A Look into the Nitty Gritties - for one month!

Hi everyone,

During the trial account for Adobe Connect, I am able to share with you our presentation documents in full pdf format. It is free to sign up and endures 30 days before Adobe wants your money. No credit cards, Paypal whatever, you can just sign up. These documents give detail on the chemicals we found in the detergents, as well as ingredient lists, just as you see on the bottom of this blog. So if you would like to refer back to these slides long after our project is over, please come and grab them! To take a gander, get the trial version at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/trial/ and then follow the links below.

Posters

The assembled posters available to the public for comparing their local detergents.

http://meet70762960.adobeconnect.com/posters/

Product Ingredients and Prices

A list of ingredients as well as price per liter for each product chosen under all categories.

http://meet70762960.adobeconnect.com/products/

Main Chemicals

Slides that look at the main chemicals found in detergents and describe what they are used for, what health effects they have, and what happens in the environment.

http://meet70762960.adobeconnect.com/chemicals/

Other Chemicals

An analysis of the health impacts and environmental fate of chemicals besides the main surfactants.

http://meet70762960.adobeconnect.com/otherchemicals/

Soap nuts at work

Needle in a haystack? Unfortunately not ...

Lara and I have been analysing chemicals inside detergents for a while now. I have to admit that when I first started looking into the ingredients of hand soaps, laundry and dish detergents I thought it would be tough to find some evidence of toxic or environmental harmful substances. Unfortunately this was not the case. Most surprisingly for me were the dish soaps: the most used, including the well-known P&G YES (Fairy/Dreft in other countries) and ICA Skona, have several potentially toxic chemicals, especially harmful for our health.

 

Take a look at this image. What strike you at first? The irritant hazard symbol, right? Well, believe it or not, dish soap - that you are supposed to handle with your hands to wash dishes - IS irritant (responsible chemical: Sodium Laureth Sulfate). Moreover, it is a human immune system toxicant (Cocamidopropyl betaine); can cause allergic reactions (Colourant Patent blue CI 42051) and might be carcinogenic (SLS can be contaminated with the carcinogen 1,4 dioxane and there´s a strong evidence that the colourant Acid yellow 17 - CI 18965 - induces mutations in our DNA). Needless to say, these chemicals are not explicity listed in the ingredients. One have to get the complete list from the producer´s website. This procedure is time consuming and not enough to understand the risks associated with the use of these products. Further research for each chemical is necessary. Follow our blog, and you will soon discover more about detergents. In the meantime use gloves when you wash the dishes! 

My 2 Cents on Colorants

My discomfort with regulations on colorants in the EU first struck me with an incident completely unrelated to detergents. In fact, I was delighted to be snacking on one of my favorite junk food items, wasabi peas. These are dehydrated peas that have been fried in some sort of wasabi paste mixture. I was commenting to my boyfriend on how they probably contain all kinds of chemicals that might kill me. Naturally, I started preening the ingredient information and set straight about plugging names into Google. This is when I first found out about Tartrazine in the EU.

Tartrazine (E102) can cause allergic reactions in very small number of people, with side effects ranging from hives to headaches. Asthmatics, however, are especially susceptible, and exposure can trigger severe attacks. Further, Tartrazine can play a role in stimulating hyperactive behavior in children. It is not even entirely clear which pathways link to cause these reactions.

So this shouldn't be unnecessarily added to products we consume or come in contact with, right?

Well, apparently Denmark and Sweden believed this and banned a number of suspicious additives. With the overruling of the EU, though, which has deemed these substances "safe," Denmark and Sweden must now allow their use anyway. In fact, they are all over the place: in food, fabric, cosmetics, and detergents.

I have occasionally since pondered on finding the Tartrazine in my wasabi peas, but came across it again just now while investigating the colorants in X-tra Opvask. In this case, the product contains Tartrazine and Brilliant Blue FCF (E133), the former being an allergen and the latter being an irritant. But now I also have had the pleasure of investigating their environmental fates. These colorants are in fact used to make private ponds appear pristine because of their ability to block out certain wavelengths of light that "weeds" and algae thrive on. In other words, in nature these colorants prevent a number of aquatic plants from photosynthesizing. Even worse, Tartrazine is "slightly toxic" to aquatic organisms.

