Health & Beauty

Health & Beauty By Julie Jacobs Find more information about these advertisers online at www.SuburbanEssex.com How "Green" Do You Clean? Breaking down eco-friendly home products eeping a clean home is partly a matter of aesthetics—and partly one of health. But what if the cleaning products themselves are adding dangerous chemicals to our sparkling kitchens and dustfree living rooms? Although studies by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found toxins in some common household cleaning products, few products pose acute health hazards; longterm effects, however, are less clear. With eco-friendly cleaning products popping up along the shelves of standard supermarkets, the interest in finding a safe way to keep our homes clean is clearly growing. But how well do these green products work—and how can we be sure they're as safe as they say? With spring cleaning on many people's to-do lists, here's a primer on being eco-friendly at home. K Guide (thegreenguide.com). Meaningless claims include "100% Biocompatible," "100% Vegan," and "environmentally friendly," according to Consumer Reports' Greener Choices. However, a product does have to meet certain standards to be labeled "antibacterial." Popular Products Although there are many other green products that received the seal of approval, among the most popular ones on the list are: Clorox's Green Works, Method, Seventh Generation, Aubrey Organics, Begley's Best and Greening the Cleaning. Chemicals to watch out for: Concern has been raised over furniture polishes that contain silicones, butane gas and propane. Be wary, too, of glycol ethers in some glass cleaners and volatile organic compounds in air fresheners. Understand labels Although the government has yet to set standards for eco-friendly stamps of approval, consumers can rely on reputable labels that are given only to products that pass certain criteria. Among these are: the Green Seal label (greenseal.org), the EcoLogo program (ecologo.org), the EPA's Design for the Environment (epa.gov/dfe), Consumer Reports' Greener Choices (greenerchoices.org), and the National Geographic Society's Green Homemade cleansers Some experts say that homemade cleaning products are still the best, least expensive bet for protecting your health and the environment. Just as yesteryear's generations did, you can create nontoxic cleansers from a handful of kitchen-cabinet supplies. A dab of liquid dish soap added to two cups of water and ¼ cup of white vinegar, for example, can be used to clean your windows streak-free. 58 Suburban Essex Magazine March 2010

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