Soap bubbles with cute smiling faces, sliding joyfully around a tub and shower, who wouldn’t want to buy what these animated little darlings want to sell you? But no matter how endearing, the only reality of the never ending need to clean our shower and tub is, as our parents used to say, “elbow grease.” A good scrubbing with a green scrubber and a non toxic product is the only way to clean a bathroom.
No matter what the makers of household cleaners want you to believe, bleach is one of the main ingredients of most cleaning products, because, as you know, bleach whitens. It turns the dark build up of scum residue white as the bleach rushes down the drain and into our water system.
What you may not know is that when bleach comes in contact with an organic material such as the earth or water, it becomes a carcinogen. A carcinogen causes cancer. We are causing many of our own cancers! Not all chemicals get cleaned from our drinking water and we are using our water up faster than we can clean it up.
After sending hundreds of letters and e-mails protesting the production of poisons by companies, to congressmen and chemical businesses, a few companies have finally produced one or two non-toxic cleaners. Ironically one of the major bleach producing companies has brought out a line of non-toxic cleaners called ‘Green Cleaners’. I have tried them. They work well and are cheaper than most non polluting products I’ve found so far. They are on most supermarket shelves. But these companies still make bleach and bleach-related products. There is one company that tries to convince you that because they fuel one of their factories from recycled garbage, you can feel good about flushing gallon after gallon of their poison down your drain and toilet and charge you an arm and a leg for the privilege. But don’t worry; their company is ‘family friendly.’
Don’t be fooled by careless, money grubbing, big business; you can help stop the pollution of our vital resources by checking EVERY LABEL before you buy. A household cleaner should contain NO PHOSPHATES, AMMONIA, ALCOHOL OR BLEACH. If this admission isn’t stated clearly on the label, pass it by. A gallon of white distilled vinegar will clean almost everything in a house and it is a disinfectant. Just pour it full strength into a spray bottle and go!
Everyone can help save the earth by spending a few minutes reading a label. If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for your children and grandchildren. The only way to stop chemical companies from producing toxins that poison us is TO NOT BUY THEIR PRODUCTS.
