Humble News: Redefining “Clean” in Cleaning Products
With World Cancer Day just a few days away, HEI will spend this whole month looking into "clean" products and labels that are not only good for the environment but good for a person’s health too. To better understand these products, we have to get down to basics - labels and ingredients. Which ingredients should be avoided and how to identify cancer-causing carcinogenic compounds in our everyday products like cleaning products for this instance.
But first off, what are carcinogens and how are they harmful? Carcinogens, simply put are substances, organisms or agents capable of causing cancer in living tissues. It can occur naturally in the environment (viruses or the sun’s UV rays) or may be generated by humans (fumes, smoke, chemicals, etc). Carcinogens work by producing cell mutations affecting our DNA and if left untreated these mutations can damage the cells and create tumors that can either be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous).
So how do we better understand and look out for these carcinogenic chemicals and compounds? The World Health Organization’s (WHO) independent agency that focuses on cancer - International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified the chemicals, compounds and product ingredients that we use into 5 groups or classifications.
But even with these classifications, consumers should still do their due diligence as companies have become more creative and crafty in hiding these in their labels within the bounds of FDA and EU regulations. Some products, if you look at the label would now read, “go to xxx website for complete list and information”. Now, as a consumer, would you do it? Probably not. And that is why it’s important to know which brands to trust and which keywords to look for at first glance.
If there are 2 ingredients to stay away from then these 2 ingredients classified as Group 1 (Carcinogenic to Humans), should be at the top of your list - Crystalline Silica and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). Through the years the main/base compounds have been banned in one form or another and can also be exposed through other means outside of product usage.
Cleaning products are notorious for having a laundry list of ingredients, each as complicated to spell and pronounce as they use scientific compound names. After doing our own research, we have identified these DIRTY 6 INGREDIENTS that you can choose to avoid completely or do more research on.
Let’s all do our part in redefining what being truly “clean” is and work to not compromise the environment and our health for cleaning “efficacy”. Hopefully, through the next few weeks, HEI will be able to help you better understand the products you are using and find necessary alternatives to live your best Truly Green Life.
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Sources:
https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Carcinogen
https://www.epa.gov/environmental-topics/chemicals-and-toxics-topics
https://www.safehouseholdcleaning.com/cleaning-products-cancer/
https://www.iarc.who.int/research-home/
