Drugstores initially were places where we went to get medicine. While we may still get our prescriptions filled there, today’s drugstores also sell food, cosmetics, toys, office supplies, and home goods—and a surprising number of these items are the opposite of medicine. Many contain chemical compounds that can actually make us pretty sick if we’re exposed to them over time.

Here’s a rundown of some of the most toxic drugstore items that you should probably avoid—or at least cut back on—as well as healthier alternatives.

1 ) Tampons and Feminine Care Products

A disturbing array of toxic chemicals have been found in conventional tampons, menstrual pads, wipes, douches, and other feminine hygiene products. These chemicals, which include pesticide residues, dioxin, unknown fragrance chemicals and adhesives, have been linked to cancer, endocrine disruption, allergic rash, and reproductive harm. They raise alarms because vaginal tissue is particularly porous, which means that chemicals put into the vagina are easily and effectively distributed throughout the body, says Women’s Voices for the Earth in its comprehensive report “Chem Fatale.”

Safer Alternative: Skip products marketed as “vaginal cleansers.” The vagina is designed to self-clean; douching and excess washing, in fact, can lead to infections, says WomensHealth.gov. Choose unscented tampons, as well as chlorine-free bleached or unbleached cotton tampons and pads. Reusable, washable menstrual pads are also available, as are washable menstrual cups to collect rather than absorb menstrual flow.

2) Mascara

Mercury—a potent neurotoxicant that can cause kidney damage and potentially disrupt fetal brain development if the woman using it is pregnant—is sometimes used in mascara as a preservative and germ killer.

Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the advocacy group Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, says there is no reason “a known neurotoxin should be allowed” because safer alternatives exist. Unfortunately, there’s no way you would know whether your mascara contains mercury or not, because companies are not required to list it on their product labels.

Safer Alternative: To be safe, search online for “mercury-free mascara” or shop at natural foods stores. Or, try this recipe for making your own mascara.

3) Air Fresheners

Phthalates help disperse the fragrances in air fresheners into the air, where you may inhale them or absorb them through your skin.

Once these chemicals enter the blood stream, they can alter hormone levels or cause symptoms like headache, runny nose and itchy eyes.

The State of California notes that five types of phthalates are “known to cause birth defects or reproductive harm,” reports the Natural Resources Defense Council. Exposure to phthalates in air fresheners has also been associated with increasing the risk of asthma.

Safer Alternative: First and foremost, root out what is making your home smell bad. Then open the windows and let fresh air circulate.

Keep bathroom floors and the base of the toilet clean, use fans to move moist air out of bathrooms so mildew doesn’t develop, and don’t leave old food on kitchen counters or in an uncovered trash can, where it will smell as it decomposes.

To add a pleasant fragrance to your home naturally, simmer cloves, orange peel, and apple cider or pieces of apple on your stove, and enjoy fragrant cut flowers like roses and lilies.

Don’t Miss: Indoor Air Pollution Solutions: 15 Affordable Actions to Help You Breathe Clean Air

4) Lipstick

The post The 10 Most Toxic Items on Drugstore Shelves appeared first on Big Green Purse.

If you’re still drinking from a plastic throwaway bottle, some kind of home water filter system should definitely be in your future. Why?

First, you’re spending way too much money on bottled water. Consumer Reports estimates that filling a 16.9-ounce bottle with tap water in New York City costs about 1.3 tenths of a cent. Buy that same bottle already full of water at a convenience store and, with the deposit, it will run you $1.00. If you refill that bottle from you tap every day for a year, you’d be out only 48 cents. Buy a bottle of water a day? It’ll drain you a whopping $365. Duh!

Second, you could be making yourself sick. Plastic bottles that contain (BPA) bisphenol A – or its alternative — may be toxic to your health . Some studies show that BPA may contribute to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, birth defects and Attention Deficit Disorder.

Third, you’re trashing the planet. Plastic bottles are made from petroleum, then packaged, shipped out, and ultimately end up as trash or litter along the road or in a river or stream.

Fourth, even when you buy bottled water, you’re probably drinking tap water, since that’s what many bottlers use to fill their bottles. So…why pay for someone else’s bottle, bottle top, filling process, and all the rest?

