Is there a half-life for the chemicals in my home?

Is there a half-life for the chemicals in my home?

Gary Ginsberg (Toxicologist) gives expert video advice on: What are the most hazardous products we typically bring into our own homes?; How can I minimize my exposure to dangerous household products?; Is there a half-life for the chemicals in my home? and more...

Let's say you spray some bug killer over here in your kitchen then over there in the living room there's going to be an air concentration of that pesticide, and that's going to hang around. Let's say the half-life of that is 3, or 4 or 5 days. That means half of it's gone, but half of it's still there. And then another 3 or 4 or 5 days later, again, half of that will be gone, and half will be there. So you never totally get rid of it because there's always half of something that's still left behind. And then you're going to come along a week later, and spray something else into the indoor area that's combining with that and leading to a cumulative exposure. So while we are clearing the indoor air just by natural attenuation, having ventilation and open windows, we're also leading to other exposures over time that can be adding and lead to a cumulative effect. Certainly the summer time with open windows and good air flow things clear out of the house much faster than if you live where I do in the North East, and you've got as air-tight as possible a situation, which is good for the planet, less energy consumption, but is not necessarily good for your lungs, or good for your general health from exposure to toxic chemicals. This is why it is so important in this modern age to have greener supplies to use around the home.