Monday, October 13th 2008
Welcome back to the Greenfox blog. This entry is a straightforward prompt to encourage you to make the switch from industrial toxic cleaners to Shaklee eco-friendly cleaners. For far too long, we’ve been using toxic chemicals in our schools, homes, and businesses without regard to health hazards and environmental dangers. It’s time to learn the risks and make safer, healthier choices.
Central to the Greenfox mission, the Greenfox Five takes a holistic approach to improving the environmental state of a school or building, viewing the function of the building and those who inhabit it as a system of interconnectedness, just as sustainability requires us to build interconnected systems that run for a long time on practice and behavior that has minimal impact on the natural environment.
“Eco-friendly cleaners” fall under the category of “Products” in the Greenfox Five (Energy, Waste Disposal, Food, Products, and Greenspace.)
Greenfox recently became a distributor of Shaklee products, partnering with the Shaklee corporation to bring eco-friendly cleaners into schools, homes, and businesses. We encourage you to visit our Shaklee website to purchase products, but we’d also like to educate you about why it matters to make the switch.
Why it Matters
SAVING MONEY
With Shaklee products, you simply re-fill your cleaning bottle and add concentrate, which saves a lot of money. For example, with just one kit—the Shaklee Get Clean Starter Kit—you replace 830 bottles or boxes of conventional cleaners. That’s a savings of over $3400!
HUMAN HEALTH
With Shaklee products, powerful non-toxic formulas clean exceptionally well, without the risk of health hazards caused by conventional cleaners. Conventional toxic cleaners have the following risks:
DEPRESSED NERVOUS SYSTEM
Many common cleaners contain neurotoxins, depress the nervous system, and threaten the healthy function of the liver and kidney. (Source: Earth911)
CARCINGOENS, ENDOCRINE DISRUPTERS, REPRODUCTIVE TOXINS
Eight ingredients found in toxic cleaners are of particular concern because they are carcinogens (cancer-causing), endocrine disrupters (disrupt the action of hormones), and reproductive toxins (chemical substances that can easily affect reproduction and fetal development). (Source: Labour Environmental Alliance Society) They are:
Phosphates
2-butoxyethanol
Ethoxylated nonyl phenols (NPEs)
Methylene chloride
Naphthalene
Silica
Toluene
Trisodium nitrilotriacetate (NTA)
Xylene
Bleach (Sodium hypochlorite)
DIOXINS
Many household cleaners contain dioxins, an umbrella term for about 75 toxic chemicals that share chemical structures and biological properties. According to the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR), they are known carcinogens whose damage can lead to cancer as well as harmful reproductive and developmental effects, birth defects, diabetes, immune system abnormalities, and endometriosis. (Source: National Foundation for Cancer Research)
VOCS
Industrial toxic cleaners contain VOCs (volatile organic compounds) which are gases emitted from certain solids or liquids. The EPA reports that concentrations of VOCs inside a home are 2-5 times higher than outdoors. (Source: EPA)
In 1989 the EPA found toxic chemicals in household cleaners three times more likely to cause cancer than other air pollutants. (Source: Earth911)
THE ENVIRONMENT
With Shaklee biodegradable and non-toxic formulas, you’re making a consumer choice not to pollute waterways and harm wildlife. Even better, by refilling your bottles with concentrate you’re helping reduce waste. With the Get Clean Starter Kit alone, you reduce 100 pounds of packaging waste from landfills and eliminate 248 pounds of greenhouse gases.
CHEMICALS ENTER WATERWAYS AND THREATEN WILDLIFE
Toxins are not always properly treated at sewage wastewater plants before being discharged into oceans. Therefore, toxins make their way into oceans and other waterways via sewage plants, and via stormwater runoff.
Bleach, for example, is extremely toxic to fish. Phosphates, common in dishwasher detergents and some laundry detergents, cause algae bloom, a chemical process called eutrophication that chokes waterways with vegetation, depleting oxygen and killing wildlife. (Source: Labour Environmental Alliance Society)
FAST FACTS
* The Clean Water Fund reports that the average American uses 40 pounds of toxic cleaning products, pouring a total of 32 million pounds down the drain. (Source: Earth911)
* Since World War II, 80,000 chemicals have been developed for pesticides, cleaners, plastics, personal care products and industrial products. (Source: Earth911)
*Over 4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are released by industry into the nation’s environment each year, including 72 million pounds of recognized carcinogens. Scorecard can give you a detailed report on chemicals being released from any of 20,000 industrial facilities, or a summary report for any area in the country. (Source: Scorecard)
-Kristen von Hoffmann
Posted by kvonhoffmann 