Detox your House: Top 5 plants for cleaning your air

Dennis Wolverton at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has done studies over the past two decades to find out which plants could remove toxic chemicals from the air for use in space stations.

The plants that topped his list are:
  - Mass cane (dracaena massangeana)
  - Pot mum (Chrysanthemum morifolium)
  - Gerbera daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)
  - Warnecki (Dracaena deremensis “Warneckei”)
  - Ficus (Ficus benjamina)

These five plants were particularly effective at clearing the air of formaldehyde, benzene, and trichloroethylene. Common household sources of these toxins include new carpets, new furniture and mattresses, and press board furniture.

Mass cane (dracaena massangeana)

Pot mum (Chrysanthemum morifolium)

Gerbera daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)

Warnecki (Dracaena deremensis “Warneckei”)

Ficus (Ficus benjamina)

Dr. Crinnion ND,  an expert in environmental medicine and author of Clean, Green and Lean,  refers to these plants as "Nature's Air Purifiers" and recommends putting LOTS of them in your home or workplace. By using a variety of these plants and "making your home a jungle" you'll have dramatically improved the air quality of your home.

Other Plants that are effective at air purification:

  - English Ivy (Hederix helix)

  - Marginata (Dracaena marginata)

  - Mother-in-laws tongue (Sansevieria laurentii)

  - Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum Mauna Loa)

  - Banana (Musa oriana)

  - Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea seifrizii)

  - Heart Leaf philodendron (Philodendron oxycardium)

  - Green Spider Plant (Chlorophytum elatum)
  - Janet Craig (Dracaena deremensis)

Researcher Kamal Meattle, has also done work on air quality and show how three of these common household plants can drastically improve air quality.

Detox your House: Did you know that ammonia based cleaners can lead to decreased fertility?

I was just doing some research and came across this in Jane Lyttletons's book "Treatment of Infertility with Chinese Medicine"

"There have been claims made that ammonia (present in many household cleaners) has a specific role in inhibiting fertility. This idea comes from the observation in nature that animals will not reproduce successfully if they live in overcrowded situations where there is excess urine and therefore ammonia. Patients from my clinic too provide anecdotal evidence of miscarriage after strong exposure to cleansers containing ammonia.

Chemicals used in the home, particularly during home renovations, also increase the number of miscarriages, especially in older women, where the risk is nearly four times than normal"

Although this is observational data, it lends yet another reason to ditch chemically based cleaners with ammonia and opt for more health conscious cleaning products.