Healthy Home InnovationLet's Make Your House Healthy

School bells ring. Out come the pernicious chemical agents, the sprays, the poisons going for the germs, bashing the bugsŠand assailing the students. As surely as the seasons change and school begins, the not-so-green attack method of pest cleanup has hit our youngest and frailest population.

Now, however, some advocates have begun to shun the Mr. Mean-but-Clean ways of battling germs or greening lawns, to enlist more biological methods to eliminate pests and protect students. Brandishing some of the strictest standards in the nation, Toxics Action Center lead Massachusetts to become the latest state (after California, New York and Michigan) — the most stringent — to pass legislation to clean up the poisons that fill the dwelling spaces of our most fragile population.

The state’s Children and Families Protection Act slated to go on the ballot in 200l attracted so many signers that the legislature (hardly the most progressive in the nation), passed the act for this year. Looking to integrated pest management rather than pesticides, the advocates at the center have carried out their mandate insisting that imagination, good housekeeping and, uniquely, a good community connection and follow-up system can do more than poisons.

Minimize Risk

Let’s say you’re lucky enough to get to take two weeks of vacation away from home each year. Maybe your job sends you to a training session or trade conference for a few days. Then there’s your niece’s wedding, Thanksgiving with the family, a weekend getaway or two with your spouse to the hills — or Las Vegas. For many adults, a typical year may have us sleeping in a hotel room 10-20 nights per year. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

Or more accurately, that’s a lot to sneeze at. Not all hotels can offer plush bathrobes, superb security, and immaculate cleanliness. The reality is that even five-star hotels have been found to harbor plenty of hidden mildew and germs.

However, there are ways to make your home away from home not only more pleasant, but healthier and safer too.