Keep These Harmful Ingredients Out of Your Home and The Environment:
By Naturally Clean
Synthetic Fragrances –Almost all of the chemicals in fragrances are synthetic compounds derived from petroleum. These can actually alter you skins surface tension and allow more chemicals to absorb through your skin. It can also cause allergies and asthma to develop and allergic reactions. They can build up in the environment and be toxic to aquatic organisms.
SLS and SLES – These are foaming agents. You can often find both of these in dish soaps, liquid laundry detergents, shampoos, bubble baths etc. It is a skin, eye and respiratory tract irritant that Environment Canada has categorized as inherently toxic to aquatic organisms, flagging it for further assessment. To make SLS less irritating, it is often ethoxylated (by adding ethylene oxide), resulting in the modified compound of SLES. But SLES is also a concern because it is contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, which may cause cancer.
Dyes – They are just unnecessary to the actual cleaning function of the product. It’s a way to attract a customer and also hide any impurities. Why does a cleaner have to be blue or green for you to want to use it? Natural colors should be a selling point instead. Dyes are environmental toxicants, and some are even carcinogens.
Formaldehyde, also known as formalin – Does it not just make you picture that poor frog floating in that jar in science class – do you want to wipe your counters with that? It’s been classified as a known human carcinogen. It also causes asthma and allergies.
Bleach/Ammonia – Extremely dangerous, especially when they are mixed together and with other cleaning products. This can produce toxic and even fatal fumes.
Phosphates: A most common ingredient in cleaning products to control alkalinity and pH levels. Products heavy with phosphates can cause eutrophication, which throws off the balance of nutrients in rivers and streams.
