CommentsWELLNESS-Dryer sheets seem to be at the bottom of our priority list when it comes to health and wellness. After all, how could such a bright colored pretty box contain anything unhealthy or dangerous, right?
The list of chemicals that are in the dryer sheets vary slightly from brand to brand, but if you’re not making efforts to purchase the less common and safer chemical free brands, the following chemicals are probably in your dryer sheets; 1.4 Dioxane, Alpha-Terpineol, Benzyl Alcohol, Camphor, Chloroform, Ethyl Acetate, Linalool, and Pentane.
These chemicals cause a variety of different issues in the human body including but not limited to central nervous system disorders, loss of muscular coordination, central nervous system depression, headache, vomiting, dizziness, depression, nausea and drowsiness, and of course cancer.
Part of the danger of these products is that when they are put in the dryer and warmed up some of that air is escaping the into the air we breathe. It is important to have your dryer properly vented so the air does not come back into the garage or home. The materials on the dryer sheets also get onto clothes and enter the body through the skin. The best way to avoid these dangerous chemicals is to buy laundry detergents and dryer sheets that are free of dangerous chemicals.
People will often say the natural products don’t work as well, but this is not always the case. We are so used to exaggerated sweet smells and over-sudsing of soaps due to chemicals that when we don’t see that reaction in our cleaning products we don’t think they are working. Companies like Melaleuca have been making “green” products since before “green” was all the rage.
Even more mainstream companies are being strong-armed into making their products safer. Take the “free and clear” line by Proctor & Gamble. It actually contained more cancer causing 1.4 dioxine than their regular formulation. It wasn’t until health advocacy group called As You Sow filed a lawsuit that the supreme court forced Proctor & Gamble to remove the carcinogenic compound from the misleading “free and clear” formulation.
These compounds can also be found in dishwashing detergent and most other cleaning supplies. It is no wonder 1 in 4 Americans are now ending up with some type of cancer in their lifetimes. With a little more effort on our parts as consumers, we can “vote” more carefully with the dollars we spend and buy products that are free of these dangerous chemicals forcing companies to stop filling household cleaners with unnecessary compounds.
(Christian Cristiano is an acupuncturist in LA, TV host of Wellness for Realists and writes on wellness regularly for CityWatch. Christian can be reached at 323.935.3420. twitter: @CristianoWFR)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 99
Pub: Dec 8, 2015
That Dryer Sheet Can Make You Sick
