Pest-proof your home: safe for kids and pets, natural pesticides help kick--and keep--bugs out of your living space.(ECO-HOME: PERSONAL CARE)

Bugs. They hang from the rafters and skitter across your floors. And while one or two can be a nuisance, an invasion may tempt you to reach for the bug spray or call an exterminator. But this slash-and-burn approach can unleash a witches' brew of toxins that puts your family's health at risk and negatively impacts the environment.

While organophosphate compounds like chlorpyrifos have been phased out of home-use pesticides because they cause neurological disorders and birth defects, using the popular pyrethrin-based pesticides aren't without risk. According to the Children's Pesticide Exposure Study, residential use of these "naturally derived" pyrethroids may also affect neurological development, disrupt hormones, induce cancer and suppress the immune system. Pregnant women should take extra precautions because pyrethrin-based pesticides can harm a fetus's developing nervous system. Pyrethrins trigger a miscarriage in animals well before the mother's experienced any toxicity.

Other pesticides may be more harmful. Propoxur, commonly found in products designed to kill roaches and ants, depresses the central nervous system and respiratory tract and can cause muscle weakness, dizziness, headaches and nausea. Research suggests that exposure may damage DNA and negatively affect fetal growth, early neurodevelopment and respiratory health in kids.

Kids at Greatest Risk

Infants and children may be especially sensitive to the health risks posed by conventional pesticides because their internal organs are still developing and maturing. What's more, young children spend lots of time playing on floors and putting objects in their mouths, which increases their exposure to pesticides used in homes. Along with the neurotoxic effects, small children growing up in homes that routinely use professional pest control are more likely to develop leukemia.

Fortunately, you don't have to choose between toxic pesticides or living with those creepy crawlies.

The Safe Solution