When your dishwashing liquid is leaving more than a sparkle
Typically, people are looking for a product that will dissolve stubborn stains easily without leaving streaks on your kitchenware.
Unaware, that the ingredients used in their dishwashing liquid are synthetic chemicals making their way into the body from the skin, respiratory system and along with our next meal due to the residue remaining on our dishes.
So, what else do you get with your dishwashing liquid:
a good dose of hormone disruption?
Chemicals like Triclosan, pthalates and DEA are used in detergents for their antibacterial properties. However, the side effects far outweigh any benefits. These chemicals are known to disrupt our hormone signalling, creating imbalances that result in illness.
an immune response?
There are many chemicals found in dishwashing detergents that regularly cause the body’s immune system to react. Chlorine, SLS, SLES, petroleum products and thousands of chemicals lumped into description of ‘fragrances’ are poorly received by humans, causing rashes, respiratory distress, itchy and irritated eyes, nose and mouth, impaired smell and taste and headaches.
headaches, foggy thinking?
Ammonia and formaldehyde are among many ingredients found in kitchen cleaning products that can impact cognition.
impaired organ function?
Propylene glycol is found in many personal care and home use products and is derived from processing glycerin or petroleum. It has been implicated in liver and kidney damage.
Responses like these are often close to immediate from time of exposure.
Immediate reactions like these are annoying and uncomfortable. What is disastrous, to our body and to our environment, is the long term effect of repeated exposure to these toxins.
Even more concerning, is the synergistic effect of combining more than one of these ingredients, to create a toxic chemical cocktail that assaults our body’s systems, and can leave us wondering why we feel so unwell.
The same things that are detrimental to our health, also effect the health of our environment. Air quality, water, soil composition and fauna are all impacted, influencing our ecosystem, which continues to affect us through the environmental cycle.
Phosphates have been used in kitchen cleaning product formulations as it is an effective cleaning agent, and easily added to make the more basic formulations work.
The result of using phosphates impacts our water composition significantly, creating unhealthy environments for our marine life and our water quality, which in turn affects our farming, soils and ultimately us humans.
It can be very difficult to identify and isolate particular chemicals if there is a detailed ingredient list, as various chemical names can be used in descriptions.
So how to avoid these nasty chemicals for your better health and the health of our environment?
It’s easy. None of these ingredients are necessary, they are just the preferred choice for manufacturers who formulate from a business perspective, but definitely not a focus for consumer health.
Choose an organic product with simple, whole and natural ingredients – a good product doesn’t need many – or make your own!
Here’s a recipe to for dish soap you can make at home..