At first I was skeptical about how well the cloth and soap nuts would work but have now found that they both easily fit into my cleaning and laundry routine. It is worthwhile using products that are healthier to use, economical, and save me time.

Toxins In Our Cleaning Products

Toxic Cleaning Poducts Most conventional dish and laundry detergents are made form petroleum, a nonrenewable resource. Some detergents contain alkyphenol ethoxylates, which are suspected hormone disruptors that don’t readily biodegrade and can threaten wildlife after they go down your drain. Ethoxylated alcohols in liquid detergents can contain carcinogenic 1, 4-dioxane.

Phosphates are banned from most cleaning products, but automatic dish detergents have an exemption and can still contain up to 20% phosphates. Phosphates that end up in our waterways cause algae blooms that deplete the oxygen and kill fish.

The fragrances in detergents and fabric softeners can contain phthalates, chemicals that have been linked to cancer and reproductive-system harm to animal lab tests. Fragrances may also trigger asthma and allergic reactions, with symptoms including skin and respiratory irritation, headaches, and watery eyes.
Other ingredients turn dangerous when combined: Diethoanolamine and triethanolamine can react with nitrates (an often undisclosed preservative) to form carcinogenic nitrosamines.

Waterways aren't immune to these dangerous ingredients, either. As detergents, bleaches and fabric softeners get washed down your laundry room drain, they enter groundwater, where they react with other man-made and naturally occurring chemicals and seep into drinking water supplies. Chlorine bleach, for instance, reacts with carbon molecules to create organochlorines, such as dioxin. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found high percentages of dioxin in water surrounding the San Francisco Bay area. One suspected source: laundry water coming from municipal gray water discharges.

Toxins in Our Laundry Detergent

Because it is such a necessary, frequently tackled chore in many homes, laundry consumes a great deal of energy, which in turn produces greenhouse gas emissions, taking its environmental impact beyond waterways and into the air.

Laundry Chemicals and Your Health

Toxins in Laundry Detergent Laundry detergent and fabric softener ingredients pose a variety of health risks, ranging from relatively minor—like skin irritants and allergens—to the severe—cancer, poisoning and neurological problems. Knowing which ingredients to avoid, however, will help you control the number of toxins entering your home.

Laundry detergents and laundry stain removers frequently contain alkyl phenol ethoxylates (APEs), which are common surfactants. Surfactants, or surface active agents, are chemicals that make surfaces more susceptible to water, allowing cleaners to easily penetrate stains and wash them away. APEs can damage the immune system, and they're suspected hormone disruptors, which mean they can mimic hormones in the body that regulate reproduction and development. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also warned that ethoxylated alcohol surfactants, such as APEs, may be contaminated with carcinogenic 1, 4-dioxane, which penetrates skin. Tests conducted in 1997 by the Washington Toxics Coalition found that supermarket or drugstore labels are more likely to contain APEs than name brands.

Your everyday laundry detergents may contain a combination of many toxic chemicals many of which are harmful to your health. Even Seventh Generation is can be considered dangerous Check out this posting at http://myitthings.com/oldworldsecrets/Post/house/It-House/Seven-generations-should-be-long-enough-to-poison-us-/989222008172345355.htm

Toxic chemicals can be left behind on your clothes after washing. This can be potentially dangerous as these chemicals are absorbed by your skin into your blood stream and also evaporate into the air which you and your family breathe. Also, the manufacturing process of the chemical detergents and their use can have a long term negative effect on the environment as well.

Many common laundry detergents contain phosphates, ammonia, naphthalene, phenol, optical brighteners, artificial fragrances, EDTA etc. These chemicals can cause rashes, itches, allergies, sinus problems and have long term toxic effects on the environment. For more information go to our Environmental Info page. Here are a few examples of these chemicals.

PHENOLS: Toxic, a suspected carcinogen and rapidly absorbed. Effects include swelling, pimples, and hives. Internal consumption can cause circulatory collapse, cold sweats, coma, and death.

OPTICAL BRIGHTENERS: Can cause skin allergy, toxic to fish and can cause bacterial mutations.

PHOSPHATES: Environmental hazard causing excessive growth in aquatic plants which leads to the suffocation of fish & underwater life.

EDTA: Skin irritant leading to allergies, asthma, and skin rashes. Does not bio degrade readily and is an environment hazard.

ARTIFICIAL FRAGRANCES: Toxic effects on fish and mammals, often causes allergies, skin and eye irritation. Do not easily bio-degrade in the environment.

AMMONIA: Can cause burns, cataracts & corneal damage. Long term repeated exposure can cause bronchitis and pneumonia. Also has a toxic effect on plants, animals and fish.

SODIUM SULPHATE: It is corrosive and a severe eye, skin, and respiratory irritant. Can cause asthma attacks.

Join the ‘Green Cleaning Revolution’ to really make a difference in your life and the health of our Mother Earth!!