What Can I Do to Protect My Family from the Hazards of Chlorine?
You can do plenty. One of the most important things you can do is buy paper products that aren’t bleached with chlorine. At Seventh Generation, we’ve been making paper towels, napkins, facial tissue, and bathroom tissue that are bleached without chlorine for years. Using Seventh Generatio non-chlorine bleached paper products protects our environment during their manufacture by preventing the release of dioxins that poison our air and water, and eventually end up on your dinner plate in the form of contaminated food.
Our paper products protect you when you use them at home too. That’s because chlorine bleached paper can contain dioxin and organochlorine residues that can transfer to any food or person they come in contact with. For example, the EPA says that using bleached coffee filters alone can result in a lifetime exposure to dioxin that “exceeds acceptable levels”.
Seventh Generation also sells a full line of cleaning products made without chlorine. These include laundry products, dish detergents and other household cleaners.
How Does Seventh Generation Get Its Paper White Without Using Chlorine? We use hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydrosulphite, totally safe bleaching agents that work just as well as chlorine. The only byproducts that result when paper is bleached with these chemicals are oxygen and water.
Where Can I Learn More About the Dangers of Chlorine?
With the hazards of chlorine now well documented, one thing is crystal clear: We’re all going to have to stop using it for the sake of ourselves, our children, and the world. Fortunately, there are many dedicated organizations and individuals working to achieve a chlorine-free world. And you can help. If you would like to send a letter to the EPA urging them to release the Dioxin Reassessment document, detailing the sources and health effects of dioxin exposure, click here for an easy way to let your voice be heard. In addition to voting against chlorine use by purchasing products made without it, we urge you to get in touch with some of the organizations listed below. They can help you learn more and get involved in what many have called one of the most pressing environmental problems of our time.
Greenpeace International
1436 U Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009.
(202) 462-1177
http://www.greenpeace.org/toxics.html
Reach for Unbleached
Box 39, Waletown, BC, Canada, V0P 1Z0.
(250) 935-6992 email: info@rfu.org
http://www.rfu.org
Center for Health, Environment & Justice
P.O. Box 6806, Falls Church, VA 22040.
(703) 237-2249 email: cchw@essential.org
http://www.essential.org/cchw
The Chlorine Free Products Association
102 North Hubbard, Algonquin, IL 60102.
(847) 658-6104
http://www.chlorinefreeproducts.org
Chlorine-free Paper Consortium
c/o Northland College, 1411 Ellis Ave., Ashland, WI 54860.
(715) 682-1847 email: mail@clfree.org
http://www.clfree.org
Source: www.gaiam.com