By Alicia Wiltshire
Primary to reducing chemical exposure and intake is learning how to read product labels. Every type of product nowadays is trying to get our attention with how “green” it is. We are bombarded with undefined and unregulated terms: chlorine-free, chemical-free, non-toxic, phosphate-free, natural. Be careful. Manufacturers are not required to disclose cleaning product ingredients and we have little to go on beyond the required warning labels such as DANGER, or CAUTION.
Products that are petroleum- or chlorine-based are common and can pose a number of health risks. Sodium acid oxalate, chlorinated phenols and O-Or-O-Dichlorobenzene are highly toxic. Sodium acid sulfate is corrosive. Chlorinated phenols are not only corrosive but they are metabolic stimulants. O-Or-O-Dichlorobenzene is a liver and kidney poison as well as being a powerful central nervous system depressant which can cause confusion, headaches and signs of mental illness. Chlorine becomes an even more toxic, poisonous gas when combined with other cleaning agents such as ammonia.
Petroleum is everywhere, from the cream or makeup on your face to the candles burning all over your home to the plastic containers in your pantry. Some plastics are perfectly safe, while others can leach carcinogens into your food. Why submit ourselves to this potentially lethal guessing game?
The government does not require health studies or pre-market testing on any personal care products. Depending on the chemical combinations, may of the products we use daily can be responsible for anything from an allergic reaction to nervous system disorders to liver and kidney damage or cancer. We can, however, find out more about the products we use by researching household cleaners through the US Department of Health and Human Services Database or by checking the ingredients and potential toxicity of our favorite cosmetics at www.cosmeticsdatabase.com.
In addition to their impact on our health and that of our family, all of these toxins are also wreaking havoc globally. The production of petroleum-based products is energy intensive, producing carbon dioxide. Phosphates, common in laundry and cleaning detergents, also act as fertilizers, causing rapid algae growth and resulting in concentrated water pollution. A typical laundry detergent contains a triple threat—phosphates, chlorine bleach and petroleum solvents. If every American home used just one box of eco-friendly detergent a year, we would save 217,000 barrels of oil and 90,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
The good news is that there are alternatives out there and if we all read the labels on our personal care and cleaning products carefully we can find them. Companies using non-toxic, natural and biodegradable materials are anxious to list them all clearly in their ingredients. If we are well-informed and pro-active we can at least control the quality of the indoor air that we breathe.