Fifth, you can filter tap water at home to get the quality of water that you want to drink. There are many affordable counter-top filter pitchers that do a pretty good job of filtering out some of the contaminants that might be in water.

But to do the most thorough job, consider a whole house water filtration system. One big benefit of such a system is that it filters your entire home water supply so that the water you have in the shower or at the bathroom sink is just as clean as the water you tap in the kitchen. For example, the PelicanWater whole house water filtration system leaves in beneficial minerals while removing other contaminants that are regularly found in tap water, ultimately creating better tasting water.

When choosing a whole house system, consider the following:

1. Contaminants Filtered Check the National Drinking Water Database maintained by the Environmental Working Group. It should be able to tell you what, if any, contaminants are present in the water coming out of your tap. When you choose a filter, make sure it will trap the contaminants local to you.

2. Performance Features Water Filter Systems Review says that under-the-counter water filters will reduce contaminants in different stages. They recommend that you look for a filter that provides at least three separate stages to reduce pollutants from the water. Each stage will remove a different type of contaminant such as sediment, chemicals and residue. Also, be aware that some filters can affect water pressure. Look for systems that have a water pressure range of 55 to 65 psi.

3. Maintenance At some point, the filters on the system will need to be replaced. It’s helpful if your system has an automatic notification system to alert you to when you should change a cartridge.

4. Installation and Fit Make sure your system fits in the space you have allocated for it. And before you buy, check to see if it is something you can install yourself, or will require professional assistance. You want to make sure you can change the filters or cartridges yourself.

Sponsored by Pelican Water

The post 5 Reasons Why a Home Water Filter System Makes Sense appeared first on Big Green Purse.

One of the places you’ll find the most plastic in your home is in the kitchen. Fortunately, it’s also one of the easiest places in our house to give plastic the heave-ho. Here’s how:

Your Plastic-Free Kitchen

1) Use reusable bags. Reusable cloth, jute or recycled fiber bags last for years and eliminate the need for plastic shopping bags. Many communities now charge a nickel for every plastic bag a shopper uses, which has been enough to convince people to bring their own bags.

2) Buy fresh, unpackaged food. One of the biggest sources of plastic in a kitchen is all the plastic that food comes wrapped in it. This is especially true if you’re buying pre-packaged food that’s supposed to be convenient – but ultimately just creates a lot of trash. In addition to reusable shopping bags, get a set of reusable mesh produce bags. For bigger fruits and vegetables like apples, oranges, pears, eggplant and onions, you can skip bags altogether.

3) Purchase food in glass jars rather than plastic containers. You can find tomato sauce, condiments, olives, peppers, soups, spices and more in glass, rather than plastic.

4) Use glass storage containers. Glass jars and dishes with lids are very effective storage containers – they don’t leach chemicals into food, they’re durable, and you can easily see what’s inside them. I re-use glass tomato sauce jars and juice bottles. I also prowl yard sales and thrift stores for glass dishes with lids that I can buy for a couple of dollars at most.

5) Make your own soda. A big source of plastic in the kitchen comes from soda bottles. We haven’t bought soda since we got a counter-top carbonation machine. We simply filter a jug of water (which takes about a minute), pour the water in the bottle that fits the machine, pull a lever to add carbon dioxide to the water (another minute at most), and add whatever flavor we choose.

6) Make your own bottled water. Single-use water bottles are a significant source of kitchen plastic. That dandy carbonator you got for making soda is also great for bubbling up a bottle of filtered water. Or skip the bottles and just filter your water and pour. We use this one, but you may be able to find others in your local hardware store. (We bought ours before glass bottles were available.)

7) Keep your own bottled water ready-to-go in the fridge. One reason why people buy bottled drinks – especially water – is because they don’t take water with them when they leave home. Keep a pitcher of filtered water in your refrigerator and an empty water bottle next to your purse or briefcase so you remember to fill up your bottle before you leave home. Teach your kids to do the same before they leave for school or a sporting event. You can also fill up a few reusable bottles of water and keep them in the fridge so you can grab and go.

8) Replace plastic utensils with stainless steel, wood, and silicone. I primarily use stainless steel or silicone spatulas when I’m frying and sauteeing, and wooden spoons when I’m baking. I have glass 1 cup, 2 cup and 4 cup measuring pitchers and aluminum measuring cups and spoons in a variety of sizes. I also use glass and aluminum mixing bowls. Look for these and other non-plastic kitchen tools in the pots and pans section of your grocery store or in the kitchen utensils section of a department store.