I know that the EU generally prioritizes economic activity over environmental safety, but even over human health? It seems that even if the evidence is ambiguous that the precautionary principle would be wise for something as optional as colorants. I mean, these detergents have huge lists of chemicals to research; but to be fair, most of them serve a functional purpose, be it cleansing, stabilizing, or even conditioning. But colorants are just an unreasonable danger to people and the environment. Get on board, EU!

Mourning Phosphates

It's been wonderful finding that none of the nine selected Danish detergents contain phosphates. Rather, there has been a combination of substitutes such as phosphonates and enzymes that effectively soften water and chelate metals. During my research, however, I've found that the state-mediated regulations in the U.S. on phosphates in detergents is rather recent (varying by state, but within the past few years); and worse it has met resistance.

Just for a touch of background, phosphates degrade into phosphorous in the environment, which -- due to large-scale use in household detergents -- finds environmental pathways to bodies of water. Since phosphorous is a limiting nutrient to plant growth, the newfound abundance has spurred widespread algal and plankton blooms. This leads to a phenomenon called "eutrophication," and can severely damage aquatic ecosystems. The problem became just big enough, just loud enough, and just enough in people's own backyards that there has finally been some action.

However, one must be thoroughly outraged at the glaringly stubborn spots upon once sparkling wine glasses, fresh out of the dishwasher! There was a NPR article last winter (Elizabeth Shogren "Dishes still dirty? Blame phosphate-free detergent." 15 Dec 2010. National Public Radio. Accessed 21 May 2011: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/15/132072122/it-s-not-your-fault-your-dishes-are-still-dirty), in which it's clear that the reason for the removal of phosphates is sometimes neither believed nor accepted. Sue Wright from Austin, Texas, does not believe that phosphates are growing algae. But why? Based on what? Surely one can't believe that the government would make these regulations AND detergent corporations would comply if there were not solid foundation.

This goes to show that despite the ease of access to information (whether scientific or social) and the gradual adjustment with alternatives is not enough to comfort the impact on people's standards of living. According to the article, Sandra Young just adds her own phosphate to her dish detergent now, completely circumventing the purpose of removal in the first place. But I wonder, will she really keep buying the extra phosphate? Will she teach this to her children and will they do the same? Perhaps the change over time will be more easily accepted. Maybe we can all put in a little more effort and hand wash. Or maybe we can live with the spots.

Either way, it's clearly painful mourning phosphates in the U.S.

Brand Information Use in EU Nations

Johanna and I have chosen detergents to analyze that are widely used in Denmark and Sweden. Naturally, this information will be valuable to Scandinavian residents. However, I believe many of these products are marketed all over the EU. This past week, I was traveling in Budapest, Hungary; and I noticed that Ariel, the major brand-name clothing detergent that I selected, is also widely marketed in Hungary. Though the labeling is slightly different, it is likely that the ingredients are the same. Similarly, Palmolive hand soap is popular in North America and is available throughout the world. Since it is probably cheaper to maintain a particular chemical mixture, more information on these products and more awareness could have a potentially larger impact on environmental and health safety. I believe that this kind of acknowledgement of similar brands and similar ingredients is important so that the breadth of relevance of our study can be expanded.

Ingredient Disclosure

I was concerned when compiling the ingredient lists on the various detergent containers when I came to realize that not all information is created equally. Rather, the ecological products are openly providing much more detail about the contents of the detergents than non-ecological labels. I thought that this might prove to be a barrier to effectively comparing the detergents and their safety. However, when researching this issue, I found that Denmark is subject to EU regulations on labeling, and that I will be able to obtain the necessary information. This excerpt is taken from the Danish Ministry of the Environment:

"Disclosure / Declaration:

The packaging of detergents that are marketed to consumers must contain the following information in legible, visible and indelible characters:
• Product name and trade name.
• Name or trade name or trademark and full address and telephone number of the person responsible for marketing.
• Address and phone number and any email address from which doctors can find relevant information about product ingredients.

