Tag Archives: choice

Phenol, 1,4 Dioxane and Formaldyhyde Oh My!

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Below are a three chemicals typically found in main stream personal care products.   I want none of these in the lotions potions I apply to my body.  What alarms me most is the fact that kids and baby products are completely loaded with this stuff.

Let me know if having all three of these in one post is too much information OK ?

Last year  I posted each one seperately.

When you make a cake from scratch the ingredients are sitting on your counter. You know what everything is, where it came from.  When you make a cake from a box it might be easier. I mean you just open and pour. Gosh,  add an egg and call it cake.  But what are all those  very long words listed on the box.  Shouldn’t a cake just be ingredients and not chemicals?

Chemicals in personal care products  can burn the skin, cause liver damage, be considered explosive, or pickle me.   See more specific information below:

Phenol is an extremely caustic chemical that burns the skin. Absorption of phenol through the lungs or skin can cause: central nervous system damage, pneumonia, respiratory tract infection, heart-rate irregularities, skin irritation, kidney and liver damage, numbness, vomiting, and can be fatal

Phenol is a very common chemical and is regularly found in the following common products: air fresheners, aftershave, bronchial mists, chloroseptic throat spray, deodorants, feminine powders & sprays, hair spray, decongestants, mouthwash, aspirin, solvents, acne medications, antiseptics, calamine lotions, cleaning products, detergents, furniture polish, hair setting lotions, lice shampoo, polishes, cold capsules, all-purpose cleaners, aerosol disinfectants, anti-itching lotions , carnex , cosmetics, disinfectant cleaners, hand lotions, lip balms, sunscreen and lotions, insecticides, cough syrups, just to name a few…

above sourced from Toxic Household Chemical Facts And Statistics



deoderant flickr image credit

Product label misrepresentation occurs every day. Here is another example.  This was sent to me via an email last fall:
Seventh Generation, Method, and other leading personal care and cleaning brands may soon face lawsuits if they do not strike the word “organic” from their labels and marketing efforts by September 1, according to the Organic Consumers Association, which found a carcinogenic ingredient in many products.

The OCA analyzed over 100 organic cosmetic, personal care, and household cleaning products and found that almost 50% of them have detectable levels of 1,4-dioxane, an ingredient known to cause cancer in lab animals, . None of the manufacturers disclose this information on their labels, even though some had levels 1,000 times what is deemed acceptable.

Note:  OCA is a non-profit consumer advocacy group, not a government agency.

What is 1,4 -dioxane anywho? It’s a surfactant and sudsing agent used in all kinds of products. It’s an ether. When it’s distilled  and concentrated it becomes explosive. It’s known in addition to being carcinogenic, to irritate the eyes and respiratory tract, cause damage to the central nervous system, liver and kidneys, workers exposure to it – accidental and all – has resulted in death.

gee workers working with it die — lovely.

BEST part, ready for this?? 1,4-Dioxane, like any solvent, contaminates ground water supplies and is resistant to the naturally occurring biodegradation process!

How is this ingrediant even viable in a product labeled “GREEN”  or something good for the environment?

Seventh Generation posts it’s response to the labeling issue  here

It’s one thing to dispute labeling between organic and natural.

My issue with ANY of these companies is them having toxic ingrediants in their products at all.

At any level, safe levels of toxins means diddly squat to me.

Toxins are toxins.  There should be no toxins.

I certainly can’t run around saying that Method or Seventh Generation products are toxic, but if an ingredient like 1,4-dioxane is in their stuff it makes me really happy that I don’t advocate or purchase anything by these two companies.

In my mind I also now question that these products are truly biodegradable.

Isn’t that part of the whole point of green in the first place?

I remember I use to buy a particular laundry powder that said it was phosphate free, I later heard it had safe levels of phosphates or negligable amounts and I thought how can a label say free of phosphates if it isn’t??
That’s just plain misleading.

Boy am I glad I use this laundry product line instead. You can too!


let it be forest green, green green flickr image credit

Formaldehyde is a highly toxic substance. It is a known cancer-causing agent. It damages the neurological connectors in the body. It is an irritant to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs and may cause: skin reactions, ear infections, headaches , depression, asthma, joint pain, dizziness, mental confusion, nausea, disorientation , phlebitis , fatigue, vomiting, sleep disturbances, laryngitis

One in five people are sensitive to formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is commonly found in: drugs, mouthwash, hairspray, cosmetics, cleaning products , perfumes , waxes, hair setting lotions, shampoo, air fresheners, fungicides, fingernail polish, floor polishes, dry cleaning solvents, toothpaste, laundry spray starch, Anti-perspirants, just to name a few…

Due to the increase in toxic buildup in our bodies, including the toxic buildup of formaldehyde, dead bodies are not decomposing as fast as they used to. Bodies now start to decompose within 7 to 10 days after death. During the Vietnam War, Vietnamese bodies started to decompose within 24 to 48 hours. However, Americans didn’t start to decompose for 4 to 5 days. Twice as much formaldehyde was needed to embalm a person 20 years ago compared to today.

