Triclosan is everywhere, read labels!

The time has come to wash our hands of triclosan and other unnecessary antimicrobial chemicals for good.

Triclosan and other antimicrobials, added to many soaps and other everyday products – and found in the bodies of more than three-fourths of Americans – likely harm people’s health and the environment, while providing no benefit to consumers, said more than 200 scientists and medical professionals in a consensus statement published today.

The statement in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives, coauthored by EWG, recommends an end to the indiscriminate and widespread use of triclosan, triclocarban and other antimicrobial chemicals in cosmetics and consumer products.

Triclosan in people

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Triclosan, a powerful pesticide registered with the Environmental Protection Agency, may cause changes in the human hormone system, harming reproduction and development. Recent studies also show that higher triclosan levels in people are linked to increased sensitivity to allergens.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has detected triclosan in the bodies of more than 75 percent of Americans tested. In a study of teenage girls, EWG found triclosan in urine samples collected from all 20 subjects. This widespread exposure is likely due to the chemical’s ubiquitous use in cosmetics and consumer products.

EWG and the scientists who signed the statement believe antimicrobials should only be used if adequate testing shows that they are safe and they have been proven effective for particular uses. Scientists are concerned that widespread use of antimicrobials in consumer products could contribute to growing antibiotic resistance and make the vital medical uses of antimicrobials ineffective.

Where is triclosan found?

A 2008 EWG investigation found that the EPA had approved 20 triclosan mixtures from 11 manufacturers for use in products as diverse as undergarments and building materials. Encouragingly, our review last month of current EPA files found that many triclosan registrations have either been voluntarily cancelled, cancelled for certain applications or have pending cancellation requests from the manufacturers themselves. Although the market has shifted, EWG identified numerous manufacturers and EPA-approved uses that allow triclosan to remain in a staggering assortment of products.

EWG’s Skin Deep® Cosmetics Database shows that triclosan can be found in:

Soaps
Shampoos
Conditioners
Lotions
Toothpastes
Deodorants
Shaving products

More at….

https://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2017/06/triclosan-not-safe-not-effective?fbclid=IwAR18tt3kvUv9YrT9NH0dN3wgkUXIaYzuRDb6QmQsgINPU4um-qtmXhb2cB8&utm_campaign=Social+Traffic&utm_content=1526572273&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook#.WsJzAZPwZcA

April 5, 2018May 14, 2019

Carcinogens in childrens cosmetics …

Hundreds of Kids’ Cosmetics Products May Contain Hidden Carcinogen

More than 200 personal care products marketed to children and babies may contain 1,4-dioxane, a common contaminant that is a likely carcinogen.

More than 8,000 personal care products in EWG’s Skin Deep^® cosmetics database include ingredients produced through ethoxylation, including polyethylene, polyethylene glycol (PEG) and ceteareth. Of those, more than 200 are marketed to children and infants, EWG found.

Although 1,4-dioxane is not intentionally added to personal care products, ethoxylated chemicals can contaminate personal care products with trace amounts of 1,4-dioxane. Some companies voluntarily remove or reduce 1,4-dioxane from these products through a process called vacuum stripping. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration has no rules that require companies to do so.

The Environmental Protection Agency has classified 1,4-dioxane as a likely human carcinogen and it is listed in California’s registry of chemicals known to cause cancer. In laboratory studies, animals who drank water with 1,4-dioxane developed tumors in the liver, nasal cavity, and the peritoneal and mammary glands. Short-term exposure to relatively high amounts of 1,4-dioxane is particularly damaging to the liver and kidneys.

Because manufacturers don’t have to disclose the presence of 1,4-dioxane on product labels, there’s no way for consumers to know if their personal care or other household products harbor the hidden carcinogen. Among the products marketed for use on children and babies that may contain 1,4-dioxane are popular sunscreens, toothpastes, bubble baths and shampoos.

Bipartisan legislation introduced by Sens. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, would give the FDA the power to review dangerous chemicals like 1, 4-dioxane. The bill would also require personal care companies to alert the agency when their products injure consumers, and would give the FDA the power to recall dangerous products.

