In this issue:

• The Toxic Burden of Harmful Chemicals in Most Personal Care Products

• The Most Common Toxic Chemicals in Personal Care  Products

• Why do American Companies Sell Environmentally Unsafe Products Banned in Other Countries?

The Toxic Burden of Harmful Chemicals In Most Personal Care Products

Pesticide residues are now found in every ocean, lake and river on Earth – even found in the breast milk of Eskimo women near the Artic Circle.  In fact, research scientists working in the Artic Circle have to drill down over 100 feet before they can find ice that doesn’t have synthetic chemicals in it. (Synthetic chemicals are those that do not appear anywhere in nature.)  An increasing number of studies are linking pesticides and other synthetic chemicals in everyday products to an increase risk for all kinds of diseases from cancer to birth defects.  Because our bodies have no ability to metabolize these chemicals, they slowly build up in the tissues of our bodies until we get sick. 

Still skeptical?  List how many products including shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, hair gel, body cleanser, soaps, deodorant, toothpaste, mouthwash, perfume, shaving cream, body lotion, make-up, anti-bacterial soaps, and cleaning products you use on a daily basis, and determine how many synthetic chemicals are in each product.  Then consider how many times per day you use these products.  Now, multiply this number by the rough number of days in your life that you have used them.  This will give you an idea of the internal chemical buildup you have from personal care and cleaning products.  Also, consider these facts:

• The whitening effect in toothpaste is usually caused by sodium hydroxide, the primary ingredient in Drano.

• A car’s antifreeze is 40% propylene glycol, and many underarm deodorants are 60% propylene glycol.

• “No more tears” products don’t cause tearing because of a combination of chemical ingredients working together to cause an anesthetic effect, so the user doesn’t feel the irritation.  When these products are used on children, the child’s eyes are not irritated because of the anesthetic effect of the combination of synthetic chemicals, not because they are mild.

• Room deodorizers are effective because they contain chemicals that anesthetize nerve endings that smell sulpher based odors in the nose.  These products are not designed to take the smells out of the air; they are designed to inhibit the ability to smell them.

A small amount of exposure to any of these chemicals probably will not do much harm. But thousands and thousands of exposures can.  Over a period of 30 or 40 years many thousands of exposures to dangerous chemicals from everyday products is common.

Since the 1940’s over 80,000 synthetic chemicals have been invented.  Most of them have been created from petroleum or coal tar, and few of them have been tested for human safety.  But, they have been added to our food, personal care and cleaning products anyway.  According to the National Research Council, “No toxicity information is available for over 80% of the chemicals in everyday use products.  Less than 20% have ever been tested for acute toxic effects and less than 10% have been tested for chronic, reproductive or mutagenic effects.”  The few that have been tested have not been tested in combination with other chemicals.  When the cumulative effect of combinations of chemicals stored in the body is studied, a dangerous synergy is seen. 

According to the excellent book, “Detoxify or Die”, by Sherry Rogers, MD on pages 2-3,    “The plastic wraps swaddling your fruits, vegetables and meats in your grocery cart look harmless enough.  So do the Styrofoam trays that hold them and the plastic bottles for water, soda, milk, ketchup, fruit juices, and even infant formulas.  But the phthalates that outgas from these plastics so ubiquitous in our food and beverage packaging leach into our foods.  In fact, we eat so many plastics each day that the government has established an average daily amount that we ingest.  And once inside our bodies, these phthalates or plastics tightly hook onto our cell parts where they gum up the works.  For example, they damage hormone receptors, leading to loss of sex drive and energy, or they damage brain chemistry leading to learning disability and hyperactivity, or they accumulate in organs and trigger cancers of the prostate, breast, lung and thyroid.  Each morning millions of Americans from construction to office workers line up for their ritual coffee breaks.  But stealth poisons lurk in those Styrofoam cups and once inside the body there is no mechanism for metabolizing or getting rid of all the carcinogenic styrene (U.S.D.H.H. 1992, Jakoby, Clasdden, Sullivan).” 

The Most Common Toxic Chemicals in Personal Care Products

Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS) is commonly found in shampoos, body cleansers, soft soaps, dish detergents, antibacterial soaps, laundry detergents, shaving creams, tooth paste and eye drops. It is a sudsing agent.   Dr. Keith Green from the Medical School of Georgia, found that SLS causes improper eye development in children, and is a very strong skin irritant.

Propylene Glycol (PG) is a strong skin irritant.  In personal care products it acts as a humectant, (retains moisture in products), keeping them from drying out.  The Material Safety Data Sheet on PG warns to avoid skin contact, and that it can cause liver and kidney problems.  Also, PG can have an anesthetic effect in higher concentrations.  Now, Butylene Glycol is being used in some personal care products because of the consumer pressure to remove Propylene Glycol from products.  However, Butylene Glycol is even more harmful than Propylene Glycol.

DEA, MEA & TEA are usually listed on the ingredient label in conjunction with another product that needs to be neutralized like lauryl alcohol (the harmful chemical in Sodium Laurel Sulfate).  These are hormone disrupting chemicals that are known to form nitrates and nitrosamines (known carcinogens) when combined with laurel alcohol.  They are easily absorbed through the skin and are used as emulsifiers and foaming agents in products.

Triclosan is the main ingredient in antibacterial soaps.  The EPA registers it as a pesticide.  It is a chlorophenol and it can cause skin irritations and can temporarily deactivate nerve endings causing an anesthetic effect.    Triclosan is so toxic to humans that its toxicity is measured in parts per trillion. (One part per trillion would be approximately 1 drop of triclosan in the amount of water in 300 Olympic sized swimming pools.)  Tufts University School of Medicine says that “triclosan is capable of forcing emergence of “super bugs” that it cannot kill.  Its widespread use in popular antibacterial cleansers, toothpastes and household products may have nightmare implications for our future.”

Phthalates, as noted above, are hormone disruptors that are released from plastics.  They are found in the following everyday products: nail polishes, adhesives, synthetic leather, perfumes, hairsprays, skin lotions, deodorizers, gum, and candy.  Possible adverse health effects are liver and kidney damage, birth defects, lowered sperm counts, and early puberty in girls.  An article on MSNBC.COM on October 4, 2000 stated that phthalates are regulated as toxic substances under the environmental laws and limit their discharge into the air, land and water but there is NO limitation on the amount of phthalates used in consumer products including cosmetics.

These are just a handful of some of the most prevalent chemicals that we expose ourselves to many times per day.  Please, consider making an effort to reduce the amount of toxic chemicals that you and you’re your families are exposed to each day.  Please know that Organic Excellence products do not contain any of these chemicals.