Time for Fall Greening!

by Leigh Erin Connealy, M.D.

Americans waging war on germs use a staggering 300 million pounds of antimicrobial products every year! But being so squeaky clean could be a big mistake.

One example: our heavy use of hundreds of products labeled "antibacterial." Many experts agree that regular use of these products can create a condition known as "bacterial resistance," which means the bacteria not only become immune to the product's effects but actually gain strength!

If creating super-bugs isn't bad enough, there are other downsides to using conventional cleansers. The vast majority of Americans – nearly 90 percent, according to some studies – believe cleaning products have been safety tested. And why not? Safety testing is required by the Consumer's Product Safety Commission (CPSC). But the testing is almost always done by the manufacturers themselves. In all fairness, the tests aren't necessarily flawed or biased, but testing by a third party with no economic interest in the product is the gold standard, and these tests simply do not measure up.

When it comes to some potential dangers, cleaning products are clearly marked. But if you don't understand the terminology, warnings can be confusing. Example: What is the difference between a product labeled "Danger" and one that carries the warning "Caution"? According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "caution" means fatalities can occur if more than two tablespoons are ingested, while anything labeled "danger" or "poison" is so deadly that just a few drops can be lethal.

In between the two, there's the term "warning." Just one teaspoon of these products can be deadly. And these terms apply only to adults. It takes far less to poison a child or an animal. In spite of the labels, about two million people are poisoned by household products each year, and more than half of them are children.

Other than these legally required warnings, manufacturers provide little health information. If you want to know what ingredients a product contains, for example, you're on your own. Most mainstream product labels do not include ingredients, nor do they have to, thanks to trade secret laws that protect these "recipes."

It might seem like the risks are low since the typical cleaning job doesn't require gallons of cleansers. After all, how dangerous can a few spritzes of anything be? The answer depends in part on how often you use the products and how weather-tight your home, office or school is. If you tend to keep the windows and doors shut most of the time, product fumes can accumulate to dangerous levels. Chemical pollutants in the air inside homes can be up to 70 times higher than those outdoors, says the EPA. Spending time indoors, with little or no ventilation, means being in contact with these toxins for hours at a time. Because they're smaller than adults, children and pets can suffer more serious consequences.

Living beings aren't the only ones affected by the chemicals in cleaning products, either. Waterways are being polluted by cleaning agents that are poured down drains. These same chemicals affect air quality. And every year, millions of animals are subjected to painful tests so manufacturers can measure the effects of their products on eyes, skin and internal organs.

The good news is that you can keep your home clean by using products made without dangerous chemicals. What works best? There's nothing better than just plain soap and water, say many experts.

Then there's the stuff our grandparents used -- baking soda, borax, lemon and other citrus extracts, minerals like alum, vinegar, salt, vegetable soaps, olive and linseed oil and herbs, which can be used to make "green" cleansers at home.

For example, a combination of white vinegar and plain old water makes glass sparkle without exposing the entire household to harsh, irritating cleansers like ammonia. You can learn a lot more in a free, downloadable, 9-page PDF (http://ladpw.org/epd/hhw/alternative_recipes.pdf) from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. It covers a wide range of homemade cleaning recipes, with everything from drain cleaners to pest repellants, and even includes resources for hard-to-find ingredients.

If you're just not interested in making your own cleaners, earth-friendly companies like Seventh Generation, Gaiam and Mrs. Meyers offer a wide range of products, including everything from non-irritating glass, tile and toilet cleansers to non-toxic oven cleaners.

When shopping, keep in mind that "biodegradable" and "natural" are legally meaningless terms, so they can be used on products loaded with petrochemicals and toxins. Instead, concentrate on ingredients, which usually do appear on labels of safe cleaning products. If you have questions, contact manufacturers. Those with nothing to hide should give you straightforward answers.

Finding cruelty-free products that are not tested on animals is easier than it used to be. Hundreds of manufacturers have replaced animal testing with more humane methods, such as computer models and cell cultures. Look for the "leaping bunny" logo, the seal of approval from the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC), which also tests household products, as proof that a product and its ingredients have not been tested on animals at any stage of development.

Making the transition to green cleaning doesn't have to be a radical, "throw out everything under the sink" move. When you run out of dish soap, replace it with the green version, and do the same when other mainstream products are used up. Or start by getting rid of the most toxic products first. Scented products, widely considered to be among the worst in terms of health effects, are a good place to begin. Instead, look for natural citrus-based scents in non-aerosol pump sprays. (Aerosols produce extremely fine particles that are easily absorbed into the lungs and bloodstream, but particles from pump sprays are larger, so they're less likely to enter the body.)

Happy Fall Greening!