Asthma rates are three times as high as they were just 25 years ago. While the incidence of cancer has increased to one in two males and one in three females – the American Cancer Society blames environmental influences for 80 percent of cancer cases.

That means these maladies are avoidable.

Learn how indoor air pollution and seemingly harmless, though toxic chemicals in your home, office or school may be making you sick, by coming to the Healthy House Fair, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday, October 21st, at DePaul University, One East Jackson Blvd. (downtown). Admission is $5 and children -12 are free.

These United States may be the land of the free and the home of the brave, but that doesn’t mean the laws are protecting our health.

Ever pick up a bottle of disinfectant or a box of common household detergent and look for the ingredients? What you’ll likely find instead are admonitions of “WARNING”, “DANGER! KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN”, and cautionary instructions of how to proceed if the product is ingested or gets into eyes.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission protects the public from harm by examining 15,000 types of products. But under the Federal Hazardous Substances Labeling Act, administered by the agency – manufacturers of household cleaners, disinfectants, metal polishes, drain cleaners or floor waxes do not have to reveal the ingredients – considered “trade secrets”.

Worse yet, of the 87,000 chemicals used in manufacturing products in the U.S. – the Environmental Protection Agency notes, less than 10 percent have been fully tested for human toxicity. Not only is no government agency regulating WHAT goes into these products – no one can say how repeated exposure to these untested chemicals impacts our health.

And if you think the Food and Drug Administration is overseeing your safety – think again! The safety of personal care products ranging from shampoo, to anti-perspirant, shaving cream, hair dyes, sunless tanning products, and make-up, IS NOT regulated by the FDA. While manufacturers of these products do list the ingredients – the products’ safety is voluntarily vouched for by an industry review panel. Composed of personal care product manufacturers – the Cosmetics, Toiletry and Fragrance Association – also sit on the industry funded Cosmetics Ingredients Review panel and decides the safety of ingredients.

Here’s the “rub”: of the more than 10,500 ingredients in personal care products on the market, the “volunteer” panel has reviewed a scant 11 percent of the ingredients. According to the FDA, the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act doesn’t even authorize the agency to recall harmful products. Manufacturers voluntarily recall products.

That’s the WHY of the Healthy House Fair.

Hosted by NaCar Interiors, the Healthy House Fair showcases a series of scholars, authors, films, vendors and organizations, all focused on informing the public about the resulting health risks of long term exposure to unregulated chemicals and indoor air pollution. NaCar Interiors is the “green” interior design firm of Ms. N’Dana Carter, a Harrington College of Design graduate.

The day long activities include workshops; films; eco-savvy vendors; agencies; 7-foot tall tip boards; clowns; balloons; music; an eBook featuring how-to articles/web addresses; refreshments; door prizes; and a 10 percent discount at Barnes & Noble Bookstore with a fair ticket stub for books on Healthy House topics.

Among the workshops are: “What Manufacturers Don’t Tell You – the Case Against Toxic Products”; “How to Clean Up Indoor Air Pollution”; “What’s the Deal with Genetically Engineered Food?”; “Are You Dying to be Beautiful? What rBGH Growth Hormone is Doing to Our Children”; and “The Case Against Mercury and Lead (poisoning) – Is Chelation Therapy the Answer?”.

Vendors comprise: Healthy Green Goods, an Evanston-based department store owned and operated by a physician, which sells eco-friendly, non-toxic products for the home and body, ranging from baby clothes, to rugs, to linen; Schmidt Exteriors, Inc., of Carol Stream, IL, a distributor of Air Krete insulation, an energy efficient insulation which is fireproof, pest and rodent resistant and isn’t treated with toxic chemicals. E L Foust Co., Inc., of Elmhurst, IL, manufacturer of air purifiers for allergy/asthma/chemical sensitivity sufferers; dehumidifiers, water filters, non-toxic household cleaners.

Agencies include: National Sarcoidosis Society; and Healthy Kids.

Two cinema salons will present an array of films: “The Corporation”, a documentary history of corporations as institutions and how that impacts consumer products, the environment and workers; “The Future of Food”, an investigation into unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered food; “Smoking Teeth – Poison Gas”, documentary on poisoning from mercury dental fillings; “Fries to Go”, how Telluride, Colorado’s bio-diesel project resulting in the first city bus nationwide to run on 100% bio-diesel; “Going Green: Every Home an Eco-Home”, humorous tips on how to live simply; “Architecture to Zucchini”, practical ways individuals, businesses and organizations to support the environment.

Among the luminaries are:

• Dr. Samuel Epstein, University of Illinois at Chicago professor emeritus, Environmental and Occupational Medicine; an international authority on cancer prevention; winner of the 1998 Right Livelihood Award, dubbed the alternative Nobel, was presented in a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm; he ahs penned several books, including “Cancer-Gate: How to Win the Losing Cancer War”, “The Politics of Cancer” and “Safe Shopper’s Bible”.

• David Crumrine, Chairman, Chemistry Department, Loyola University, a member of the advisory committee of Loyola’s Center for Urban Environmental research and Policy, and an active member of the American Chemical Society. Professor Crumrine, whose specialty is organic chemistry, has published numerous articles in academic journals, and teaches an organic chemistry course which prepares students to comprehensively read food ingredient lists and prescription medicine inserts.

• John Paul Kusz, Associate Director, Center for Sustainable Enterprise, Stuart Graduate School of Business, Illinois Institute of Technology, teaches courses related to the environmental aspects of business and product development. Professor Kusz, who heads JPKusz Ltd., holds 10 U.S. and foreign patents, has written more than 40 papers and presented at conferences, including a study he penned for the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment on the correlation of corporate, economic and environmental trends in the household chemical products industry.

• Liane Clorfene-Casten, the self described “investigative journalist and community activist”, has written scripts for four documentary films, and was a co-founder and president of Chicago Media Watch, a media watchdog group monitoring the media for bias. In addition to writing for national publications ranging from The Nation, to Mother Jones and Ms Magazines, Ms. Clorfene-Casten is also the author of the book “Breast Cancer, Poisons, Profits and Prevention”.

• Dr. David Ayoub, Clinical Associate Professor, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, and Director, Prairie Collaborative for Immunization, specializes in autism’s connection to vaccines and mercury.

• Dr. Elena Koles, a neuro-immunologist, holds a doctorate in oncology from the former U.S.S.R. National Cancer Institute in Moscow, where she worked for 15 years. She completed a residency at Marshall University Medical School in Huntington, West Virginia, and a two-year fellowship at Cook County Hospital. The author of over 120 scientific papers on oncology and neuro-immunology, published in Europe and the United States, Dr. Koles’ clinical interest is in environmental toxins. She is in private practice.