Toxins in the Home

The following information came from www.leas.ca/hazards
Hazards of Commercial Household Cleaners
Activist urges caution when using cleansers
by Dan Hilborn - Burnaby NOW reporter
Danger lurks underneath your kitchen sink and in the laundry room, the storage closets and the garage, too.
While most people are aware that toxic chemicals can be found in many household cleaners and laundry soaps, Burnaby resident Mae Burrows wants the public to know that many of these common cleaners can also cause cancer.
But there are alternatives that can keep your house clean and still reduce your risk, says Burrows, executive director of the Labour Environmental Alliance Society and winner of the 2002 Eugene Rogers Award for her work protecting the environment.
"Canada is facing a cancer epidemic," she says. "But just as with tobacco, the best strategy for avoiding these cancers is to simply not allow yourself to be exposed to them. Unfortunately, a lot of people just don't know what to watch out for."
Burrows and Sean Griffin, the research coordinator with LEAS, have spent several years researching exactly which chemicals are used in which cleaners, and they've compiled lists of the most dangerous ones.
And because of the growing cancer rates, Burrows believes the need for this type of information is vital. For instance, one in every 2.4 Canadian men will contract some form of cancer during his lifetime, while one in 2.7 Canadian women will develop cancer.
Even more alarming, says Burrows, is the increase in cancer rates among children, according to recent statistics released by the Canadian Cancer Society.
"Cancer is now the second leading cause of death among children, after accidents," Burrows said. "There has been a 28 per cent increase in the incidence of all childhood cancers since the 1970s.
"While Workers' Compensation Board rules allow employees to refuse to handle toxic chemicals unless they are given the appropriate equipment, people often use the identical chemicals without any protection because they just don't know any better," Burrows said.
A large part of the problem lies in the fact that the manufacturers of cleaning products are not compelled to list the real name of the chemical on their packaging.
Some of the most alarming stories revolve around chemicals known as ethoxylated nonyl phenols, which have recently been declared toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Also known as endocrine disrupters, these chemicals are called "gender benders" by environmentalists because they are believed to cause reproductive problems for some animals. For instance, a group of Columbia River otters, with large doses of ethoxylated nonylphenols in their bodies, can no longer reproduce because their penises are too small.
More than 56 per cent of all nonylphenols used in Canada are found in cleaning products, notably in toilet cleaners and certain liquid laundry soaps, Burrows says.
Another highly toxic product is 2-butoxyethanol, used in some popular spray cleaners, which has been linked to low sperm counts in men, and learning disorders in children.
Burrows wants the public to know that it is possible to reduce exposure to cancer-causing agents, but it does take some work.
The first step towards a safer cleaning regimen is to read the labels on your cleaning products – even on those old standby products that have been around for generations.
"We encourage people to ask at the store," said Burrows.
Often, manufacturers will publish a toll-free 1-800 phone number on their packages so customers can call to find out exactly what is in their products. Concerned consumers should ask for the product's material safety data sheet, a formal document that spells out all of the known risks for anything sold in Canada.
While those documents are the best source of information on chemical products sold in Canada, they are often difficult to decipher and may contain contradictory statements, Burrows said.
"Often, companies will come up with their own names for a chemical, so then you will also need the formal chemical abstract service number," Burrows says.
Thankfully, there are non-profit groups such as LEAS that do all the hard work for you.
Over the past two years, LEAS has worked with the Burnaby school district to help remove from local schools five different types of cleaners that contain cancer-causing compounds. One of the most significant finds was a carpet cleaning compound that contained a substance previously banned in many U.S. jurisdictions.
With the help of CUPE Local 379, Burnaby school district employees, LEAS and the school board found alternative cleaners that did not contain known carcinogens, and the end result was a net removal of 7,440 litres of the different toxic products.
"Groups like us are actually forcing the manufacturers to use other products," says Burrows. "This is something that is totally do-able, and we're documenting all the products we're eliminating."
products you buy
How do you know what’s in the products you buy?
There are hundreds of products to choose from in buying household cleaning supplies. How do you know what’s in them?
Actually, it’s a lot harder for Canadians than it is for our neighbours to the south. American regulations in most states provide for product labelling that outlines the main ingredients in the product.
It’s better for products used in the Canadian workplace. The federal government’s Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) legislation states that worksites must have a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) on site for every product used.
Some environmentally-friendly products, such as those manufactured by Seventh Generation and Ecogent, do make it a practice to disclose their ingredients, setting a model for what should really be the the standard.
