Pandora's Poison: Chlorine, Health, and a New Environmental Strategy
by Joe Thornton, Joe Thorton (MIT Press, 2000). This extremely well written book makes a powerful argument for a fundamental but practical change in the way government and the chemical industry do business. It is amazingly well referenced and makes a powerful case that synthetic chemicals based on chlorine are harming everyone's health -- not just people who live in polluted areas but the general public, because hundreds of these chemicals can now be found all across the planet.
[ http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262201240/caremailgreeting/104-8871439-2586363 ]
Chlorine
Residing at number 17 on the Periodic Table of the Elements, chlorine is a toxic, yellow-green gas that's one of today's most heavily used chemical agents. Because it is highly reactive and is rarely found in its pure form, chlorine is manufactured by passing an electrical current through salt water or melted salt. The electricity splits the salt molecules apart and creates chlorine.
As consumers, we're most familiar with chlorine's role as a bleaching agent for paper, and as an ingredient in household cleaners. When immersed in a concentrated bath of chlorine, the natural colors of things like cotton fibers and wood pulp disappear, leaving behind a bright white surface on which any dye or ink can be applied. We see chlorine's ability to bleach out color firsthand in our washing machines, where we use it to remove stains and dirt in our laundry, and brighten whites.
Chlorine in Household Products
Chlorine is a common ingredient in many household cleaners. It appears in countless formulas either by itself as a bleaching or sanitizing agent, or as part of another chemical compound. Other names for this chemical include hypochlorite, sodium hypochlorite, sodium dichloroisocyanurate, hydrogen chloride, and hydrochloric acid.6 Because it is such an effective cleaning and disinfecting agent, and because it is found in so many products, many people are surprised to learn that the presence of chlorine in the cleaners we use actually represents a serious household hazard and one of the biggest stumbling blocks to the creation of a healthy home.
Chlorine is a poisonous toxin that at high enough concentrations can cause permanent physical damage and even death. At low concentrations, chlorine is corrosive and a strong irritant to the lungs and mucous membranes.7 When chlorine is present as a part of another chemical in a product's formula, that chemical is almost always a member of a family of compounds called organochlorines, a separate class of extremely hazardous materials capable of unpleasant surprises all their own.
In addition to such direct hazards, both chlorine and the organochlorines that contain it can readily combine themselves with other materials present in the home and environment to form new toxic substances. For example, when chlorine reacts with naturally occurring organic matter and/or certain other chemicals, carcinogens known as trihalomethanes are often created. And we've all heard the admonition never to mix chlorine (or products that contain chlorine) with ammonia because the resulting chemical reaction will create a poisonous gas.8
The use of chlorine in household cleaning products is more troubling still because many such products are designed specifically to be sprayed into the air and applied to surfaces in the home. These actions spread chlorine throughout the house and often leave widespread areas - sometimes far beyond the original area that was being cleaned - contaminated by residues of varying concentrations.
These suggestions can keep your home and family safe from the hazards of chlorine:
Never use any cleaning product that you suspect of containing chlorine or that has the term 'chlor' in any ingredient. Substitute biodegradable, natural ingredient-based alternatives instead.
Be particularly wary of scouring powders, dishwasher detergent, disinfecting agents, toilet cleaners, and tub & tile cleaners. The majority of the products in these categories contain chlorine.
When it comes to laundry bleaches, use oxygen or hydrogen peroxide-based bleaches instead of those containing sodium hypochlorite, a type of chlorine.
Dioxin
The wastes that paper mills discharge into the environment after paper is bleached with chlorine contain dioxins. And dioxins don't readily break down, which means that over the years they've been accumulating in our air, water, and soil. Once they're out there, they enter the food chain and we're exposed to them through the food we eat. Dioxins are now so widespread in the environment that virtually every man, woman, and child in America has them in their bodies. In fact, each day we ingest 300-600 times more than the EPA's so-called "safe" dose9. As they accumulate to critical levels inside us, their effects begin to show.
Dioxins are deadly. In fact, dioxins are believed to be the most carcinogenic chemicals known to science10, and the U.S. EPA's Dioxin Reassessment has found dioxins 300,000 times more potent as a carcinogen than DDT (the use of which was banned in the U.S. in 1972)11. There's no way to sugar-coat the effects dioxins have on people and the environment. Recent research has conclusively linked dioxins to cancer, reproductive disorders among adults, deformities and developmental problems in children, and immune system breakdowns12. And dioxins can cause these effects at exposure levels hundreds of thousands of times lower than most hazardous chemicals.
