I selected this product for this exercise because I thought it had to be one of the worst products in my household. Upon entering this product into the Household Products Database on the U.S Department of Health and Human Services website I discovered that I was not mistaken. Clorox Commercial Solutions Heavy Duty Liquid-Plumer Gel was deemed to be hazardous by OSHA in 2012 and is known to react with other household chemicals like ammonia to produce hazardous gases such as chlorine. The "Health Rating" of this product was a 3.
- "Health Rating" Scale: 0 = Minimal, 1 = Slight, 2 = Moderate, 3 = Serious, 4 = Severe
Product 2: Febreze Auto Fabric Refresher
This is a product that I have not used in my own car, but that I know my boyfriend uses is his. I ride in this car 2-3x/week and he rides in it 3-4x/week. I decided to look up information on this product so that I might share what I find with him and try to get him interested in the risks involved with some of the products he uses. One thing I found to be interesting about this product was that the manufacturer's Material Safety Data Sheet does not state whether the ingredients are considered carcinogens or potential carcinogens. It feels like this information could be being intentionally withheld from the customers. The "Health Rating" of this product was a 1.
- "Health Rating" Scale: 0 = Minimal, 1 = Slight, 2 = Moderate, 3 = Serious, 4 = Severe
The Clorox Commercial Solutions Heavy Duty Liquid-Plumer Gel proved to be a product that I want to replace in my home immediately. Not only did it make me uncomfortable to know that I was exposing my boyfriend and myself to this product, but I also felt terrible knowing that I was dumping this product down our sink and into our water systems (as instructed)! The toll that I've personally taken on our environment from just my use of this one product over the years is terrifying. As I stated in my "Personal Care Items" blog, this kind of database/information needs to be more readily available to the general public so that we can all make more informed decisions about what we put on our skin, furniture, dishes, and down our drains. The more education we can provide about this topic, and instruction on where to find fast facts, the better!
Hi Alex,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that you are using the information you find to make healthy changes for you and your boyfriend. How will you go about replacing certain hazardous items? Will you look them up before? Look for certain words like "all natural"? Go to a specialty store? etc.
I agree with you that there needs to be more awareness on what's actually in our products! My bf works with cars a lot and I told him all about the chemicals he is being exposed to with the products that he works with. Although he has always been aware of exposure risks, I still shared the website with him in case he ever wants to use it. Funny because he claimed he wouldn't use it and I actually caught him on it the other day haha.
ReplyDeleteResponse: Christina
ReplyDeleteAh! Clorox vs. Dial products! I feel these are both products most American homes have. Its kinda of crazy for me wrap my head around the fact that Dial showed more warnings than Clorox - I feel like I always think of Clorox products as being very powerful (as in packed with bleach and the potential to kill germs and eliminate stains). Thanks for sharing what you found here!
Response: Brianna
I'm so happy you did Windex here! I love Windex - its honestly my favorite cleaning supply and I use it on surfaces other than glass (like to wipe down my sink) all the time. I was really pleased to learn about it being a relatively safe product - I remember talking about this in class as well and Dr Sattler giving props to Windex for not being a huge hazard!