Consumers make a difference
There public really should be entitled to know what toxins they may be exposed to in household products. But until we get there, informed consumers can make a big difference.
The best place to start in learning about what you’re using is product category. There certainly are exceptions but most hand soaps and liquid dish detergents are fairly safe. So are most fabric softeners.
Other products can be quite variable. Laundry soaps can contain the carcinogen trisodium nitrilotriacetate, for example. Some powdered abrasive cleaners can contain silica, another carcinogen.
The products to watch particularly carefully for hazardous ingredients such as carcinogens and reproductive toxins include carpet stain removers, paint strippers, tile cleaners and graffiti removers.
Steps you can take
First, check the product label. Although there’s usually not much ingredient information there, some ingredients such as the carcinogen trichloroethylene and the reproductive toxins xylene and toluene may be listed as hazards. Stay away from those products.
Phone the 1-800 questions and comments number that’s printed on most products sold today. Some companies will supply a material safety data sheet on demand and the more that people phone up and ask for them, the more likely they are to offer them on-line – and possibly even agree to product labelling.
Finally, there are some on-line resources where you can get more information hazardous ingredients. One of the largest lists is provided by Wal-Mart covering the many products it sells. It’s not certain how often the store updates its MSDS list, which is based on U.S. standards, but it does provide a lead on product ingredients. Some other sites are listed below.
A green home is good enough to eat
Rob Grand, owner of Grassroots store on Danforth Ave., says that with just a few natural products everyone can make their own cleaning solutions.
I cleaned my house with salad dressing the other day.
The recipe for all-natural wood cleaner and polish called for nothing but olive oil and vinegar.
It felt bizarre – like wearing dental floss as jewellery. But it worked beautifully. The console in the front hall still gleams like a church pew.
I didn't want to eat it, despite my predilection for salad. If I did, that would be okay.
Which is the whole point of green cleaning.
"There are over one million poisonings a year in North America, and 60 per cent are children under six, most of whom have eaten household cleaners," says Rob Grand, the owner of the green retail store Grassroots.
Getting rid of all the chemical cleaners in my house was my next step in lightening my ecological footprint. True, it's not as big a step as, say, ditching my car. But it's easier. And it makes a difference – not just to my health but to the environment.
Cleaning products and services are the leading source of toxic air pollution in our homes, according to the Consumers Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, published by the U.S.-based non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists.
They're also causing water pollution. Hormone-disrupting chemicals from antibacterial soaps and cleaning agents – among other things – were recently found in San Francisco Bay during a year-long study by the Environmental Working Group, an American non-profit agency.
Rob Grand's recipes
Toilet cleaner: Sprinkle in borax and vinegar, let sit overnight. In the morning, scrub.
Cream cleanser: 1 2/3 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup pure soap, 2 tbsp. vinegar, 1/2 cup water.
Draino: 1/2 cup baking soda,
1/2 cup vinegar, fizz for 5 minutes, then boil kettle and pour down drain.
Oven cleaner: Spray water, sprinkle baking soda, spray water overtop, let it sit overnight. Wipe down in morning. Then clean with pure soap.
Dryer sheets: Before the cycle ends, throw a damp rag into the drum.
Windex: Spray with club soda.
Your cleaning lady refuses to use all-natural products? Hire a green cleaning service instead:
Enviromaid: 416-402-6177, http://www.enviromaid.ca/
Earth Concerns: 416-535-9397, http://www.earthconcerns.com/
Fair Trade Cleaning: 416-537-7979, http://www.fairtradeclean.com/
One of the chemicals, triclosan, has been shown to feminize fish.
My first step was to sit down on the floor beneath my sink, and actually read all the labels on the cleaning products I use regularly: Orange Glo Wood Polish and Conditioner; No Name Toilet Bowl Cleaner; Bissell Carpet Cleaner; Comet. ... What I found were a lot of corroded hand symbols, a few skull and crossbones and many instructions to phone the Poison Control Centre if the product was swallowed.
Then I went to the laundry room: Tide, Javex Bleach, and my beloved Spray N' Wash stain remover.
To my surprise, none had any ingredients listed. That's because Health Canada doesn't require it. It operates under the assumption that chemicals in cleaning products are at such low doses, they aren't harmful, says Mae Burrows, the executive director of the Labour Environmental Alliance Society, a Vancouver group leading the "right-to-know" campaign to reverse that.
They list the known carcinogenic and toxic chemicals in some brand-name products on their website. Tilex Total Bathroom Multipurpose Cleaner, for instance, contains 2-Butoxyethanol – a reproductive toxin the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry says causes birth defects in animals.
