| TRADE SECRETS: A MOYERS REPORT ON TOXIC CHEMICALS "They are everywhere in our daily lives - often where we least expect them." DR. PHILIP LANDRIGAN, Chairman, Preventive medicine, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine: "We are conducting a vast toxicologic experiment, and we are using our children as the experimental animals." "Not a single child today is born free of synthetic chemicals." AL MEYERHOFF, former attorney for the natural resources defense council: "With chemicals, it's shoot first and ask questions later." "We think we are protected but, in fact, chemicals are presumed safe - innocent - until proven guilty." ..."We have a special concern with the use of chlorine (found in laundry bleaches and other cleaners). Whenever chlorine is used, organochlorides are formed. Organocholrides are precursors to dioxins, a deadly class of compounds that cause toxic health effects at levels thousands of times lower than most other chemicals." It has been known for a long time that LYSOL contains a substance called PHENOL. The ingestion of which even in small amounts can cause nausea, vomiting, circulatory collapse, paralysis, convulsions, coma, respiratory failure and cardiac arrest LYSOL also contains DIOXIN. That's the deadly ingredient used in Agent Orange that can cause genetic mutation, birth defects and cancer. The Idaho Poison Control Center reports that about 20,000 people call its hotline each year. About 10 percent, or 2,000 calls, are regarding household cleaning products, and 2 percent of those, or 400 calls a year, are directly related to products containing a chlorine bleach. In a recent court case, Monsanto (LYSOL'S parent corporation) admitted to a 30-year cover-up, lying about the presence of DIOXIN in the chlorophenol used in LYSOL. They admitted knowing how devastating DIOXIN is to the environment and in the human body yet they still put it in and they still lied and said it wasn't there! In 1996 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) implemented the Food Quality Protection Act, which provides added protections against pesticide risks, especially for children. But the situation is quite different for many industrial chemicals. We lack even basic toxicity data for a majority of the U.S. EPA's list of approximately 3000 nonpolymeric high-production-volume industrial chemicals being produced in the United States each year that are found in consumer products and the workplace. We know even less about the remaining 70,000 chemicals on the U.S. EPA inventory. Chemicals found in fabric softeners by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Principal chemicals found in Fabric Softeners/Dryer Sheets are: Symptoms of exposure are taken from industry-generated Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) ALPHA-TERPINEOL Causes CNS (central nervous system) disorders... "highly irritating to mucous membranes" ..."Aspiration into the lungs can produce pneumonitis or even fatal edema." Can also cause "excitement, ataxia (loss of muscular coordination), hypothermia, CNS and respiratory depression, and headache." "Prevent repeated or prolonged skin contact." Propylene Glycol Propylene Glycol is used in personal care products as a binder to prevent freezing in low temperatures (that's why it makes a good antifreeze!), and to assist in keeping the product blended. Some claim Propylene Glycol is a humectant (attracts moisture) while others claim it's primarily a preservative so, actually, there seems to be quite a few benefits to this substance. It is not only found in cosmetics and personal care products, it' s in many food items and is even used in many medications. Propylene Glycol has been used since 1920 in a variety of consumer product applications. Due to its wide use, it has been extensively studied for many different health effects, but from a toxicology and regulatory viewpoint, Propylene Glycol continues to have wide recognition as a product of low concern. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate Contrary to popular rumors on the Internet, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) do not cause cancer. Both are common ingredients, which create foam and bubbles, and are found in most shampoos, cosmetic cleaners, bath and shower gels, bubble baths, tooth pastes and mouth rinses. Both compounds are cosmetic detergents, which exert emulsifying action, thereby removing oil and soil from the hair and skin. A search of recognized medical journals yielded no published articles relating this substance to cancer in humans. "These rumors on the Internet are absolutely ridiculous. Like manyv other chemicals, it is the manner of usage that is important. As long as you don't rub it all over your body and reapply it every hour for 24 hours, it's perfectly safe," said researcher, Keith Green, PhD, DSc, of the Medical College of Georgia, who began studying SLS and its compounds in 1982 and carried out his work through 1987. ..."We have a special concern with the use of chlorine (found in laundry bleaches and other cleaners). Whenever chlorine is used, organochlorides are formed. Organocholrides are precursors to dioxins, a deadly class of compounds that cause toxic health effects at levels thousands of times lower than most other chemicals." It has been known for a long time that LYSOL contains a substance called PHENOL. The ingestion of which even in small amounts can cause nausea, vomiting, circulatory collapse, paralysis, convulsions, coma, respiratory failure and cardiac arrest LYSOL also contains DIOXIN. That's the deadly ingredient used in Agent Orange that can cause genetic mutation, birth defects and cancer. In a recent court case, Monsanto (LYSOL'S parent corporation) admitted to a 30-year cover-up, lying about the presence of DIOXIN in the chlorophenol used in LYSOL. They admitted knowing how devastating DIOXIN is to the environment and in the human body yet they still put it in and they still lied and said it wasn't there! |
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