The packaging shall also bear the dosage as prescribed and with the address of a site where there is free access to list all product ingredients."

Source: http://www.mst.dk/Virksomhed_og_myndighed/Kontrol_i_ojenhojde/Tjekp%C3%A5markningen/M%C3%A6rkningsregler+for+vaskemidler/

It's a relief to find that transparency is a priority, and it is especially comforting to find that all surfactants must be biodegradable! This doesn't necessarily mean that they do not have other environmental or health impacts, but it does mitigate some :) So forthcoming will be investigations into the complete ingredients of the detergents.

What is the EU ecolabel?

"The European Ecolabel is a voluntary scheme, established in 1992 to encourage businesses to market products and services that are kinder to the environment. Products and services awarded the Ecolabel carry the flower logo, allowing consumers - including public and private purchasers - to identify them easily. Today the EU Ecolabel covers a wide range of products and services, with further groups being continuously added. Product groups include cleaning products, appliances, paper products, textile and home and garden products, lubricants and services such as tourist accommodation." Source: ec.europa.eu

Svanen - the Nordic ecolabel

"For a little more than 20 years ago the Nordic Ecolabel became the official Ecolabel for the Nordic countries. The purpose was to provide consumers with a tool to help them choose among the best, from an environmental standpoint, products on the market.  Criteria is developed by using a life-cycle perspective. That means that we judge the environmental effects a product has from several aspects: energy and water usage, kinds of chemicals used, recycling and reuse of waste products." Source: www.svanen.se

Detergents: A little bit of history

Today, the majority of detergents are synthetic. What we are used to call soap, is exactly the opposite: synthetic detergents are non-soap washing and cleaning products, put together chemically or synthesized to produce a variety of raw materials.

The first synthetic detergent was developed by German scientists during World War I, mainly in response to a shortage of fats needed for the soap production. Further developments were also driven by the need for a cleaning agent that, unlike the soap, would not bind to mineral salts in water forming insoluble soap curd on fabrics.

The first synthetic detergents were short-chain alkyl naphthalene sulphonates, still used today as wetting agents. Later on the so called “built” detergents were developed. These detergents contain a builder and a surfactant. The surfactant is the basic ingredient of a detergent product as it plays the role of the cleaning agent. The builder instead helps the surfactant to work more efficiently. Phosphate compounds were used for this purpose.

However, the kind of detergents used until mid ´60s (based on PT benzene) was blamed to contribute to the rise in eutrophication in lakes and rivers as they contain phosphates. In fact, the branched chain of PT benzene makes bacteria unable to degrade such molecules.

During the last 30 years, detergent development has focused not only on achieving more efficient and easy-to-use products, but also on the safety of consumers and the environment.

Defensive of Detergents

I thought it would be a relatively straightforward process to collect information on the various detergents in Denmark. Afterall, I just needed to choose the appropriate brands, take some photos, and make sure I recorded all of the ingredients and labels. I figured that the most that would happen would be that people might look at me like I'm strange, or even be curious.

However, I faced resistance in the least expected place. I shop at Urtehuset in Kongens Lyngby, Denmark for most of my organic and health needs. They are a tiny shop with food, tea, cleaning, cosmetics, and supplement products. Since I'm a regular customer and am appreciative of the nature of a small business, I approached the counter to explain the project and ask permission to take some pictures. To my great surprise, the service lady said no.

Apparently there had been an incident in which a customer, who turned out to be a journalist, had come in and taken photos of products and the store employees. She later published a story deeply criticizing their products along with the photos she had taken. I tried to explain that this detergent investigation is highly likely to favor Urtehuset's selection, but to no avail -- they would not be allowing any more pictures. Luckily for me (and convenient for many), the big chain market Super Best now carries the Ecover detergent line; and there was no difficulty getting information there.