Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has introduced The Household Product Labeling Act (S. 1697), which would require household cleaning products to carry labels that list all of their ingredients.

“Moms and dads have a right to know whether harmful chemicals are present in their kitchen cupboards,” Franken says. “When my wife, Franni, and I were raising our own kids, we were constantly concerned with what we used to wash their cribs, their pacifiers, the floors and surfaces they played on. This is just a commonsense measure to help parents keep their kids safe and healthy.”

Current law requires product labels to list immediately hazardous ingredients, but there is no labeling requirement for ingredients that may cause harm over time.

Toxic chemicals in household products produce harmful health effects—the main reason we recommend natural and organic options.

The bill would make information readily available to consumers. HR 3057, the House companion bill, was introduced by Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY).

From the Mind of Al Franken 

• Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot
• Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
• The Truth (With Jokes)
• Oh, the Things I Know!

I believe with my heart and soul that chemicals sabotage our natural weight loss system, zap our energy and prevent what could be permanent weight loss efforts.

Avoiding chemicals in your diet and eating only whole, organic foods, is a core foundation of Laura Klein’s Green Club.  Inside the Green Club, I cite studies that show FDA-approved chemicals in our food are seriously dangerous and help members take baby steps towards a healthier, non-toxic way of eating and living.

The chemical I consider Public Enemy Number One? Aspartame.

Aspartame is made of: phenylalanine and aspartic acid (amino acids) as well as methanol alcohol or wood alcohol.  Methanol is known to be poisonous even when consumed in relatively modest amounts.  Disorders caused by toxic levels of methanol include blindness, brain swelling and inflammation of the pancreas and heart muscle.

Is it any surprise that aspartame complaints represent 80-85% of food complaints registered with the FDA?

That’s why the documentary, Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World , struck a chord with me. In the film, aspartame ‘victims’ speak honestly about their personal battles with myriad sicknesses from MS to neurological disorders to brain cancer. The film also reveals the parallel between a spike in brain cancer rates and the introduction of aspartame to the marketplace in 1983.

Check out a sneak peak of the film on youtube.com, and let us know what you think.

So now that BPA has been widely vilified in people’s minds, the EPA plans to overhaul the way chemicals are evaluated in the United States.

The EPA proposed sweeping changes to the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, referring to it as an “inadequate tool” to help protect the public.

Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson acknowledges the problem, saying, “Many are turning to the government for assurance that these chemicals have been assessed using the best available science. Current law doesn’t allow us to give those assurances.”

You don’t want to hear that from people who are supposed to protect us from companies trying to sneak hazardous chemicals by us.

EPA officials want to shift the burden to companies, forcing them to prove chemicals, like BPA, are safe, and to urge producers to develop more “green” chemistry.

Biodegrable plastic has already been invented, called “Bioplastic,” made from corn starch, pea starch, and vegetable oil.

Via Food Production Daily.

Image credit: septuagesima

We want our laundry to feel soft and smell fresh, but traditional dryer sheets are not the answer. As noted in A Partner in Grime:

Dryer sheets contain artificial fragrances and carcinogenic chemicals ranging from ethanol to formaldehyde, so avoid using them. In addition to posing health hazards, they can leave a film on your dryer’s filter that reduces air flow. Over time, this can impair the motor’s performance.

You may have seen laundry balls and discs at your local natural and organic food store, which are promoted as long-lasting, eco-friendly solutions. But there’s a catch, according to Jill Potvin Schoff, author of Green Up Your Cleanup.

“Dryer balls used as fabric softeners do work,” she writes, “but they are made out of PVC, a plastic you want to avoid.”

Click here for more information on the perils of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

Suggested Reading

• Not-So-Clean Household Cleaners
• A Partner in Grime
• Is Your Clothes Washer an ENERGY STAR?
• Green Your Washing Machine
• 100+ Chemicals Released Into Air from PVC Shower Curtains Sold at Major Retail Outlets
• Understanding PVC Dangers
• PVC Shower Curtains: What’s Next?

I live in New Jersey. So I just assumed it was somewhere around here. It isn’t. Picher, Oklahoma has the displeasure of being the most toxic town in the United States. Its polluted from years of lead mining. The water actually runs orange.

The government is paying residents to move out. For years, locals have endured a variety of health problems, such as birth defects, deafness and cancer. But who do you blame? People who tried to eek out a living in back in the day? It’s a toughie.

Via Discoblog.

Image credit: MSNBC

This is great news for small, local and independent farmers.

Tom Brennan writes about Cramer’s segment:

” A series of competition-crushing acquisitions made this biotech disguised as an agriculture outfit the market leader in genetically modified US corn, soybean and cotton seeds. And Monsanto maintains strict agreements with its farmer clients that leave them virtually no choice but to feed at the corporate trough. Plus, the company plans to push through a 42% price increase on its new seeds, and there’s nothing these farmers can do about it.”

The behemoth seems to have farmers in an iron grip. Cramer states:

“When farmers buy Monsanto’s seeds they have to sign a stewardship agreement, and a contract saying they won’t save the seeds from one year to the next, or replant seeds reproduced by the crops they grow from Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds. This forces the farmers who want to buy Monsanto’s seeds to buy new ones, year after year, and pay ever higher and higher prices.”

