January, 2010

EcoFacts — No Comments
29
Jan 10

Not fresh, Not clean

The unhealthful chemicals that are in our personal and household products are just a tiny example of our own daily connections to the world of chemistry and polluting effects of modern industry. The mining and extracting of metal, minerals, gems, oil, etc. are rife with polluting chemical processes, as are most agricultural operations. Chemical synthesis provides other raw materials for production of our things.

It is such an eye opener to check out this site, called Scorecard.org. Companies report their emissions and disposal of chemicals and toxins to the Federal Toxics Release inventory. Scorecard.org then ranks them all with regard to the specific chemicals, companies, type of industry, amounts, regions, danger to human health, land, water, and air.
Wow. If one needs any more incentive to consume more consciously, to waste less, here it is.

The top polluters are metal mining companies, especially mining zinc, lead, steel, copper and gold. After mining, comes power companies, chemical plants, paper and all else. So if you aren’t in a sensitive mood, take a look at these lists, which provide a glimpse into the depth of the excrement of our developed world. For as awareness grows, so may our digestion improve.

http://scorecard.org

http://www.epa.gov/TRI/trichemicals/index.htm

^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~
Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss

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22
Jan 10

Fresh and Clean, part 4

Before this stuff goes down the drain (also by the hundreds of thousands of gallons, daily), we massage our scalp with it, washing our hair and remaking a part of ourselves. It feels good. But besides clean, we want shine*, good body, softness. We’re comforted by shampoo’s feel, its suds, its color, its scent. We want it to counteract damage from other nasty things we put on our hair, or chlorine in the water, itchy scalps or dandruff, etc. We want to feed our hair, even though this might actually be better achieved through diet, since the hair itself is dead tissue. The cleaning part of shampoo is detergent, which carries the oils away, and then many (so many) other ingredients work to achieve the above effects, both in the shampoo and in the conditioners we pair them with. To what end(s)?

Revlon’s Flex is one of the best selling shampoos, their REVLON FLEX BALSAM TRIPLE ACTION ULTRA CLEAN SHAMPOO is in the worst 7% of all of the shampoos in EWG’s Skin Deep database. Its ingredients, virtually all synthetic chemicals, are linked to all of the database’s possible health and environmental hazards. Among the worst are fragrance (contains phthalates, proven dangers) and methyl paraben (proven endocrine disruptors). Sodium Laureth Sulfate has been proven to be bioaccumlative in the environment and a possible carcinogen. Sodium Lauryl sulfate is also a possible carcinogen and neurotoxin.

In my hand, I have a bottle of shampoo that is called “pure, natural, organic” but is still listed as being a moderate hazard.. It has no Lauryl/Laureth sulfates (suds makers) but it does have 28 ingredients after water, mostly plant based but also Cocamidopropyl Betaine (known human immune system toxicant), Retinyl Palmitate (can cause cellular level mutations) Polyquaternium-7 and Dimethacone (both suspected to be environmental toxins and are bio-accumulative), sodium benzoate (linked to possible organ toxicity) .

Even if any or all of the thousands of ingredients found in shampoos and conditioners are safe in very small quantities to humans, we use them with great frequency, and they then enter our environment in great quantities. There is no easy solution, other than efforts to not fall prey to marketers. Read ingredients. Check out the Skin Deep database. Decide for yourself.

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
http://www.ewg.org/node/27818
http://www.salon.com/env/good_life/2009/08/13/shampoo/

^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~
Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss

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15
Jan 10

Fresh and Clean, part 3

Here’s a personal dishwashing soap story. Are you excited?
Seriously, this is fairly remarkable and disgusting. The place where I worked for many years had a little kitchen area. We were using some standard dishwashing soap. At some point I realized that the plastic scrubbing sponge smelled badly, and then smelled my hands, which had the same horrible odor. I washed them, and the odor remained! The sponge was full of it. It clearly permeated the skin on my fingers. After microwaving the sponge and washing it, etc. the problem continued. We went through lots of those sponges. I finally got around to buying some eco-friendly dishwashing liquid. This smell never happened using it. When the bottle ran out, someone would pull out the standard stuff. The odor happened again. I’d get another bottle of friendly stuff at the Co-op. Bad odor gone. There seemed to be a lesson here, having to do with the combination of chemicals in soap and sponge, though I did not experiment with different sponges (like cellulose ones). Later, I smelled that same yummy scent at a friend’s house who was using one of those sponges and Dawn or whatever the soap was, and let her know of this experience.

These dishwashing liquids contain, like laundry detergents, chemical surfactants (which emulsify oil, cause foaming and assist in carrying away soil), chelating agents which soften the water, dyes, preservatives and fragrances. The eco-friendly ones contain plant based cleaners and fragrances, etc, as opposed to petroleum products and synthetic chemicals, and after the drain, return from whence they came.

