Introduction

Introduction

Before I present my findings, I would like to make a quick introduction. My name is Colleen Horowitz, and I am a nursing and public health graduate student at the University of San Francisco. Before becoming a registered nurse, I was a high school chemistry teacher. Both of these professions are helpful in understanding how the toxic chemicals that we use in our everyday lives are inadvertently impacting our environment and our health.  Although I am writing this blog as part of my environmental and occupational health course work, I have always been passionate about reducing my environment footprint and living a healthy life. I hope you enjoy reading my posts and learning along side me about the choices we make as consumers. 

I would also like to introduce some of the institutions that I will use in my research so that you can conduct your own research if you'd like, and to familiarize you with their acronyms. Many of you may be aware of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and their work in informing consumers about the toxicity of the products they may purchase. The EWG works on several key issues that includes presenting research on a variety of chemicals found in consumer products. They score each personal care product on numeral scale up to 10 and give recommendations on the safety of the products.
            More information at http://www.ewg.org/


The United States Department of Health and Human Services National Institute of Health (NIH) and National Library of Medicine, provide a database of information on the safety of household products. Like EWG, they present the research on the toxicity and safety of the products that we surround ourselves and use in our everyday lives.
More information at https://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/


National Toxicology Program (NTP) is a program from The Department of Health and Human Services that develops testing for toxicology and presents results and recommendations of a variety of chemicals that are used in our household, personal care, prescription drugs, or yard care products.
            More information can be found at https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/

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