SOURCE:
https://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2017/07/hundreds-kids-cosmetics-products-may-contain-hidden-carcinogen?utm_campaign=Social+Traffic&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=1516299038#.WsZsjMWsbDf

January 20, 2018May 14, 2019

Eating detergent!!

THIS is the difference between a industrial detergent and a homemade one. Mine, you CAN eat without ending up in the hospital, well it doesn’t taste super but it wont kill you cause its: soap, crystal soda and table salt!

From: http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/heres-how-many-people-have-called-a-poison-helpline-after-eating-delicious-tide-pods-in-2018/

Take A Guess At How Many People Have Called A Poison Helpline After Eating “Delicious” Tide Pods In 2018

Back to the Future depicts 2015 as a time where flying cars and hoverboards exist. Now it’s 2018 and we’re warning people not to eat detergent because it can literally kill you. The “tide pods are food” meme has taken off in a big, dangerous way. People, mainly teenagers, are regularly uploading videos of themselves eating the detergent to Youtube under the title “Tide Pod Challenge”. Tide and Youtube are desperately struggling to stop people from doing it. People are even reviewing them on Amazon as if they’re food, giving them five stars and calling them “delicious”.

“I’ve been using these for years as a flavor enhancer for my water,” another reviewer wrote.

“The only issue is that they have a hard time dissolving in my Yeti cup, so I’ve started extracting the liquid goo with a needle and then squirting it into my water. A couple shakes and it’s all mixed in. The flavor is incredible and curbs my appetite for the entire day! Since I’ve been drinking these I’ve lost about 75 pounds. I go through 5 or 6 pods a day though, and it gets a little pricey, but totally worth it.”

So far, so amusing. But surely no-one is really eating these, are they? What’s the real scale of the problem? Well, it turns out, it’s much bigger than is ideal. The American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) has put out a warning, after receiving a high volume of calls since the beginning of 2018.

“During the past five years, poison control centers have received well over 50,000 calls relating to liquid laundry packet exposures,” the AAPCC said in a statement.

“While unintentional misuse by children five and under accounted for the majority of these calls, a recent trend among teenagers ingesting the packets – and uploading videos to various internet platforms including video-sharing websites, social media, and vlogging platforms – has caused significant concern among poison control centers.

“According to AAPCC data, in 2016 and 2017, poison control centers handled 39 and 53 cases of intentional exposures, respectively, among 13 to 19-year-olds. In the first 15 days of 2018 alone, centers have already handled 39 such intentional cases among the same age demographic. Ingestion accounted for 91 percent of these reported exposures.”

You read that right – 9 out of 10 times calls to a poison helpline for ingesting detergent are from people who are doing it as a joke.

Youtube themselves are finally taking action too, announcing that they’ll be removing any videos of the Tide Pod Challenge. “YouTube’s Community Guidelines prohibit content that’s intended to encourage dangerous activities that have an inherent risk of physical harm,” the Internet giant said, according to The Guardian. “We work to quickly remove flagged videos that violate our policies.” Help Youtube out, people. Stop eating things that are only meant to be ingested by a goddamn washing machine.

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/this-is-what-could-happen-to-you-if-you-try-the-tide-pod-challenge/

March 13, 2017May 10, 2022

Scary facts about fabric softeners …

Using fabric softeners sounds like a no-brainer. These common laundry products promise soft, fresh-smelling clothes, free of static and wrinkles, along with less stretching, fading and pilling.But in-wash fabric softeners and heat-activated dryer sheets pack a powerful combination of chemicals that can harm your health, damage the environment and pollute the air, both inside and outside your home. EWG recommends skipping fabric softeners entirely. Here are the worst chemicals to watch for in your laundry basket – and what to use instead.

March 11, 2017May 10, 2022

Pesticides NOT needed to feed the world

Article by the Independent:

The idea that pesticides are necessary to feed the world’s fast-growing population is “inaccurate and misleading”, a UN report has warned.
The document, which is expected to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council this week, strongly denounced the “aggressive promotion” of pesticides by the industry as experts found the chemicals had “catastrophic impacts on the environment, human health and society as a whole”.
The authors of the report said the impact of pesticides on human health, access to food and the environment have been exacerbated by corporations’ “systematic denial”, “aggressive, unethical marketing tactics” and by having “obstructed reforms and paralysed global pesticide restrictions globally”.