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Our Criteria

SafetyNEST provides trusted guidance to safeguard you and your baby. 

We do the important work for you. Through our sister nonprofit organization, SafetyNEST Science, our team works with top-tier scientific partners to provide you with the latest research into potentially toxic chemicals found in homes, food, and the products we buy. We translate those findings into concise and actionable information for you. With this critical information you can quickly evaluate your home to understand what items may contain chemicals of concern, then determine what’s safe and what’s not. We point you to safer alternatives - products, brands or do-it-yourself options. 

In your daily life there are very few “perfect choices.” SafetyNEST recognizes the complex and interwoven factors that you take into account when making important health decisions for you and your family. From the food we eat to the furniture we choose to how we clean it all, SafetyNEST helps you sort through a dizzying array of ingredients and information so you can feel more confident in making better choices to keep you and your family healthy and safe.  

We base our informed suggestions on authoritative resources on toxic chemicals. We rarely include other factors, such as a life-cycle analysis, ecological impact and worker safety, which would need to be considered for a complete evaluation of alternatives to toxics. 

For example, some products are definitely healthier for individuals but still can have an unsustainable environmental footprint. In fact, the vast majority of products on the market are derived from petroleum and other non-renewable resources. Most often we have to determine what’s the least harmful out of an array of not-so-great options. SafetyNEST provides references whenever possible to assist you in learning more about the complexities and nuances of these issues.  

The Choices We Make

When it comes to finding safer alternatives to personal care and household items, we review the leading product certification and rating programs to recommend a handful of options in each category. Our goal is to make it easy for you to find safer and effective choices for your home and workplace. 

We ask three basic questions to come up with our recommendations: Is it safe? Is it affordable? Does it work? 

Is It Safe? 

When it comes to personal care products, we only recommend the safest choices available, as identified in the following sources: 

With household items that have not been rated with the systems noted above, we check the labels, ask the tough questions, and recommend the best options we can find for you. The items we recommend are, to be the best of our knowledge, free from toxic chemicals known to cause cancer, mutagenicity or affect hormonal activity, the nervous system, the reproductive system, human development or human behavior.  

Is It Affordable? 

We know that you want to do the best for your baby. We also know some items are too expensive – though sometimes you may want to splurge! We provide recommendations at several price points. In some categories, we've found it very difficult to offer affordable choices that are also safe. We hope to see safer options available in the market at lower price points soon - and we will add these to our site for you!

Does It Work? 

We only recommend products that have been rated 4 stars or above on Amazon. We recognize that the Amazon rating system is imperfect. As our user community grows, the SafetyNEST website will support its own user ratings. For now, we hope this current customer feedback is useful. 

Finally, please note that SafetyNEST does not receive any funding from product manufacturers or corporations. 

OUR BASIC GUIDELINES

When you’re making informed consumer choices, consider: 

 Keeping these guidelines in mind can be useful as you weigh what’s right for you, your family, and your community – today and for future generations.