Health, Taken Seriously

How do you go about choosing which cleaning products to buy? Do you pick what your mother used when you were growing up? Do you reach for whatever is on sale? Do you choose your laundry detergent because you like the scent? Have you ever turned over the bottle of a cleaning product and looked at its ingredients? Have you ever wondered what exactly you were cleaning your kitchen sink with, or washing your sheets in, or rubbing into your carpet? If you’re like most consumers, probably not. But now is the time to start. Almost every traditional cleaning product in your home contains at least one health hazard. Most cleaning products contain ingredients that are not regulated or tested for their safety, so it’s time to start reading labels and making informed decisions for your health, as well as that of your family and pets.I used to use Tide. I liked the scent and I believed it got my clothes the cleanest of any product I’d tried. But when you read the back, no ingredients are listed. None. How is that possible? How can I be washing my clothes in a detergent and wearing them daily without being aware of a single ingredient? How can I be putting my son in clothes covered with who knows what, and putting him to bed on a pillowcase containing possibly anything? How is not listing ingredients even legal?!? I will tell you what is on the back of my Tide bottle–a warning! It says to keep it out of the reach of children, and that if swallowed, a physician should be contacted. If it gets into your eyes, flush them with water. So what exactly is such a hazard to my eyes and body if ingested, but yet is safe enough to sit on my skin and cover every sheet, towel, blanket, and pair of underwear in my home? If the scent of Tide stays on my clothes long after the rinse cycle, what else is staying on them?It turns out that there is a reason most companies don’t want to disclose their ingredients–because they often contain chemicals that irritate our respiratory systems and disrupt our hormonal systems. Some of these dangerous ingredients in laundry detergent include alkylphenolic compounds, artificial fragrances, chlorine bleach, EDTA, optical brightners, and phenol, among others. Alkylphenolic compounds are synthetic surfactants (foaming agents) that are endocrine disrupters (mimicing the hormone estrogen and disrupting reproduction and development) and do not biodegrade in soil or water. Artificial fragrances, a seemingly benign addition, are actually synthetic chemical blends which are almost always derived from petroleum (therefore increasing our reliance on oil). They can irritate the skin and eyes, as well as cause headaches. Fragrances might contain other dangerous toxins like phthalates (see Dangerous Plastics post), formaldehyde (a preservative that is carcinogenic), or methylene chloride (a suspected human carcinogen often found in air fresheners). Fragrances can also induce or worsen respiratory problems, especially in those with asthma or allergies. Chlorine bleach is a powerful respiratory irritant, a major cause of atmospheric ozone loss, and listed in the 1990 Clean Air Act as a hazardous air pollutant. Optical brightners do not actually brighten clothes; they merely trick the eye. These brightners are toxic to fish (a serious concern as what enters the water system through your home will eventually enter our creeks, rivers, and oceans) and can provoke allergic reactions under certain conditions. Phenol is a known mutagen and suspected carcinogen. This toxin can severely irritate skin, eyes, nose, mouth throat, and lungs, and consumption can lead to serious medical conditions like coma and death. Are these chemicals you want on the clothes that touch your skin 24/7?Fortunately, there are alternatives. Natural, non-toxic alternatives do exist. There are many laundry detergents on the market that do not contain petroleum products (the surfactants are derived from renewable resources instead, like coconut), are chlorine-free, contain no synthetic dyes or fragrances, and contain no optical brightners. They clean clothes safely, disclose their ingredients, are biodegradable, and reduce our reliance on oil (according to my Seventh Generation bottle of laundry detergent, if every household in the U.S. replaced one 100 oz bottle of petroleum based liquid laundry detergent with a vegetable-based product, we could save 225,000 barrels of oil!) We have been using them in our house for over a year and have been completely satisfied. For a list of companies that make these detergents, see the end of this post. I have even found a non-toxic, vegetable-based detergent at my local Costco!There are many more cleaning products you use in your home in addition to laundry detergent–kitchen cleaners, bathroom cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, carpet stain treaters, dishwashing liquid, automatic dishwashing detergent, hand soap, oven cleaners, glass cleaners, drain cleaners, furniture polishers, metal polishers, etc. All of these products potentially contain dangerous ingredients. Automatic dishwashing detergents contain phosphates (which are major water pollutants that are banned in laundry detergents but still exist in dishwashing detergents), chlorine bleach (which becomes a toxic vapor in the steam exiting your dishwasher–this toxic gas tends to be heavy so your young children and pets will be the most affected by breathing it), polycarboxylates (petroleum-based synthetic phosphate substitutes