Photo Courtesy: Healthyfoodhouse.com

By K.P. Sander

Summer Shape Up Series #2:  Let’s say that you take care of yourself.  You do all the necessary things to eat right every day, exercise regularly, and work hard to have a great balance of work/play/family/personal time.  Life is good, and you’re feeling healthy.

But despite all your efforts, things are not so healthy.  Dangers lurk all about your home in every day products that seem so innocent.

Just as important as what you put in your body, is what you put on your body and what you are exposed to.  According to realfarmacy.com, the Cancer Prevention Coalition (CPC) has put together the top 12 most common products manufactured by “big business” that need to be avoided and kept out of your homes and away from your body.

• Johnson & Johnson Baby (Talcum) Powder: Talc is a carcinogenic and a risk factor for ovarian cancer, not to mention a lung irritant.
• Procter & Gamble Cover Girl Replenishing Natural Finish Foundation: Not so “natural,” this make-up contains parabens, untested fragrances, lanolin, talc, and BHA – just to mention a few – all known to cause or be associated with cancer and dermatitis.
• Procter & Gamble Crest Tartar Control Toothpaste: Would you switch to a natural toothpaste if you knew you were brushing twice a day with carcinogenics FD&C #1 and Saccharin?  Time to switch.
• Alberto VO5 Conditioner (Essence of Neutral Henna): Essence of cancer, with formaldehyde, polysorbate 80, FD&C Red #4 and other undisclosed ingredients hidden in fragrance.
• Clairol Nice ‘n Easy (Permanent Hair Color): There is nothing nice and easy about carcinogenics, neurotoxins, and dermatitis, but you can find these things hidden in quaternium-15, diethanolamine and phenylene-diamines. The article also notes a “causal relation to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma and other cancers.
• Colgate-Palmolive Ajax Cleanser and Reckitt & Colman Zud Heavy Duty Cleanser: Both contain the unlabeled toxic ingredient of crystalline silica, a carcinogenic and eye, skin and lung irritant.
• Reckitt & Colman Lysol Disinfectant Spray: Although the carcinogenicity is denied in their Material Safety and Data Sheet, the carcinogenic and irritant, orthophenylphenol is an ingredient.
• Sandoz Agro Zodiac Cat & Dog Flea Collar: With carcinogenic and neurotoxin, propoxur, around your pet’s neck, the fleas aren’t the only ones in jeopardy.
• Monsanto Ortho Weed-B-Gon Lawn Weed Killer: “Weed Killer” labels don’t leave much to the imagination – something is going to die.  Just make sure you wear gloves and masks when using these types of products so you aren’t exposed to carcinogens and neurotoxins.
• Oscar Mayer Beef Frankfurters: Don’t you just love throwing some benzene hexachloride, dacthal, dieldrin, DDT, lindane, nitrates, hormones and antibiotics on your summertime grill? In the case of a hot dog, if it isn’t chemical and nitrate-free, and made up of pure, normal parts – don’t go there.
• Borden or Lucerne Whole Milk: Milk does not do a body good in this particular case, with DDT, growth hormones, antibiotics and other carcinogenics mixed in.  Find another option to dunk your cookies in.
• Most Brand-Name Laundry Detergents: Clemson University conducted a study which found that 2% of a fabric’s weight comes from laundry detergent. The skin absorbs 75% of any fat soluble substance it comes into contact with within 26 seconds, and laundry detergents include anionic surfactants, petroleum distillates, phenols (and more) that are toxic, carcinogenic and can cause organ damage.

The realfarmacy.com article states that current product labeling provides no warnings for cancer and other chronic health risks.  Food is labeled for cholesterol, but not for carcinogens.  Frankly, high cholesterol is the least of your worries in these instances.

In the “Top 10 Most Unhealthy, Cancer Causing Foods,” American political activist, Ralph Nader, says, “What is particularly galling about the ‘Dirty Dozen,’ is that these toxic chemicals don’t have to be there.  Yet these corporations continue to expose people to health hazards unnecessarily.”

Do yourself and your family a favor, and read labels, educate yourself on chemical that you use on a regular basis, and begin to eliminate them all from your house and your life.