Congress Banned Three Phthalates in Children’s Toys

Good news parents! Congress has banned the use of three dangerous phthalates that are used in products for children under 12 years of age. Finally! The ban will take effect in 6 months so toys containing these chemicals may still be sold during the coming holiday season. Couple of years back, Europe banned six of the phthalates; in the U.S. the other three phthalates require extensive testing and is part of a major piece of legislation overhauling the Consumer Products Safety Commission. Arghhhhh! OK, let's focus on the positive: 3 down!

For getting tips on how to chose safe toys, go here!

The Labeling of Organic Textiles

Are organic labels on textiles green washing or not? It turns out they're legit and fairly regulated in the US, here's the facts:
According to the National Organic Program (NOP) regulations, USDA regulates the term “organic” as it applies to agricultural products through 7 CFR Part 205. The regulation covers the raw natural fibers (such as cotton, wool, flax, etc.), as being agricultural products covered under the NOP crop/livestock production standards. Therefore, the off-farm treatment of raw organic fibers is not covered under the NOP crop/livestock production standards. Although the NOP has no specific fiber or textile processing and manufacturing standards, it may be possible for fibers grown and certified to NOP crop/livestock standards to be processed and manufactured into textile and other products which meet NOP standards.

“Only textile products certified to the NOP production and processing standards are eligible to be labeled “100 percent organic” and “organic.”

So what's in a name? There are three main categories:

100 percent Organic

• 100 percent organic fiber content.
• Only organic processing aids.
• USDA Organic seal may be displayed on final product, in marketing materials, and in retail displays—in proximity to certified products only.
• All operations producing, handling, processing and manufacturing the final product must be certified.

Organic

• Minimum of 95 percent organic fiber content.
• 5 percent non-organic substances, as listed in Section 205.605 of the NOP regulation.
• No non-organic fibers.
• USDA Organic seal may be displayed on final product, in marketing materials, and in retail displays—in proximity to certified products only.
• All operations producing, handling, processing, and manufacturing the final product must be certified.

Made with Organic Ingredients

• Must contain a minimum of 70 percent organic fibers. However, all fibers identified in these textile products as “organic” must be produced and certified to NOP standards.
• May identify specific fibers as being organic if certified to the NOP crop/livestock standards.
• May state the percentage of organic fibers contained in the final product.
• May not use the USDA Organic seal.
• May not imply or lead the consumer to believe that the final product is certified organic.

What Organic Means?

Organic fibers (cotton, hemp and linen) are grown without the use of toxic and persistent pesticides or fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation or genetic engineering, and are certified by an accredited independent organization. Strict laws and regulations are enforced by US Department of Agriculture and have been in place since 2002.
Organic wool must be produced in accordance with federal standards for organic livestock production and this include:livestock feed and forage used from the last third of gestation must be certified organic; use of synthetic hormones and genetic engineering is prohibited; use of synthetic pesticides is prohibited; and producers must encourage livestock health through good cultural and management practices.
Organic leather means that the hides used are from animals that are organically fed and humanely raised, and the tanning process uses plant tannins, vegetable tannins or smoke to cure the leather. This means that there is zero toxicity from the run at the tanning facilities.

Some brands and designers that are using organic fiber, wool and leather are:

C&A (Europe)	Disney	Nordstrom	Gaiam	Hanna Andersson
Hess Natur (Germany)	Nike	Macys	IKEA	Indigenous Designs
Howie's (U.K.)	American Apparel	REI	Gap, Inc.	Linda Loudermilk
People Tree (U.K.)	Patagonia	H&M	Eileen Fisher	Bloomingdales
Monoprix (France)	Marks & Spencer (Europe)	Levi Strauss	Diane von Furstenberg	and many more....

Going Green:Product Review of the Week - Hardwood Floor Cleaners

I am using Bona (by BonaKemi) for almost 2 years and I am still very happy about the results. It keeps my floor looking like new; it does not leave any residue and it cleans the dirt from the floor very well. It works well on the ceramic floor also. The product is non-toxic and most importantly is Greenguard certified since 2006 (it was the first-ever hardwood floor finishing company to earn The Greenguard Indoor Air Quality Certification for their products).

You can find a list with the dealers on their website but the best deal I found is on Amazon.

“From effective dust containment to low-VOC, high performance waterborne finishes without harmful fumes, to non-toxic floor care products and systems, the Bona system offers the cleanest and healthiest hardwood floor finishing system available.”

I strongly recommend this product; it is a good one to add to your green collection.

