Think again.

When Women’s Voices for the Earth released a report noting that Tide detergent contained chemicals that could actually be harmful to kids, millions of consumers were outraged. They were buying the Procter & Gamble (P&G) product to keep their children clean and safe. Yet according to the report, Tide actually contained the cancer-causing chemicals 1,4- dioxane at levels safety experts considered threatening.

Mom blogger and consumer activist Lori Alper sprang into action by launching a petition drive on Change.org.  urging the company to ditch the dangerous compounds.

Today – 78,000 signatures later – Tide capitulated. In response to consumer demand and a lawsuit filed in California by As You Sow, P&G agreed to phase out the carcinogens by September 2013.

“When I started
my petition on Change.org, I knew that Procter & Gamble listened to
consumer feedback, and I was hopeful we could get this dangerous chemical out
of our laundry,” said Alper. “I can’t wait to see what we can do
next.”

Related articles

Women’s Voices for the Earth Champions Healthy, Safer, Non-Toxic Cleansers for Moms and Kids

Protect Us and Our Kids from Toxic Chemicals Now!

Tell Tide to Clean Up Its Cleaning Products

The post Green Consumer Clout Motivates Tide to Clean Up Its Act appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Women’s Voices for the Earth (WVE), a terrific non-profit organization whose scientists keep an eye on the consumer products you buy, has just issued a report that identifies toxic chemicals used by five top companies: Clorox, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, SC Johnson and Son, and Sunshine Makers (Simple Green). WVE looked at 20 different cleaning products – and found toxic substances in all of them. If not for this study, titled “Dirty Secrets: What’s Hiding in Your Cleaning Products?” you’d never be the wiser, because none of the noxious chemicals were listed on the product label.

WVE believes consumers deserve to know what chemicals they are being exposed to so they can easily avoid products that may make them or their kids sick. I agree. That’s why I wholeheartedly support WVE’s call for Congress to pass new federal legislation called the Cleaning Product Right to Know Act requiring cleaning product manufacturers to disclose all the ingredients they use in their products directly on the product label.

I’ve also signed WVE’s petition urging one of the offending companies, Tide, to remove the cancer-causing chemical 1,4-dioxane from its Tide Free & Gentle® detergent. 1,4-dioxane is a known cancer-causing chemical, and has been linked in animal studies to increased risk of breast cancer. Nevertheless, Tide Free & Gentle® is being marketed to moms as a healthier choice for their kids’ laundry, even though infants and children are particularly vulnerable to chemical exposures because their immune, neurological, and hormone systems are still developing.

WVE is targeting Procter & Gamble (makers of Tide®) because P&G has taken 1,4 dioxane out of some of its other products, like its Herbal Essences® shampoo. More than 75,000 people have signed the petition asking the company to do the same for Tide and the rest of its products. Ironically, the Tide website says: Safety: The Most Important Ingredient in Tide®. If that’s true, then 1,4-dioxane should never have been in the product in the first place.

Here’s one more important way you can make a difference: use your big green purse. Shift your spending to safer laundry detergents that are free of toxic chemicals. Here are some we sell in the Big Green Purse store; you can also find them in many grocery stores.

Seventh Generation

Ecover

Method

Here are more ways you can take action.

Related Posts:

Your Big Green Muscle is Getting J&J To Make Its Baby Shampoo Safer

The post Tell Tide to Come Clean and Ditch the 1,4-Dioxane appeared first on Big Green Purse.

But a new report by Environmental Working Group and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has made me wonder whether that simple bath actually poses a serious risk.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics commissioned an independent laboratory to test 48 products for 1,4-dioxane; 28 of those products were also tested for formaldehyde. The lab found:

* 1,4-dioxane in 67 percent of the products.

* Formaldehyde in 82 percent of those tested.

* Seventeen products contaminated with both 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde.

The full list of products tested is in the Campaign’s report, “No More Toxic Tub.” They include: Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo, Baby Magic “Soft Baby Scent” Baby Lotion, and American Girl “Hopes & Dreams” Glistening Shower and Beth Wash.

Why does this matter?

Formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane are known carcinogens; formaldehyde can also trigger skin rashes in some children. Unlike many other countries, the U.S. government does not limit formaldehyde, 1,4-dioxane, or most other hazardous substances in personal care products.

The toxins are not listed on the ingredients label because, the way the law is written, they’re not required to. And manufacturers of products that contain toxins like these often discount their impact, saying they pose no threat because they’re present in such minute amounts.

The National Academy of Sciences disagrees. NAS says several factors contribute to children’s special vulnerability to the harmful effects of chemicals:

•    A child’s chemical exposures are greater pound-for-pound than those of an adult.
•    Children are less able than adults to detoxify and excrete chemicals.
•    Children’s developing organ systems are more vulnerable to damage from chemical exposures.
•    Children have more years of future life in which to develop disease triggered by early exposure.

What can you do?

* Search the Skin Deep data base maintained by Environmental Working Group to find safer alternatives to the products identified in the Campaign’s report.

* Contact Johnson & Johnson, and urge them to clean up their products by removing dangerous ingredients like 1,4 dioxane and formaldehyde.  Here is the e-mail I just sent:

 I have recently learned that J&J baby soaps contain 1,4 dioxane and formaldehyde. These are known carcinogens to which no child should be exposed. Please remove these compounds from all your products immediately. Until you do, I will cease to be a J&J customer.

*Write to Rep. Henry Waxman, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, with responsibility for legislation and oversight in the areas of public health, consumer protection, food and drug safety, and the environment.Urge Rep. Waxman to convene hearings on toxic ingredients in baby products.

2204 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Telephone (202) 225-3976
Fax (202) 225-4099

* Write your own Senators and Representative and urge them to support the Kid-Safe Chemical Act, legislation that would strengthen laws and regulations to protect kids from toxins in all products – including baby soap and shampoo.

The post Should Soap Bubbles Make Your Baby Sick? Tell J&J No! appeared first on Big Green Purse.