RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it will institute a new policy that will help consumers figure out what exactly is in the household products they use. "Assuring the safety of chemicals is one of Administrator Jackson's top priorities for EPA's future," says Steve Owens, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances. "The American people are entitled to transparent, accessible information on chemicals that may pose a risk to their health or the environment."
THE DETAILS: For years, companies have been able to file a secrecy claim called Confidential Business Information, or CBI, in order to avoid identifying chemicals used in a particular product. EPA's decision to stop honoring CBI claims from industry will apply to chemicals that studies have shown pose a substantial risk to people's health and the environment, and that have been previously disclosed on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Inventory.
Under TSCA, companies may claim a range of sensitive, proprietary information as CBI. However, under another section of the law, companies that manufacture, process, or distribute chemicals are required to immediately provide notice to EPA if they learn that a chemical presents a substantial risk of injury to health or the environment. This information is then made public. But until last week, companies could bypass this step by filing a CBI claim. In the coming months, EPA says it intends to announce additional steps to further increase transparency of chemical information. Congress is also working on updating TSCA to better protect today's consumers.
WHAT IT MEANS: Chemical regulation in this country is notoriously weak, and the outdated TSCA is mostly to blame. Enacted in 1976, TSCA was meant to ensure that chemicals imported, processed, manufactured, or distributed in the U.S. did not pose any "unreasonable risks to human health or the environment." More than 60,000 chemicals were in use before the law went into effect, and were grandfathered in without adequate safety testing. Most of the 20,000-plus introduced afterward have not been tested thoroughly by the EPA or industry, either.
While the EPA decision makes a difference, it doesn't completely close the massive loophole in chemical safety. Rule Number 1: Just because it's on a store shelf does not mean its ingredients are safe. A recent Environmental Working Group (EWG) analysis found that the 33-year-old law that is supposed to publicize the chemicals used in products has actually created a "regulatory black hole, a place where information goes in, but much never comes out." EWG's analysis also showed that industry has placed "confidential business information" (CBI) claims on the identity of 13,596 new chemicals produced since 1976—nearly two-thirds of the 20,403 chemicals that have been introduced in the past 33 years.
Regardless of loopholes in government agencies and industry's lack of proof of ingredient safety, emerging research indicates these are some of the household chemicals you should avoid:
1. Pesticides. Chemicals used to control weeds, disease, and insects have been linked to everything from birth defects, Parkinson's disease, certain cancers—including childhood leukemia and brain tumors—to lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, developmental problems, and other ills. Learn how to control weeds and garden diseases naturally at OrganicGardening.com, practice nontoxic pest removal using tips from the Nickel Pincher's natural home pest-control arsenal, and choose organic whole foods as much as possible to limit your exposure.
2. Triclosan and triclocarban. These synthetic antimicrobial chemicals kill aquatic life after they go down your drain and into the local water supply, and have been shown to disrupt proper thyroid functioning in humans. Use of triclosan is also associated with the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, producing dangerous infections that don't respond well to antibiotic medicine. Triclosan or its cousin, triclocarban, can be found on the ingredients labels of soaps, toothpaste, and other personal-care items. It's not clear what happens if you ingest a little bit while brushing your teeth twice a day over a long period of time.
3. Parabens. These common soap and shower gel ingredients can be found in any product containing some form of "paraben" in the word and should be avoided. Parabens hinder proper functioning of your endocrine system, which includes your thyroid, pituitary, adrenal glands, pancreas, and ovaries or testes.
4. Fragrance, parfum, linalool, limonene. These ingredients listed on the label are tip-offs that your product contains artificial scent chemicals. Companies can add any of about 7,000 chemicals to your shampoo or any other personal-care product and simply call it "fragrance" or "parfum" on the label. Many of these contain phthalates, chemicals that make plastics softer, help makeup and lotions stick to your face better, and also help carry fragrance chemicals. Studies link phthalate exposure to hormone disruption, asthma, birth defects in babies, dizziness, headaches, runny nose, allergies, and eczema. Since cleaners, air fresheners, candles, and laundry products aren't required to label ingredients, it's best to choose unscented products as much as possible. Another way to avoid phthalates is to avoid vinyl products, such as flooring, rubber duckies, fake leather purses, and plastic vinyl shower curtains.
5. DEA, diethanolamine, cocamide DEA, lauramide DEA, and monoethanolamine, MEA. These wetting, thickening, and foaming agents are used in shampoo and bath products, liquid hand soaps, shaving products, and deodorants. These chemicals have been shown to react with other product chemicals in the can or bottle to form a potent carcinogen called nitrosodiethanolamine (NDEA).
6. PEG, polyethylene glycol, polyethylene, polyoxyethylene, oxynol, or words ending in the letters "eth," such as myreth, oleth, laureth, ceteareth. You won't ever see the cancer-causing compound 1,4-dioxane on a label, but the aforementioned ingredients are often contaminated with 1,4-dioxane during the manufacturing process, according to the Organic Consumer Association.