BURLINGTON, VT--(Marketwire - March 18, 2009) - Family is cherished and when it comes to
protecting them -- let's face it, we'll pull out all the stops. Unless, of
course, they're at risk of unknown danger right in their own homes, like 47
percent of U.S. adults may be by not being able to name even one ingredient
in the cleaners they're using throughout their homes or the nearly one in
five parents(1) (18%) who do not take steps to safeguard their families
from toxic ingredients in some household cleaners.
Nearly three in five adults (58%) clean their homes by wiping the surfaces
with a cleaning solution/product at least once per week. The lack of
consumer awareness about what's in those products, coupled with the fact
that the average American home has 63 hazardous chemical products within
arm's reach (according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission), makes
for this stark reality: the typical American home can be a danger to
families.
According to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive® and
commissioned by
Seventh
Generation, the world's most trusted brand of authentic, safe, and
environmentally-responsible products for the living home, nearly one in ten
adults (9%) wipe the surfaces of their home with cleaning products several
times per day, but more than half (58%) don't always check the labels of
cleaning products to determine if they contain ingredients that are harmful
to their health. With nearly ten percent (8.7%) of all calls to the U.S.
Poison Control Centers involving toxic exposure to household cleaners
(American Association of Poison Control Centers), it's more important than
ever for parents to be educated on the topic.
As part of its commitment to empowering people with the knowledge of
maintaining a healthy, safe home for their family,
Seventh Generation -- in
collaboration with
WebMD, the most
trusted brand of health information, and
Healthy Child Healthy World, a
nonprofit leader that aims to inspire parents to create healthier
environments for their children -- is providing a personalized educational
platform on WebMD called the
Health eHome, found at
www.webmd.com/healthyhome.
Set up as a virtual tour,
Health
eHome enables users to visit each room of the home to uncover potential
dangers and hazards that are identified as "hot spots." Clicking on the
"hot spot" opens an information window which explains the potential hazard
and tips on eliminating it to improve both personal and environmental
health. The information window also provides documentary-style video with
real families confronting these issues in their homes. An expert blog
provides trusted information on creating a cleaner, greener lifestyle.
Parents can also test the safety of their home by doing a "Health eHome
Check," where they can get personalized results and an action plan for
their home.
"We are living in a time where environmentally conscious parenting is more
possible and necessary than ever before," said Dr. Alan Greene,
pediatrician and leading authority for the green baby movement. "The
Health eHome offerings enable
families to determine the hidden dangers that not only pose harm for their
families, but also within the environment, helping to provide effective
solutions."
According to the Seventh Generation survey, while one third (33%) of
parents believe the kitchen is potentially the most harmful area to their
children, 75 percent of adults store their cleaning products under the
kitchen sink -- with just half (50%) choosing to open windows to release
toxic fumes when cleaning. With more than 92 percent of poisonings
happening in the home (CDC) and children under six making up more than half
(51.2%) of human exposure victims to poisonings in America (American
Association of Poison Control Centers), it's important to remember that
every room has hidden dangers.
"We live in a society where parents are taking steps to think about their
family's health more consciously, like the 37 percent we found in our
survey who buy organic produce. However, they might be putting that
produce on surfaces that are toxic to their family's health," said Jeffrey
Hollender, CEO, Seventh Generation. "The Health eHome educational platform
is designed to teach families about the chemical dangers in the home while
discovering non-toxic and environmentally-friendly alternatives, providing
parents with the peace of mind of knowing that they are doing all they can
to maintain a safe and healthy home for their children."
More findings from the survey
-- Sixty-seven percent (67%) of adults believe that companies are
required to disclose all of the chemical ingredients contained in their
products. The truth is, they are not.
-- More than half of adults (58%) don't always check the labels of the
cleaning products they purchase to determine if they contain ingredients
that are harmful to their health.
-- While more than half of adults believe that household cleaning
products (e.g., window cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, kitchen cleaner) cause
substantial damage to the environment (53%) and think that if used daily
products that contain dyes or fragrances can be harmful to their health
(59%), only 21 percent of parents opt for cleaning products with natural
ingredients.
-- Surprisingly, 70 percent of adults with kids under the age of six
years that live in their household store their household cleaning
products/solutions under the sink.
-- Sixteen percent (16%) of parents do not believe any room in their home
poses potential danger to their children.
To locate the hazardous "hot spots" in your home, or to create a
personalized action plan for your family, please visit Health eHome at
www.webmd.com/healthyhome.
About Seventh Generation
Seventh Generation is committed to being the most trusted brand of
household and personal-care products for your living home. Our products are
healthy and safe for the air, the surfaces, the fabrics, the pets, and the
people within your home -- and for the community and environment outside of
it. Seventh Generation also offers products for baby that are safe for your
children and the planet.
For information on Seventh Generation cleaning, paper, baby and feminine
personal care products, to find store locations, and explore the company's
website visit
www.seventhgeneration.com. To read more about Seventh
Generation's corporate responsibility, visit the Corporate Consciousness
Report at:
www.seventhgeneration.com/corporate-responsibility/2007.
About Healthy Child Healthy World
Healthy Child Healthy World is a national, non-profit 501(c) 3
organization, which inspires parents to protect young children from harmful
chemicals.
We exist because over 125 million of Americans, predominantly children, now
face an historically unprecedented rise in chronic disease and illness such
as cancer, autism, asthma, allergies, birth defects, ADD / ADHD, obesity,
diabetes, and learning and developmental disabilities. Credible scientific
evidence increasingly points to environmental hazards and household
chemicals as causing and contributing to many of these diseases.
Healthy Child Healthy World aims to educate parents, support protective
policies, and engage communities to make responsible decisions, simple
everyday choices, and well-informed lifestyle improvements to create
healthy environments where children and families can flourish. Please visit
www.healthychild.org for more information.
About the Survey
This Seventh Generation survey was conducted online within the United
States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Coyne PR from March 5 to March 9,
2009 among 2,852 adults ages 18 and older, of whom 757 are the parent or
legal guardian of a child/children under the age of 18 that lives in their
household. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and
therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For
complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact
Lauren Curtin at
lcurtin@coynepr.com.
(1) For the purposes of this study "parents" were defined as U.S. adults
ages 18+ who are the parent or legal guardian of a child/children younger
than 18 years old that lives in their household.
Contact Information: Contact:
Meghan Butler
Seventh Generation PR
802-658-3773 x 519
Erin Bobal
Lauren Curtin
Coyne PR
(212) 938-0166