9) Make your own yogurt. Yogurt is super easy to make at home and will save you lots and lots of throwaway yogurt containers. Here’s how I do it.

This is only the beginning. How are you getting plastic out of your kitchen?

The post 9 Steps to a Plastic-Free Kitchen appeared first on Big Green Purse.

This time, the chemical in question is a compound called hexavalent chromium, or chromium 6. If it sounds familiar, it may be because you saw the movie “Erin Brockovich,” starring Julia Roberts. In the film, based on a true story, Roberts as Brockovich campaigns to protect residents of a small California town whose drinking water has been contaminated by hexavalent chromium. In real life, Brockovich, a legal aide, helps the town residents win a $333 million lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric, the company responsible for the contamination.

But that’s not the end of the tale. It turns out, hexavalent chromium persists in drinking water in dozens of American cities, including Bethesda, San Jose, Ann Arbor, Pittsburgh, Albuquerque, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City (note: If your city is not on the list, it might only mean that the water in your city wasn’t analyzed). The toxic chemical is released when plastics, steel, and paper pulp are manufactured; it’s also discharged by leather-tanning and metal-plating factories. It can pollute water when soil and rock erode as well. It exists in our drinking water for two reasons: because companies can release it into the environment without much legal or financial consequence; and because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not currently impose regulations on municipalities to eliminate chromium 6 in our water — or at least, to reduce it to much safer levels.

You can get more information from the answers to this list of frequently asked questions; you can also read the full report on hexavalent chromium here. But don’t just read the report: take action to protect the water you and your family drink! Here’s how:

1) Don’t buy bottled water. Much bottled water comes straight from the same source as our drinking water. It looks healthier because it sports a fancy label touting how “pure” it is – but unless the label also says the water has been tested and proven to be free of hexavalent chromium and other contaminants, you’ll just be wasting your money. Instead, use your purse power to invest in a reverse osmosis filter (see below).

2) Filter your water at the tap. A reverse osmosis filter uses powerful carbon filters to capture a wide variety of contaminants. Some models sit on your countertop next to the kitchen sink; more expensive, under-the-counter options filter more water over time. Here’s a terrific guide that will help you choose a system for your home. Take a look at these models to get an idea of the choices you have and what they could cost. Keep in mind that the common PUR and Brita filters, which do a pretty good job of filtering out sediment and chlorine, DO NOT capture hexavalent chromium. Whatever system you use, remember to change the filter regularly (you can recycle Brita filters here). And don’t just drink filtered water; cook with it, too.

3) Contact your elected officials. Demand stronger regulations to require companies to contain the toxic chemicals they generate, rather than release them for the rest of us to clean up. And support efforts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and your local water municipality to eliminate or reduce the presence of these toxins in the water we drink. Start by contacting your member of Congress and ask for hearings on water safety in the U.S.

RELATED POSTS: 

“We’re Drinking the Same Water as Cleopatra. Is it as clean?”

“10 No-Brainer Ways to Use Water Wisely.” 

“Bottled Water Not as Safe as Tap Water, Says GAO.”

The post How to Keep Drinking Water Safe for You and Your Family (Bottled Water is Not the Answer) appeared first on Big Green Purse.

How, then, does bottled water fit into the equation? Pepsi continues to push bottled water as a greener, cleaner alternative to much cheaper tap water. At my Earth Day presentation, I was amazed to note that virtually everyone who attended brought a bottle of Pepsi’s water with them. Yes, it was in the new “Eco-Fina” bottle, which they say is made using 50% less plastic than their conventional AquaFina bottle. Still, it made me wonder: why are thousands of people in the company drinking bottled water every day when they can get healthy water from the tap?

It’s not like bottled water has been a public relations boon for Pepsi. To the contrary, Eco-Fina bottle or no, Pepsi has taken a lot of heat from green mom bloggers, social justice advocates, and consumer groups who feel that bottled water is an environmental nightmare. Pepsi has made some strides in reducing the environmental impact of the bottle, but still: they’re selling water, a local resource that is becoming more and more scarce, in communities grappling with drought, burgeoning populations and unchecked development.

