The Risk of Houshold chemicals on you and the environment

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If you look at the back of any of the cleaning supplies that you commonly use, you will likely see a laundry list of chemicals. Windex alone is composed of more than 7 chemicals including, but certainly not limited to, various dyes, ammonia, and many perfumes. With all the chemicals used and with little to no regulation throughout the industry, how can we be sure the chemicals we surround ourselves are actually safe? The average person would not know the dangers of surfactants and neither do the law makers in charge of regulating them. Instead of looking onto your local politician for guidance, look into a mirror. Start protecting yourself and the environment by taking responsibility into your own hands, and learn about the chemicals you constantly surround yourself with. Then, after you and the people around you have become educated, we can put reasonable and informed regulation and restrictions in place.
Chemicals, especially those meant for cleaning, are so common that we no longer notice them I our day to day life. We have come to prefer the artificial smell of cleaning supplies over the absence smell or slightly unpleasant smell. You could probably look around yourself now and find several examples of products chock-full of unknown chemicals. With our short term, quick-fix society it is only natural that we would find ourselves habitually using these products with little to no thought. That is why it is crucial that we learn more about these products and their dangerous and volatile contents. It quite possible that you could be ingesting these deadly compounds daily. Chemicals used in functions, such as embalming, have become routine (National Cancer Institute). Everything from your new car smell to your favorite detergen...

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...honest companies or politicians you think should be doing the right thing. The only way to stop this epidemic of blindly using chemicals in our home is to educate ourselves and stop it at the source.

Works Cited

• Conis, Elena. "Safely Clean?" Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles] 28 Apr. 2008:. Print.
• Dutt Chaturvedi, Amiy, and K. L. Tiwari. "Effect Of Household Detergents
(Surfactants)Degraded Through Aquatic Fungi." Recent Research In Science
& Technology 5.5 (2013): 12-16. Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Sept.
2013.
• "8 Household Cleaning Agents to Avoid." Gaiam Life. Gaiam, n.d. Web. 13 Sept.
2013.
• "Formaldehyde and Cancer Risk." Cancer.gov. National Cancer Isntitute, n.d. Web.
11 Sept. 2013.
• "How Toxic Are Your Household Cleaning Supplies?" Organic Consumers. Organic
Consumers Association, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2013.

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