Okay, I'll be honest. This diary does not contain one single brilliant idea for getting rid of the scum in Washington. And there are recipes, but they're not going to make your mouth water. But if you keep reading, you'll learn how simple it is to to clean up the kitchen, as well as the rest of the house, without screwing up whatever’s left of the environment or jeopardizing the health of your family and/or pets.
Right now, Americans waging war on germs use a staggering 300 million pounds of antimicrobial products every year. But being so squeaky clean could be a big mistake.
One example: our heavy use of hundreds of products labeled "antibacterial." Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., is emeritus Professor of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Illinois, chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition and co-author of The Safe Shopper’s Bible (Macmillan). Many people consider him one of the world’s leading experts on toxins, pollution and health. A few years ago, I interviewed him for an article on healthy cleaning. His advice: "Avoid anything that’s antibacterial. If you use these products, you’re going to induce bacterial resistance, so problems could become worse."
If creating super-bugs isn’t bad enough, there are other downsides to using conventional cleansers. The vast majority of Americans – nearly 90 percent – are convinced cleaning products have been safety tested -- and safety testing is required by the Consumer’s Product Safety Commission (CPSC). But the testing is almost always done by the manufacturers themselves (and we know how well that works!). In all fairness, the tests aren’t necessarily flawed or biased, but testing by a third party with no economic interest in the product is the gold standard, and these tests are nowhere close to that.
When it comes to potential dangers, cleaning products are clearly marked, but if you don’t understand the terminology, warnings can be confusing. Example: What is the difference between a product labeled "Danger" and one that carries the warning "Caution"? According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "caution" means fatalities can occur if more than two tablespoons are ingested, while anything labeled "danger" or "poison" is so deadly that just a few drops can be lethal. In between the two, there’s the term "warning." A mere one teaspoon of these products can be deadly. These warnings apply to adults. It takes far less to poison a child or an animal. In spite of the labels about two million people are poisoned by household products each year, and more than half of them are children.
Other than these legally required warnings, manufacturers provide little health information. If you want to know what ingredients a product contains, for example, you’re on your own. Most mainstream product labels do not include ingredients, nor do they have to, thanks to trade secret laws that protect these "recipes."
Still it might seem like the risks are low since the typical cleaning job doesn’t require gallons of cleansers. After all, how dangerous can a few spritzes of anything be? The answer depends in part on how often you use the products and how weather-tight your home is. If you tend to keep the windows and doors shut most of the time, product fumes can accumulate to dangerous levels. Chemical pollutants in the air inside homes can be up to 70 times higher than those outdoors, according to the EPA. Since many people spend a great deal of time indoors, a house or apartment with little ventilation means being in contact with these toxins for hours at a time.
People aren’t the only ones affected by the chemicals in cleaning products, either. Waterways are being polluted by cleaning agents that are poured down drains. These same chemicals affect air quality. And every year, millions of animals are subjected to painful tests so manufacturers can measure the effects of their products on eyes, skin and internal organs.
You can keep your home clean and safe by using products made without dangerous chemicals. What works best? "There’s nothing better than just plain soap and water," says Epstein.
Then there’s the stuff our grandparents used -- baking soda, borax, lemon and other citrus extracts, minerals like alum, vinegar, salt, vegetable soaps or dyes, olive and linseed oil and herbs, which can be used to make "green" cleansers at home. This 9-page PDF from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is the best collection of homemade cleaning recipes I’ve run across, covering everything from drain cleaners to pest repellents, and includes resources for hard-to-find ingredients.
If you’re just not into making your own cleaners, earth-friendly companies like Seventh Generation and Gaiam have a full range of products, including everything from non-irritating glass, tile and toilet cleansers to non-toxic oven cleaners. When shopping, keep in mind that "biodegradable" and "natural" are legally meaningless terms, so they can be used on products loaded with petrochemicals and toxins. Instead, concentrate on ingredients, which usually do appear on labels of safe cleaning products. If you have questions, contact manufacturers. Those with nothing to hide should give you straightforward answers.
Finding cruelty-free products that are not tested on animals is easier than it used to be. Hundreds of manufacturers have replaced animal testing with more humane methods, such as computer models and cell cultures. Look for the "leaping bunny" logo, the seal of approval from the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC), which also tests household products, as proof that a product and its ingredients have not been tested on animals at any stage of development.
Making the transition to green cleaning doesn’t have to be a radical, "throw out everything under the sink" move. When you run out of dish soap, replace it with the green version, and do the same when other mainstream products are used up. Or start by getting rid of the most toxic products first. "Deodorizers, like the waxy blocks put in toilets and the ones in closets, are among the worst," says Epstein, who calls the fragrances used in mainstream cleansers "a witches’ brew." Instead, look for natural citrus-based scents in non-aerosol pump sprays. Aerosols produce extremely fine particles that are easily absorbed into the lungs and bloodstream, but particles from pump sprays are larger, so they’re less likely to enter the body.
Apropos of nothing, if you haven’t contributed to our upcoming cookbook, there’s still time to email me a seasonal favorite recipe and see your name (or handle) in print. Any type of dish is welcome, although at the moment we are quite partial to recipes for Impeachment Pie!