How to Reduce and Avoid Permanent Chemical Contamination in the Home

Understanding Toxic Pollution from Chemical:

Chemical contribute to pollution through waste contamination, emissions, and chemicals that affect water, soil, and human health. It is important to take steps at home to minimize our exposure and reduce our environmental footprint.

What to Do First:

The first important step to creating a more sustainable home is to identify all the cleaning chemicals you currently use. Once you know what products are being used, the next step is to store them in a dedicated, safe area—out of reach of children.

If some products are not too toxic and might still be useful, you can keep them. However, if you’re unable to safely store these chemicals, take them to a local waste collection center. Even if you can’t dispose of them immediately, simply grouping them together in a safe location is already a step in the right direction.

🚫 Never throw chemicals in the bin, sink, or toilet.
This can lead to water contamination and serious health and environmental risks.

🚫 Do not flush nappies, cosmetics, or other chemicals down the toilet.
This can damage the plumbing system and pollute local waterways.

Two Options for Using Sustainable Products at Home:

Buy eco-friendly products from organic or natural stores.
Make your own cleaning products using simple ingredients.
Many recipes can be found in guides such as the French book:
“Fabriquer Ses Produits Ménagers” by Cécile Berg (Éditions La Plage).

“Green Washing – French Book: Fabriquer ses produits ménagers (Cécile Berg – Éditions La Plage)”

Is There Contamination in Your House?

When aiming to improve your home’s sustainability, it’s important to consider both the inside and outside of the house. You need to assess potential safety risks thoroughly.

A common expression says:

“If there is doubt…
No doubt !”

If you suspect contamination in your house or garden, it’s better to investigate than to ignore it.

Think About the History of Your Home:

Most people are not the first residents of their homes. Past owners may have used the land in ways that left chemical residues. Even if everything seems fine, testing your soil can provide essential insights.

Be cautious about garden soil contamination. Just because you don’t see anything unusual doesn’t mean it’s safe. Soil can contain harmful substances like:

Heavy metals
Pesticides
Herbicides
Fungicides

These can affect your health—especially your children’s—without your knowledge.

How Contamination Spreads Indoors:

Chemicals from the garden can easily be brought into the house:

On shoes, clothing, or pets
On windowsills, doormats, and floors
Even on kitchen items if hands are not washed properly before touching dishes

Contaminants can end up on carpets, counter tops, and even inside your dishwasher.

The Invisible Threat:

Chemical contamination is often invisible. The average person can’t distinguish between a safe garden and a toxic one. This makes it easy to overlook the danger—even though it can have a real impact on health.

Children are especially vulnerable. They lack awareness and don’t recognize the signs of exposure. Even adults struggle to connect symptoms—like fatigue or skin irritation—with something they encountered in the garden a day or two earlier.

The Challenge of Removing Contamination:

Removing chemical contamination isn’t simple. In science class, one of the first things we learn is:

“Nothing is lost, everything is transformed.”

That applies to chemicals too—especially persistent ones like Arsenic or PFAS.

You can clean surfaces using Hot water, but full removal often takes a lot of time, effort, and care. Be mindful of spreading the contamination while trying to clean it up. Sustainability also means Minimizing water use and waste during clean-up.

Protecting Yourself During Garden Work:

If you’re improving your garden, protect yourself from exposure by using:

Gloves
A white protective suit
Goggles
A face mask
A hat

Contaminants can enter your body through:

Ingestion (swallowed)
Inhalation (breathed in)
Skin absorption

Always wash your hands with hot water multiple times after gardening, cleaning. Cold water won’t be as effective in removing chemical residues.

Take It Step by Step:

Don’t rush. Poor handling can make contamination worse. Think about:

How to clean without spreading
How to dispose of materials safely
Whether replacing contaminated items (e.g. carpets, toys, soil) is safer than trying to clean them

Sometimes, throwing away items is the only safe option—even if it feels wasteful. Your health is more important than money or sentiment.

When to Seek Help:

Exposure to contaminated areas can cause serious health problems. Depending on your age or health condition, you may need to leave the cleanup to professionals.

Do not act alone. Contact:

Your local MP or environmental officer
Charities like Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK) or PAN Europe
Citizen’s Advice for legal guidance

How to Know If There’s Contamination:

You’re not alone in this. Seek help from:

Local authorities HealthCare, Police, Gov
Environmental associations
Charities and NGOs

If you can afford it, laboratory testing is the most reliable option. (But don’t spend all your savings—set a budget.)

