Green Clean Fun

By Nicole Duncan

Call me crazy, but I love cleaning. Not in an obsessive, Monica-from-Friends kind of way, but I love that feeling of satisfaction I get after a good scrub session. A wave of bliss washes over me as I sink into the couch and survey the fruits of my labor—a spotless house.

But recently, my mom (who else?) tipped me off to some startling information about what’s in my go-to, all-purpose cleaner: carcinogens and glycol ethers, among other things. Animal studies have shown that these glycol ethers can cause testicular damage, reduced fertility, and birth defects. Suddenly this warning from my mother didn’t seem like just another overprotective lecture. Instead, her words sent me on a quest to find out what other kinds of harmful ingredients lurk in my arsenal of cleansers under the kitchen sink.

What I found was unsettling. Spend 15 minutes cleaning the shower, and you could inhale three times the “acute one-hour limit�set by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment for glycol ether-containing products. Janitors and people who clean houses for a living have eight times the rate of asthma found in other workers, according to a study in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. And these cleaning products aren’t just hurting those of us who use them. A nationwide study by the US Geological Survey showed that nearly 70 percent of streams tested contained breakdown products from detergents, and 66 percent contained disinfectants.

Could my post-cleaning contentment be a farce? Was I actually cleaning my house, or was I polluting it and making myself sick? After all, according to the EPA, the air inside my home is three times more likely to give me cancer than the air I breathe walking down the street—and my tried-and-true cleaning products play a bigger role in that toxicity than I ever imagined.

But before I resigned myself to a life of grime, I unearthed some good news. Cleaning products that are better for our health and the environment do exist—and they work just as well as the ones jam-packed with chemicals. So here you go: the lowdown on the bad stuff, along with the new team of products I use to tackle even the toughest jobs. They actually work, and they’ve helped give me an even more euphoric post-cleaning nirvana.

All-Purpose Cleaner Stay Away From:

Glycol ethers (labeled as Butyl Cellosolve, 2-butoxyethan, or ethylene glycol monobutyl ether). This solvent strips hands of their natural oils. Even worse, it’s easily absorbed through the skin when it evaporates into the air and can affect the body’s hormone regulation. Once absorbed, it travels through the bloodstream and deposits itself in fatty tissues, where it can exist indefinitely and cause health problems ranging from infertility to birth defects.

Diethanolamine (DEA) and tri-ethanolamine (TEA). These sudsing agents react to nitrate, which is an often undisclosed preservative in cleaning products. Research shows they form carcinogens that penetrate the skin on contact.

Greener Picks: Earth Friendly Products Parsley Plus All-Surface Cleaner is made with a biodegradable coconut-based cleanser and is free of glycol ethers, DEA, and TEA. ($5 for 22 oz; ecos.com) Vermont Soap Organics Liquid Sunshine is loaded with natural oils and minerals. Testers raved about its grease-cutting power and citrus scent. ($8 for 16 oz; vermontsoap.com)

Glass Cleaner

Stay Away From:

Ammonia. This chemical is highly irritating to lungs and air- ways. Experts agree that people with chronic lung or heart problems, as well as asthmatics, should steer clear of it. Solvents. These are found in gasoline, kerosene, lighter fluid, and automotive products. When in cleaning products and used with poor ventilation, they significantly reduce indoor air quality and can contaminate your lungs.
Butyl Cellosolve. This glycol ether is a nerve-damaging ingredient that is easily absorbed through your skin.

Greener Picks: Ecodiscoveries Glass gets rid of everything from soot to fingerprint smudges with its water- and plant-based formula. ($6.50, 32 oz; ecodiscoveries.com)
Aubrey Organics Liquid Sparkle Spray Cleanser cleans with soy, aloe vera, and soap-bark extract. ($5.50, 16 oz; aubrey-organics.com)

Floor Cleaner

Stay Away From:

2-(2-Methoxyethoxy) ethanol. A member of the glycol ether family, its toxicity has caused reproductive and developmental malformations in some studies.
Monoethanolamine (MEA). This chemical is a known cause of asthma.

Greener Pick: BabyGanics Floor Cleaner Concentrate has a soybean-oil base that won’t aggravate skin and allergies. ($9, 16 oz; babyganics.com)

Tub and Tile

Stay Away From:
Sodium hydroxide, sodium hypochlorite (bleach), or phosphoric acid. These are all lung irritants and can burn eyes and skin. Bleach has also been linked to the rising rates of breast cancer in women, reproductive problems in men, and learning and behavioral problems in children.

Organochlorine. Found in chlorine bleach products, this chemical has been shown to cause cancer in animals.
Ammonium quaternary compounds. These have been shown to cause asthma.

Greener Picks:

Naturally Clean Tub and Tile doesn’t just kill the mildew and mold in your shower, it destroys the organic material that they grow in and prevents it from coming back. ($5.50, 16 oz; chemfreesolutions.com)

Bon Ami is a top pick among allergists because the natural ingredients contain no detergent, bleach, perfume, or dye. It’s a biodegradable scrubbing powder that’s made from the soft rocks of calcite and feldspar, and it doesn’t scratch tile. ($1.50, 14 oz; bonami.com)

BioShield Toilet Bowl Cleaner is made from citric acid and sugar-based cleaning agents—sans bleach, ammonia, dye, and petroleum derivatives. ($6.50, 25.5 oz; bioshieldpaint.com)

Dishwasher Detergent

Stay Away From:
Phosphate. This water- softening ingredient is discharged into lakes and rivers after the dishwashing cycle, where it spawns an overgrowth of algae, which in turn deprives fish of oxygen. Although many states have banned phosphates from laundry detergents and some cleaners, they are still allowed in dishwasher detergents.

Greener Picks:

Ecover Automatic Dishwasher Powder is made from plant- and mineral-based ingredients. ($8, 48 oz; ecover.com)

Earth Friendly Products Wave is phosphate-free and made from coconut oil. ($5, 40 oz; ecos.com)

Dishwashing Liquid

Stay Away From:
Petroleum-based components. Even though petroleum is biodegradable, it’s nonrenewable, so using it in household products contributes to our nation’s dependence on imported oil.

Synthetic fragrances. These scents can be made from up to 4,000 different chemical components and aren’t required to appear on the label because they are considered “trade secrets.�/FONT>