Dangerous Consumer Products
What are the most hazardous products we typically bring into our own homes?
There are many different types of chemicals that are used to make consumer products what they are. And the most hazardous types of ingredients in consumer products are things that you'll find at the hardware store that have high levels of chemicals that vaporize into indoor air. So everybody knows what paint smells like as it is curing. And if you have varnish, you know that as you coat the wood, that there are things getting released off of that coating that get into your indoor air. And these chemicals actually can induce headache, can induce asthmatic reactions in children. Probably the most toxic chemicals actually come from our adhesives and glues, because there you're actually doing a chemistry experiment in your workshop every time that you're bonding two surfaces together. There's a chemical reaction that's ongoing and it's releasing highly reactive chemicals into your breathing zone which can stimulate asthma, be irritating to the lungs. So those are some of the most reactive and dangerous chemicals that are in our products.
Is there a half-life for the chemicals in my home?
Let's say you spray some bug killer over here in your kitchen then over there in the living room there's going to be an air concentration of that pesticide, and that's going to hang around. Let's say the half-life of that is 3, or 4 or 5 days. That means half of it's gone, but half of it's still there. And then another 3 or 4 or 5 days later, again, half of that will be gone, and half will be there. So you never totally get rid of it because there's always half of something that's still left behind. And then you're going to come along a week later, and spray something else into the indoor area that's combining with that and leading to a cumulative exposure. So while we are clearing the indoor air just by natural attenuation, having ventilation and open windows, we're also leading to other exposures over time that can be adding and lead to a cumulative effect. Certainly the summer time with open windows and good air flow things clear out of the house much faster than if you live where I do in the North East, and you've got as air-tight as possible a situation, which is good for the planet, less energy consumption, but is not necessarily good for your lungs, or good for your general health from exposure to toxic chemicals. This is why it is so important in this modern age to have greener supplies to use around the home.
Are ammonia and bleach dangerous?
Many people have used chlorine bleach for a long time. They've inherited the usage of it from their parent's generation. Because its been around for a long time to whiten clothing, using it in the wash, and so people feel comfortable, they know what they're doing with it. Yet that's probably one of the major reasons, these kinds of products, that people end up in the emergency rooms, calling in to a poison control centers from overexposure of themselves or their children to these very reactive dangerous toxic products in the bathroom. Again, its bleach, and ammonia, and drain cleaner and some of the other strong acids that can be used to get rust and lime deposits out of the bathroom.
How can bathroom and kitchen chemicals become deadly?
Ammonia and bleach are very irritating and actually have a reactive compound in cleaning products that if you ever mix the two of them together you can actually create an explosion in your bathroom. We are talk about bad chemistry in the bathroom this is the ultimate that can happen because Chlorine bleach again is very high in Chlorine and is very reactive so that it can react with drain cleaner, it can react with anything acidic in your bathroom and it can also react with Ammonia. So if you are using multiple cleaning products at once you could be releasing Chlorinegas into your Bathroom.Now Chlorine gas was used during World War I to kill off the enemy it is very damaging and irritating to the lungs. It can also damage porcelain.We tell a story what we know of a toxic fire where actually a woman tried to unclog her drain. She did not have any drain clog – a drain un-clogger handy. So she poured some bleach down the drain. Well that did not unclog the drain – as a matter of fact the bleach tended to stay in the pipes. That went down to some degree it did not unclog the drain but you know left her basin, stayed in the pipes and then she poured down some – she went to the store bought some drain un-clogger - that reacted, when she poured that down – that reacted with the bleach that was still in the pipes and that left and released Chlorine gas into her bathroom. She gagged on it, shut the bathroom door – left, called her Husband told her what happened he was at work did some fishing around on the Internet and found out that can that can actually lead to an explosion type reaction. Called the Fire Department, they came out and they ventilated her bathroom for her. But found that the porcelain in her bathroom on her fixtures had been etched out by the high levels of Chlorine Gas released into her bathroom. So Chlorine and Ammonia, Chlorine and other products – bleach and these kinds of products are an accident waiting to happen.
What are the health risks of coatings and adhesives?
We are talking about paints and varnishes and urethane. These kinds of coatings as they're curing will release compounds, chemicals into your breathing zone that especially if you're doing this in the winter time when your house is sealed up can lead to high levels of exposure to make you feel headachy, effect the way your brain is working. Can also lead to an asthmatic reaction, irritation of the lungs and so you want to only do those types of products when you can have full ventilation of the house. Have fans in the windows that are sucking the air out of that room and only bringing fresh air in. Get children out of the area so that they're not interacting with the chemical while it's still wet and they're not breathing in these kinds of irritating gases.
What is '1,4-dioxane'?
1,4-dioxane' is a contaminate in things--consumer products that foam. So for example, your average shaving cream, or shampoo, or bubble bath, will have '1,4-dioxane' as a contaminate. It's not put there intentionally, it won't be on the label, but nevertheless, anything that has foaming agents in it--ethoxylated surfactants, or a polyethylene glycol, potentially has '1,4-dioxane' in it.
Why is 1,4-dioxane a health concern?
It does cause cancer. It's a weak carcinogen, but again the less carcinogen exposure we have in our environment, the better. And the concern may be greatest with things that are put onto young children in terms of lotions that may have 1,4-dioxane in them. Or bubble bath for example: putting a child in a hot bubble bath with their pores open for a half an hour or more with 1,4-dioxane as a contaminant in their water will lead to some exposure that is probably better to not have, as just a prudence avoidance measure. 1,4-dioxane can be avoided for example by making home-made bubble baths, which are commonly available with things like glycerin and various soaps and water that there are recipes for on the Internet. You can make, fairly simply, your own bubble bath; put in your own essential oils, whatever fragrance you want and avoid these kinds of industrial byproducts in the bath water.
What cosmetic products should pregnant women avoid?
The emerging evidence on cosmetics and reproductive risks are that there are classes of chemicals in hairspray, in bath and body products, in you're average cosmetic kit that are called thalaids. Thalaids are even in deodorant these are plasticizers so they help make plastic what it is but it also helps create more hold and puts body into these products so that they stay on your skin longer. Your average perfume will have thalaids in it so that the chemical the perfume the fragrance stays on your body longer. Thalaids can be absorbed through the skin and during pregnancy, that thalaid compound will get across the placenta and into the developing baby.
How dangerous are phthalates in cosmetic products?
Phthalates are endocrine disruptors. They affect the way - especially the male - hormone system works. There are critical windows of development during the baby's growth. If it's a boy, see, the boy is growing in a female environment. Inside the womb there's a lot of estrogen and female hormones. And to counteract that, there needs to be a surge of testosterone in utero so that the proper development of the male penis, the male organs, so that the baby comes out with the right equipment. And phthalates inhibit that process. So exposure during pregnancy can lead to - there's evidence right now and this has been shown in animals and now there's some human evidence to suggest - that exposure during pregnancy to things like fragrances, hair spray, deodorant can lead to boys being born with less male characteristics. How that relates to their fertility later life is still an open question that needs to be studied. But there is a suggestion that that maybe a concern.
What is the 'endocrine system'?
The endocrine system is the part of our body's anatomy that sends out hormones that control the way our body works. So they make sure that the pancreas works properly so that we don't get diabetes. They make sure that the adrenals work properly so that these hormones these endocrine systems make sure that our fight or flight syndrome and our ability to meet those kinds of challenges that we're able to do that. And they also make sure we have enough estrogens for proper female development and enough testosterone for proper male development.
