In April, 2007, Oprah Winfrey had a program on Going Green – you can see the video of this on the right. The following is one of the stories that was shared on Oprah’s show:
‘For years, the Barnett family lived like most Americans. Then, in 2004, they got an unexpected wake-up call that changed the way they clean their home and treat the environment.
Sloan and Roger say they began to notice their son Spencer’s health problems when he was just 3 years old. At first, Sloan says her son coughed continuously. One day his heart was racing, so she rushed him to the emergency room.
“I don’t think we knew whether we were going to lose him or not,” Roger says. “They told us that he had a respiratory issue. They thought he might be developing asthma.”
Sloan says she began researching chemicals that can irritate the lungs and found them in a startling location…inside her home. [color=red]According to a physician, some household products—like bathroom cleaners, disinfectants, floor cleaners and oven cleaners—contain toxic chemicals that can trigger an asthma attack.[/color]
As soon as the Barnetts learned that cleaning products can be hazardous to their health, Sloan says they cleaned out their cabinets and made their home a place where everyone could breathe easier.
After throwing out common household cleaners, Roger discovered the Shaklee Corporation, a company that had been producing natural cleaning products for 50 years.
Sloan and Roger began using these eco-friendly cleaners inside their house. “We thought they worked terrifically,” Roger says. “The great news is that Spencer has never had to go back to the hospital since we switched our products and that really speaks it all for us.”
Oprah says “The Barnetts liked the products so much, they bought the company!”
Now, Sloan says she tries to live in a way that’s responsible to the health of her children and to the health of the planet.
Shaklee products, which include everything from dryer sheets to stain removers, are made from pure ingredients and won’t leave your house smelling like a lemon tree. “Clean, real clean, doesn’t have a smell,” Sloan says. “Real clean is good for our children, good for our families.”
Check out the cleaning products here
Oprah says she’s a big fan of Shaklee’s H2 Organic Super Concentrated Cleaner. “Use a couple of drops of this, and it’s amazing,” she says. “You can clean the windows. You can clean the counters….You can clean everything!”
P.S. Out of 1,435 pesticide poisonings in a 1 year period, over 40% were due to exposure to disinfectants and similar cleaning products in the home. (Source: State of California Study) Just reducing (not eliminating) environmental carcinogens alone would save at least 50,000 lives from cancer annually (Source: Dr. Lee Davis, former advisor to the Secretary of Health)
