There's chemicals in them thar products!

It's not quite the "good news" that Mark Twain's famous quote, “there’s gold in them thar hills,” alludes to, rather it’s “bad news” about the chemical 1,4 dioxane (dioxane) that is found in a variety of personal care and cleaning products.  Read about this scary chemical and then “ditch” products that contain it and “switch” to something safer.  I’m all about “ditching” the toxins in my home to reduce the chemical load on my body.  So, it only makes sense that I should be concerned about a product that comes into contact with my skin—the largest organ in the body. 

The thing is if you pull out your personal care and cleaning products and look at the ingredient list, it’s unlikely you will find dioxane on the list. This is because it’s not an intentionally-added ingredient, but rather it’s a contaminant that’s created when certain common ingredients are mixed together. According to the MadeSafe website, Dioxane is an expected contaminant from a process called ethoxylation, which happens when ethylene oxide is added to other ingredients to make them less harsh.  A good example of this is sodium lauryl sulfate (our old friend from my Jan. 11 post), which is harsh on skin.  It’s often ethoxylated to convert it to sodium laureth sulfate and dioxane is created in the process. 

Dioxane is most often found in products that suds, like shampoos, shower gels, dish soaps, and laundry detergents. Although,1,4-dioxane has also been found in toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorant, and hair dyes. 

Dioxane is listed as a known or probable carcinogen by several scientific agencies, including appearing on California’s Prop 65 list as linked to cancer, as a known animal carcinogen by the National Toxicology Program, and as a likely human carcinogen by the EPA. In addition to showing up in the products we use on a daily basis, the EPA says it is also present in groundwater. It’s on the EPA’s list of top ten chemicals for evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act, but they admit it may take them up to five years to evaluate these substances.  This is one bad chemical!

How do you tell if you’re using it, if it’s not on the list of ingredients?  Again here’s what the MadeSafe site says: 

Read labels on products like shampoo, bubble bath, liquid soaps, and laundry detergents to avoid 1,4-dioxane. Remember it won’t appear on the ingredient list; however, you can avoid the chemicals that are commonly contaminated with it:

o    Sodium laureth sulfate

o    PEG compounds (usually listed as “PEG” followed by a number)

o    Chemicals that end in “eth” (denotes ethoxylation), like ceteareth and oleth

 
New York is banning the sale of household cleaning and personal care products containing more than 2 ppm of 1,4-dioxane at the end of 2022. The state is the first in the US to set a maximum contaminant limit in products for 1,4-dioxane, which the US Environmental Protection Agency says is a likely human carcinogen and does not readily biodegrade in the environment. The law, signed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Dec. 9, 2019, further tightens the limit to 1 ppm on Dec. 31, 2023. The law also prevents the sale in New York of cosmetics with more than 10 ppm of 1,4-dioxane as of the end of 2022.

If you want to “ditch dioxane” and other toxins and “switch” to Young Living products that are safe for you and your family, I'd love to help you. The Thieves line of cleaning and personal care products would be a great place to start. Let me know if you'd like a sample or would like to learn more. 

More details available in the links below:

ww.newsday.com/long-island/environment/1-4-dioxane-household-products-1.28968339

https://www.sproutsanfrancisco.com/get-educated/chemical-14-dioxane-found-household-products/

https://cen.acs.org/environment/persistent-pollutants/New-York-restricts-14-dioxane/97/web/2019/12

https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredients/726331-1,4-DIOXANE