Tag Archives: toxic

The Works – Why Is This Product On The Market??

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A woman left a blog post comment today that I felt was very important to share:

Brenda wrote:

I purchased 2 bottles of The Works yesterday, Jan. 1, 2011, at Walmart in Pascagoula, MS…When I got home one of the bottle lids was loose and spilled on everything in the bag. I just cleaned it up, then went to my SUV, and on my back seat it was soaked, and my seats where coming apart. I reported to Walmart, filled out report. Now, I can’t use the SUV at this time..I am hoarse this morning. I wonder if it is from the fumes in the car. I am going to insurance company Monday. I just hope someone can do something about the situation.

I once wrote a post talking about how a van was declared TOTALED from a similar incident.

Completely destroyed??

I use a scouring paste and an EPA registered germicide to clean my toilet. Both are safe, non-toxic, highly effective and I won’t ever have to get a new vehicle if it spills.

image by karen hanrahan

Gatorade Or Pinesol? Can Your Kid Tell The Difference?

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This picture is sourced from somewhere in google images. I got it in an email from a peer. Thank you!

Don’t know about you,  but the image above really horrifies me.

Perhaps this has been passed around already or seen on TV or in a magazine somewhere, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen it.

I have not been in a main stream grocery store cleaning aisle in a really long time.  I had no idea cleaning products went neon.  I have seen the neon artificially colored Gatorade. Why this appeals to anyone is completely beyond me.  Why a company thinks adding harmful colorant makes their products sell more is also beyond me.   I admit to having a strong aversion to artificially and brightly colored foods.  Sno-cones, flavo-pops, m&ms, are just a few things that come to mind.  Why would I want to eat or drink something like that?

Neon Colored and Artificially Scented Cleaning Products?  Does having purple Pine Sol make cleaning more fun?  Is an orange scent really going to make it any less toxic?

I remember when my son was born, and before cleaning green how someone said they kept their cleaning products up high, above the kitchen sink, instead of below.  I grew up with my mom keeping everything under the kitchen sink, she used the toxic stuff, and for awhile so did I.  I never knew anything else.  The idea of a child drinking cleaning products just floored me – would a kid really do that?  Oh yes indeed they would.  Adopting the practice of keeping things out of harms way made sense.  I started keeping cleaning products above the sink.

Of course years later when I switched products all together and didn’t have that toxic stuff around I didn’t have to be concerned.

Some statistics:
90 % of suspected poisonings occur at home from household products – excuse me this says POISONINGS!!

NINETY Percent??

How about this one…

According to a 15-year study presented at the Toronto Indoor Air Conference, women who work at home have a 54% higher death rate from cancer than those who work away from home. The study concluded that this was a direct result of the increased exposure to toxic chemicals, many of which are found in common household products.

Death from working from home. Lovely.

Read a comprehensive toxic household chemical facts and statistics commentary here.


What’s Under Your Kitchen Sink?

Carpet Cleaners are extremely toxic to children. The fumes given off by carpet cleaners can cause cancer and liver damage.

Chlorine is the chemical most frequently involved in household poisonings and a potent pollutant. May cause reproductive, endocrine and immune system disorders.

Degreasers may contain petroleum distillates and butylcelosolve, which can damage lung tissues and dissolve fatty tissue surrounding nerve cells.

Drain Cleaners one of the most hazardous products in the home. Can contain lye, which is a strong caustic substance that causes severe corrosive damage to eyes, skin mouth, and stomach. Can be fatal if swallowed.

Glass Cleaners may contain ammonia. Fumes from ammonia can irritate skin, eyes, and respiratory system.

Mold & Mildew Removers are often an acute respiratory irritant. May damage lungs, eyes and skin.

Oven Cleaners are one of the most dangerous cleaning products. Can cause severe damage to eyes, skin, mouth, throat.

Scouring Cleansers may contain butyl cellosolve, a petroleum-based solvent that can irritate mucous membranes and cause liver and kidney damage.

Toilet Bowl Cleaners are one of the most dangerous cleaning products. Can contain chlorine and hydrochloric acid. Harmful to health simply by breathing during use.

Tub & Tile Cleaners can contain chlorine and may contribute to the formation of organocholorines, a dangerous class of compounds that can cause reproductive, endocrine and immune system disorders.

Want to learn more ? Click here and take the survey.

These are just a few of the typical poisons found under most kitchen sinks.

Want a fabulous alternative to Gatorade ?

Clean Your Oven Without Removing Your Nose Hairs

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I am all for effective hair removal but seriously ladies and gentleman cleaning my oven is NOT  how I want to do it!

Oven cleaners are one of THE most dangerous cleaning products ever.

Here are a few lovely substances one might find in an oven cleaner:

Naphthalene
A white crystalline compound derived from coal tar or petroleum and used in manufacturing dyes, moth repellents, and explosives and as a solvent. Also called tar camphor

Petroleum Distillates
A thick, flammable, yellow-to-black mixture of gaseous, liquid, and solid hydrocarbons that occurs naturally beneath the earth’s surface, can be separated into fractions including natural gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, fuel and lubricating oils, paraffin wax, and asphalt and is used as raw material for a wide variety of derivative products.

Butylcelosolve
Any of four flammable alcohols derived from butanes and used in organic synthesis and as solvents.

Carcinogens -
Substances that increase the risk of neoplasms in humans or animals. Both genotoxic chemicals, which affect DNA directly, and nongenotoxic chemicals, which induce neoplasms by other mechanism, are included.

Ammonia -
A colorless, pungent gas extensively used to manufacture fertilizers and a wide variety of nitrogen-containing organic and inorganic chemicals.

Chlorine -
A highly irritating, greenish-yellow gaseous halogen, capable of combining with nearly all other elements, produced principally by electrolysis of sodium chloride and used widely to purify water, as a disinfectant and bleaching agent, and in the manufacture of many important compounds including chloroform and carbon tetrachloride.

Hydrochloric Acid -
A clear, colorless, fuming, poisonous, highly acidic aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride, HCl, used as a chemical intermediate and in petroleum production, ore reduction, food processing, pickling, and metal cleaning. It is found in the stomach in dilute form.

Organochlorine -
Any of various hydrocarbon pesticides, such as DDT, that contain chlorine.

the above definitions sourced from what’s under YOUR Sink?

What if you could clean off burnt on food in your oven without losing nose hairs in the process?

Allow me to share a green clean nugget, a moment of greenness – just you, me and that darn oven.

Consider trying a green clean scouring paste that smells a little like something between bubble gum and cherry Kool-Aid.

Gentle in that it won’t scratch, but mighty in that it works really well !!

It’s NON-TOXIC and bio-degradable too!

Certainly not something one thinks of as an oven cleaner.

How many folks do you know who believe it needs to be really or chemical to get the job done?

Try again.  Pick your very toughest stain or oven and let this green alternative scouring paste and a little elbow grease take it on!!


circa 1967self-cleaning flickr image

last year one of my readers said — i have that oven!!

The Works Toilet Bowl Cleaner Spills in Van. Vehicle Declared Totaled.

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Sherrie Attilla, from Michigan, an admired and  fellow sales leader shared the commentary below.  Apparently at a BNI Networking meeting someone was touting the benefits of cleaning green, someone else in the meeting seconded those benefits by sharing a really amazing experience of his van declared completely totaled after a spill of the chemical toilet bowl cleaning product known as  “The Works”

Strap yourself in when you read this story and ask yourself, “Do I know any family that buys “The Works” toilet bowl cleaner from Sam’ s Club.  If so, They need to read this testimony.

One of my new business associates, Corey Davis, was at his BNI Business Networking ) group in Kalamazoo, MI and at his turn, he was sharing about our awesome Green Clean Product Line

As the members went around taking their turns, Matthew Rzepka, a CPA told everyone at the meeting that they really needed to listen to Corey and then shared this testimony.

He was willing to email it to Corey so everyone could hear about their family’s experience and be alerted!!!

Sherrie Attila

Matthew L. Rzepka, CPA, CFP® Managing Partner / Owner

“…At the local Sam’s Club, my wife purchased a 4 pack, shrink wrapped, of “The Works” toilet bowl cleaner. On the way home, in the back of our van, it tipped over, and some leaked out (about half a bottle) on the seat and the carpet because of a hole in the top of one of the bottles. The seat, the carpet and the underlying steel were all damaged.

The final resolution: our insurance company totaled the van, because of the spill!

According to the insurance company and poison control, the fumes from the toilet bowl cleaner made the interior environment of the van permanently unsafe for anyone, especially young children, so we wouldn?t be able to drive the van any more.

The fumes also corroded any exposed metal in the van and poison control warned over time would ruin most if not all electrical connections. After the van was cleaned and repaired to the fullest extent possible, it was still determined that eventually, the residual fumes would continue to have a chemical reaction and deteriorate anything left in the van, leaving the van completely useless and unsafe, hence the insurance companies decision to total the vehicle was made.”

Allow Mother Earth here to capture the languaging of this testimony:

common toilet bowl cleaner from Sam’s Club
carpet and steel damage
insurance and poison control
permanently unsafe for anyone
undrivable
fumes corroded any exposed metal
fumes eventually will destroy electrical connections
residual fumes will deteriorate anything left in the van
useless and unsafe

Consider a safe, green and effective scouring paste to clean your toilet instead.


glowing toilet flickr image credit

How do you celebrate Earth Day?
If you’re not cleaning green – what’s stopping you?

Phenol Spill Causes Evacuation

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Just days ago, in my very own community a Health Center was EVACUATED when at least a quart of the chemical phenol was spilled.

The headline stated;  Chemical spill forces health center staff to leave.

The phenol laden  or carbolic acid product is apparently a disinfectant sometimes used in podiatry cases for treating ingrown toe nails.

An employee accidently spilled the product and tried to clean it with a spill kit. That didn’t work and they had to call for more help.  The building was evaluated when the noxious fumes got into the air handling system.   Firefighters contained the spill, checked the air quality and had folks back in the building within 3 hrs except for the immediate spill area.  A company licensed to remove hazardous waste had to be scheduled to clean up and remove the chemical

Do we really need phenol products in our health care environments??

This was an alarming and expensive employee accident!

Do we even know as patients what is being put on our body?

Phenol is a widely used 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

I sell safe, non-toxic wonderful personal care and cleaning products that are completely phenol free.


deoderant flickr image credit