THE UGLY INGREDIENT LIST
Aging is not just the way we look but, more importantly, it’s the degenerative diseases which prematurely change our life.
Breast Cancer Heart Disease
Depression Hormone Disruption
Obesity Memory Loss
Birth Defects ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)
The following are the worst of the worst, toxic, carcinogenic
UGLY INGREDIENT LIST commonly found in most skin and personal care products. Each is directly linked to one or more of the above conditions.
Benzoyl Peroxide: Frequently used in acne products, the MSDS (material safety data sheet) states, “Facilitates action of known carcinogens…Possible tumor promoter. May act as mutagen; produces DNA damage in human and other mammalian cells in some concentrations. Also, toxic by inhalation. May be harmful if swallowed and in contact with skin. Eye, skin and respiratory irritant.”
DEA (Diethanolamine), MEA (Monoethanolamine), & TEA (Triethanolamine): The foam booster is a skin/eye irritant and causes contact dermatitis. Easily absorbed through skin to accumulate in body organs, even the brain. Repeated use resulted in major increases of liver and kidney cancer.
Dioxin: Won’t appear on an ingredient list. Often contained in antibacterial ingredients like triclosan, emulsifiers, PEGs and ethoxylated cleansers like Sodium Laureth Sulfate. Dioxin causes cancer, reduced immunity, nervous system disorder, miscarriages and birth deformity. It’s a hormone-disrupting chemical with toxic effects measured in the parts per trillion – one drop in 300 Olympic-size swimming pools! Our bodies have to defense against its damage. Most visible example was Yushchenko, the Ukrainian President, who suffered from dioxin poisoning and looked old overnight.
DMDM Hydantoin & Urea (Imidazolidinyl): Just two of many preservatives that often release formaldehyde which may joint pain, cancer, skin reactions, allergies, depression, headaches, chest pains, ear infections, chronic fatigue, dizziness, and loss of sleep. Exposure may irritate the respiratory system, trigger heart palpitations or asthma, aggravate coughs and colds.
FD&C Color & Pigments: Synthetic colors from coal tar contain heavy metals salts that deposit toxins in skin, causing skin sensitivity/irritation. Absorption can cause depletion of oxygen and death. Animal studies show almost all are carcinogenic.
Parabens: (Methyl, Butyl, Ethyl, Propyl) – used as preservatives and aren’t always labeled “parabens” They’re used in deodorants and antiperspirants and have been found in breast cancer tumors. Parabens, as xenoestrogens (hormone disruptors), may contribute to sterility in male mice and humans. Estrogen-like activity causes hormone imbalance in females and early puberty.
PEG (Polyethylene glycol): Made by ethoxylating Propylene Glycol. Dangerous levels of dioxin have been found as a by-product of the ethoxylation process. PEGs are in everything including personal care, baby care and sunscreens.
Phthalates: Xenoestrogens are commonly found in many products, usually not listed on the labels. Health effects include damage to liver/kidneys, birth defects, decreases sperm counts and early breast development in girls and boys.
Propylene Glycol (PG) & Butylene Glycol: Petroleum plastics act as surfactants (wetting agents, solvents). EPA considers PG so toxic it requires protective gloves, clothing. Goggles and disposal by burying. Because PG penetrates skin so quickly, EPA warns against skin contact to prevent brain, liver, and kidney abnormalities. There is NO warning label on products where concentration is greater than in most industrial applications.
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES): Detergents and surfactants that pose serious health threats. Used in car washes, garage floor cleaners, engine degreasers and 90% of personal-care products that foam. Animals exposed to SLS experienced eye damage, depression, labored breathing, diarrhea, severe skin irritation – even death. SLS may also damage skin’s immune system by causing layers to separate, inflame and age.
Sunscreen chemicals: avobenzone, benzphenone, ethoxycinnamate, PABA are commonly used ingredients that are known free radical generators and are believed to damage DNA or lead to cancers.
Triclosan: Synthetic “antibacterial” ingredient with chemical structure similar to Agent Orange! EPA registers it as a pesticide, posing risks to human health and environment. Classified as a chlorophenol, chemicals suspected of causing cancer in humans. Tufts University School of Medicine says triclosan is capable of forcing emergence of “super bugs” it cannot kill.
All information taken from The ToxicAlarm Guide – courtesy of The ToxicFree Foundation
Start thinking about how many products and chemical ingredients you use on a daily or weekly basis. People are often surprised by how many they use! This is only skin care products – NOW think about all the other toxins, preservatives and chemicals you are ingesting from the food you eat, household cleanser toxic fumes you are breathing, and all other environmental toxins. WOW! Maybe it is time to make a few lifestyle changes. What do you think?