Chlorine: What You Can Do
With the hazards of chlorine now well documented, one thing is crystal clear: We're all going to have to stop using it for the sake of ourselves, our children, and the world. Fortunately, there are many dedicated organizations and individuals working to achieve a chlorine-free world. And you can help.
One of the most important things you can do is to rid your home of toxic household cleaning products. Once you've disposed of them properly, restock your cleaning supply with Seventh Generation's full line of cleaning products made without chlorine. These include laundry detergents, non-chlorine bleach, dish detergents (for hand-washing and automatic dishwashers), and a variety of household cleaners including kitchen, bath, glass, and all-purpose cleaners.
Another important step is to buy paper products that aren't bleached with chlorine. At Seventh Generation, we've been making paper towels, napkins, facial tissue, and bathroom tissue that are bleached without using chlorine for years. Using Seventh Generation non-chlorine bleached paper products protects our environment during their manufacture by preventing the release of dioxins that poison our air and water, and eventually end up on your dinner plate in the form of contaminated food.
Chlorine in Drinking Water
Disinfection of drinking water is one of the major public health advances in the 20th century. One hundred years ago, typhoid and cholera epidemics were common throughout American cities. Disinfection was a major factor in reducing these epidemics, and it is an essential part of drinking water treatment today. However, the disinfectants themselves can react with naturally-occurring materials in the water to form unintended organic and inorganic byproducts which may pose health risks.
A major challenge for water suppliers is how to balance the risks from microbial pathogens and disinfection byproducts. It is important to provide protection from these microbial pathogens while simultaneously ensuring decreasing health risks to the population from disinfection byproducts (DBPs). The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Amendments require the US Environmental Protection Agency to develop rules to achieve these goals.
Results from toxicology studies have shown several DBPs (e.g., bromodichloromethane, bromoform, chloroform, dichloroacetic acid, and bromate) to be carcinogenic in laboratory animals. Other DBPs (e.g., chlorite, bromodichloromethane, and certain haloacetic acids) have also been shown to cause adverse reproductive or developmental effects in laboratory animals. Several epidemiology studies have suggested a weak association between certain cancers (e.g., bladder) or reproductive and developmental effects, and exposure to chlorinated surface water. More than 200 million people consume water that has been disinfected. Because of the large population exposed, health risks associated with DBPs, even if small, need to be taken seriously.
The EPA's Stage 1 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule applies to all community and nontransient noncommunity water systems that treat their water with a chemical disinfectant for either primary or residual treatment. The Rule establishes maximum residual disinfectant level goals and maximum residual disnfectant levels for three chemical disinfectants - chlorine, chloramine and chlorine dioxide. It also establishes maximum contaminant level goals and maximum contaminant levels for total trihalomethanes,haloacetic acids, chlorite and bromate.
Large surface water systems are required to comply with the Stage 1 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts rule and Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule by January 2002. Ground water systems and small surface water systems must comply with the Stage 1 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule by January 2004.
To learn more about your local drinking water visit the EPA's Office of Water. (The information above was taken directly from the EPA's web site in accordance with their Privacy and Security statement.)
To be extra sure about their water, many people choose to add filtration systems to the water supply in their homes. While filtering can be beneficial, be cautious not to "over-filter." Natural additions to our drinking water, such as dissolved minerals, give water a variety of refreshing tastes and make it healthier to drink. Certain harmless microorganisms remove bad tastes and odors to make it more palatable.
Both www.greenmarketplace.com and www.gaiam.com offer a variety of water filters for the home.
If you would like to send a letter to the EPA urging them to release the Dioxin Reassessment document which details the sources and health effects of dioxin exposure, click here [LINK] for an easy way to let your voice be heard. In addition, we urge you to get in touch with some of the organizations listed below. They can help you learn more and get involved in what many have called one of the most pressing environmental problems of our time.
Greenpeace International
1436 U Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 462-1177
www.greenpeace.org
Reach for Unbleached
Box 39, Waletown
British Columbia, Canada V0P 1Z0
(250) 935-6992
www.rfu.org
Center for Health, Environment & Justice
P.O. Box 6806
Falls Church, VA 22040
(703) 237-2249
www.chej.org
The Chlorine Free Products Association
102 North Hubbard
Algonquin, IL 60102
(847) 658-6104
www.chlorinefreeproducts.org
Chlorine-free Paper Consortium
c/o Northland College
1411 Ellis Ave.
Ashland, WI 54860
(715) 682-1847
From: http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/home/101#more and:
http://www.seventhgen.com/household_hazards/chlorine.php
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