Avoid your home's hidden health threats: from chemicals in your bedsheets to dangerous germs in your dishcloth, health threats abound in your home. But you don't have to live with them. Create a safe haven with our 22 tips - Consumer guide: how to be an educated consumer

Natural Health, Sept, 2003 by Theresa Anne Morin

Fireplace: A crackling fire in your fireplace looks inviting, but it carries risks. "The primary danger is the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning," says Dadd. You can't see, taste, or smell this lethal gas. Wood fires can also release benzopyrene, a carcinogen that can irritate your eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. Dadd--who enjoys her own fireplace often--recommends these precautions: First, make sure your fireplace and wood stove are installed properly and that the flue is open when you light a fire. Next, have your fireplace or wood stove inspected annually to remove any creosote build-up, which can block the chimney, forcing toxic fumes back into your living room. Always keep a window open (even a crack) to allow pollutants to escape the room. And finally, install a smoke and carbon monoxide detector near your fireplace and check the battery periodically.

Your Basement

Cracks and Crawl Spaces: Radon, the invisible, odorless radioactive natural gas found in many basements, causes lung cancer. It enters basements through cracks in floors and walls, crawl spaces, and sump pumps, and its microscopic particles attach themselves to airborne material like dust or cigarette smoke. You risk inhaling these harmful particles into your lungs.

To protect yourself, test your home with an inexpensive kit sold at hardware and home improvement stores. Look for a kit approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Or hire a professional inspector to test for it. If the test indicates that you have radon levels above 4 picocuries per liter of air (pCi/l), the EPA recommends that you work with a licensed radon contractor to install a radon mitigation system in your basement, which typically costs $1,000 to $2,000. If you have lower levels, you can try cheaper options, like opening a basement window to increase ventilation, or using caulk and cement to seal spaces that allow radon to enter. Retest to see if these measures lower the radon to a safe level (below 4 picocuries per liter). If they don't, experts advise that you hire a contractor.

Walls: If your basement is damp, its walls swarm with life: Mold and mildew grow on these surfaces, mites and book lice feed on the mold, and then spiders feed on the microscopic creatures, explains May, the home investigator. This ecosystem can cause the humans upstairs to suffer from chronic sinus and respiratory problems and even fatigue and depression. To control basement moisture, the first step is to determine where the water is entering. May suggests that you hire a building inspector to help find and remedy the moisture source. You may only need to install a dehumidifier--May recommends buying the largest one you can afford for greatest efficiency--and increase the basement temperature to at least 65 degrees.

Store as little as possible in your basement, May says; cardboard boxes, clothes, and books in particular breed mold and mildew. Possessions in the basement should be stored on metal shelves at least two feet from foundation walls and three inches off the floor. Keep clothing and other fabric items in airtight plastic bins or bags.