Radon Found In Granite Countertops

Update : Radon Found In Granite Countertops

A friend of mine pointed me to this article in New York Times talking about radon emissions from granite countertops. I had no idea that the granite can emit radon and of course, the first thing I thought about the granite countertop in my kitchen. Is it safe or not? I just tested the house for radon last winter and it was fine, but I did not test the kitchen. I wonder how far should we go with the testing around the house; probably everything is emitting some levels of something that is risky for our health. However, I think the article is worth to read – if not, just to find out that there is something more to add up to the pile of chemicals and gases that impacts our health. Should I will have my granite countertop tested too?

13 Things I changed That Made Me Greener

A friend of mine, who is not too much into the green stuff, asked me recently what I did during the last year that helped me become greener. There were things that I did always like recycling, but I will try to compile the list as I do them now as well. To become green, it takes time; I am not the kind of person who would change over night and I do not have the budget anyway. But this is what I did and I continue doing it and I think it would be easy for everyone, and hopefully convince my friend to start little by little changing those old habits.

1. Recycle – this is the easiest to do. I do recycle everything possible – plastic/paper bags, light bulbs, electronics, cardboards, cans, plastic/glass bottles, food packaging, junk mail, etc. Bring your bags when going to the supermarket or the farmers market.

2. Ventilate well your home every day. Stop using air fresheners since the indoor air is more polluted that the outdoor air anyway. Stop using insecticides and pesticides for your plants. I do not use anything for caring for the plants, except water and cleaning the dead leaves and they look very nice and healthy.

3. Use energy efficient light bulbs – I switched to compact fluorescent bulbs in the entire house; it took a while to get used to the new light though.

4. Use recycled paper products – I use bathroom tissues, paper towels made from recycled paper. I am still working on napkins and facial towels – I need to find something that will not scratch my nose when I get through a flu or cold.

5. Use cloth instead of paper for cleaning. I have always preferred to use cloth for cleaning the bathroom, the kitchen or even wiping the dust from the furniture. I usually, use old tea shirts. This can help to reduce the garbage in our landfill.

6. Get rid of the plastic. I eliminated all bad plastic from my house; I changed the plastic food containers with glass containers and I do not buy water in plastic bottle anymore. This was also based on the news related to the chemicals found in plastic. For a more comprehensive review of good and bad plastic you can go here.

7. Use green cleaning products. I changed the cleaning products one by one, and I tried several until I found the ones that are actually working. Not all of them are doing a good job; however, expect to work a little harder on scrubbing than used to. I am very proud I did this since I started to hate the chemicals from the bottom of my heart. I made a review of some of the products I use on the Product Review of the Week category.

8. Do not use the printer unless necessary. I started to think well before I use the printer and I use it less and less.

9. Install a water filter. I installed a basic water filter that is supposed to reduce some of the chemicals in the water. I buy still and sparkling water in glass bottles as well.

10. Get natural/organic personal care products. The problem with the personal care products is that they are not regulated so buying natural or organic does not give us any assurance that their claim is true, unless it provides the certification. There are some products that are certified by USDA and have the USDA organic seal, but you can also use the SkinDeep database to help you get products with less chemicals.

11. Do laundry the green way. I changed my washer and dryer and bought energy efficient ones; to be sincere I changed them because they were rather old and it was about time to change them. But it was a good deal in the end (got them in some sale and also received some money back from my utility company) and I could say that this was the major change that I was able to see it on my bills. Some additional advices would be: wash full loads (which probably everyone does) and hang dry if possible. I hang dry everything except the bedding lingerie, towels and other things that are large and I cannot take outside. I like the fresh smell of the outside dried yarns.

12. Buy organic food products. This can be expensive. What I do is to buy more meat when in sale and keep it in the freezer for the next meal; it is better this way than eating conventional meat. Eat more poultry even it is conventional - the poultry is not fed with hormones. The pork is not fed with hormones either. Buy your fruits and vegetables local. I do subscribe to a local farm and I get fresh vegetables every week; I got in love with it but I still need to supplement it with fruits and some additional vegetables. If you cannot buy only organic, try to buy organic only those vegetables and fruits that have the most pesticides on them and go conventional for those with less pesticides. You can go here for a complete list.

13. Green my kids – well this is a whole different category, I will talk another time about it.

Probably this is not much by some standards, but I feel I changed a lot not only through the things done in my house but in my mind as well. And above all, I feel that my family is leaving a healthier life, with fewer chemicals. I am not doing drastic changes (for example, changing all my furniture with eco-friendly/organic one); I will do the change when the time is up for them. Also, prices on green things are coming down, so doing what's now affordable and needed will take you a long way. (Of course, if you're filthy rich do change everything :) but keep in mind there is so much greenwashing out there that you have to be careful. When I decide to change and buy something I learned to carefully look up for regulations and certifications to avoid scams and fakes. I hope this list will help!

