While BP’s negligence is bleeding its way to creating the dead sea, we, the critics, seem to forget the history of global contamination by humans. It has our finger prints all over and thus exterminating the core existence of purest living forms we take for granted.
With all due respect, we were unaware, uneducated, and would have never foreseen what’s happening today and what tomorrow will bring. Again, it’s happening right now, and what are we doing to make an impact? There’s probably more effort wasted by criticizing and writing to the oil companies and world leaders, but what are we doing to make a change? It starts from home, and every product we use and food we eat has not only personal impact but also environment impact.
Without further pontificating, let’s get to the point on household products that are harmful to our body, thus contaminating the water we drink and the environment…
Of the harmful chemicals, and there are too many, 1,4-dioxane can by found in most cleaning products, such as shampoo, detergents, baby products, lotions, sunscreens and even deodorants. Because 1,4-dioxane is a known carcinogen that is implicated in causing cancer, liver, kidney disease and other serious problems, it is important to avoid it whenever possible. The 1,4-dioxane found in detergents and washing products are probably more harmful as the chemical ends up and remains in water. Even after contaminated water has been purified and filtered, low levels of 1,4-dioxane have been detected, indicating that it cannot be easily removed from water. The water supplies across the U.S. are tainted with 1,4-dioxane…
Here is a list of detergents to avoid and the safer brands to purchase. I use Seventh Generations and it cleans well.
Conventional brands to avoid:
1. Tide (P&G) – 55 parts per million (ppm)
2. Ivory Snow Gentle (P&G) – 31 ppm
3. Tide Free (P&G) – 29 ppm
4. Purex (Dial Corp.) – 25 ppm
5. Gain 2X Ultra (P&G) – 21 ppm
6. Cheer BrightClean Detergent (P&G) – 20 ppm
7. Era 2X Ultra (P&G) – 14 ppm
8. Arm & Hammer (Church & Dwight Co.) – 5.0 ppm
9. Wisk 2X Ultra (Sun Products Corp.) – 3.9 ppm
10. Woolite Complete Detergent (Reckitt Benckiser) – 1.3 ppm
11. All laundry detergent (Unilever) – 0.6 ppm
12. Dreft powdered detergent (P&G) – non-detectable (ND)
13. Sun Burst (Sun Products Corp.) – ND
“Natural” brands:
1. Planet Ultra Liquid laundry detergent – 6.1 ppm
2. Mrs. Meyers laundry detergent – 1.5 ppm
3. Clorox Green Works Natural laundry detergent – ND
4. Ecos laundry detergent (Earth Friendly Products) – ND
5. Life Tree Laundry Liquid – ND
6. Method Squeaky Green laundry detergent – ND
7. Seventh Generation Free & Clear laundry detergent – ND