Monthly Archives: April 2012

Imagine VOC labels for all products, materials and buildings!

Imagine looking at a product or material and seeing if it was safe to bring indoors, or if a building was safe to breathe in, before buying or entering!

The French have developed a regulation for building materials, with a simple, easy to understand label.

* Information sur le niveau d’émission de substances volatiles dans l’air intérieur, présentant un risque de toxicité par inhalation, sur une échelle de classe allant de A+ (très faibles émissions) à C (fortes émissions).

Approximately translated as “Information on the level of risk from inhalation of toxic volatile substances in interior air on a scale of A+ (very low emissions) to C (high emissions)”

Of course, we wouldn’t NEED anything like this if products and materials were free of toxic chemicals, but since they aren’t, we need to know the risk we’re being subjected to.

So… I LOVE THIS!  And I want it required on every product, material, and building that has a VOC!

Here’s info from the source, we just need to take it a few steps further

French Regulations on VOC emissions from construction products / Compulsory VOC emissions labelling

http://www.product-testing.eurofins.com/information/compliance-with-law/european-national-legislation/french-regulation-on-voc-emissions.aspx

 

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The CDC and MCS

There have been questions about whether or not the CDC (Center for Disease Control) recognizes MCS.

Their Indoor Environmental Quality Policy from 2009 explicitly states:

Fragrance is not appropriate for a professional work environment, and the use of some products with fragrance may be detrimental to the health of workers with chemical sensitivities, allergies, asthma, and chronic headaches/migraines.” …

Potential hazards include chemicals, biological agents, fragrant products, and physical conditions that may cause irritation, illness, or exacerbate existing health conditions.

Here are a few more excerpts:

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Toxic chemicals in everyday laundry products!?!

During the last couple of years we’ve  seen a lot of research validating what Canaries (people with chemical sensitivities)  have been telling everyone for years: Everyday laundry products contain harmful toxic chemicals!

see: Toxic Chemicals in Fragranced Laundry Products and Health Effects

Below are links to articles and independently done (and funded) published research  that show SOME (not all) of the toxic chemicals in conventional, everyday laundry products. Chemicals  we  have 24/7 contact with, because not all of them get rinsed out of clothing and bedding… Chemicals  that get washed down our drains and  into waterways, and don’t get adequately filtered out of our drinking water… Chemicals that  if your municipality sells sewage sludge, then also get spread onto farmers fields as fertilizer (for food you buy and eat from  the supermarket)… Chemicals that get blown off laundry lines or pumped out of dryer vents (that were only designed to emit moisture) off your property and into the surrounding neighbourhood air for everyone else to breathe…

laundry products should not disable

Note that even the “natural” and fragrance-free products can contain toxic chemicals, because the industry is not regulated and they can say and do pretty much what they want.

Links updated October 24, 2015.

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