A (video) Green Guide to Pregnancy

When I was pregnant with my second child, I read Sandra Steingraber's book, Having Faith, a haunting account of the effects of toxic chemicals on babies in utero, written while she was pregnant herself.

It opened my eyes to the critical importance of timing when it comes to chemical exposures, and spurred me to make some behavioral changes to reduce my exposures to toxic chemicals while pregnant (more organics, fewer and less toxic personal care products, and greener cleaning supplies, among them. For more ideas, see EWG's 11 Healthy Pregnancy Tips).

But for those among us with little reading time (parents in general!), this new video about environmental health during pregnancy covers a lot of ground on four topics in a mere 20 minutes:

  • Environmental tobacco smoke,
  • Beauty treatments and personal care products,
  • Exposures in the home, and
  • Food safety and healthy eating.

The video was designed to help prenatal healthcare providers and educators teach women how to reduce their risk of exposure to environmental toxins during pregnancy. The cast is diverse, the language is accessible (middle-school level), it's available in Spanish and there are home and classroom options (the classroom option is more expensive, but comes with a Workshop Leader's Guide, flyers, evaluation forms, a computer slide show presentation and full color printable handouts).

Your Green Guide to Pregnancy is an excellent introduction to the idea of an environmentally healthy pregnancy - that explains the importance of it along with simple how-tos.

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