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Though these chemicals are not regulated in the United States, they have been banned in other countries. 1,4-dioxane is banned in Europe and formaldehyde is banned in Japan and Sweden.

Two Big Nastys

1,4-dioxane is used as a foaming agent and found in many popular baby products, such as shampoos. 1,4-dioxane is readily absorbed into the bloodstream potentially causing damage to the central nervous system, liver, kidneys and may even result in death. 1,4-dioxane is not a product added intentionally, but instead is considered a contaminant and therefore not required to be listed on product labels in the USA. Manufacturers can easily remove the toxic byproduct, but are not required by law to do so.  There is certainly a push for removal.

Formaldehyde is found in lotion, shampoo, bath wash, baby wipes, liquid shower soap, bubble bath and hand soap. Considering the widespread use of formaldehyde-releasing preservatives, it is certain that formaldehyde is in other product types. Formaldehyde is a gas which can cause throat, nose, skin, and eye irritation. Exposure can cause coughing, wheezing, watery eyes, itching, and skin irritations. Formaldehyde exposure has been linked to allergies and asthma in children. The EPA classifies formaldehyde as a carcinogen and high levels of this chemical have been linked to the development of nose, lung and brain cancer as well as leukemia. Like 1,4-dioxane, formaldehyde is not an ingredient in the products, but is a toxic byproduct of chemical manufacturing and product formulation.

Only a Little?

Some baby product manufacturers continue to argue that their products only contain a small amount of these chemicals and are below acceptable levels.  To be fair, Johnson & Johnson, the leading manufacturer that caused all of the uproar in the news now states:

“…we know that some consumers are concerned about formaldehyde, which is why we offer many products without formaldehyde releasing preservatives, and are phasing out these types of preservatives in our baby products worldwide.  We are no longer introducing new baby products that contain these types of preservatives. Over the past few years or so, we already have reduced the number of formulations globally with formaldehyde releaser preservatives by 33% and in the U.S. by over 60%.”

They also now state:

“We have reformulated approximately 70% of our baby products with new cleansing formulations that keep trace levels of 1,4 dioxane at below reliably detectable levels.”

Is it enough? We really think not … and wonder why it has taken so long to find a healthier option.  ecoSTORE USA do not contain either of these chemicals … never have and never will … and we provide full ingredient disclosure on all of our products so you’ll always know exactly what is in there.

Chemicals in Our Lives

The President’s Cancer Panel published a study on Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk that said, “With nearly 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, many of which are used by millions of Americans in their daily lives and are not studied, or are understudied and largely unregulated, exposure to potential environmental carcinogens is widespread.”

Reducing the Risk with No Nasty Chemicals^TM

Doing everything you can to safeguard against exposure to harmful chemicals can reduce health risks. That includes things that you put in your mouth, and also things that touch the skin. To be more precise, the skin absorbs about 60% of any substance applied to it … even residual amounts. Pay close attention to product labels and be wary of harmful chemicals in the products you use.

Avoid products with these ingredients in personal care products:

• Synthetic perfumes or dyes
• Sodium lauryl sulphates
• T E A (Triethanolamines)
• Parabens
• Propylene glycol
• Cocomide betaine

Avoid products with these ingredients in cleaning products:

• Toxic petrochemicals
• Synthetic enzymes
• Optical whiteners
• Phosphates
• Chlorine
• Ammonia
• NPEs (Nonylphenol Ethxylates)

Although there aren’t answers to eradicate cancers, an obvious step is eliminate, as best you can, known causes. That is a major reason that ecoSTORE USA product labels feature full ingredient disclosure. It’s just that important.

Today in the USA, about one in every 110 children has autism … 1 in every 110. That’s a 600% increase in the last twenty years. This spike within a single generation cannot be solely accounted for by genetic causes, refined diagnostic criteria or even increased awareness in the medical community. There just simply must be other underlying reasons.

The Profound Chemical Effect

Donna Ferullo, director of program research at The Autism Society warns that “lead, mercury, and other neurotoxic chemicals have a profound effect on the developing brain at levels that were once thought to be safe. With a complex combination of (toxic chemical) ingestion, developing brains reach a tipping point.”

“Today, to a mother carrying BPA, mercury, phthalates, and brominated flame retardants, is born a baby with 200 containments already in its cord blood,” said Ferullo. “The developing brain is exquisitely sensitive to environmental exposures from conception through childhood.”

Suruchi Chandra, MD, a psychiatrist at the True Health Medical Center, guides families through the special biomedical interventions for autism and related disorders. Chandra believes autism could be due to prolonged exposure … over years … to many toxins. “There is no simple way of measuring this,” she added. “I teach parents to avoid exposure to toxics, to avoid high pesticide foods, (and) to use nontoxic cleaners. These strategies can be beneficial but they place these already overstressed families in the position where they have to be hypervigilant.”