How many of these names would you have recognized as formaldehyde? Formalin, Methanal, Methyl Aldehyde, Methylene Oxide, Oxymethylene, Bfv*, Fannoform*, Formol*, Fyde*, Karsan*, Methaldehyde, Formalith*, Methylene Glycol, Ivalon*, Oxomethane, Formalin 40, Formalin, Formic Aldehyde, Hoch, Paraform, Lysoform*, Morbocid, Trioxane, Polyoxmethylene,
* denotes trade name

Warning labels on containers refer only to toxic hazards from ingestion; however, only 10% of health problems from chemicals are caused by ingestion.  90% are caused by the inhalation of vapors and absorption of particles.

above sourced from Toxic Household Chemical Facts And Statistics


no more tears flickr image credi

Whats a MOM to do?  You can choose personal care products that are NOT harmful to your children
Always Safe, Always Gentle, Always Healthy
Watch this delightful video to learn more

Five Ways To Go Green

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Each April, I devote a focused effort on advocacy to the wellness of this planet.

If the message has not filtered through to you yet, we really can’t clean this planet up by ourselves.

We need a collective force.

Please alert those you might know to all that we have to offer regarding cleaning green.

Share.

People are more receptive than they have ever been before.

I want to spread the word.

Lets get that clean green feeling together? Will you help me?

Healthy You, Healthy Home, Healthy Planet


Discovering green clean for me was like discovering a non-toxic gold mine!! I want others to be as excited as I was way back in 1993. The company I purchased my non-toxic, highly concentrated and biodegradable products from has these ideals:

Safe Clean

We believe home should be the safest place in the whole world.

Powerful Clean

We believe you shouldn’t have to sacrifice powerful convictions for powerful cleaners and vice versa.

Green Clean

We believe cleaning house shouldn’t involve dirtying the earth.

Smart Clean

We believe in saving you money, while we go about saving the earth.

Here are just FIVE small steps that they recommend that can help make a difference for our planet:


ONE

Conventional Cleaning products can contain questionable chemicals in them. Why not choose a healthier alternative? Our products are sustainably sourced from natural sources, using activated enzymes and cleaning agents that biodegrade. Simply switching keeps toxins away from your family. Want a clean switch ? We can help.

It’s about getting the kit. The kit offers you an opportunity to go non-toxic all the way. Everything you need to wipe the toxic slate clean in your home and office is in the kit. With our 100% guarantee, you have nothing to lose, but a lot of dirt and a lot of toxins !!

TWO

Use the disherwasher. I didn’t know this statistic. The EPA says that an energy effecient dishwasher uses only 4 gallons of water per cycle compared to that of handwashing, as well as saves $40 in energy costs and 230 hours of washing time.

Our dishwasher concentrate was the very first phosphate free automatic detergents ever made. EVER made. Phosphates are a major source of water pollution

THREE

Stop using anti-bacterial soap. I never believed in that stuff myself, however I didn’t know that Triclosan, a very common ingredient in those types of products, ends up in our water source and is acutely and chronically toxic to aquatic life. Not to mention a host of other horrific concerns. Click the link – scary information.

If you create antibiotic resistant bacteria you actually weaken the use of currently useful antibiotics. Additionally you don’t get any additional illness protection from something anti-bacterial, when a good soap and water wash provides all the prevention you need.

A medical docter once shared – All soaps are antiviral and antibacterial. Soaps break the surface tension on the “bugs” and kills most of them. Specific antibacterial soaps are used mostly by the medical profession—they do contain chemicals that kill bacteria and bacteria can become resistant to these soaps. In my hospital we have four different scrub soaps. We are encouraged to rotate soaps each time we scrub to help prevent bacterial resistance.

Our remarkable plant sourced hand wash product is completely soap free, ph balanced, hypoallergenic and its surfactants are biodegradable. Not to mention anti-bacterial free.

FOUR

Bring your own bag.  I find this one a no brainer. Thousands of years to decompose plastic ? Forget that. Get a reusable bag that means something to you and spread the word about a company that walks it’s talk, if you have something to share don’t keep it a secret.(you can’t beat the price of these either – 6 of them for like $9!)

FIVE

If your going to spend, choose to spend with a socially responsible company. Your consumer dollars are the power that foster more environmentally responsible actions and products.

Can you can name one other company that introduced a cleaning product before the word biodegradable hit the dictionary ?

Additionally our company was the very first in the entire world ever to obtain climate neutral certification and totally offset it’s greenhouse gas emmissions.

That commitment still stands.

