Go Green
Santa Cruz Sentinel
by Jennifer Parrish
Saturday, January 31
It's really quite ironic. We clean our homes to keep them safe for ourselves, our children and our pets. However, in our quest to rid our homes of germs and dirt, we are unwittingly unleashing a host of chemicals on our families, which studies have shown can cause blindness, asthma, birth defects, reproductive disorders and even cancer, and can severely impair indoor air quality. In fact, there's a very good reason why our home cleaning products must be recycled as hazardous waste when we are finished with them.
Consider the following ingredients found in many of our favorite household cleansers:
n Chlorinated bleach. The chemical, which, according to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, is the most commonly ingested poison by small children, is virtually ubiquitous because of its whitening and disinfectant powers. The Environmental Protection Agency EPA reports that the use of bleach can cause health effects ranging from skin and lung irritation to blindness and cancer. Its byproduct is a carcinogenic substance known as dioxin.
n EGBE. A common though unlisted, ingredient in products such as Pine-Sol, Simple Green and Windex, EGBE has been shown to cause reproductive disorders in lab animals, reveals Women's Voices for the Earth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving women's health. Furthermore, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry reports that EGBE is a known carcinogen.