Contrary to what most people think, a child doesn’t have to eat paint chips to get lead poisoning. Most lead dust is invisible, travels through the air, and is very harmful when inhaled. Lead dust is the most common form of lead poisoning.
Lead paint that is ingested is the primary cause of lead poisoning. It can be in the form of lead paint chips or lead dust released from window frames, doors, stairs, or multiple interior components, or uncontained renovations, which gets into the air, water, soil, and on the floor. Lead dust can also be found on playground equipment, pools, and toys. Other sources of lead are older pipes and plumbing fixtures, stained glass, toys, pottery glazes, leaded crystal, jewelry, antiques, folk remedies, food cans, artificial turf, and more.
Before you start any renovation, whether you hire a contractor or do-it-yourself, have your home tested to see if and where you have lead paint. If your home was built before 1978, chances are that there is lead somewhere. And unless you know where the lead is lurking, you or your contractor can unknowingly release toxic lead dust into the air. If a professional lead inspection firm finds lead remnants in your home, you will likely need a lead cleanup plan.
The company that does your work – from a simple painting job to a full-house renovation – must be certified in lead-safe work practices by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Do not let a tradesperson tell you certification is not needed. It is. Under the EPA’s Renovation, Repair, and Paint rule (RRP), all work performed on painted surfaces in a pre-1978 built home must follow a strict protocol. Certified tradespeople have to document the work they perform. Once the work is performed, the next and very important step is to have the environmental testing firm conduct a second lead test to be sure your home is 100 percent lead free.
In some states, lead screening for children under the age of three is mandatory. But in most, it is left at the discretion of the pediatrician. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, testing for lead poisoning often depends on where you live. The best way for you to know if you child has been tested for lead poisoning is to ask your pediatrician. If your doctor does not automatically test for lead, ask that it be done. It’s a simple blood test and could save your child’s life.
Unlike pollen, which you can see coating cars, windows, and other items, indoor mold can hide easily in your home (or workplace) – behind walls, in air ducts, under sinks, and in other hard-to-see places.
So how do you know when your symptoms are no longer 
– Remove main sources of indoor mold