It’s what we do.


natures monet in spring flickr image credit

Wanted Green Wanna Be’s

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It’s at this time of the year, that I set aside my resourceful how nutritional supplements can benefit you hat and wear the hat of green advocacy.

I marvel at how the green awareness level has spiraled to an ultimate high.

Don’t you ?

Green is SO in.  Green is SO trendy and yet to some,  green is still weird.

When I was detoxing my household and laundry products twenty years ago – I was not the norm, as a matter of fact I was the odd woman out.

Many people told me to “let it go”, it’s not a big deal.  Yet to me it wasn’t only a big deal, it meant everything to me.

I saw companies producing products that caused harm, caused harm to me, my kids and to the environment.

My shifting ideals were going against what I had always known and what my mother’s mother had always known.

I came from generations of Tide, Clorox and Cascade users.

How could those products be bad people would say, how could and would any of these companies produce toxic and non-biodegradable cleaning products?

Hmmm they do.  AND they STILL do.

Where are the authorities in the matter people would say?

I would agree and shrug my shoulders.  EXACTLY!

I feel small changes collectively add up to monumental changes.

Do you ?

I feel striving for solutions rather than further aggravation will also help.

I of course have always felt that changing household cleaning brands will make a difference and best yet have been knocking on doors one house at a time ever since 1993 sharing that message.

The founder of our company touted that very same philosophy – one house at a time we can make a difference.

I am very proud to be the steward of his vision and his pioneering – he and our company have been green since 1956 – WAY ahead of anyone else. Way ahead of his time.

I am seeking those of you who want to make solid choices about cleaning green.

Choices that include:

Products that don’t have something sneaky in them like 1,4-dioxane ( found in your ever so popular Method and Seventh Generations brand, but OOPS not mentioned on their labels )

Cleaning products that actually work – like they actually clean stuff the way they are supposed to.

Products that by design are so highly concentrated that the turn around time for you to re-purchase is 4 YEARS!!!

Products that actually biodegrade, in the world of green that would seemingly be an important detail!

Wanted: Green people!

Allow me to be of green service to you!


here you are waiting and wanting to be really green flickr image credit


 

Carcinogenic

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The post below is for this month’s Green Mom’s Carnival hosted by Tiffany of Nature Mom’s

The Topic is Cancer.

I don’t have a personal history with Cancer.  I know it’s in my family at the cousin or relative level but because my family is what it is, I have had no contact with those experiences.

We all have heard that cancer is within us all.  I think about that all the time. Do you?

I  haven’t lost a dear friend to cancer, or a child or a parent.  Yet I have watched, heard, cried and have kept many in my thoughts as they bravely survive

In my work I find once a client is in the machinery of the “c” word, the medical perspective that is – they have little room for alternative solutions.  They are scared out of their minds.  I respect this.  Cancer isn’t something one takes lightly.  Those who have a belief in the value of  high quality nutritional supplements do come to me and we work together to detox their body carefully from all the poisons of chemo and radiation.   We then start slowly rebuilding immunity by offering quality nutrition.

Years and years ago, as a young mom  I remember hearing the word carcinogenic.  I had never heard of that before. The definition of carcinogenic is any substance or agent that tends to produce a cancer.   In my everyday world there were carcinogenic ingredients in just about everything!!  I was shocked and horrified.  Still am.  This is when I began to personally step into a path of choice.  I tried very hard to choose alternative meats, eggs, dairy, cleaning products, personal care and more.

What bothers me the most is why we HAVE to choose.    WHY are products produced that have carcinogenic substances in them in the first place?    This just boggles my mind.

I wish that the billions of dollars raised to support research for a cure for cancer would instead be funelled to the cause.  In my mind the cause of cancer is what we eat, breathe, and put on our bodies.  It’s what we fill our homes with. What if we started over and manufactured clean products?  What if all carcinogenic substances were simply no longer allowed?

We all know that the plastic shopping bags are a  major contribution to pollution.  Stop making them.  Period.  Life still happened before the age of the plastic bag.  We could figure it out.   What if fast food, the single largest contributor to obesity today was outlawed?  A rather out there thought I know.  Is fast food convenient ? Is our life fast paced ?  What if we paused in our fast lives and packed a lunch.  What if high fructose corn syrup was banned?  Like gone.   As a matter of fact HFCS is at the root of such horrific illness if we stopped making it imagine the possibilities?

Are my ideas that off the wall?  Or could it be that simple?

I could go on and on and it would just be my very own personal rant and opinion.

I don’t really know if our world will really look any different in my life time.

I also don’t have all the answers either.

I do know that if you are searching,  just like I was  twenty years ago — it’s all about choices

Where to start?

One place to start is to stitch to less toxic cleaning products.

Check out this helpful  link for household toxic chemical facts and statistics

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