Is Pepsi likely to abandon selling a product that generates millions and millions of dollars in revenue each year? Not unless there’s a compelling alternative — or competition. So how about this:

Get Pepsi to follow the example of cleaning companies like Arm & Hammer, which sells one empty bottle, plus cartridges of cleaning concentrate the consumer can mix with water at home. Couldn’t Pepsi sell a reuseable bottle that could be refilled at convenience stores and restaurants as well as at home? If Pepsi is mostly interested in selling water, it can market an in-store dispenser so people can fill up their reusable water bottles rather than purchase a new one each time they’re thirsty.

This idea is not only doable – it’s already being done, sort of. Consider 7-11. Every day, millions of people make their own Slurpees at 7-11 with nary a complaint. I haven’t met a person yet who is not capable of putting a cup underneath the Slurpee faucet and filling up. Why not figure out a way for people to bottle their own Eco-Fina water in the same way? True, this strategy wouldn’t put a dent in the proportion of bottles being sold out of vending machines. But it would severely reduce the number of plastic water bottles being sold at 7-11, Stop and Shop, and thousands of other convenience stores.  Restaurants, meanwhile, could serve water in Eco-Fina-labeled pitchers. Since most of the water Pepsi puts in its bottles is tap water, there’s not much difference if it’s served in a branded bottle or a branded carafe.

I’d recommend that Pepsi not drag its heels too long waiting to make a change like this. Otherwise, some entrepreneurs at 7-11 just may take it into their heads to market their own branded refillable bottles, and then sell refills from the tap for the same amount of money they earn for stocking each bottle of Eco-Fina on their shelves (which usually amounts to about half the retail price of the product).

There’s nothing like a little competition to get someone to rethink their approach. 7-11, I hope you’re paying attention. Pepsi, you too.

NOTE: This post is part of this month’s Green Moms Carnival selection on food. Water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration…though not very well.

The post Can Pepsi Learn From 7-11? appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Marketing hype and inadequate labeling entice consumers to buy bottled water even though it is far more expensive and usually not as healthy as tap water.

Bottled water also takes its toll on the environment. At least 3/4 of the millions of plastic water bottles produced each year are thrown away rather than recycled. Plus, producing bottled water actually uses more water and is far more energy intensive than providing the same amount of water to the public via the tap.

These are among the most damning conclusions reached by the U.S. General Accounting Office upon completion of a thorough comparison of the health, safety and environmental benefits of tap vs. bottled water.

The GAO attributes the dangers in bottled water to the fact that it is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), whose safety requirements are far less stringent than those of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates tap water. The GAO recommended that the FDA adopt EPA’s requirements within the year.

Consumers should not have to wait a year for plastic water bottles to be safe.

Take action on bottled water now:

* Stop buying bottled water, or any beverage sold in a plastic bottle. Remember the power of the purse: the way you spend your money sends a signal loud and clear to polluters that they will lose market share unless they provide you with safe products and services.

* Shift to healthier, safer reusable bottles. Aluminum and stainless steel bottles are better, as are bottles with filters that are free of the chemicals most throwaway water bottles contain.

* Contact manufacturers and tell them to pull bottled water off the market. Just because a company makes a bottle that uses less plastic doesn’t mean that bottle is a good choice.

Throwaway plastic bottles need to go.

Note: You can find more reusable water bottle options in our store. We earn a tiny commission on our store purchases; all our recommendations are based on our determination that the items suggested offer a cleaner, greener, safer alternative to what you may currently be using. Thanks.

The post Bottled Water is Not as Safe as Tap Water, says GAO appeared first on Big Green Purse.

The report says the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are “tiny.” But it also points out that “the presence of so many prescription drugs – and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen – in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.” Those consequences could include reproductive irregularities, the early onset of puberty, and increasing resistance to antibiotics.

The drugs get into our water in several ways. Since our bodies don’t absorb a hundred percent of the drugs we take, we naturally excrete the excess when we urinate. Many Americans flush unused prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs down the toilet. Wastewater treatment plants do a poor job of capturing these chemicals before the water is either sent back out to its original source or cycled back into a region’s water supply.

