From: http://www.uml.edu/Media/...'t_al.html





From the Lowell Sun

Date Published: March 06, 2006
By RITA SAVARD, Sun Staff

CHELMSFORD -- Biodegradable. Nontoxic. Natural.

Sound safe? Local chemists say think again.

When shopping for "safe" household cleaners, don't be fooled by environmentally friendly catchphrases, advises Carole LeBlanc, lab director of the Toxic Use Reduction Institute at UMass Lowell. In reality, "nontoxic" doesn't have to mean anything.

"Just because something claims to be natural doesn't mean that it is safe," LeBlanc said. "Snakes are natural, too, but their bite is venomous, and you can still die from it."

Unlike the food industry, which has been government-regulated to list ingredients, manufacturers of cleaning products are not required by the U.S. government to identify ingredients on labels.

The result, says LeBlanc, could potentially place consumers at risk.
By testing teaspoon-sized samples of blood or urine, the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found hundreds of chemicals building up in human bodies last year. Another study conducted by consumer-product watchdogs, the Environmental Working Group, reported numerous chemicals found in the umbilical-cord blood of newborn babies.

LeBlanc says such findings should be a "wake-up call" for policymakers to bridge the gaps.

"Consumers assume they are safe," says LeBlanc. "They trust that someone is looking out for their welfare and, unfortunately, it makes them susceptible to a barrage of misinformation."

To help consumers safely navigate their way through aisles of cleaning products, LeBlanc and TURI have composed a list of 10 ways to find safer cleaners.

Walking down the polished aisles of Hannaford supermarket in Chelmsford, a shopper is confronted with neatly stacked rows of colorful bottles and boxes all promising one thing -- cleanliness.

"It can be overwhelming," LeBlanc says. "Most shoppers look for two things -- price and familiarity. If you're in a rush and you have a child wiggling around in your cart, you zero in on what you know."

National health studies revealing childhood asthma and cancer cases in general on the rise have prompted more consumers to stop and look for eco-friendly cleaners. Sales of organic and natural household cleaners, which include laundry and dishwashing detergents, rose from $140 million in 2000 to $290 million in 2004, according to the Nutrition Business Journal.

But finding cleaners that do what they claim becomes a murky business, warns LeBlanc, because there are no regulations in place forcing manufacturers to disclose what they put in their products. Some companies do and others do not.

Simple Green is a popular household cleaner marketed to environmentally concerned consumers. It's green, smells lightly of sassafras, and the product claims to be "nontoxic" and "the safer alternative" to other cleaners. If a consumer wants to know what is in the "green cleaner," the company offers a phone number to call for a complete ingredient list.

"If a consumer asks for material data sheets (document that includes all federally listed toxic substances), the company still does not have to give them to you," advises LeBlanc.

A key ingredient of Simple Green is butyl cellosolve, a substance considered toxic by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. In lab tests, the liquid has destroyed red blood cells and caused minor birth defects in animals. When absorbed through the skin or inhaled, it has caused irritation around the eyes and noses of humans and headaches.

Concentrations of the solvent in household cleaners are not thought to pose an immediate danger to people. But LeBlanc believes products should not be labeled as "green" if they contain ingredients that are considered to be toxic by the federal government.

Manufacturers of Simple Green, the California-based Sunshine Makers, stand by their claims, which they say are backed by more than $3 million in testing. On the Simple Green Web site, the Material Safety and Data Sheet reports that analysis by federal environmental standards "revealed no toxic organic or inorganic constituents."

"It gets so confusing for customers," LeBlanc says. "We're faced with an industry that does a poor job of training and a good job of marketing. Cleaners in stores are not as safe as cleaners that I have in my lab, and that is sad."

The chemist adds that the worst mistake people make is buying a disinfectant to clean. Disinfectants, she says, are essentially pesticides containing powerful agents that can kill organisms.

"Most germs are good," LeBlanc says. "We couldn't live without the buggers. The only thing you'll do by using an arsenal of disinfectants to clean an area is subject people to a lot of chemical they don't need."

Although the CDC began monitoring chemicals in human blood and urine three years ago, the national health organization states that having chemicals in the bloodstream isn't necessarily dangerous.

"Just because people have an environmental chemical in their blood or urine does not mean that the chemical causes disease," the agency's 2005 report says. "For most of the environmental chemicals for which information is presented in the report, more research is needed to determine whether exposure at levels reported here is cause for concern."

According to the EPA, toxic chemicals found in every home are three times more likely to cause cancer than airborne pollutants outside.

.....more on the website: http://www.uml.edu/Media/...'t_al.html

A dirty house is a healthy house.

Imago said:

Fuck you!

PurpleJedi said:

would you like to come and visit? I got all the dirt you need

PurpleJedi said:

then my house is very healthy

Imago said:

Ok, I've never used a snake to clean my house, but damn if I'm gonna do so now!!...

Byron said:

We always use snake-free cleaners

Imago said:

PANDURITO said:

I've switched to organic cigarettes, now I will only get organic lung-cancer

ZombieKitten said:

9 out of 10 members of the American Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association say so

PANDURITO said:

and they should know, since they brush their teeth with Oral B

there's no problem that white vinegar, baking soda and a bit of tea tree oil can't solve...

Heiress said:

indeed

I need to add baking soda to my shopping list..cannot live without it.

shanti0608 said:

Do you brush your teeth with it too?

That's one thing I've never tried...

Heiress said:

I made some sort of paste with the baking soda and brushed with it in the past. I have bought baking soda toothpaste from the store before.
It has so many uses.

shanti0608 said:

I'm thinking of trying baking soda and peroxide as soon as the Tom's I bought this summer in the States runs out...

I'm making notes about all this, I saw 'how toxic are your children' on tv last night, I'm certainly changing the products I use and was going to ask you guys what the best alternatives are. But you already have without me asking

Heiress said:

I like Tom's products. You can order it online...right?

I hope so..... there are so many things I miss from the states.

shanti0608 said:

err, i don't know actually... i stock up when i'm in the states...

jami0mckay said:

i dont know if this works, i do keep a bottle of 409 stashed away for heavy cleaning. But mostly i use a little over half white vinegar and distilled water in a spray bottle to clean most any surface. It saves alot of money.

There are many other easy options you can put together your self. you really dont have to measure. A funnel, and start saving all your spray bottles.

another expensive and can be hazardous if handled wrong, but is much better than bleach is food grade peroxcide.

horatio said:

thanks!

Heiress said:

you might like Jason Oral comfort toothpaste. Im not sure what you look for in a toothpaste, but it seems to be quite popular and likely available since i think its from france.


you'd probably like Dr.Bronners Magic Soap too.
[Edited 10/19/07 6:47am]

I've recently switched to Malaleuca Cleaning Products and they are the bomb!

DexMSR said:

where can you buy this stuff?

Damn-it!!! Another reminder. I really really need to clean my house. You don't understand. I really need to.

I have dust bunnys the size of small dogs. I also have not done dishes in a really long time. Yeah, I'm a pig.

horatio said:

I want to marry Dr. Bronner.

i so thought this was going to be about the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

how long?

butterfli25 said:

Heiress said:

Don´t know why but all toothpastes containing baking soda have been banned over here, and as far as I know, they are also no longer available in the USA. A friend from NYC told me they´re bad for your gums because of the baking soda.