Dangers of Laundry Detergent
The typical American home contains 3-10 gallons of toxic household cleaning materials this includes personal care and house hold cleaning products that can cause respiratory problems, eye irritation, endocrine system disruption, and cancer.
The dangers of SLS (sodium laureth sulfate) alone have been documented in 16,000 studies.
1,4-dioxane, aka dioxane, is a byproduct rather than ingredient and is therefore not listed on any label. However, it’s been found to be toxic to your brain, central nervous system, kidneys, liver and respiratory system, and 2/3rds of laundry detergents contain it.
As a result of cleaners and other toxic household products, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that the air inside the typical home is 2-5 times more polluted than the air immediately outside—and in extreme cases, 100 times more contaminated.
Did you know that cleaning products are responsible for nearly 10 percent of all toxic exposures reported to U.S. Poison Control Centers and 5 percent from everyday personal care products?
The average family washes approximately 80 pounds of laundry per week—or 35 billion loads of laundry per year! This means that 17.5 billion cups of laundry detergent are being used every year in the U.S. alone. Not only can you come in contact with caustic chemicals via your clothing, from having been laundered in them, but you can breathe them into your lungs once they become airborne in the process of doing your laundry.
The detergent you’re using may contain a cocktail of potent cancer-causing chemicals, some of which the manufacturer doesn’t even have to list on the label. This loophole reduces the odds that you’ll ever discover what’s in there.
Four of the worst offenders are:
- Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)/sodium laureth sulfate (SLES)
- 1,4-dioxane
- NPE (nonylphenol ethoxylate)
- Phosphates
Not only are these chemicals potentially damaging to your health, but they are also contaminating waterways and harming the environment.
