Check all of your Soaps, Shampoos and Household Cleaners
SPREAD THE WORD!
If you want to have a real impact on the world's water supply, the environment and your personal health and that of your family - check all of your household cleaners, handsoap, bar soap, shampoo, conditioner, makeup and hand lotions for these ingredients. If they have them - get rid of these products and make a vow to stop using them:
sodium lauryl sulfate
sodium laureth sulfate
bleach
petroleum derivatives
alcohol and other surfactants
parabens
Do a google search and learn more about the toxic effects of these additives.
I have a friend that suffers from extreme eczema - the skin on her hands is just falling off and broken and very painful. She eats a healthy diet and has gone so far as to try several prescription medications to try to get better, but nothing has worked for her. Today I wondered - what if she is having a reaction to all the chemicals that she's using on her body on a daily basis - like handsoap! Do the doctors explore these options with their patients before prescribing heavy duty drugs and steroids? Sometimes I wonder.
You know it is hard for us to really take stock of all the products we use and replace them with healthy alternatives - but I think it needs to be done - not only for allergies, eczema and other skin conditions that some of us suffer from - but also for our general health, the health of our children and the health of our water supply.
Here's what Wikopedia says about Sodium Laureth Sulfate (which appears in most soaps, even some of the ones that say they're "organic"):
Effects on sensitive skin
Products containing these substances can affect those prone to eczema and other irritants. These substances provide a foaming quality to the product, allowing for better distribution of the product while washing hair or skin and while brushing teeth. When rinsed off, the product will have cleaned the area but will have taken moisture from the top layers of skin. In people with sensitive skin (prone to dermatitis, acne, eczema, psoriasis and chemical sensitivity), the drying property of these type of detergents can cause flare-ups of skin conditions or may worsen existing conditions.
Toxicology
The Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association (CTFA) and the American Cancer Society have stated that the common belief that SLES is a carcinogen is an urban legend, a view confirmed by toxicology research by the OSHA, NTP, and IARC. SLES and SLS, and subsequently the products containing them, have been found to contain parts-per-thousand to parts-per-million levels of 1,4-dioxane, with the recommendation that these levels be monitored. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers 1,4-dioxane to be a probable human carcinogen (having observed an increased incidence of cancer in controlled animal studies, but not in epidemiological studies of workers using the compound), and a known irritant (with a no-observed-adverse-effects level of 400 milligrams per cubic metre). While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration encourages manufacturers to remove this contaminant, it is not currently required by federal law.
I don't know what kind of handsoap you are using for daily washing, but I suspect it contains at least one of these sulfates, if not alcohol. Similarly your bar soaps and shampoos are suspect. Most of our hand lotions are derived from petroleum products, and most of our household cleaners have bleach, alcohol or sulfates in them. These can be bad for our health and every ounce we send into the water supply is harmful.
It is possible to make an easy health change to the products we use!
There are lots of lovely alternatives! For example, (in Canada) the Bulk Food Store has an alternative soaps section, and similarly Zehrs organics section has a whole aisle that has very fun biodegradable soaps, shampoos, body lotions, cleaning products, and even laundry detergent! The hand soaps are often herbal mixtures that contain naturally occuring enzymes or fruit acids, or ingredients with natural anitiseptic properties (like tea tree oil), and best of all, no sulfates. (You still have to read the labels- there is at least one brand in Zehrs organics section that still has some bad stuff in it). Most of the body lotions in these areas are based on herbs, fruit derivatives, vegetable oils and nut butters - which are so lovely to use!
I find it sad that you cannot go into the regular soap/shampoo section of Shopper's Drug Mart or Zehrs or other stores and find any of these products - but hopefully if enough people wise up about this issue - we'll be able to find them on all store shelves soon!
If you want to read more about sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate, read this website:
http://www.healthy-communications.com/slsmostdangerousirritant.html
which shows a typical chemical information sheet provided by law for those who routinely work with sodium lauryl sulfate. If you look at your ingredient list on most soaps - these two sulfates are almost always at the top of the ingredient list. I also noticed today that the packaging on my Ivory soap bars, does not provide any list of ingredients at all and that is ground enough for me to switch.
I hope you will all read this, try to learn more and make some lasting changes as a result!
Please pass on this email so that more people can start learning for themselves and making the change!
Cheers!
