Laundry Detergents: Cleaning your clothes or adding toxic chemicals? (Part 1 of 3)
I have had a lot of requests, messages and questions about laundry detergent over the past year and I have been holding off because I 
hadn’t found the perfect solution myself despite years of trying. Since I have tried so many things I want to break this down over the next few weeks so information doesn’t get lost. This week’s focus: toxins likely in your store bought detergent.
What to avoid:
Diethanolamine: This can be linked to tumors in kidneys and the liver. It has links to developmental toxicity and is considered an eye and skin irritant. EWG scores it as a 10 (the most toxic ranking) http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/search.php?query=Diethanolamine&h=Search
Quaternium-15: Added to help a product clean better. Another known carcinogen that releases formaldehyde. (Scores an 8 out of 10 according to EWG)
Nonylphenol ethoxylate: Also labeled as: AMMONIUM NONOXYNOL-4 SULFATE, AMMONIUM SALT PEG-4 NONYL PHENYL ETHER SULFATE; AMMONIUM SALT POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL 200 NONYL PHENYL ETHER SULFATE; AMMONIUM SALT POLYOXYETHYLENE (4) NONYL PHENYL ETHER SULFATE; P-NONYLPHENOL, ETHOXYLATE, SULFATE, AMMONIUM SALT; PEG-4 NONYL PHENYL ETHER SULFATE, AMMONIUM SALT; POLY (OXY-1,2-ETHANEDIYL) , .ALPHA.-SULFO-.OMEGA.- (4-NONYLPHENOXY) -, AMMONIUM SALT; POLY (OXY1,2ETHANEDIYL) , αSULFOω (4NONYLPHENOXY) , AMMONIUM SALT; POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL 200 NONYL PHENYL ETHER SULFATE, AMMONIUM SALT; POLYOXYETHYLENE (4) NONYL PHENYL ETHER SULFATE, AMMONIUM SALT; ALIPAL CO 436; ALIPAL CO-436
Linear alkyl sodium sulfonates (LAS): Toxic to aquatic life and may be a skin and eye irritant.
Petroleum distillates(also called naphthas): This ingredient can be linked to cancer and lung damage.
Fragrances: We have covered this a lot in the past. A “Fragrance” covered by trade secret may include any number of over a thousand different chemicals. Some have never been tested for safety and others are known carcinogens.
Polyalkylene oxide or ethylene oxide: One or both may be added to help “stabilize” the product. Both are linked to respiratory issues, kidney and liver damage.
Laundry “Brighteners”:
naphthotriazolystilbenes benzoxazolyl, diaminostilbene disulfonate. These may be linked to reproductive issues and do not necessarily “wash off” your clothing.
I once used the “Think Dirty” app to scan almost an entire isle at Target. Some that I assumed were going to come out on the better end-did NOT. It was actually shocking and I left without detergent. I was determined to find a safer detergent. Next week we will explore some other options I tried and what the downfalls were.
*Please note: This list does NOT include toxins in dryer sheets since that was covered in a previous post)
