Angry Woman Kicks 1,4-Dioxane to the Curb

I'll admit I'm a bit cantankerous today. I was up all night with TD who has a hellacious cough and the poor kid is just not herself. Combine that lack of sleep with an issue that just generally gets me riled up anyway and you've got one angry woman on your hands.

That must mean it is time for a SOAP BOX RANT! I've climbed up. Attention please! Let me begin.

I love my kids. I want what is best for them in every possible way. I want them to feel safe and secure at all times. Their welfare and health is at the tip top of my list on a daily basis. So that is why I get so steaming, hell-fire breathing mad when I read that companies that many parents have trusted for generations, companies that love to court us mommy bloggers, just really don't give a shit. There. I said it. They don't. It's all about the bottom line. Duh. I feel like they are duping the consumers. Especially when we mommy bloggers have asked repeatedly at certain events if their products are really as safe and harmless as they say. We are a skeptical lot us mothers and we protect our young with a ferocity that cannot be imagined. When we find out that chemicals that cause cancer have been pumped into our tiny babies bath soap we get angry.

Really angry. I feel like I want to rip someones jugular out today and not just because I'm feeling all sleep-deprived and primal but because I'm damn mad that the makers of these products just don't care what they do. It's all about the easiest, cheapest way to make and market the product and who cares what the general public thinks. "Put a green leaf on it boys and the moms will go mad thinking it's all-natural!" When really it's chock full of formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane. Kiddie leukemia anyone?!

Grrr... Much teeth gnashing and I'm looking for blood.

I don't even care if it isn't my country that this is effecting though I'm quite certain that it is chemical poisoning is just as rampant in the US as it is in foreign lands. These chemicals just aren't required to be listed on our products labels according to US laws. Feel angry now? And just because it isn't in my house doesn't mean it isn't effecting me. Yet it is effecting my house because last year I got a ton of free baby bath products, kids shampoo, soap and lotion from this company. Trying to not be wasteful, especially during the time of my husband's lay off, I began using all this stuff just to save a dime. I'm almost done with all of it too. Despite my concious always eating away at me over the last few months I kept using it all too. But as of today it's all being chucked in the trash. Instead of waiting to be done with it and then going back to my safety-checked bath products I'm just going back now. No more chemicals for my kiddos. Because this?

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a consumer safety watchdog group, last
Friday reported that dozens of popular children’s bath products marketed in the
US contain two cancer-causing chemicals, 1.4-dioxane and
formaldehyde. Twenty-three of the 28 products tested for formaldehyde were
shown to contain the chemical, and 17 of those products contained both
formaldehyde and 1.4-dioxane. Among those were the highly popular Johnson’s
Baby Shampoo, L’Oreal Kids Extra Gentle 2-in-1 shampoo and Pampers Kandoo
foaming hand soap, which contained enough formaldehyde to trigger a skin
reaction in highly sensitive people, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics said in its
report.

Is completely UNACCEPTABLE. I'm not just going to single one company out either because this stuff and more is in so many of the products we use on a daily basis to clean our homes and simplify our lives. I have been trying to weed items like this out for the past few years and often there are much more wallet-friendly solutions that you just need to do a bit of searching for versus always buying the sometimes expensive and not always effective green marketed products crowding our shelves these days. Don't despair and feel defeated! You can take action in some very simple ways.

What you can do:

Contrary to industry statements, there are no regulatory standards that limit formaldehyde, 1,4-dioxane or most other toxic chemicals in personal care products sold in the United States. There are signs the U.S. is gearing to catch up, but for now it's up to consumers to consider carefully before they buy. Here's some suggestions for safeguarding your family's health:
Simplify: Select products with fewer ingredients and no synthetic fragrance or dyes, and use fewer products overall.

Choose safety: Search EWG's cosmetic safety database, Skin Deep, to learn more about the products you use and find safer alternatives. Also check out EWG's Safety Guide to Children’s Personal Care Products.

Read labels: Select products for baby and yourself that don't contain the ingredients listed above, which are commonly contaminated with formaldehyde or 1,4-dioxane.
Take action! Can’t memorize these lists? Nobody can. If harmful contaminants and ingredients weren’t allowed in products, you wouldn’t have to. Tell Congress you want safe cosmetics for babies, adults and everyone in between.

Spread the word: Send an e-card letting friends and family know about this report.

Finally you don't have to be a parent to be angry about this issue. It's a matter that everyone should take to heart. It is your health after all too. Your pets as well. The more of us that take action the better off we will all be in the long run. Not only healthier but safer. And by God maybe then some of those green products will have to come down in price as well!

Yeah, Because You Want My Two Cents

The following is a January 10, 2008 blog post that just feels right to post again. Have a safe, happy, healthy new year Internets! I for one, am keeping it simple this year. I'm not looking to spend time with the police again this year or getting bail money for a certain loved one from an ATM stationed in a high stakes poker room.




