Are "Green" Products Better for You?

Keeping your home clean doesn't require weapons of mass disinfection. Antibacterial and harsh cleansers are usually unnecessary, and some raise concerns about our health and the environment.

These products don't work any better than their natural or non-toxic counterparts, and they damage the environment and potentially place our long-term health at risk.

One thing I learned working in health care for many years, is the antibacterial soap we buy in the store doesn't clean hands or reduce the spread of illness any better than regular soap.

You can keep your home just as clean for much less money, safeguard your personal health, and even protect the environment by going back to the basics.

When the bathroom starts to look grubby and you pull out all the conventional brushes, sponges, sprays and bleach and start scrubbing, you expose yourself to hundreds of chemicals that have known, and possibly unknown, toxic effects.

The problem is that most people use more than one cleaning product for the bathroom—there is one for the toilet, one for the mirror, perhaps one for surfaces, another to clean mildew from tiles and then tons of other "specialized" cleaning product options. The repeated exposures to the chemicals in all of these products can add up.

Certain chemicals commonly found in conventional cleaning products present known or suspected problems for the people that use them and the environment once washed down the drain.

Volatile organic compounds, used to enhance the performance of a product, can impair neurological functions, while other chemicals can act as respiratory irritants, carcinogens or reproductive toxins, depending upon the extent of exposure, according to the National Environmental Trust and other environmental groups.

Phosphates can cause the eutrophication of rivers and other bodies of water, which can deplete them of oxygen and decrease water quality.

There is little regulation of cleaning chemicals, and there are virtually no labeling requirements to let people know what they are exposing themselves and the planet to.

Companies select ingredients for cleaning products to enhance their performance, but a lot of the chemicals, we simply don't know anything about.

For example, phthalates, which are suspected to have adverse hormonal effects, help distribute dyes and fragrances and act as plasticizers. Other chemicals are used to keep a product stable on the shelf, while others, such as glycols, act like anti-freeze. Still other chemicals could simply be impurities left over from the manufacturing process.

With some 80,000 chemicals in common use, there are still some that could have as-yet unknown toxic effects.

Growing awareness and demand by ecologically-minded consumers, as well as parents motivated to keep their family healthy, has led to an explosion of environmentally friendlier and non-toxic products. There are many products in this category – from laundry detergents and fabric softeners to multi-surface and floor cleaners, to tile and bathroom cleaners -- that are convenient and safer for people and the planet.

So, if you are looking for safer products for both your family and the environment, and would like to earn a little extra money doing so (or maybe you just want to become environmentally friendly) contact me at BonnyL@Live.com and I'll be more than happy to provide additional information.