Annette Demers
Ideas + Action = Change
http://www.innerlightinc.com/makeithappen
If you want to have a real impact on the world's water supply, the environment and your personal health and that of your family - check all of your household cleaners, handsoap, bar soap, shampoo, conditioner, makeup and hand lotions for these ingredients. If they have them - get rid of these products and make a vow to stop using them:
sodium lauryl sulfate
sodium laureth sulfate
bleach
petroleum derivatives
alcohol and other surfactants
parabens
Do a google search and learn more about the toxic effects of these additives.
I have a friend that suffers from extreme eczema - the skin on her hands is just falling off and broken and very painful. She eats a healthy diet and has gone so far as to try several prescription medications to try to get better, but nothing has worked for her. Today I wondered - what if she is having a reaction to all the chemicals that she's using on her body on a daily basis - like handsoap! Do the doctors explore these options with their patients before prescribing heavy duty drugs and steroids? Sometimes I wonder.
You know it is hard for us to really take stock of all the products we use and replace them with healthy alternatives - but I think it needs to be done - not only for allergies, eczema and other skin conditions that some of us suffer from - but also for our general health, the health of our children and the health of our water supply.
Here's what Wikopedia says about Sodium Laureth Sulfate (which appears in most soaps, even some of the ones that say they're "organic"):
Effects on sensitive skin
Products containing these substances can affect those prone to eczema and other irritants. These substances provide a foaming quality to the product, allowing for better distribution of the product while washing hair or skin and while brushing teeth. When rinsed off, the product will have cleaned the area but will have taken moisture from the top layers of skin. In people with sensitive skin (prone to dermatitis, acne, eczema, psoriasis and chemical sensitivity), the drying property of these type of detergents can cause flare-ups of skin conditions or may worsen existing conditions.
Toxicology
The Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association (CTFA) and the American Cancer Society have stated that the common belief that SLES is a carcinogen is an urban legend, a view confirmed by toxicology research by the OSHA, NTP, and IARC. SLES and SLS, and subsequently the products containing them, have been found to contain parts-per-thousand to parts-per-million levels of 1,4-dioxane, with the recommendation that these levels be monitored. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers 1,4-dioxane to be a probable human carcinogen (having observed an increased incidence of cancer in controlled animal studies, but not in epidemiological studies of workers using the compound), and a known irritant (with a no-observed-adverse-effects level of 400 milligrams per cubic metre). While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration encourages manufacturers to remove this contaminant, it is not currently required by federal law.
I don't know what kind of handsoap you are using for daily washing, but I suspect it contains at least one of these sulfates, if not alcohol. Similarly your bar soaps and shampoos are suspect. Most of our hand lotions are derived from petroleum products, and most of our household cleaners have bleach, alcohol or sulfates in them. These can be bad for our health and every ounce we send into the water supply is harmful.
It is possible to make an easy health change to the products we use!
There are lots of lovely alternatives! For example, (in Canada) the Bulk Food Store has an alternative soaps section, and similarly Zehrs organics section has a whole aisle that has very fun biodegradable soaps, shampoos, body lotions, cleaning products, and even laundry detergent! The hand soaps are often herbal mixtures that contain naturally occuring enzymes or fruit acids, or ingredients with natural anitiseptic properties (like tea tree oil), and best of all, no sulfates. (You still have to read the labels- there is at least one brand in Zehrs organics section that still has some bad stuff in it). Most of the body lotions in these areas are based on herbs, fruit derivatives, vegetable oils and nut butters - which are so lovely to use!
I find it sad that you cannot go into the regular soap/shampoo section of Shopper's Drug Mart or Zehrs or other stores and find any of these products - but hopefully if enough people wise up about this issue - we'll be able to find them on all store shelves soon!
If you want to read more about sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate, read this website:
http://www.healthy-communications.com/slsmostdangerousirritant.html
which shows a typical chemical information sheet provided by law for those who routinely work with sodium lauryl sulfate. If you look at your ingredient list on most soaps - these two sulfates are almost always at the top of the ingredient list. I also noticed today that the packaging on my Ivory soap bars, does not provide any list of ingredients at all and that is ground enough for me to switch.
I hope you will all read this, try to learn more and make some lasting changes as a result!
Please pass on this email so that more people can start learning for themselves and making the change!
Cheers!
Annette Demers
Ideas + Action = Change
http://www.innerlightinc.com/makeithappen
posted by Annette at
1:04 p.m.
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