The Safe Chemicals Act of 2011

The reality is that there is only so much parents can do. Even if the home is free of toxins, kids goes to school, or partake in activities where harmful chemicals exist, pointing to the need for improved regulations and policies that manage the use of nasty chemicals in our everyday lives. They are everywhere.

The Safe Chemicals Act of 2011, introduced earlier this year, could help alleviate many serious health problems like autism, especially in our next generations.

ecoSTORE USA products are not only free of nasty chemicals … we support and make an effort to spread the word that Congress needs to repair our broken chemical system with legislation like The Safe Chemicals Act of 2011, so that chemicals are proven safe before being added to our homes, schools, and workplaces. The 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is out of date and ineffective at protecting the public from chemicals that have been linked to learning disabilities like autism, cancer, asthma, reproductive problems, and other serious diseases. It’s just that important.

Today I’m twenty-six years old, Gwynn just turned three, and we’ve relaxed a lot in the knowledge that we can provide the tools to help our daughter successfully traverse her time on earth. I’ve come to cherish watching her mental development unfold through a series of epiphanies and repeat practice that are the hallmarks of toddler learning. But I’ve never fully relaxed about her physical development – most specifically that internal health and development which we cannot see.

Being dedicated to a personal yoga practice, I already believe in the “your body is a temple” approach to living, and I trust I’ll pass the same along to my daughter. But as a parent I feel responsible to protect my daughter’s body from more than the obvious. My husband and I both feel it is our job to be conscientious about the chemicals and pathogens she is exposed to everyday; and we’re diligent in following the concerns raised by leading scientists in environmental health regarding synthetic materials in mainstream consumer products. No one loves and cares about our child’s long term health and wellness more than we do, and it will be a long time before she can self-advocate and make decisions for her own body. Therefore I personally feel called to continually educate myself, so we can do our utmost to provide a safe, nurturing environment where she can grow and develop as purely as possible. A critical component in that mission is to keep our home clean and organic. We have a lot of choices when it comes to cleaning products, but knowing the facts makes the decision pretty simple.

For instance, in 2007, a team of French scientists published research demonstrating that the two most common childhood cancers – leukemia and lymphoma – are overwhelmingly correlated to prenatal exposure to toxic chemicals used inside the home. The increase in cases of these haematopoietic malignancies (or “blood cancers”) over the past three decades calls into question the wisdom of producing or purchasing synthetic chemicals as cleaning agents in the home.

Groundbreaking research also recently provided data to demonstrate a strong correlation between common household chemicals and the dramatic rise in breast and female cancers during the past decades. Regular contact with these chemicals – which are called “hormone disruptors” because they mimic natural oestrogens – exposes women to increased risk of developing a female cancer. The effects of these particular hormone disruptors – or their masculine counterparts – on men have not been fully studied, but it’s doubtful in my mind they’re anything but bad for everyone.

Knowing these correlations, we need to consider how many synthetic chemicals we are exposed to everyday through processed foods, cleaning products, personal care products and cosmetics. How many of these synthetic chemicals might be hormone disruptors? And how many might be proven toxins, or have never been fully tested for toxicity? But most importantly – who will take responsibility for protecting my family and me from such exposure; and what alternatives are available? My child’s health is my top priority, but I’m no less interested in preserving my own wellbeing, and living a long and healthy life with my husband and daughter.

The international environmental health organization Health and Environmental Alliance (HEAL) works to encourage public policy that supports a cleaner, safer environment. Along with CHEM Trust and the Chemicals Health Monitor – which aims to see scientific research on environmental health translated into policy as quickly as possible – HEAL provides suggestions for minimizing exposure to and internal accumulation of toxins, including:

• Eating organic food as often as possible – especially fruits and vegetables.
• Avoiding unnecessary exposure to synthetic household products, detergents, personal care products, and garden and indoor pesticides.
• Wearing loose but tightly woven clothing and a hat instead of sunscreen when possible.
• Never microwaving plastic containers.
• Writing or calling your government representative to request stricter control of synthetic chemicals.

I don’t think health is a fad, and I don’t think anyone will take responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of my family more than my husband and me. Consumer self-advocacy and wiser buying will help drive the mainstream market toward more conscientious products, so take the time to make informed decisions about what you bring into your home. We all deserve a healthy, clean environment for our families. Take action for yours by educating yourself, and ensuring there are no nasty chemicals in your home or in your body.

