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herlife | green livingSafe Eco-Friendly Productsfor Your New Babyby linda marannoTaking the extra time and making the extra effort to purchaseeco-friendly products is always a wise choice, but it becomeseven more important when you are planning for the arrival ofyour new baby. Carefully selecting products that protect the health andsafety of your child is a key priority. We’ve done an extensive search andgathered a wide variety of suggestions to help you get started.NurseryConsidering your new baby will be spending almost all of her or histime in this room, it’s important to make sure all products used in thisspace will help create the healthiest environment possible.Paint – Pregnant women and small children are especially sensitive tothe toxic effects of conventional paint which contain chemicals such assolvents, mercury, formaldehyde, benzene, dibutyl and diethyl phthalatewhich release dangerous Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) into theair. Safer alternatives include SafePaint, a milk-based (casein) VOC-freepaint that uses natural pigments made by the Old Fashioned Milk PaintCompany (milkpaint.com) or Safe Coat, which offers a number of zeroand low VOC paints (afmsafecoat.com).Flooring – Synthetic carpeting also emits toxic VOCs from chemicalssuch as formaldehyde and benzene. Choose safer flooring optionssuch as 100 percent wool carpeting made by EarthWeave (earthweave.com) called Bio-Floor that is free from chemicals used for mothproofing,as well as dyes and stain protectors. Cotton and hemp are used forthe primary backing instead of polypropylene, natural rubber for theadhesive and jute for the secondary backing. Their padding is a blend ofwool and cotton and is free of dyes, fire retardants, glues, mothproofingor adhesives. Another eco-friendly option is bamboo flooring made bySmith & Fong, the only company that offers a formaldehyde-free line ofbamboo flooring called PlybooPure. They are also dedicated to makingsure the bamboo used in their products is produced in a sustainablemanner (plyboo.com).Furniture – Shopping for a safe crib is a challenge because most aremade of composite wood products such as particle board (PB) ormedium density fiberboard (MDF), which emits dangerous VOCs fromformaldehyde and other toxic chemicals used in the finishing process.We did find two companies, however, that produce eco-friendly nontoxicnursery furniture. Manufactured at a factory in Connecticut, ducduc’sfurniture is made from sustainably harvested hardwood using waterbased,nontoxic finishes. They do not use MDF or particle board (ducducnyc.com).Argington’s entire line of furniture is made from renewableand sustainably harvested solid birch wood and birch plywood thatis Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. They guarantee that theirwood products have 0 percent formaldehyde emissions, and all materials,glues, stains and finishes are 100 percent nontoxic (argington.com).52 HERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM