Non-toxic cleaning products have come a long way and now offer an effective and family friendly alternative to the chemical-laden cleaning agents we’ve all come to rely on.
The strength of any deep clean comes from the supplies you use to wipe, polish, scrub, and soak - but that doesn't mean you have to stock up on sprays and powders that are made of potentially toxic antibacterial chemicals.
And here’s the scary thing – these ingredients are being ‘hidden’ from us, by not being listed on the packaging, and instead we find visuals and descriptions that would lead you to believe they are very ‘green’ indeed.
Take these two examples:I have a bottle of a leading brand dishwashing liquid in front of me. It contains the words ‘Fresh’, ‘with Baking Soda’, ‘Phosphate Free’, ‘Dermatologically tested’, ‘biodegradable’, and ‘recyclable packaging’. But does not list the ingredients anywhere. A very time-consuming search of the product on the internet eventually turned up the manufacturer’s fact sheet containing a list of the product’s ingredients. Here are some of them:
- Sodium Dodecylbenzenesulfonate
- Sodium Laureth Sulfate
- Lauramidopropyl Betaine
- Lauryl Glucoside
-Tetrasodium EDTA
- Benzisothiazolinone
- Colorant
A further time-consuming search on just one of these ingredients - Benzisothiazolinone, delivers the following information (and not from a ‘green’ website but from certified bodies who list all chemicals and their properties):
- One or more invitro tests on mammalian cells show positive mutation results
- Possible human immune system toxicant
- Wildlife and environmental toxicity.
YES – ALL OF THIS IN A DISHWASHING LIQUID THAT I USE EVERY DAY!The second example is a major brand of general purpose spray cleaner. This time the packaging does contain a list the product ingredients, however, the devil is in the detail. The label has a ‘generic’ description of ingredients, for example ‘grease dissolving solvent’ and ‘sudsing agent’.
Again, a search for the manufacturer’s product fact sheet, shows another long list of unpronounceable substances. I won’t bore you with them all, but just one of them 1-butoxy-2-propanol has a toxicity report which says:
- skin, eye and respiratory irritant
- may be harmful, toxicology not fully investigated.
NOT FULLY INVESTIGATED? AND YET MY SKIN IS COMING INTO DIRECT CONTACT WITH THIS CLEANER AND I’M INHALING ITS FUMES ALMOST DAILY!When a toxic chemical enters an organism such as a human, it becomes one of countless different chemicals moving around the body. Often, the toxic effect occurs when a toxic chemical replaces a chemical normally present as part of the structure of proteins and enzymes, thereby rendering them incapable of performing their normal functions.
A toxic substance can be defined as one with an inherent ability to cause systemic damage to living organisms – another word for it is 'poison'. Toxic substances occur in the air, the soil, the water and in other living things, and they can enter the body in various ways:
- through ingestion – by eating and drinking
- through inhalation – by breathing
- by absorption – through contact with the skin.
Poisons can be divided on the basis of whether they cause acute or chronic toxicity. Acute toxicity occurs when a single dose produces immediate symptoms of poisoning – think of the movie in which a murder victim clutches the throat shortly after swallowing a tainted drink.
Chronic toxicity occurs as a result of exposure to repeated, non-lethal doses, causing damage over a long period of time. Many industrial chemicals can cause long-term adverse effects.
Many toxic substances remain in use. Inevitably, too, more will be discovered by industrial chemists and applied to the workplace. The toxicity of many substances – and their effects on human health and the environment – is still unknown, so more research is needed.
In the meantime, there are chemical free options, and I can’t think of a more fitting application for the old adage, 'it’s better to be safe than sorry'!