Central Oregon, Environment, Outdoors, Politics »
Ore. bill would ban algae-abetting dishwasher soap
By Joseph Rose, The Oregonian
March 30, 2009, 8:54PM
The Senate voted Monday to ban dishwasher detergents with high amounts of phosphorous, bringing Oregon in line with a dozen other states, including Washington.
Phosphorous has long been regulated in cleaning agents such as laundry detergent, but until now dishwasher soaps have gotten a pass.
Environmentalists have been working hard over the past few years to convince states to tighten controls on the substance, which promotes the growth of algae blooms in rivers, lakes and ground water. The blooms essentially steal the oxygen from the water, suffocating other aquatic life.
Portland Sen. Jackie Dingfelder introduced the bill after she learned that states like Illinois, Ohio and Massachusetts had approved bans that go into effect July 2010.
"This is something proactive that we can do that is good for the environment," she said.
The Senate voted overwhelmingly for it, sending it to the House.
Oregon has experience with phosphorous pollution. High concentrations in the Tualatin River led to the laundry detergent ban. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has also identified 54 waterways that have excessive amounts of phosphorus.
"I wasn't aware until this bill came out that there was this exception for automatic dishwashing soap," said Sue Marshall of the Tualatin Riverkeepers. "To me that sounds like a lot of phosphorus still getting into the wastewater stream."
The Soap and Detergent Association, a national trade group, threw its support behind Dingfelder -- to her surprise.
"'I'm from the industry you're trying to regulate, and we support this ban,'" she remembered them saying. "I think this is a first for me ... a welcome first."
The group has been supporting the new standard since Washington state passed its ban in 2006.
At the time, the industry was able to persuade lawmakers to give them until mid-2010 to switch to new formulas.
Since then, it's been working to make sure other legislatures used a similar standard and timeline, asking states to "keep it uniform because of the enormous complexity of what's being undertaken," said Dennis Griesing of the Soap and Detergent Association.
There are still some kinks to be worked out, Griesing says. For starters, the low-phosphorous soaps don't work well in commercial dishwashers. For that reason, they would be exempt from the ban.
The soaps also are less effective in hard water.
In Spokane, where the ban has already gone into effect, residents have taken to crossing into Idaho for illicit detergents. Something similar happened in Arizona when the industry used the state as a test market, Griesing said.
"They walked away from it. It wasn't getting the job done," he said. "Phosphorous has always been really good at softening the water."
Still, Dingfelder says she uses low-phosphorous detergent and her dishes come out "perfectly clean."
Spokane County Bans Phosphates
Spokane County in July adopted a near total ban on sales of water-softening phosphates in dishwasher detergent -- the first in the nation -- in an attempt to slow the flood of pollutants that is sucking oxygen out of the endangered Spokane River, smothering its fish.
The problem, Marcotte and many of her neighbors say, is that most low-phosphate detergents are wimps when it comes to fighting greasy pots and spaghetti-crusted plates. So she has become a detergent outlaw, driving 45 minutes across the Idaho state line to pick up secret stashes of the old, bad dish cleansers: the brutish Cascades, the muscular Electrasols.
"With the 'green' stuff, the dishes come out with a real slippery texture -- like somebody poured a cup of grease in some dishwater -- and a white film. Just really gross," Marcotte said. "And then the food gunk just mixes around the dishwasher and when it stops, it just settles on whatever's there. I mean, it's bad."
Retailers in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, say the sight of apologetic but defiant Washingtonians loading their carts with dishwasher detergent is becoming increasingly common. "We go, 'Are you coming from Spokane?' And they kind of chuckle and say, 'Yeah,' " said Donna Wilkinson, an assistant manager at Costco.
For those inclined to chuckle at the travails of distant, desperate people with dirty dishes, consider this: The detergent industry has pledged to make every automatic dishwashing soap sold in the U.S. and Canada nearly phosphate-free by mid-2010.
With 12 states -- including Washington -- phasing in low-phosphate laws by the end of next year and four others considering them, industry officials say they are gearing up to produce a new generation of products that will clean dishes while not harming lakes and streams. (The California Legislature passed a phosphate law last year, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it.)
The pledge marks a significant turnaround for an industry that until recently not only opposed such laws but also warned that many phosphate-free dishwashing detergents didn't work the way consumers expected them to.