Toxic free household....just too much to think about

I recently got into a bit of a row with a co-worker over something really stupid - cosmetics. She was having an Arbonne party at work and wanted all of the women to come for free lunch and to listen to her prattle on about how great Arbonne is. I was actually looking for a new cleanser and moisturizer so I thought well, why not.

So I went. Arbonne is very big on how natural and good all of their cosmetics are. I am not even going to touch on Arbonne as a way to make a living. I was talked into signing up to be a consultant (much to my shame); mainly for the 45% discount and so that I could easily return the products if I didn't like them without my co-worker knowing (which I ended up doing..and Arbonne was great about it). I began to wonder how "natural" their products really were. So I did some research on-line and then on the way home that day there was an interview on FM107 with a lady who wrote a book advocating cosmetic consumer safety. It was ironic. She mentioned a database called www.cosmeticsdatabase.org that independently tests cosmetic products and lists all the ingredients in a cosmetic along with a toxicity rating and a data gap percentage (how sure are they that the ingredient is really that toxic).

Well Arbonne was just as "toxic" as anything else. In fact Cover Girl was in general less "toxic". This just stumped me. How can a company get away with this type of advertising? Well I went through my Arbonne consultant materials and Arbonne is being honest. They say they use natural fragrances; and they do. Fragrances are in general not tested all that well and tend to have a lot of negative neurological and toxic effects (when was the last time someone's perfume gave you a headache); Arbonne does not use synthetic fragrances. They do however use synthetic preservatives; chemical surfactants; etc. etc. Arbonne leaves it up to their consultants to misunderstand and misconstrue the meaning of their natural message. That being said why can't we use more natural products?

I mean soap has been around forever. Why can't soap be "natural"? Why can't more things use essential oils as fragrance? We all know the answer; because it is cheaper to make chemicals in bulk than it is to get natural oils. It's all about profit. Also most of the evidence that some of these things (parabens, dioxanes, etc) are toxic to you is scanty. People use very small amounts of these things, they haven't been around for that long (less than 50 years in many cases), so there aren't many long term studies have been done. Still it's disturbing to look up the ingredients of the Johnson and Johnson baby wash and see that there are parabens in there, mysterious fragrance, and other ingredients that give it a moderately toxic rating on cosmetic database.com. Sure the studies supporting these results are a little bit contradictory but why take a chance?

I work at a chemical company. I know that getting products to the public is about doing it as fast and as cost effective as you can. Is the FDA going to require a 30 year study on the effects of a new fragrance and chemical in a new baby wash...ummm no, they are not. The FDA doesn't have the staff or funds to do something like that; they are way backed up on prescription drugs and medical devices. Most long term studies are ongoing and commence as the product is being sold.
So all of the above has led me to start looking into some new things. Especially in the area of bath products. What's out there? How "natural" can you get? What happens to shelf-life when you use a natural product? How crazy should you get about the whole natural and organic thing? I mean you can clothe your child in organic cotton for goodness sake and use unbleached toliet paper on your behind...where do you draw the line? Do you need to draw a line? I mean when you get right down to it everything, and I mean absolutely everything, is a chemical. Does it matter if it occurs in nature or synthetically? History tells us it does. So far I believe only synthetic chemicals have been found to be bio-accumulating. But still, poison ivy gives you a rash and it's "natural".

Science always outpaces safety. It has always been this way. Chemists used to have the shortest lifespan of any professional; that there should tell you something about chemical safety. Everyone is always eager to have the latest and greatest; and inventions are normally done in good will. All of us chemists are trying to make people's lives easier; no scientist I know is intentionally trying to poison people. It still begs the question, how do you make your home safe? How many unsafe things are we ignoring because it is too much and too scary to think of them otherwise? I mean you could drive yourself crazy with this. We already eat organic when we can but what to do next.

So I took the first step. Bath products are notorious for their lack of regulation by the government; the US has some of the worst standards for cosmetics. So now we are using California Baby for Keegan. It smells great and works really well and I like the fact that the company supports the advocate group for safer cosmetics. I've switched to Giovanni organic hair products. They are not at all expensive and work well. I found some great skin care in Korres skin care, you can eat most of this stuff, it works well, but is a bit expensive. Still I am getting older so I am willing to put some money into my face.

Then what's next. Well now I am looking at cleaning and paper products. I started thinking about how the Windex makes me cough and makes my eyes run (ammonia content); and how the toilet cleaner burns my skin. I decided to look into Seventh generation products. Ironically the same day I made this decision, Cate called me up and started talking about how she was intrigued by these products. Then I got my Cookie magazine for the month and there was a big article in there on having a toxin-free household which mentioned Seventh Generation products. Still it is a lot to grasp and the products are more expensive, and in the end you are left wondering if it actually makes a difference to your health and the health of those around you.

While reading reviews about Seventh generation products online I stumbled upon more disturbing info. As I chemist I know all plastics leech over time. This means any water bottle you drink out does have some pthtalates and other monomers in it. It may be a minuscule amount, does this matter? We don't know. Can you believe they sell non-leeching aluminum sippy cups for babies? I guess since bottles and sippy cups are the main form of beverage transport for our babies it makes sense. It set my head reeling; I mean all Keegan drinks out of are plastic cups. Plastic is a relatively new technology; and there are some dutch companies working on non-leeching plasticware for babies. But, oh my, it makes my head hurt, really it does! Ever notice how these problems come out in the news and then go away? Why is that? Is it because the huge corporations spend a lot of money lobbying to have the government ignore these issues; a big part of me wants to believe that's not the case. What are the alternatives though? Did everyone decide that it is just too scary to deal with so we all choose to ignore it?

I kind of agree with the Cookie article when the writer mentions that a large amount of these issues are ignored because they are scary, immense, and people are willing to take the risk for the immediate convenience of things. I can't help but wondering if some people are thinking about it too much (like myself) or if we aren't thinking about it enough and it will bit us in the rear in 30 years.

All of these issues still leave me a bit confused and concerned, but I guess my decision is to support companies that either 1) donate part of their profits to create biodegradable and renewable resources or 2) support additional testing and consumer safety. Sure these products are more expensive, but we can afford it right now and I guess if it gives a sense of safety (even if it's a false sense) it might be worth it. At least some part of my stressed out chemist-self feels a bit better when I can pronounce and understand all of the ingredients on my bubble bath. It's a lot to grasp and it's something I think you address more avidly if you have been chronically ill or have a little person in the house. Still, I really love my Windex; it's going to be very hard to let go of the beautiful blue, eye stinging formulation that is my Windex.