Resources for further reading:

• www.ChemTrust.org.uk
• www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org
• www.ReallyNatural.com
• www.ChemicalsHealthMonitor.org
• www.Env-Health.org

There is so much build up in the media today about being green. Frankly, it is almost unrealistic to brush aside. The theme has become front and center with high profile events like the 80th Academy Awards Go Green Effort, Vanity Fair magazine’s Green Issue and Green Guide to Life. Suddenly “going green” has become the new buzz of mass marketing. The bottom line is that everyone is going green. But distinguishing what is real, and what is an attempt to give the impression of green living is important; especially when it is time for you to choose the path to providing a truly non-toxic environment for you and your family. We all want what’s best for our families and our future. But with every brand name slapping catchphrases like “natural” and “botanically infused” on their products how can the consumer filter out the real deal from the hype?

First and foremost – we’re busy! In the maelstrom of getting our kids to school, juggling careers, extracurriculars, household duties, and still finding a moment for “down time,” we avoid the hassle of tackling something new. Do we really need to take the time to educate ourselves about something as mundane as cleaning products? Is it really that much more important to purchase eco-friendly non-toxic household cleaners and personal products than the mainstream brands we’re accustomed to? After all, most of us grew up with Tile-X and liquid Bleach, and have yet to be labeled walking toxic waste hazards. So what should motivate us to swap out our convenient window cleaner for its earth friendly alternative?

Check out some fast facts about household products:

• According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers accidental poisonings occur in the home every 30 seconds.
• The National Safety Council has reported that more children under four die of from accidental poisoning than are killed by guns.
• A report by the EPA to Congress determined household cleaners three times more likely to cause cancer than outdoor air pollution.
• Women who work from home and are more frequently exposed to household toxins and poor air quality are 50% more likely to develop cancer.
• Newborn infants have trace levels of toxic chemicals in their bodies, passed on by their mother’s exposure.

So considering even this small handful of information about common household products, how are we obligated to respond? You would not purposefully expose your children to known carcinogens, or allow access to a loaded weapon. But nearly every household contains a host of poisonous chemicals under a kitchen sink or in a hall closet, many with serious warning labels. Take stock of how many of your products suggest calling Poison Control should contact occur. And look for ambiguous “ingredients” that are classified as “trade secrets”, and therefore do not need to be listed (example: the Ajax with Bleach ingredient list includes “quality control agents” but doesn’t specify what those are). While warning labels are frightening enough, the scariest part is that they don’t always include the worst health offenders. Toxic inert substances can make up more than half of a product but not even be listed as an “active ingredient.”

However, the familiarity of such chemicals to our daily lives has rendered them innocuous in our busy minds. Who has time to worry about finding organic dishwasher detergent? And yet, every year children suffer severe – in some cases fatal – base burns from spilled bleach and dishwasher detergent. Liquid ammonia from convenient spray cleaners like Windex quickly evaporates during use, and continually seeps from closed containers, polluting the air inside your home. According to published research, toxins from petrochemical cleaning agents are stored in our fatty tissue, accumulating in the body over years of exposure. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that, “of chemicals commonly found in the home 150 have been linked to allergies, birth defects, cancer, and psychological abnormalities.”

There is an increasingly large body of research to document the detrimental effects of household pollutants, and you as a parent should have the right to keep your home clean and sanitized without exposure to proven toxins. In a world of instant gratification and hectic schedules most of us have become complacent about the mainstream products we’re accustomed to using. But as scientific research and attention from conscientious consumers bring both the serious immediate and latent side effects of toxic household chemicals to light, we should all find the time to make a change to equally effective, eco-friendly products we can feel good about for the whole family! We have the moral obligation to act on our knowledge, and provide a safe and nurturing environment for our children. And as producers and consumers we should be committed to bringing the incidence of accidental poisoning and toxic accumulation down to zero.

So what should the conscientious parent consider when looking for products that can legitimately be called “green”? Some catchphrases to beware of include “naturally derived,” “from nature,” and “botanically inspired.” While they sound attractive, they don’t indicate truly eco-friendly products. Even the word “organic” does not always certify that the majority of ingredients are organic, or have not been simply manufactured from organic compounds. Many harmful chemicals found in mainstream products are derived from natural ingredients, but manipulated in labs to form compounds far from safe or natural. When searching for the real deal be certain your household products indicate they are “90%-100% organic,” “non-toxic,” and indicate that all ingredients are listed. And avoid common harmful chemicals.

These include:

• Parabens (preservatives some studies have connected to breast cancer)
• Glycols (organic solvents that can be passed from mother to fetus, and can affect the nervous system in high doses)
• Sodium lauryl sulfate (a foaming agent known to cause skin and eye irritation, and found in the majority of bubble baths, shampoos and shower gels)

Reading labels may not be your favorite thing to do, but a little effort ahead of time can ensure you grab a thoroughly safe and effective product next time you’re whizzing through the supermarket. Educate yourself to make healthier decisions for your family, and share the promise of a safer, more sustainable future.