And the toxin is just one of eight chemicals they were looking for. There are thousands. The external relations manager for fabric and home care at Procter & Gamble, which makes Tide and Cheer, told The New York Times there are up to 400 raw ingredients in detergent. Many may be safe. We don't know, because in most cases, long-term studies on the health and environmental impacts of these chemicals have not been done.
"We don't know what's a safe dose of carcinogen. But we do know it's an epidemic. More than one in three Canadians get cancer," says Burrows. "With most products, you can find a cost comparative and equally-effective alternative. So why use it if you're unsure?'
But aren't the chemicals what make them clean well? While I was committed to the cause, I wasn't convinced of the outcome.
To ensure I didn't relapse, I scooped up all 20 bottles and dropped them off at the hazardous waste depot. Then I went to Grassroots, where Grand gave me a quick lesson on green cleaning.
His store is a paragon of environmental virtue. There is LED lighting and no plastic packaging. Cashiers bundle your items in reused plastic bags. And there are shelves of green cleaning products – all with ingredient lists that include things like corn starch and coco-betaine (from coconuts). They all biodegrade in water within 28 days. At trade shows, the inventors of one new brand drink their products, he said.
But, I didn't need any of them, Grand said, pulling out his own cleaning bucket. In it were the few basic cleaning essentials: baking soda, washing soda, vinegar, liquid soap, a whole lemon, a bottle of club soda and borax – a mineral which disinfects, deodorizes and inhibits mould growth. Add a dash of essential lemon or grapefruit oil, and I'd have the makings for everything from bathroom tile spray to toilet bowl cleaner.
I grabbed a copy of Annie Berthold-Bond's Clean and Green: The Complete Guide to Nontoxic and Environmentally Safe Housekeeping. In total, it cost me $60. Then I went home and got cracking.
I was surprised at how easy it really was, once I got over the hurdle of stirring up cleaning products for each specific job like I was preparing courses for a dinner party.
Grand's patented cream cleanser worked really well in my kitchen sink and on the counter. The night after dumping a cup of borax in my toilet, the bowl scrubbed clean easily. And the e-cloths I picked up, which advertised cleaning windows with nothing but water, worked amazingly. I plan on giving them to everyone I know for Christmas.
But there were a few weak spots.
No matter how much I scrubbed with the bath tile spray I'd concocted, the lime scales on my shower doors remained. And the first two natural stain removers I made only managed to turn the brown blobs on my daughter's white dress to a rust-orange. I then applied some premade all-natural stain-remover. The stains are still there.
That could be a problem, as I can't convince my 1-year-old to stop spilling food on her clothes.
But it's one I'll have to live with.
"It's a bit like dandelions on your lawn," said Dr. Kapil Khatter, a family doctor and the pollution policy adviser for Toronto-based Environmental Defence. "If you don't want to use chemical pesticides, you are going to have a few."
"Reproduced with permission - Torstar Syndication Services"[MET Edition]Catherine Porter. Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont.:Aug 11, 2007. p. A19Abstract (Summary)
Toxins in Household Products
Cleaning and home maintenance products are a multi-billion dollar industry in Canada and the huge selection of products available on the retail shelf often makes it difficult for consumers to know what is safe to buy. The good news is that most products contain generally benign ingredients, but there are definitely some to avoid.
Some ingredients may be carcinogens or reproductive toxins. Some may be endocrine-disrupting chemicals that can affect both humans and wildlife. Other ingredients, such as bleach and phosphates, may raise environmental concerns.
In the listings on our Toxins Table, we've identified eight ingredients in household cleaning and home maintenance products that are of particular concern because they are carcinogens, endocrine disrupters or known or suspected reproductive toxins. They are also the most commonly found in household products.
Check the brand listings on the left hand side of the table. If a product contains one of the eight ingredients, it will be marked with a "yes" in one of the table entries opposite the product name. If all the spaces are blank, then it's considered a safer product to use. There are are also alternative products from environmentally-conscious manufacturers that you may want to consider.
Obviously, the products on the table don't contain all products that are available - it's intended as a representative list of categories and a guide to common products that contain the listed toxins.
2-butoxyethanol
Also known as ethylene glycol butyl ether, this is one of many glycol ethers used as a solvent in carpet cleaners and specialty cleaners. It can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin and may cause blood disorders, as well as liver and kidney damage. According to the fact sheet issued by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, it may also cause reproductive damage on long term exposure.