Someone asked wikianswers what was in Joy Dishwashing Liquid:
Water , Sodium Lauryl Sulfate , Sodium Pareth-23 , C12-14-16 Dimethyl Amine Oxide , SD Alcohol 40-B , Undeceth-9 , PPG-26 , Sodium Chloride , Cyclohexanediamine , Polyacetate , Fragrance , FD&C Yellow #5 , D&C Red No. 33.          Certainly a joy to read them.

^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~
Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss

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8
Jan 10

Fresh and Clean, part 2

Okay, straight out, this is a bid for using eco-friendly detergents, both laundry and dishwashing. Worldwide, millions of gallons of them go down drains each day. Those that can’t be managed at wastewater treatment plants enter the rivers, lakes, oceans, to damage their sensitive ecosystems.

We are just as intimate with laundry detergents as the soap with which we wash. We wear them, sleep with them every day, as they do not all leave with the final rinse. Most commercial detergents contain phosphates and synthetic, petroleum based surfactants, brightening agents, bleach, colorings and fragrances (e.g. Procter & Gamble’s Tide, Gain and Cheer, which hold more than half of the U.S. market) and have been causing environmental problems for decades, although they are improving.

Perhaps because “seeing is believing” we have felt that suds are good, that their absence means that things are not being cleaned as well.  In the middle of the last century, manufacturers increased sudsing agents and suds marketing to please us.  Homemakers responded and so did the waterways. Detergent foam rose to eight feet at the foot of Niagara Falls. Maybe you’ve noticed some of the washer windows at the Laundromats – positively white with suds! Scary, especially in light of this amazing fact: suds have little or nothing to do with cleaning ability. Remember this.

Phosphates, though not toxic to us, are a leading cause of dead zones, areas in lakes and oceans devoid of oxygen and life. Fertilizers and detergents have been the primary carriers. Due to these environmental problems, the amount of phosphates in detergents has been steadily decreasing over the years. Though they still exist in laundry products, a higher concentration can be found in automatic dishwashing detergents. This year, Canada and many U.S. states will be limiting phosphates further. The European Union will soon probably eliminate them entirely.

The fragrance industry is not regulated. Their formulations are secrets, and can trigger eczema, allergies, asthma, headaches.  Their chemicals have been found in breast milk. As an ingredient, they are listed simply as “fragrance”. And what effects might they have (later) on fish? In their place, environmentally friendly cleaning products often use botanicals from actual plants.

Hoping your new year is fresh and clean.  More to come in part 3.

http://www.pollutionissues.co.uk/synthetic-fragrances-environment.html
http://www.icis.com/Articles/2009/01/12/9182061/detergents-shift-to-greener-builders.html
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/

^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~
Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss

EcoFacts — No Comments
1
Jan 10

Fresh and Clean, part 1

Of the myriad ways to begin the new year with a clean and fresh start, some are cleaner than others. Take that first shower of 2010, for example.

Our skin is our largest organ. Any or all of the substances found in our personal care products can be absorbed into our bodies. To add a much larger insult to this possible tiny injury, the stuff then washes down the drain and enters the greater ecosystems, often having distinctly non-cleansing effects.

Take soap. Studies are showing that washing hands with regular soap is just as effective at preventing illness as using antibacterial soaps. Two common ingredients in antibacterial products (of which there are hundreds) are triclosan and triclocarban. Both of these are being found to be endocrine disruptors and persistent, bioaccumulating in the environment. Besides the potential harm to other creatures, it is likely that resistant strains of bacteria will multiply as greater amounts are present. And then there is the theory that, through playing in dirt, children develop immunities. With our current level of health and hygiene, we are a long way from the belief hundreds of years ago that dirt would prevent germs from entering our bodies and that washing it away was a dangerous idea. But the extent of our cleanliness (and the environment’s) is being revisited from the perspective of modern science. If dirt rises again in popularity, let it be clean too!

The cleanliness crusade was led by American soap manufacturers beginning in the 19th century. A kit with that name was offered to school teachers for helping children to learn about the importance of personal hygiene, by Proctor and Gamble, makers of Ivory soap, the first star of the soap business. An ad of theirs in 1909 says “Pure is defined as ‘free from that which harms, vitiates, weakens or pollutes.’”

Let’s go with pure, on us, and down the drain.
You can research ingredients at EWG’s Skin Deep database – http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/ivory/results.asp
http://www.biodesign.asu.edu/news/anti-bacterial-soap-bad-for-the-environment
http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15108662
http://www.usc.edu/hsc/info/pr/hmm/00-01winter/germs.html

^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~
Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss