The best place to start is by carefully Reading the Label of any cleaning product you intend to use. Manufacturers of cleaning products aren't required by law to divulge or explain what precisely is in their products but, thankfully, they are required to tell us if a product is potentially harmful. If the label has any cautionary warnings or advisements, chances are it's not good for you, your kids, your pets or the environment.

Look for obvious words like "Danger," "Caution" or "Warning."

They're not kidding. Time was when many household products were labeled with the skull and cross-bones symbol. Sadly, this seemed to affect sales, so they replaced this symbol with indecipherable fine print warnings. The word "Caution" denotes an ingredient that is "harmful if swallowed" in quantities of an ounce to a pint. This, in fact, could be fatal to an adult. A label that reads "Warning?" The potentially fatal dose here is as little as a teaspoon to an ounce. If the label reads "Danger," a taste to a teaspoon of this stuff could really ruin your day. Or end your days.

Virtually every product so labeled may add deadly chemicals to your body either through ingestion, absorption through the skin and/or the inhalation of fumes. Many are cumulative and can be stored in the body in the liver or the fat cells. The only real distinction in the wording of a cautionary label is the amount of toxins in a particular product. Sound ominous? It gets worse.

Take a moment and search through the bottles of cleaning products under your kitchen sink or utility closet. Odds are very good that, if you have purchased any commercially available cleaner, any of the three words above will figure somewhat prominently in the list of ingredients.

Now, let's examine the long-term health effects stemming from the use of these products: Some Grim Statistics