that do not biodegrade and have never been tested for their affects on human health), and sodium hydroxide (an eye, skin, and respiratory irritant that is especially dangerous if swallowed). Glass cleaners may contain ammonia (a toxic chemical on the EPA’s Community Right-to-Know list that is extremely toxic when inhaled, can cause chemical burns, and has been shown to produce skin cancer), butyl cellosolve (a suspected teratogen that can damage developing fetuses and male reproductive glands, and may contribute to learning disabilities in children), dioxane (a carcinogen listed as a hazardous air pollutant in the 1990 Clean Air Act), and methanol (a neurotoxin and eye and skin irritant). These are just a few examples of what can be found in traditional cleaning products. If you’d like more details about what’s in all your cleaning products, consider checking out Green This! by Deirdre Imus from the library.Do you really want to clean off your kitchen counters with products that contain chemicals like these, then prepare food on them? Do you really want to scrub your bathtub until in shines, only to soak in a bath that contains not only the bath salts you added, but everything else that was in your cleaner? Do you really want to spray cleaners in your home that can make the indoor air quality up to 100 times more polluted than the air outdoors (see Cleaner Indoor Air post)? Do you really want to store such serious toxins in your home where your children or pets could potentially ingest them?Those of us with young children need to take green cleaning even more seriously. Small children are not as capable of dealing with the dangerous toxins that enter their bodies as adults with mature livers and kidneys are, and are more susceptible to dangerous chemicals as their bodies and brains are still developing. Of the estimated 80,000 chemicals present in our environment, only 2% have been tested for their safety in humans by the EPA, and even fewer have been tested for their safety in children^1,2. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death for children between the ages of one and nineteen, with certain cancers increasing 30% over the past two decades (such as leukemia and central nervous system malignanc
ies). No doubt all the toxins in our environment have helped contribute to this, since only 10% of all malignancies are thought to involve inherited mutations with the remaining 90% being due to environmental factors¹. Autism rates are increasing alarmingly quickly³, affecting as many as 1 in 150 children⁴, up from 1 in 10,000 in the late 80s¹. You may tell yourself that disease rates are rising because we are better at diagnosing disorders but you can’t tell me that autism just slid by 20 years ago and now we are finally noticing the symptoms.The chemicals in our environment are having serious consequences for our health. It’s our responsibility to be conscious consumers that care about what goes into our homes and bodies. Don’t mindlessly shop for products that you bring into your home–research them and make informed decisions. We, and especially our children, deserve a healthier home.In order to make this transition, start small. I don’t recommend trying to toss out every cleaner you currently have and replacing it with a non-toxic one. But do consider replacing your cleaners with more health-friendly ones once they run out. Try switching one or two cleaners initially and see what you think. Small changes are much more likely to stick than drastic ones. Some great brands to look into include Bi-O-Kleen, Ecover, Earth Friendly, Mrs. Meyers, Seventh Generation, and Shaklee. You can purchase many of these brands in natural foods stores, or order online. Green This! also has many great suggestions for cleaning your home with vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice. Here are some of our favorite cleaning products:Dish soap:Dishmate by Earth Friendly Products. The pear and grapefruit scents are so good! No petroleum based cleaners.Dish soap and/or handwashing soap:Love the grapefruit and orange scent of Bi-O-Kleen’s hand moisturizing dishwash liquid. Can be used as a bubble bath or pet shampoo too!
Laundry detergent:Seventh Generation detergent. We use the Free and Clear, but they also have scents like lavender. No phosphates, optical brightners, or petroleum based cleaners.Kitchen cleaner:Seventh Generation Natural Citrus cleaner. I love the citrus smell and don’t have to worry about spraying counter tops with something dangerous that might make it’s way into our mouths. Made with hydrogen peroxide (you can actually see it bubble) and citrus oils.or Melaleuca Sol-U-Guard botanical disinfectant. Members of Melaleuca receive a discount but anyone can buy them online. Made with thyme, which naturally kills 99% of germs. I’m not crazy about the smell, but I love that I can disinfect my countertops with an herb!Automatic Dishwashing Detergent:We have had a little trouble finding a natural detergent that works as well as conventional ones, but we’ve been the happiest with that made by Ecover.1. Imus, Deirdre. Green This! Simon & Schuster, 2007.2. Pelly, Janet. “EPA, industry score low on toxics test.” Environmental Science and Technology, August 2007.3. Yeargin-Allsopp, Marshalyn, et. al. Prevalence of Autism in a US Metropolitan Area. JAMA. 2003: 289, 49-55.4. “Autism Rate in U.S. Higher than Thought.” MSNBC, Feb 2007. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17047721/, Accessed 9/12/07.