Recommended tests include:

Soil testing for heavy metals, pesticides, and herbicides
House dust testing for contamination from shoes or air
Body testing (e.g., urine, blood, hair, nails) for exposure

Note: Blood and urine tests only detect chemicals from the past few days. For longer-term exposure, hair or nail analysis may be necessary, usually through private labs.

Always consult your doctor if you suspect chemical exposure.

Privacy and Body Testing

Some body tests (e.g., for heavy metals) can reveal exposure levels, but they come with Privacy concerns. Be aware that you’re protected under GDPR in Europe, so labs must handle your data securely.

Some LAB’s in UK and France:

The ideal situation is to find a lab in your own country to avoid long transport times. Some labs may be able to assist you in certain situations:

Soil-Check for Ground and Soil Testings :
- A Laboratory to do “Soil Testing” in UK can be find on the following ( Link ). You can find alternative in France.

“Kudzu” Lab for Hair and Dust Testings :
- A laboratory to do Hair, and Housing Dust Testing can be found on the following : ( Link )
  - Pesticides Cheveux – Pesticides : 100 polluants – Analyse
  - Métaux Lourds Cheveux – Métaux lourds : Mercure-Plomb-Cadmium-Chrome-Arsenic-Nickel-Cuivre
  - Pesticides Poussière – Pesticides : 100 polluants – Analyse

Chemical Test Kits and Interpretation

You can order test kits at varying prices, depending on the number and type of pollutants you want to detect (some allow testing for up to 100 pollutants with nano-quantity sensitivity).

Sometimes the results may not be as clear or positive as expected. Please stay calm—many factors can affect the results. Be patient with the laboratory team; they handle large volumes of contaminated samples, and their work is complex.

Possible issues include:

Machine calibration problems,
Improper sampling location,
Chemical levels below the detection threshold,
Testing for the wrong substances (i.e. testing for chemicals not present in the sample).

You need to know what you’re looking for in order to detect specific chemical compounds. If you’re confident there is contamination, consider consulting a different laboratory and providing constructive feedback. This helps improve the system for everyone.

When Tests Are Positive: What Are Your Options?

If You Are Not the Home-owner (e.g., Tenant):

The first step is to contact your landlord. It’s important to understand whether they are aware of the contamination, especially since it’s not your property.

If You Are the Home-owner or the Landlord:

Contact:

Your Local MP
Your Local Environmental Borough Representative

Legal Advice

For general support, contact Citizens Advice (Link).
For more specific legal help, subscribe to “Which?” Magazine (UK)(Link). They offer access to legal advisers.
If legal proceedings are needed, you can find a solicitor through the Law Society website (Link).
Expert witnesses may be involved in court cases. Your law firm can often help with this, or you may contact experts independently if required.

If Soil Contamination Is Confirmed, What Next?

If your garden soil has been confirmed as chemically contaminated (e.g., by lab analysis), and you wish to grow vegetables organically, your options are unfortunately limited.

According to resources such as the RMC website (Link):

One viable solution is to add a layer of clean, organic soil (around 80 cm deep) on top of the contaminated soil.
Removing contaminated soil is risky—it can expose you to more toxins and creates a new issue: where to safely dispose of the soil.

Always notify your local environmental representative to ensure your actions are in line with safety regulations.

Garden Science and Sustainable Choices

Chemical contamination poses serious risks to health and the environment. That’s why we strongly recommend using sustainable alternatives to pesticides and herbicides wherever possible.

It’s important to recognize:

Farming (organic or industrial) and home gardening are very different practices.
The types of chemicals used have changed across generations.

For example, Glyphosate, invented in the 1970s, revolutionized weed control due to its effectiveness and lower cost. It replaced older, harsher acid-based chemicals. While more efficient, glyphosate is not free from controversy and potential health risks.

“The problem is not always what we do, but how we do it.”

Final Words: Act Thoughtfully

The future will be sustainable—and it starts in your own garden. The government can help, but you take the first step.

Testing your garden to grow safe, organic vegetables is not just healthy—it’s part of your climate and biodiversity impact.

If you have doubts, act. Don’t wait for the next climate summit. Your health, your garden, and your home matter.

“Before it was different,
now it’s different.”
(Les Temps Changent – MC Solaar)

Science is evolving, and so is our awareness. We don’t have to wait for the next COP event to start making sustainable choices in our own gardens and homes.

Need Help Urgently?

Organizations like Pesticide Action Network (PAN) in the UK and Europe (Link) can provide valuable guidance and alternatives. Don’t hesitate to reach out to them if you have questions or need support.

Health In Your Planet