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LaundryPure vs Laundry Chemicals What Lurks in Your Laundry?
By Lisa Turner "Mountain fresh." "Spring rain." "Ocean breeze." These names of laundry detergents and fabric softeners sound gentle, safe, even comforting. But in spite of the clean-and-natural terminology, mainstream laundry products actually saturate your clothes in a wash of harsh, irritating and possibly toxic chemicals. "What are the short- and long-term health consequences of exposure to these chemicals?" asks Jeffrey Hollander, author of Naturally Clean: The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe and Healthy, Non-Toxic Cleaning (New Society Publishers, 2005). "What happens inside our bodies when we come into contact with multiple chemicals from multiple sources at the same time? The fact is, we really don't know, since no government agency requires research to determine the safety of household chemicals." Conventional laundry products contain a range of chemicals that irritate skin and eyes, trigger allergic reactions and asthma, damage the environment and may have harmful long-term effects. Scientists suspect that some of these chemicals cause cancer; others disrupt the endocrine system and interfere with the reproductive health of both humans and wildlife. But most of these chemicals haven't been tested for their long-term effects on humans. The reason? Potentially harmful ingredients in laundry products enter the body primarily via inhalation or skin contact, not ingestion. "Chemicals are generally tested for safety by feeding them to animals," says Theo Colborn, PhD, a leading researcher on environmental toxins and coauthor of Our Stolen Future (Penguin USA, 1997). "So the dermal and inhalation effect of many chemicals has never been studied. Safety tests don't address the way we're usually exposed to chemicals: not by drinking them, and not in large quantities, but by touching them or inhaling the fumes in small quantities, in repeated doses, and over a long period of time." We also come into contact with some of these harsh chemicals through residues left in clothing, towels, sheets and other washables. "Clothing is up against your skin all day, you lie under your sheets all night, you rub towels all over your body," says Karyn Siegel-Maier, author of The Naturally Clean Home (Storey, 1999). "There's a lot of exposure-and a lot of opportunity for irritation and harmful effects." Dirty laundry Experts suspect many ingredients in laundry products of causing long-term harm, as well as immediate and direct reactions, especially allergies and skin, lung, and eye irritation. Here are some dirty cleaning products to watch out for:
Cost Savings: if you do one load of laundry a day, and you're currently using conventional detergent, bleach, stain remover and dryer sheets, you're probably spending about $15 a month on laundry products. You are spending about $15 a month on hot water. Total hard dollars: $30 a month. When you factor in combining your regular whites and color cloths in LaundryPure vs. two separate washings there is money and time savings. Perhaps the greatest savings may be the reduction of wear and tear of your clothes in LaundryPure. Based on your frequency of washing, the investment payback can be realized in as little as one or two years. The best advice for healthier washing and drying? Toss out the toxic surfactants, chlorine, perfume and brighteners and get a LaundryPure. When you do your next load of laundry, it may be the first time your clothes, sheets, and towels will ever truly be clean.
Courtesy
of Alternative Medicine
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