Every day, consumers rely on household products that contain thousands of chemicals. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) , a strong environmental advocacy NGO group in the US made up of experts and scientists from various background:
…The human race is now polluted with hundreds of industrial chemicals with little or no understanding of the consequences. Babies are born pre-polluted with as many as 300 industrial chemicals in their bodies when they enter the world. Testing by Environmental Working Group has identified 455 chemicals in people, and again, no one has any idea if these exposures are safe.
We are at a tipping point, where the pollution in people is increasingly associated with a range of serious diseases and conditions from childhood cancer, to autism, ADHD, learning deficits, infertility, and birth defects. Yet even as our knowledge about the link between chemical exposure and human disease grows, the government has almost no authority to protect people from even the most hazardous chemicals on the market.
Common sense would tell us that baby and children products should not contain toxic ingredients. However, some well-known baby products do contain hidden carcinogenic contaminants 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde. Both 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde are known carcinogens and formaldehyde can also trigger skin rashes. For more information on this please read the Campaign For Safe Cosmetics Report on Toxic Chemicals Found in Kids Bath Products.
The usual argument would be “the usual small doses of exposure to these chemicals is insignifiant”. However, think about this…we are all directly exposed to chemicals in personal care and household products daily. Add these up to the exposures to other toxics in food we eat, water we drink, air we breathe and so forth. All of these exposures added up could lead to diseases later in life.
There are alternatives to these toxic ingredients. By eliminating unnecessary toxic chemicals and pesticides, growth hormones, genetically engineered drugs and animal-feeds, synthetic additives, colors and synthetic preservatives from ourdaily household products, cosmetic, food production and preparation our body will function and breathe so much better and the environment will become much more greener and safer to live in.
As consumers, we have the POWER to make a difference. As producers and manufacturers, we can make a BIG difference. Think about it.