See sign above? Yup. Really nothing more needs to be said but sometimes I find myself in conversations with people who talk as if they have no control over their lives. It baffles me. I'm not saying I'm some life coach or guru of sorts. Far be it from me to dispense any real advice but uh... I'm about to. Why? Because when I hear people talk like this I get mad. Damn mad. So mad I think of this scene from Network.

Your life is your own. Yours. You have to live it as if each day were your last (that doesn't mean quit your job or rob a bank either). I know real pearls of wisdom right there. But seriously, if you are waiting for some big moment in your life to happen to make it all amazingly better (to bring romance into your life, adventure, fix your spouse, or even you) it is not going to happen unless you take action. Stop living passively and begin to live actively. Ask for what you want. Don't just wish! Demand it! Make it happen! Stop putting off things like dream trips for when you are old and retired and start saving and creating them today.

I say this not because it is a new year, though it is a good time to put it all in perspective, but because as I draw closer to my one-year mark of trying to live my dream of being a writer I realize the milestones, achievements, failures and what I did to get here. What I sacrificed and won. It wasn't always easy or fun and sometimes it was downright petrifying filled with sweaty nights of no sleep and endless worry. BUT. It's been one of the best years of my life. I asked for it, I created it and I got it. I asked for support from my family and friends and I got it. I'm living my life authentically and it hasn't been as earth-shattering as I thought it would be either.

It is just change. Change is good. Change is needed. It isn't some life threatening illness or accident that should finally push you to evaluate your life. There is no big crescendo of music and sappy photo montage that will play before your eyes. Life doesn't work that way as much as we might want it too. Your life is in YOUR hands. If you want things to be different it is up to YOU to change them. Join a group, join a freakin' gym if that is all it is, volunteer, contribute to something that is greater than yourself. Change careers, change vacation plans, change your kitchen if that will help. Just stop being afraid, get off the bench and do something!

You only get one life. There are no re-dos. Please stop and think. Should you really be a passive watcher of your own life or should you be actively participating in it? It is a whole lot more exciting when you decide to participate.

And I'm spent...


*This post was brought to you by lots of expectorant and other assorted decongestants, cough supressants and caffiene. Also known as Mummy's sick bed.

**Poster by Linzie Hunter.

How May I Help You?

Last night in an effort to fight my case of W.B. I asked the women in my GNO group what types of issues bother them. We discussed air travel, restaurants and the quality or lack of in products. However, what the discussion really boiled down to is poor customer service. Today, with all our technological efforts we have to make life easier we have lost something in the translation. We've lost good, effective customer service.

We find ourselves stunned when someone treats us with respect or gets a task accomplished properly and efficiently. In essence we are impressed when someone in customer service does their job. How sad is that? Tell me, how many of you arrive at an airport already bracing yourselves for the onslaught of crap service? You can put your hands down now. I see it is almost unanimous. I don't mean to be a pessimist here but you know it's true. We already know that these airport/airline workers are underpaid, have had their benefits slashed and they are horribly understaffed and you brace yourself. Lines will be long, no reasons will be given for delays, and customer service in the US airline industry has become almost nil. I read stories like this one in the Post and while I'm shocked and saddened but I'm not really surprised.

We know that when we call a customer service line we will have to wait and most times we will never get to speak to an actual human being. Comedians have constructed whole routines on this topic. We hate it, but we accept it. Why? We grumble and complain about how bad customer service is when we try to return an item, fix a product, or simply dine out but yet we don't really do anything about it in the end. We simply move on and accept it. It has come to the point that when we are treated nicely it is a major event. We tell our friends about it. We call people and share the joyous news! SOMEONE ON THE OTHER END OF THAT 1-800 NUMBER WAS NICE TO ME! My mechanic did his job! The cashier was pleasant! She didn't scowl once!

I realize that a lot of this stems from employees being underpaid but there is a limit. If your job is in customer service or in the service industry you have to remember that. Your job is to you know, actually be pleasant and help people. It's not your job to be unapologetic regarding a wrong order. It is going that extra mile to smile. To do your job properly which doesn't take that much more effort. Sometimes it takes less energy and makes it easier than being unpleasant. At least that is what I garnered all those years I slogged working behind a sandwich/ice cream counter, being a cashier and working in customer service myself.

I think that is why I am continually saddened by how much we take from this sector and how little we expect when we get into these situations. As a nation have we come to expect poor service? If you find yourself being amazed at good service what does that say about our country as a whole? Readers what do you have to say about this issue? I really want to know. I'm beginning to feel that this may be a call to action of it's own. All the recent toy recalls speak to this too. Companies don't care. They are complacent and just want the cash. Service then goes out the window. We may be grumbling to ourselves but we are clearly not being heard and maybe it's time that we speak up and demand better. Either that or I'm just a cranky B with standards that are too high.

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