Children's Place - the Devil Is In the Details

After the recent recall of the Children’s Place pajamas due to excessive lead in paint, I wrote to Children’s Place and asked them what kind of paint are they using since there was excessive lead in their pajamas. I assumed that they are using lead-based paint since the recall was because of the excessive lead. Since there's a lot of creative writing in the recall document, there has to be creative reading: expect the worse cover-up and ask direct questions. They replied stating that the case “was an isolated incident”. I was not so happy with their answer (the lack of a direct answer, that is) so I sent them another e-mail asking what kind of paints are they using and I added questions about flame retardants used in pajamas and other of their clothes, whether they are using chemicals for stain-proofed and water-proofed clothes. Another person answered my e-mail and she repeated the previous non-answer: that was “an isolated incident”, yada yada, best regards kind of stuff. I wrote the 3rd email starting with the fact that they did not answer to none of my questions and then I repeated the questions. A 3rd person wrote me back the following:

"Thank you for contacting Customer Service with your questions. All prints and screen prints are tested for lead and meet all lead requirements.

The print stuff varies depending on the types of printing, but all paint meet lead requirements. Stain proof is in RTW and perhaps Derong Tu. The yarns are treated and the chemicals meet all government requirements. We sincerely hope we have answered your question.

If we can be of further assistance please contact us at 1-877 PLACE USA or visit us at www.childrensplace.com."

Again, they dodge the answers. I would like to know what kind of chemicals are they using in treating their products but given the avoided and then the ambiguous answers I have no doubt that they are using harmful chemicals like formaldehyde, bromine, caustic soda, and many other chemicals used for finishing. I know, if it’s not organic it’s not kosher! But having lead in children’s clothes while it is banned in children’ furniture should make anyone angry. So, if you bought cotton pajamas (from Children’s Place) thinking that they are free of flame retardants….well you may put on your children’s skin other chemicals – who knows what! Apparently they can't control their supply chain, they buy sight-unseen stuff from 3rd party manufacturers and test to the minimal regulation requirements. That's what transpires from the e-mails.

I started to write to some more other companies that are manufacturing children clothes and I still wait for answers. Until then, I will not shop at Children’s Place again. I wonder if there is any independent lab that does testing like those for toys and cars; anyone heard about one?

Going Green: Product Review of the Week - CFL Bulbs

Our local stores have CFL bulbs with discounted prices and when we found the GE bulbs for less than $1 each we decided to go for it and change the bulbs in the whole house. We got a combination of 15W and 23W (same light intensity as the 60W and 100W incandescent bulbs respectively). At the $1 price the bulbs pay for themselves quite soon (considering the kids that leave the light on everywhere they go), so we decided that spending $40 on bulbs was worth it.

So we had 40 bulbs and 4 were 'dead on arrival' or immediately thereafter; so the other bulbs will probably last the 10,000 hours claimed. Let's say it's new technology and still unstable and few bulbs will fail because of that -- but still, GE can test the bulbs better and avoid the DOA ones. We sent the bar codes and a copy of the receipt to GE and in a few weeks they sent a coupon for each bar code sent and a letter that made no excuses of the poor quality but assured us that our 10% failure is an oddity.

The fluorescent light has come a long way: the light is warm and soft; the CFL base is not as large as to make the light impractical (but your mileage might vary). Surely they consume less -- I can't tell by how much because we installed them in late fall when our electric bill goes up anyway and we don't have enough data. One annoying thing is that there's a short lag between flicking the switch and the light coming on. We don't notice that as much after few months anymore, though.

We did try some no-name or new brands and the production and testing quality on those was even worse. Naming the brands won't help much, every week the local stores come up with a new brand. We did send claims on warranty to two different manufacturers. It's more than 3 months and (sob) the did not call back. Oh well.

Most CFLs won't work with dimmers, check the label. In my experience, the ones that are dimmable (like this for example) still make a buzzing sounds when not at maximum power -- quite annoying. And, to add insult to injury, they cost an arm and a leg. I stay away from them for now.

So if you want to try CFL bulbs, here's a few things that will make it cheaper and better:

• dimmable light require expensive CFLs, wait until the technology gets better and cheaper on those.
• check your utility website, they'll likely sponsor cost or have coupons for bulbs.
• check the manufacturers web site or your Sunday newspaper for coupons.
• buy recognized brands with repute and good warranty and keep receipts & bar codes for the bulbs that fail. Some will surely fail and only keeping producers honest will increase the quality, so claim the warranty on the busted ones. (I wonder if I'll find those bar codes 3 years from now if one bulb fails before the 5 years warranty :))
• take your existing bulbs to recycle (and keep a few as spares if you wish)
• take dead CFL bulbs to recycle as well, the chemicals in them are nastier than in the incandescent bulbs.