Health, Taken Seriously » Cleaning

Clorox discloses ingredients

Sophia — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 03:01:15 +0000

I try to only buy cleaning products that disclose their ingredients. Most mainstream companies do not, which raises red flags about what exactly is in that bottle. But today, Clorox disclosed the ingredients used in its products, including preservatives and fragrances (although specifics about which fragrances are in which products was not shared). For more, visit Women’s Voices for the Earth. Let’s hope this becomes common practice for all companies!

Shout out for Shaklee

Sophia — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 15:01:08 +0000

I’ve been wanting to try Shaklee all-natural, non-toxic cleaning products for years. Oprah has endorsed them and I’ve seen a few videos on Youtube about their products that intrigued me. A couple months ago, I finally purchased their Basic H2 all-purpose cleaner. It’s a nice product, but nothing special. However, I did try their Scour Off Heavy Duty Paste and I love it. It removes soap scum very easily, smells like fruit, and is super mild. It makes my kitchen and bathrooms shine! I’ve used it fairly regularly but have hardly made a dent in the tub because the tiniest bit is quite effective. Highly recommended!

Whiten and brighten without bleach

Sophia — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:30:38 +0000

We do not use bleach in our house. Period. So when my white clothes, despite my best efforts, starting graying and getting a bit dingy, I didn’t know what to do. I tried a few natural products, but didn’t feel they helped. Then I discovered Earth Friendly Products’ Oxo Brite. I love this stuff! A huge tub is $12 and it’s environmentally friendly but still effective. I soaked cloth diapers and clothes in it for up to 8 hours (the directions say to go up to 6) and was amazed by how much gunk was pulled into the water. Yuck! I also love how truly fresh and clean everything (even diapers!) smelled afterwards. I’m eager to try using it regularly in the wash. Highly recommended!

Housecleaners

Sophia — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 17:52:50 +0000

We recently hired a housecleaner. This is a little tricky, as I want only specific cleaning chemicals used in my home. However, I was able to write a letter to my cleaners and leave them a box with supplies. Now they only use what’s in that box. I thought I’d share that here in case anyone wants to do something similar.

My cleaning box:

Vinegar (to disinfect kitchen and bathrooms, and to mix with water to clean floors)
Baking soda
Bon Ami (my cleaning ladies love Comet and this is the bleach- and fragrance-free, environmentally friendly version)
Ecover Cream Scrub (my cleaning ladies also love Soft Scrub, and this is a safer, healthier alternative)
Seventh Generation Shower Cleaner
Seventh Generation Glass Cleaner
Seventh Generation Disinfecting Bathroom Cleaner
Earth Friendly Products Furniture Cleaner
Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner

Here is the letter in English and in Spanish:

Thank you so much for cleaning our home. We’ve been happy with how clean everything is after you come.

But I’d like to remind you that I prefer that you only use my cleaning products in my house. I do not want any dangerous cleaning chemicals used, such as Comet, Windex, SoftScrub, or anything with bleach. These cleaners are not healthy to breath, for you or for my family. So please only use the products in this box. I have window cleaner without ammonia, a scrub that’s much like Comet, a gentle scrub that’s much like SoftScrub. Please only use vinegar and water to clean the floors, for wood and tile. If you want something to shine the wood floors, there is a wood floor cleaner in the box (Bona). You can also use vinegar to disinfect the kitchen, bathrooms, or toilets. You can add baking soda to anything you want to clean–it scrubs well and is perfectly safe. There is also wood polish, toilet cleaner, shower cleaner, and bathroom cleaner in the box.

The one exception is the master shower. I find that it does need a bleach cleaner once every few months. If you see that it is pretty dirty and you think it needs a really deep cleaning, then feel free to use whatever you usually use. Otherwise, please only use my cleaners.

Thanks!

_____

Gracias tanto para limpiar nuestra casa. Hemos estado contentos con su trabajo.

Pero querría recordarle que prefiero que utiliza sólo mis productos de limpieza en casa. Yo no deseo ninguna sustancia química peligrosa utilizada como Comet, Windex,Soft Scrub, y nada con blanqueador. Estos limpiadores no son sanos respirar, para usted ni para mi familia. Utilice por favor sólo los productos en esta caja.

Tengo limpia cristales sin amoniaco, un fregado como Comet, y un fregado como SoftScrub. Utilice por favor sólo vinagre y agua para limpiar los pisos, tanto madera como mosaico. Si desea que algo brille los pisos de madera, hay un limpiador de piso de madera en esta caja (Bona). También puede utilizar vinagre para desinfectar la cocina, los cuartos de baño y los lavabos. Usted le puede agregar bicarbonato de soda a algo que usted quiere limpiar. Restriega bien y es perfectamente seguro. Hay también cera de madera, limpiador de lavabo, limpiador de regadera, y limpiador de cuarto de baño en la caja.

