Wednesday 28th November 2001 - Are we going clean round the bend?
Are you cleaning yourself to death?

With the typical household containing over 60 hazardous products the answer is: probably.

Global pollution is a well worn topic these days, but the hidden menace of ‘indoor pollution’ is not so well known. Journalist Pat Thomas has been scouring the supermarket shelves and investigating thousands of personal hygiene and household products.

Her shocking findings have just been published in Cleaning Yourself To Death: How Safe Is Your Home?

Thomas believes that advertising hype deceives us into buying thousands of products that contain dangerous toxic chemicals. She says: "Because of their association with good hygiene, personal and cleaning agents are the most deceptive of indoor pollutants. They can contain substances that can cause cancer and alter brain functions. The awful truth is that when we rub these noxious chemicals into our skin, or inhale them during steamy showers, when we rinse our mouth, or wash or clothes, dishes and floors with them, we are using hazardous waste to wash away simple dirt."

The statistics are chilling: some 30 per cent of the thousands of chemicals used in personal care products have been deemed toxic. Random tests on 7,000 people discovered traces of such chemicals in over 70 per cent of those tested.

Women who work at home have a 54 per cent higher death rate from cancer than those who don’t.

Although manufacturers of toiletries have to disclose the contents of their products, there is no such obligation for household cleaning products. Thomas believes this is a scandal: "There is no basic safety information on 43 per cent of all the chemicals in use today and full safety information is only available on seven per cent of these chemicals. Among the chemicals commonly used in consumer products only 25 per cent have full safety data." Even where contents are labelled, long, complicated names such as methylchloroisothiazolinone, which is used in hair-and skin-care products and is linked to skin cancer, only mean something to chemistry students.

Ironically, what attracts us to so many of these products - the fragrance - is often the most toxic part of the cocktail. "The fragrance portion of laundry products and cosmetics is also the number one cause of allergic and irritant skins reactions to those products," says Thomas.

Asthma, migraine and depression are among the long-term problems linked to these toxic products.

Thomas is campaigning for clear labelling that spells out the true nature of the contents in plain English.

She told us: "It’s the same old story. All you have to do is follow the money. We are talking about billion dollar industries. And these products are so easy to market because we are all so insecure about our cleanliness." Thomas says that legislation is a lot tougher in the United States, her home country: "In Europe, no-one is really taking responsibility or dealing with this problem, except groups like Friends of the Earth."

She is keen to add that her purpose is not to panic people but to inform, so that people can make their own choices.

Mark Winter

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~ MARK WINTER ARCHIVES ~