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The Top Cleaning-Product Ingredients to Avoid
Monday, April 7, 2008
Alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs), common in detergents and disinfectants, are suspected hormone disruptors.
Ammonia is poisonous when swallowed, extremely irritating to respiratory passages when inhaled and can burn the skin on contact.
Indiscriminate use of Antibacterial cleansers containing triclosan may be contributing to the rise of antibiotic-resistant germs.
Butyl cellosolve (aka butyl glycol, ethylene glycol monobutyl) is poisonous when swallowed and a lung-tissue irritant.
Chlorine bleach (aka sodium hypochlorite), an all-purpose whitening agent, can irritate the lungs and eyes and in waterways can become toxic organochlorines.
Diethanolamine (DEA) can combine with nitrosomes (often-undisclosed preservatives) to produce carcinogenic nitrosamines that penetrate skin.
Fragrance frequently contains phthalates, chemicals linked to reproductive abnormalities and liver cancer in lab animals and to asthma in children.
Phosphates soften water for detergents but contribute to algae blooms in our waterways, which can kill off fish populations.
Sodium hydroxide, found in drain, metal and oven cleaners, is extremely irritating to eyes, nose and throat and can burn those tissues on contact.
Sodium lauryl sulfate, a common sudsing agent, can penetrate the skin and cause contact dermatitis.
Every month, I cringe when I get my cell phone bill (ahem, I mean, when I get the e-mail alerting me to the fact that my cell phone bill has been electronically delivered to my bank in very eco-friendly paperless fashion). It's not that my bills are astronomically high as much as it reminds me that I'm subsidizing an industry that's exposing me to hazardous chemicals and the earth to mounds of e-waste.
To claim the eco higher ground, I will say that I've been using the same phone, and keeping e-waste out of landfills, for about three years now--a dinosaur, I know--but could I climb up on my high horse and say I'd give it up entirely? Probably not. But I can switch to an eco-friendly provider. Credo Mobile, a division of the socially conscious telecommunications company Working Assets, allows cell phone customers to donate one percent of any bill to the environmental (or social or civil-rights) nonprofit of their choosing, and it's currently the only provider that allows you to do this. Greenpeace, American Rivers, Sierra Club and the Organic Farming Research Foundation have all received money from Credo.
I did a quick, unscientific side-by-side comparison of my current plan on AT&T and a similar plan from Credo, which has only been around in its current form since last October. From what I could tell, you aren't losing much in terms of extras. AT&T allows for rollover minutes and free roaming, while Credo doesn't, but Credo operates off Sprint's mobile network, which gets marginally better online reviews for call clarity and coverage area. The plans start at about $30 per month for 200 anytime minutes with unlimited nights and weekends, and Credo has a decent phone selection, too. Opt for the Samsung phone; Samsung got props in Greenpeace's latest "Guide to Green Electronics" for removing brain-damaging brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in phones, and they'll be launching a PVC-free line of mobile phones in April. The LG phones are a good second, but the company is still in the process of phasing out PVC and BFRs so some products may still contain them. Finally, Credo sells solar-powered chargers to go with every phone and recycles the phones when they die--I doubt other service providers are so responsible.
Plastic is the most widely used material in the United States, and it crops up in everything from toys to clothes to food containers. But not all plastics are created equal, particularly in regards to food storage: Some plastics can transmit chemicals into your food, while others are perfectly safe.
Before you know which type of plastic container to buy the next time you hit the store, you first need to know how to tell them apart. Plastics are typically classified by a number from #1 to #7, each number representing a different type of resin. That number is usually imprinted on the bottom of your container; flip it upside down, and you'll see a recycling triangle with the number in the middle.