La una excepción es la nuestra regadera de recámara. Encuentro que necesita un limpiador de blanqueador cada pocos meses. Si piensa que necesita una limpieza profunda entonces se siente libre utilizar un limpiador regular. De otro modo utilice por favor sólo mis limpiadores.

¡Gracias!

Cleaning the shower safely

Sophia — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:41:25 +0000

Our master bathroom shower is all white tile. It was a cost-effective choice when building our home, but man is it a pain to keep clean! The minerals in our water supply leave a pink residue in the shower and black mildew is very obvious on the white tile and light grout. I’m ashamed to admit that after many different attempts to really clean the shower, I broke down and bought a bottle of something with bleach. It was my first purchase of a non-green, toxic household cleaner in years. My husband used it once and for days, I could smell the chlorine bleach in our bathroom. I was determined to find a better solution.

We now use Seventh Generation’s Shower Cleaner, made with hydrogen peroxide. I spray it all over the shower, let it sit for 5-10 minutes, then scrub with a heavy duty brush. It really takes care of the mildew and I’m not overwhelmed by the fumes. The key to keeping our shower clean has been to do this religiously. I can’t let a month go by without cleaning it. So far, by staying on top of cleaning (I do it every week or sometimes every other), we have been able to keep it sparkly white with minimal effort. Lucky for my husband, I can still clean the shower while pregnant now!

Safer cleaning supplies

Sophia — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:11:41 +0000

The EWG has a great article about cleaning supplies in schools. They have a form letter you can send to your child’s school to encourage the school to look into safer, green certified cleaning supplies. I emailed my son’s preschool to look into this more (something I already did in 2007, but feel the need to check up on again). The report lists some of the more commonly used cleaning supplies and the number of contaminents they release into the air (Comet cleaning powder releases 146–7 of which are carcinogens!) There are also some great cleaning tips.

ECOS laundry detergent

Sophia — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:07:18 +0000

I switched to natural laundry detergents many years ago. I’ve tried several and have found one I can highly recommend. I’ve been using it for over a year now and am really happy with it. The thing I like best is that unlike most natural detergents, it is scented (the final scent on your clothing is subtle, not overwhelming like with most traditional detergents). And unlike most detergents in general, it is scented with essential oils instead of synthetic fragrances.

The detergent is ECOS made by Earth Friendly Products. My favorite scent is Magnolia and Lily, although the Lavendar one is nice too. It’s concentrated, good for HE washers, contains a soy based fabric softner, is free of phosphates and petrochemicals, and is 100% biodegradable. And did I mention it works well? I’m particularly impressed when I use it to pre-treat stains. If I do it soon enough, it almost always gets them out. I also think the price is very reasonable. Dare I say that I actually enjoy doing laundry with a detergent that’s good for my family, clothes, and the earth?

Twist

Sophia — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:59:57 +0000

I’d like to highlight a product I stumbled across in the grocery store a couple months ago and have completely fallen in love with. It is a sponge cloth made by Twist. It’s a 7×8″ white cloth that’s about 1/4 of an inch thick. It’s supposed to function like a paper towel in the kitchen, or perhaps for other cleaning jobs in the house. It’s part sponge, part cloth. I use it to wipe down countertops, clean appliances, wipe messy baby hands, dry spills, etc. The best part is that unlike other cloths I’ve used in my kitchen that need to be laundered, I just toss the Twist sponge cloth into the dishwasher whenever I run it and that cleans and disinfects the cloth. The cloth can also be sterilized by boiling it in water. I bought a 3-pack for $3.25 and one cloth has lasted me almost 2 months. Twist claims the cloth can be used over 1000 times, or outlast 17 rolls of paper towels. And when you finally decide to toss it out, it’s biodegradable. That’s a lot of money and waste saved! I just purchased their regular sponge and can’t wait to try it out as well. I have to say I love the product and I also love supporting an environmentally and socially responsible company.

Safer and cheaper window cleaning

Sophia — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 12:40:10 +0000

I have discussed the hazards of traditional window cleaners before, particularly their use of the ingredient ammonia. So what alternatives do you have? I propose trying a solution of one part distilled white vinegar with five parts water. It cleans windows surprisingly well and since the vinegar is so diluted, the smell is not overwhelming. Any vinegar that does smell slightly quickly evaporates leaving your windows and glass odorless. (If you have been using traditional window cleaners for a while, you may have a film build up that will take several cleanings to remove. But then this solution should work well.) The best part? It’s the safest way for you to clean your windows and it only costs pennies per bottle. Give it a try next time you run out of window cleaner!

Green Cleaning: better for your health and the environment

Sophia — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:42:18 +0000

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.