Green Chemistry

Green chemistry is chemical philosophy encouraging the design of products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. It has well established principles just waiting to become routine practice.

The news is that California just released its report on the Green Chemistry Initiative. The report is comprised of six policy recommendations which include:

• Expand Pollution Prevention to assist California businesses to lead the world in greener design and production

• Develop Green Chemistry Workforce Education and Training, Research and Development, and Technology Transfer to meet global demand for greener materials and product

• Create an Online Product Ingredient Network to disclose chemical ingredients in products sold in the state to allow consumers and businesses to make safer choices

• Create an Online Toxics Clearinghouse to increase our knowledge about toxicity and hazards for chemicals

• Accelerate the Quest for Safer Products to make the transition to more sustainable, safer products more quickly using science-based alternative analysis and lifecycle thinking

• Move Toward a Cradle-to-Cradle Economy to leverage market forces to produce products that are “benign-by-design””

Very little is known about the thousands of chemicals that are in use without prior research of effects on human health and this initiative could be a promising start. However, let's not forget that this year California lawmakers rejected two important bills (Corbett’s bill and Migden’s Bill ) that would have banned the use of two harmful chemicals: PFOA from food packaging and BPA in products used for children under 3 years of age. But let's keep our hopes up!

New Green Team

President Obama has announced his new environment and energy team. This is going to shape our life for the near future and, hoping that this is a change for the better, for the long term. Here is a recent NYT article and an interview with him and he sounds like a pragmatist; I hope he will prove to be a great leader, this is a great time to take that position -- I happen to believe that there's a great opportunity in any crisis, and we're not lacking the latter :)

I truly hope this is the start of a new era and things will get better.

Green Christmas – Choosing the Tree

The Christmas is fast approaching and the first thing to do is to get the tree decorated. At least this is what I do; I know I should have starting shopping already as I promise myself every year – but that is coming after the tree. The first thing has to be the tree ;-). So, how am I going to choose the tree to keep it the natural way and still be green? Here is the conclusion I came after searching and searching and looking around.

There are tree kinds of tree you can purchase:

1. The artificial tree – For me this does not make any sense at all; I dislike “fake nature” so there is no way for a plastic tree in my house. However, usually they are made of PVC and probably contain phthalates to soften the plastic; they are not biodegradable. They may be durable (it seems like they last more than 10 years) and you can save money every year by not buying a natural one, but they're still made of plastic.
2. The fresh cut tree – this is a very nice solution and one that I practiced always. It is all natural, it is recyclable (it can be composted and used as sand and erosion barriers on beaches, streambeds, and lakes and it can be sunk into private lakes and ponds, where it provides refuge for fish). One disadvantage can be the pesticides sprayed on them. To find an organic farm closed to you you can go here.
   
3. The tree with roots – this is the most eco-friendly solution. You can buy (errrr, "rent"?) the tree and after use it can be re-planted, comes in a big pot and you return it in the new year. This can also be sprayed with pesticides though and there are few places where they are offered.

My choice was again number 2 – the tree without roots. Wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Melamine Found in U.S. Infant Formula

What is safe anymore? The FDA said Tuesday that it had discovered the toxic chemical melamine in infant formula made by an American manufacturer. While few details were available late Tuesday, agency officials said they had discovered melamine at trace levels in a single sample of
infant formula. It was also discovered in several samples of dietary supplements that are made by some of the same manufacturers who make formula. For the full article go here.

Melamine was found in Good Start Supreme Infant Formula With Iron made by Nestle, and cyanuric acid was detected in Enfamil Lipil With Iron infant formula powder made by Mead Johnson.

I am not sure if this is news to make mothers become scared, but as a mother I am very concerned about the safety of my kids. Uffff...scary world!

The Good Guide

A friend of mine just sent me a link to the Good Guide, happy that it has an iPhone applications; it is all new to me (I am talking about the guide) so I already spent one hour browsing through their web-site.

The Good Guide provides information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home. The database contains about 60000 personal care and household chemical products for which they list their ingredients, certification (if available), manufacturer information and they also provide some advice on things to consider when you chose a particular product. This last one is an excellent source of finding out which ingredients are bad and you need to avoid when you buy personal care or household products.

GoodGuide partners with the top socially responsible investment research firms, as well as with leading non-profit organizations with high quality data on specific issues or industries. It also has a handful of advisors.

It is an excellent source and the only one I know so far that provides information on personal care and household products. It is worth trying it …. and it has an application for iPhone ;-)

#5 Plastic (polypropylene) Not Safe Anymore?

I was away from the news for a while but thanks to some readers, I found out about a new study saying that #5 plastic (polypropylene) was discovered (almost accidentally) to leach two types of chemicals. The study is described in a little depth on the EWG website. It is not clear under which conditions the chemical leached -- was it the enzyme used in the experiment, was it under normal conditions?? -- and whether it is dangerous or not

This is very sad news especially because that are many foods wrapped into #5 plastic (considered safe) and most of these foods cannot be avoided. Even the medication is packed in #5 plastic containers. It is not easy to get rid of it; yes you can eliminate from your house everything that is made from plastic but you cannot stop buying certain foods whose nutritional value is very important for a healthy diet.

This type of plastic was considered safe until now; however even now nobody is arguing that it is bad, the study found that the plastic is leaching chemicals. But what chemical is safe? I do not believe in chemical safety. I would not be surprised at all if one day they will find that the other two types of plastic (#2 and #4) considered safe now will be found to leach chemicals.

"Frankenstein Food" - Could Lower Fertility

Well, I have not find the time to write for a while because the cold season started earlier this year and with kids you feel like it never ends...

Here is a very interesting article worth sharing: it is saying that genetically modified (GM) food could lower a women's fertility. Infertility became such a big problem and I was always thinking (even there are not enough studies to prove it) that it is caused mainly by all our "modern" way of leaving (GM foods, the pesticides from the food; the chemicals found everywhere around and so on). Every time I read news like this I become so upset and sad...