November 12, 2009 at 1:37 pm (General)
Tags: cancer, Consumer Health, food safety, poisons
Concerned about the ingredients in personal care products you and your family members use? Have you wished for a reliable resource with which you could check the known risks associated with some products? The cosmetics database Skin Deep produced by the Environmental Working Group EWG) may be the resource you’ve been looking for; or not, because once you find out what’s really in the products you apply to your skin you may have second thoughts about continuing their use. EWG’s data gives you practical solutions to protect yourself and your family from the health risks we all face from everyday exposures to myriad industrial chemicals.
EWG designed and maintains the database “…to use the power of information to protect human health and the environment.” From their website:
In 2004 we launched Skin Deep, an online safety guide for cosmetics and personal care products. Our aim was to fill in where companies and the government leave off: companies are allowed to use almost any ingredient they wish, and our government doesn’t require companies to test products for safety before they’re sold. EWG’s scientists built Skin Deep to be a one-of-a-kind resource, integrating our in-house collection of personal care product ingredient listings with more than 50 toxicity and regulatory databases.
Now in its fourth year and third major update, our Skin Deep database provides you with easy-to-navigate safety ratings for nearly a quarter of all products on the market — 52,055 products with 8,798 ingredients. At about one million page views per month, Skin Deep is the world’s largest and most popular product safety guide.
Also from EWG, the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides which addresses food safety.
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March 13, 2009 at 3:28 pm (General)
Tags: Capital Area District Library, Consumer Health, Michigan, poisons
While attending the Mid-Michigan Women’s Expo at the Lansing Center last month, I saw a very dramatic display of consumer items that paired poisonous/dangerous products with their look-alike food/beverage item. Similar in packaging and product color, it was a vivid demonstration of how confusing some products are. We’ve all seen the gag where an adult squirts hair cream on their tooth brush and ends up with a mouthfull of Brylcreem®; distastefull maybe, but not disasterous. Envision though, a large bottle of Tide® detergent, orange plastic with a large grip handle on the side. Now think about a gallon size container of Minute Maid® orange juice, same orange plastic with a large grip handle on the side. Or, how about Scope® mouthwash – cool peppermint flavor, pretty blue color in a transparent container. Put that next to Jet Blue® dishwasher soap or automobile window washer fluid (which are also a pretty blue color in transparent containers) and I think you can see what I mean. These are just 2 examples of “mistaken identity” or “look-alikes” of products that can be deadly. Which leads me to the fact that March 15-21, 2009 is National Poison Prevention Week.
In 1961, President Kennedy signed Public Law 87-319 which allowed for the annual designation of the third week in March as National Poison Prevention Week. The Poison Prevention Week Council was organized to coordinate this annual event which Congress intended as a means for local communities to raise awareness of the dangers of unintentional poisonings and to take such preventive measures as the dangers warrant.
In the mid-Michigan area, our regional poison center is located at the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids. The center responds to calls from health care professionals as well as the general public, 24 hours a day, everyday. They can be reached at 1-800-222-1222 and calls are answered by registered nurses specially trained in poison information. In addition, they provide advice on emergency treatment for poison exposures, educate the public and professionals on poison prevention and treatment, and staff a toxicology laboratory.
Locally, the Downtown Lansing Library has a supply of free poison safety tools – a Poison Safety Guide pamphlet, bookmarks, and refrigerator magnets, on the 2nd floor Consumer Health information kiosk. Each contains the center’s toll free number of 1-800-222-1222. Also displayed is a poster that provides more examples of cases of ”mistaken identity” of safe and dangerous products. As the poison center says on their website, “Poisons act fast – so should you”.
Online you can find examples of look-alikes at the cooperative extension service of the University of Kentucky and the Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center.
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