Ethoxylated nonyl phenols (NPEs)
This is a group of endocrine-disrupting chemicals still used in cleaning products, even though Environment Canada has declared them CEPA-toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Known as "gender-benders," nonyl phenols can induce female characteristics in male fish, for example. The threat posed to the environment by nonyl phenols prompted the European Union to ban them from all cleaning products manufactured or used in the EU.
Methylene chloride
For years, people have been using methylene chloride, or products containing methylene chloride, as a paint stripper. Methylene chloride is listed as a possible human carcinogen (Group 2B) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
In 1987, regulators in the U.S. compelled manufacturers to put warning labels on products containing methylene chloride. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that since that time, there has been a 55 per cent reduction in the number of cancers that would have been caused by these products.
There are no warning label requirements in Canada for methylene chloride, which is sold in hardware and home improvement outlets, both as a pure product and as an ingredient in a wide range of paint strippers and similar products. Avoid using those products and look for alternatives, such as 3M Safest Stripper or Removall 400 Graffiti and Overspray Remover.
Naphthalene
Either naphthalene, or another chemical called paradichlorobenzene, is used in moth balls and moth crystals. Naphthalene is listed by California's Office of Environmental Health Hazards Assessment as a substance "know to the state to cause cancer," while paradichlorobenzene is listed by IARC as a possible human carcinogen. Avoid all moth products that contain either of these two ingredients. A garment bag or a box with a tight fitting lid is more effective against moths than the odours from mothballs.
Silica
Made from finely ground quartz, silica is carcinogenic when it occurs as fine respirable dust. It's found in that form in some abrasive cleansers, which are often used on a regular basis around the home. For virtually all applications, abrasive cleansers can easily be replaced with a cream cleanser such as Ecover or Vim, or a similar product that does not contain silica.
Toluene
Toluene is a potent reproductive toxin, which is used as a solvent in numerous products, including paints. It is also sold as the pure product. Toluene is listed by California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment as a reproductive toxin that may cause harm to the developing fetus. Pregnant women should certainly not use products containing toluene.
Trisodium nitrilotriacetate (NTA)
Used as a builder in laundry detergents, NTA is listed as a possible human carcinogen (IARC 2B) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. It also has an adverse environmental impact because it can impede the elimination of metals in wastewater treatment plants. NTA's action can cause metals that have already settled out to be re-mobilized back into the liquid waste stream.
Xylene
Another extremely toxic ingredient that is often found in graffiti and scuff removers, spray paints and some adhesives, is xylene, a suspected reproductive toxin that has shown reproductive harm in laboratory experiments. It is also a neurotoxicant that can cause memory loss on repeated exposure.

Bleach (Sodium hypochlorite)
In June, 2002 a part-time caretaker in a Toronto school was rushed to hospital after complaining to a co-worker that she was unable to breathe. She later died in hospital. Investigators looking into the incident discovered that she had mixed a sanitizing product containing sodium hypochlorite with an acid toilet bowl cleaner. The two ingredients had reacted together to form deadly chlorine gas, which led to her death.
It's an extreme case but it's an example of the health hazards that can be associated with chlorine bleach, or sodium hypochlorite. When bleach is mixed with acids (typically found in toilet bowl cleaners), it reacts with them to form chlorine gas. When it is mixed with ammonia, it can create chloramine gas, another toxic substance.
In the environment, sodium hypochlorite is acutely toxic to fish. The chlorine in bleach can also bind with organic material in the marine environment to form organochlorines, toxic compounds that can persist in the environment. Chlorine use is a particular concern for those who live in areas such as Victoria, where there is not even primary treatment of sewage wastewater before it is discharged into the ocean.
There may be some circumstances where bleach use is necessary for disease control, but there is little need for it on a regular basis. Tests have shown that washing counters and other surfaces with soap and water removes most bacteria and there are a number of oxygen-based alternatives for laundry uses of bleach.

Phosphates
Phosphates were a high-profile public issue three decades ago when streams and lakes were becoming choked with vegetation in a chemical process known as eutrophication. The process was the result of widespread use of phosphates in laundry products which produced nutrients for algae and other aquatic plants as phosphate-rich wastewater entered the environment.
Manufacturers have since reduced or even eliminated phosphates from laundry products, but no action has ever been taken on dishwasher detergents. Most of the products available from major manufacturers contain 30-40 per cent phosphates. Some also contain high levels of chlorine-based sanitizing ingredients. Products from alternative manufacturers such as Ecover, Nature Clean, and Seventh Generation are a much better environmental choice.