Here's a quick breakdown of plastic resin types:
#1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) Product examples: Disposable soft drink and water bottles, cough-syrup bottles
#2 high density polyethylene (HDPE)/ Product examples: Milk jugs, toys, liquid detergent bottles, shampoo bottles
#3 polyvinyl chloride (V or PVC) Product examples: Meat wrap, cooking oil bottles, plumbing pipes
#7 other (misc.; usually polycarbonate, or PC, but also polylactide, or PLA, plastics made from renewable resources) Product examples: Baby bottles, some reusable water bottles, stain-resistant food-storage containers, medical storage containers
Now that you know what each of the numbers represents, here are the kinds you should look for at the store:
Safer Plastics
#2HDPE, #4LDPE and #5PP These three types of plastic are the healthiest. They transmit no known chemicals into your food and they're generally recyclable; #2 is very commonly accepted by municipal recycling programs, but you may have a more difficult time finding someone to recycle your #4 and #5 containers.
#1 PET #1 bottles and containers are fine for single use and are widely accepted by municipal recyclers. You won't find many reusable containers made from #1, but they do exist. It's also best to avoid reusing #1 plastic bottles; water and soda bottles in particular are hard to clean, and because plastic is porous, these bottles absorb flavors and bacteria that you can't get rid of.
PLA PLA (polylactide) plastics are made from renewable resources such as corn, potatoes and sugar cane and anything else with a high starch content. The starch is converted into polylactide acid (PLA). Although you can't recycle these plant-based plastics, you can compost them in a municipal composter or in your backyard compost heap. Most decompose in about twelve days unlike conventional plastic, which can take up to 100 years.
Plastics to Avoid #3 PVC #3 polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is often used frequently in cling wraps for meat. However, PVC contains softeners called phthalates that interfere with hormonal development, and its manufacture and incineration release dioxin, a potent carcinogen and hormone disruptor. Vinyl chloride, the primary building block of PVC, is a known human carcinogen that also poses a threat to workers during manufacture.
#6 PS Extruded polystyrene (#6 PS; commonly known as Styrofoam) is used in take-out containers and cups, and non-extruded PS is used in clear disposable takeout containers, disposable plastic cutlery and cups. Both forms of PS can leach styrene into food; styrene is considered a possible human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. It may also disrupt hormones or affect reproduction.
#7 PC #7 Polycarbonate (PC) is found in baby bottles, 5-gallon water bottles, water-cooler bottles and the epoxy linings of tin food cans. PC is composed of a hormone-disrupting chemical called bisphenol A, which has been linked to a wide variety of problems such as cancer and obesity.
Minerals are typically formed when molten rock, or magma, cools, or by separating out of mineral-rich water, such as that in underground caverns. In general, mineral particles are small, having formed within confined areas such as lava flows or between grains of sediments. Large crystals found in geodes and other rocks are relatively rare.
Rocks themselves are made of clusters or mixtures of minerals, and minerals and rocks affect landform development and form natural resources such as gold, tin, iron, marble, and granite.
Silicates—including quartz, mica, olivine, and precious minerals such as emeralds—are the most common class of minerals, as well as the major components of most rocks. Oxides, sulfides, sulfates, carbonates, and halides are other major mineral classes.
This dark column of cool molecular hydrogen gas and dust is part of the Eagle Nebula, a star-forming region 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Serpens. In this image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, new stars can been seen inside fingerlike protrusions extending from the top of the nebula. Each "fingertip" is slightly larger than our entire solar system.
This montage of Voyager spacecraft pictures shows the eight planets, plus four of Jupiter's moons, sprawled against the backdrop of the Rosette Nebula and on the horizon of Earth's moon. In addition to the planets and moons seen in this simulated photo, our solar system contains stars, asteroids and comets, and dwarf planets such as Pluto.
Earth, our home planet, is the only planet in our solar system known to harbor life. All of the things we need to survive are provided under a thin layer of atmosphere that separates us from the uninhabitable void of space. Earth is made up of complex, interactive systems that are often unpredictable. Air, water, land, and life—including humans—combine forces to create a constantly changing world that we are striving to understand.
Viewing Earth from the unique perspective of space provides the opportunity to see Earth as a whole. Scientists around the world have discovered many things about our planet by working together and sharing their findings.
Some facts are well known. For instance, Earth is the third planet from the sun and the fifth largest in the solar system. Earth's diameter is just a few hundred kilometers larger than that of Venus. The four seasons are a result of Earth's axis of rotation being tilted more than 23 degrees.
