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Research on a chemical found in common products This paper is dedicated to chemical elements, which can be found in everyday products and their harmful effect. Humanity always wanted to make life more easier and comfortable and developed sciences for this purpose. At some point it became easier and cheaper to replace natural products by their chemical analogues. Nowadays we are able not only to wear clothes made from artificial materials but also consume products in which organic elements are replaced by chemicals.
During our everyday activity we forget about harmful influence of many products and such carelessness may have terrible consequences. Alexandra Rome states There are more than 75, 000 chemicals licensed for commercial use; more than 2, 000 new synthetic chemicals are registered every year; the Environmental Protection Agency has tallied close to 10, 000 chemical ingredients in cosmetics, food and consumer products. The 210 we were tested for are just a few of the industrial chemicals in our world. We can surmise that the actual number of manufactured chemicals in our bodies is far greater than our results show. Very few of these chemicals were in our environment, or our bodies, just 75 years ago. (Toxic America, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, March 28, 2004) Just imagine that during 1998 in U. S.
big companies reported manufacturing 6. 5 trillion pounds of 9, 000 different chemicals. And that even without 7. 1 billion pounds of 650 different chemicals dumped into the water and air. Sad to admit that many health problems are tightly connected with the specific exposures of chemicals. Science and medicine still are not adapted to that and are not able cancel the harmful effect which chemicals causes to our bodies. Yet, Alexandra Rome states the prevalence of many illnesses and diseases -- including cancers, birth and reproductive system defects, asthma, nervous system disorders such as autism and attention deficit disorder -- is on the rise, and environmental factors may play a significant role in these increases. More than 50 of the chemicals I tested positive for are known to have harmful effects on the immune and cardiac systems. (Toxic America, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, March 28, 2004) The vast majority of all chemicals unleashed into our bodies, alas, stay unknown.
Of course, chemical industries claim that all exposures of their chemicals are pretty safe for both people and environment. And it is impossible to argue with such statements because there are no studies done on such exposures. More than that, there are no studies about how all that chemicals interact with each other in our bodies and what genetic consequences we may observer after some time. There is no information available on the chemical uses or health effects of more than one- third of the chemicals for which the nine body burden study participants tested positive in a review of eight standard industry or government references used by the EPA. (Toxic America, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, March 28, 2004) The main reason of such total lack of knowledge this sphere is that nobody regulates chemical industry. Companies have no reason and no obligation to discover harmful effects of their products, except in the case of certain poison ingredients happen in food and sensational rows happen later. Of course such darkness is unacceptable and more scientific information about harmful chemicals must be available.
In this paper I want to examine our everyday beauty and care products comprising harmful chemicals. All information used is taken from Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) list of harmful chemicals and is not a result of my imagination. Lets start from Propylene Glycol (MSDS), which is also called a humectant in cosmetics. In industry it is used as industrial anti-freeze and is that major ingredient in brake and hydraulic fluid. It is a strong skin irritant and MSDS warn to avoid skin contact with this product because it is systemic and may cause such health worsening as liver abnormalities and kidney damage. Another harmful chemical may be found practically in each personal-care product and is perhaps the most dangerous one.
It is Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS). Shelley Kramer states Industrial uses of SLS include: garage floor cleaners, engine degreaser's and car wash soaps. Studies show its danger potential to be great, when used in personal-care products. Research has shown that SLS and SLES may cause potentially carcinogenic nitrates and dioxins to form in the bottles of shampoos and cleansers by reacting with commonly used ingredients found in many products. Large amounts of nitrates may enter the blood system from just one shampooing. (Harmful Ingredients in Everyday Products) What else?
The list of harmful chemicals in personal-care product seems really endless to me. I chose the most widely used such as Glycerin. It is presented as ideal humectant (ingredient which draw moisture to and aid in moisturizing skin). It looks like clear, syrupy liquid and actually is a chemical combination o water and fat. Water splits fat into glycerol and fatty acids. Such chemical structure of Glycerin improves the spreading qualities of creams and lotions and prevents them from losing water through evaporation (Harmful Ingredients in Everyday Products) It draws moisture from inside the skin, and holds it on the surface for a better "feel and in such way dries your skin from the inside out.
MSDS specifies Glycerin as hazardous. A solvent, humectant and emollient in many cosmetics, it absorbs moisture from the air and therefore helps keep moisture in creams and other products, even if the consumer leaves the cap off the container. Unless the humidity of the air is over 65 %, glycerin will pull the moisture out of the skin, drying you from the inside out. (Harmful Ingredients in Everyday Products) I will not examine such chemicals as Sodium Fluoride (used as Rat poison but you can find it in your toothpaste as well), Titanium Dioxide, Cocoamide DEA, TEA, MEA, (MSDS), etc. All of them are declared carcinogen and all of them can be found in our everyday personal-care products. Admit, that we are in hand-made chemical trap and something must be changed.
Bibliography: Alexandra Rome, Co-director of the Sustainable Futures Group at Commonweal, a nonprofit health and environmental research institute, until 2000, Toxic America, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, March 28, 2004. Retrieved February 27, 2006 from web Shelley Kramer, Harmful Ingredients in Everyday Products. Retrieved February 27, 2006 from web MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET ON PROPYLENE GLYCOL, February 27, 2006 from web
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Research essay sample on Research On A Chemical Found In Common Products