The wildlife impact of these pharmaceuticals – which also include narcotics, birth control drugs, and antidepressants  – is reported in Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World. Studies by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Environmental Protection Agency, notes the book, have found fish, frogs, and other aquatic animals sporting both male and female sex organs, freaks of nature attributed primarily to the rising drug levels being measured in rivers, lakes and streams.

Though the AP report and other studies are likely to fuel the craze for bottled water, they shouldn’t. Much bottled water is actually filled with tap water and is therefore likely to be just as drug-addled.

Instead, consumers should consider installing filters that use activated carbon and ozone, substances that are used in Europe to remove drugs from drinking water.

Meanwhile, consumers faced with disposing of leftover drugs should return them to the pharmacy for proper disposal. Barring this, the federal government recommends mixing them with old coffee grounds, cat litter or other trash that makes them difficult to consume before putting them in a nondescript, sealed container and throwing them in the trash. Do not flush them down the toilet.

It is worth noting that, despite the AP report, pharmaceuticals have been showing up in drinking water for at least 20 years. It is time to upgrade municipal water systems to protect people from the onslaught of chemicals they may be unwittingly ingesting every day. It is also imperative to launch a national “give back” campaign to get citizens to return unused drugs to their point of purchase. Alternatively, cities could mount a “pharmaceutical pick-up” the way many of them now sponsor an annual hazardous waste pick-up.

Municipalities can learn from what environmental organizations are already doing. Last Earth Day (April 21, 2007), the Superior Watershed Partnership in northern Michigan collected over one ton of unwanted pharmaceuticals in just three hours.

The post Drinking Water Contaminated by Pharmaceuticals; Bottled Water Not the Answer appeared first on Big Green Purse.

• According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, it takes 1.5 million gallons of oil – enough to run 100,000 cars for an entire year – to make plastic water bottles. Transporting the bottles, first to the water plant, then to consumers, burns thousands of gallons more.

• For every gallon of water bottled, two gallons of water are used to wash and prepare the bottles.

• Water that goes into bottles either comes from underground aquifers, which are shrinking due to excessive demand, or the tap. In fact, 24% of the bottled water we buy is tap water repackaged by Coke (Dasani) and Pepsi (Aquafina).

• We toss 38 billion water bottles – in excess of $1 billion worth of plastic – into landfills every year.

• In most cases, tap water is actually safer and healthier than bottled water, due to the more stringent federal regulations that protect tap water.

Bottled water is also more expensive than we realize. If the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000, says Charles Fishman in Message in a Bottle, a terrific overview of the bottled water in the July issue of Fast Company.

Mary Hunt, at www.inwomenwetrust.com, urges consumers to boycott bottled water, and I’m with her. She thinks we can do it if we switch our “mindset of convenience.”

Actually, switching to your own bottle wouldn’t be so tough. Everyone carries a briefcase, purse or backpack these days; why not add a lightweight bottle you could refill when you got thirsty? Enterprising stores could charge $.25 for a fill-up (the way they charge you for “the cup” when you just get water anyway) and make a ten-cent profit on every “bottle” of water they sold. It would be better – and cheaper – for you to refill your water bottle than to buy bottled water from the store’s refrigerator.

Responsible stores that sell bottled water could also do their part by setting up recycling bins so consumers could bring their bottles back. It might require putting a five- or ten-cent deposit on the bottles to give consumers a little incentive to do the right thing. So be it. Deposits on glass bottles and cans in several states have proven to be effective; let’s extend deposit legislation to plastic bottles, too.

If, despite the fact that U.S. tap water is generally extremely safe to drink, you still worry about the quality, rather than buy water in plastic bottles, get a filter. Some options include:

• So-Clear UnderCounter Perma-Filter – an under-the-sink filtrating system that uses recyclable filters
• Brita On Tap System – a simple system you can mount on your faucet; you can also use the Brita pitcher filter
• Pur Ultimate Pitcher – another easily available pitcher option

You can compare ten different filter options at
•http://www.waterfiltercomparisons.com/Water_Filter_Comparison_Matrix.cfm

You can find some chic water bottles at Kleen Kanteen and Sigg.

Still want to buy your H2O in a bottle? Voss water is sold in a glass bottle in restaurants, health clubs and spas. You’re still paying exorbitant prices for the water, but at least the glass bottle is reusable.

The post Is It Time to Boycott Bottled Water? appeared first on Big Green Purse.