Chemical Warfare

From sperm counts to obesity, scientists are only beginning to understand the long-term health effects of many chemicals in everyday use. How to survive the war at home?

- Nicky Pellegrino

For Alexx Stuart, it started as a bid to improve her health. She was in her mid-twenties, drinking, smoking, eating badly and always sick. Coughs, migraines, chronic tonsillitis, constant fatigue; she would pop a pill and keep going. But after turning to a naturopath for help, Stuart began asking questions. Why did she cough so much after eating her favourite brand of barbecue corn chips? What exactly was in her prized collection of more than 50 fragrances, and was spraying them linked to her constant headaches? What about her skincare products, fabric softener, household cleaners, dental floss and air deodoriser?

“It astounded me that I’d gone through school and university – all those years of education – and still had no idea what was in the things I was putting on my body or cleaning my home with. So I started reading and researching,” Sydney-based Stuart says.

With every product she examined, Stuart asked three questions. How is it made? What is it made of? And am I okay with that? Out went the personal-care items laced with phthalates (endocrine-disrupting gelling agents) and parabens (preservatives), household cleaners containing the toxic solvent butoxyethanol and toothpaste with added triclosan to beat gingivitis. Out went non-stick pans and dental floss coated with polytetrafluoroethylenes (PTFEs) and cans of food lined with bisphenols.

Reducing such potentially harmful chemicals from her own life was only the beginning. Now 42, Stuart has built a business advising other people how to make the same changes. She has a website, lowtox life. com, with podcasts and information, is a consultant to businesses, takes workshops, has written a book, Low Tox Life: A Handbook for a Healthy You and a Happy Planet (Murdoch Books, $36.99), and runs an online course, Go Low Tox.