Cramer goes on to state, “… Why is this important? Traditionally farmers have always tried to save seeds from year to year, but if you try to do it with seeds bought from Monsanto, some people say they will sue your pants off until you cave…”

Cramer says he thinks “the government is worried about the family farmer being destroyed by Monsanto’s practices” and to make matters worse, Monsanto’s  increase in seed prices is “begging the Justice Department to go after them [.....] They are tempting the wrath of Obama.”

In addition, Cramer says, Monsanto “better hope the guys at [The] Justice [Department] don’t go to the movies” and see the documentary film Food, Inc. which goes head to head with Monsanto’s methods, and our industrialized food system.

Not only is it great that the current administration cares, but I think it’s pretty cool that those interested in personal financial growth – Cramer’s audience – have been turned on to this issue.  I’ll be keeping an eye on this topic as it develops…in the meantime, let me know what you think!

Claims of “getaway drug” aside, the marijuana grown in California by Mexican drug cartels is actually harming the Sierra National Forest.

Obviously, these hidden ganja plantations are illegal, so it’s not surprising that the way the plants are being grown creates a severe danger for local environments.

The plants, which have tremendous street-value, are painstakingly cared for, which often involves pesticides and fertilizers that are many times stronger than the stuff allowed for commercial use and the runoff ends up in local waterways.

This can ravage wetlands. Harsh pesticides can kill important insects and cause algae and weeds to build up, which blocks water flows and chokes out animals, like frogs and salamanders. This is why legal agriculture has so many rules and regulations.

But federal agencies are busting these plantations in California. In February, agents seized over 300,000 marijuana plants, worth about $1.1 billion. Good news for the environment, bad news for potheads and drug cartels.  

Via Greenwire.

Apparently, British organics lack one unified message—very unlike the orderly and proper Brits—organic farmers and grows want to develop a joint, essential message to share with consumers.

The heart of the initiative is to inform that organic products are free-range, local, pesticide-free, fair trade, seasonal and natural. They want no confusion.

A spokesperson said, “To cut through the confusion the organic movement needs to demonstrate more forcefully than ever that organic principles encompass all these single issues and deliver a set of interlocking benefits that can and will still motivate consumers.”

Officials hope a new cohesive approach will help grow the organic market by 15% each year. To hammer out the plans a conference will be held in October.

Via Food Navigator.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that the average American family washes close to 400 loads of laundry each year.

But unlike clothes washers, dryers do not carry ENERGY STAR ratings. Each model uses a similar amount of energy, “which means there is little difference in energy use between models,” the DOE notes.

You can, however, do your part to conserve energy when drying clothes:

• Dry only full loads.
• Dry towels and heavier cottons in a separate load from lighter-weight clothes.
• Don’t over-dry your clothes. If your machine has a moisture sensor, use it.
• Clean the dryer’s lint filter after every load to improve air circulation.
• Use the cool-down cycle to allow clothes to finish drying with the machine’s residual heat.
• Periodically inspect your dryer vent to ensure it’s not blocked. Not only will this save energy, but it may prevent a fire. Manufacturers recommend using rigid venting material—not plastic vents that may collapse and cause blockages.
• Consider air-drying clothes on clothes lines or drying racks. Clothes will last longer.
• When shopping for a new clothes dryer, look for one with a moisture sensor that automatically shuts off the machine when your clothes are dry. This saves energy and helps minimize wear and tear on your clothes caused by over-drying.

• Dryer sheets contain artificial fragrances and carcinogenic chemicals ranging from ethanol to formaldehyde, so avoid using them. In addition to posing health hazards, they can leave a film on your dryer’s filter that reduces air flow. Over time, this can impair the motor’s performance.
• Some dryers have eco-conscious settings, such as the Whirlpool Duet WGD9450WL (pictured above). They offer faster drying times.

For Your Organic Bookshelf: Naturally Clean: The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe & Healthy, Non-Toxic Cleaning

Photo courtesy of Whirlpool

Her piece was powerful since the pure scope of studies that come out seemingly daily – from the latest on weight loss to the impact of red wine on health – can truly make our heads spin!

Begley takes the BPA argument to task, showcasing both sides of the battle: that BPA is perfectly safe versus extremely dangerous to our health; and she reminds us that ‘whether a study is good or not depends on how it was conducted.’

But what hit me the hardest in her piece was astonishing new BPA info that we’re ingesting more BPA than even the safety agencies, like the FDA, realize:

“In addition to hard plastic and epoxy can linings, it turns out, newspaper ink and carbonless copy paper – the stuff of credit car receipts and all sorts of business and medical documents – contain high amounts of BPA. Recycled, they wind up in food containers such as pizza boxes, along with the BPA.”

Recycling? Great. Recycling BPA?…now that’s a nightmare scenario.  More reason why BPA should simply be banned so that it’s lifecycle doesn’t extend to unexpected and unmonitored arenas, like a good old fashioned delivery box of pizza.

Via:  Newsweek, June 29, 2009