Oh...... How Easily We Are Deceived.

Deceive/Deception

(also called beguilement, deceit, bluff, or subterfuge)

is the act of convincing another to believe information that is not true

or not the whole truth as in certain types of half truths.

So I was bored and flipping through money saving flyers

that came with the weekend paper

You just never know what you are going to find

Ok so I wasn't actually swimming while reading the paper

but when you deal with winter weather you are allowed to fantasize a little

I am always looking out for new cleaning products

that claim to be

"Green" or "Natural"

And lately there have been many

Take, for example, this new creation pictured below

Wow, Scrub Free has come up with a "Naturally Clean" product

for your shower/tub

Are you impressed?

Well let's read what the website has to say

Biodegradable in 28 days

What exactly does Biodegradable mean????

Well, let's go talk to an expert

The claim biodegradable is often associated with environmentally friendly products. What exactly does this mean? I would define it as being able to be broken down by natural processes, into more basic components. Products are usually broken down by bacteria, fungi or other simple organisms. By this definition, most chemicals are biodegradable; the only thing differing would be the amount of time it takes to break down. A piece of bread will break down rather quickly, whereas a piece of plastic will take decades and beyond.

Rate of breakdown may not be as important as what the product breaks down into. The ideal final products of any complex product of Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen would be Carbon Dioxide(CO2) and Water (H2O). A majority of products are made mostly of these three elements. The previously mentioned piece of bread is made mostly of these, and after breaking down from complex sugars to simpler sugars, will eventually degrade to CO2 and H2O. This process would be accelerated if we ate the bread and our body would break it down and use it as energy, until only CO2 and H2O are left.

In a perfect would all products would break down to CO2 and H2O. It gets more complicated with different chemicals. The banned pesticide DDT, is hazardous and toxic in its own right. It does biodegrade, rather slowly. The problem is that its breakdown products of DDD and DDE are even more toxic and dangerous than the original DDT.

I ran across a popular cleaning product that proudly claims to be "biodegradable" and even has an environmentally pleasing name and color. The main (active) cleaning chemical is a nonylphenolethoxylate (NPE), made solely of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. This class of chemicals are considered suspicious because they are possible endocrine disruptors. This means they may mimic the endocrine hormones and may cause havoc with a female's reproductive system. NPE's do biodegrade to a benzene ring type structure and other simpler structures. This biodegrading may or may not lead to a less hazardous chemical, but still hazardous. Although it is biodegradable, this product is by no means environmentally friendly.

Biodegradability is definitely a positive trait, yet it could be applied to virtually anything. What is a "green" consumer to do or look for? Try to be educated about the products you purchase. Read the label and reward companies which fully disclose the ingredients in their products. Also products based on natural ingredients are more, but not always, likely to be safer and degrade easier. Even though a product may say it is biodegradable, it may not be environmentally friendly.

Written by: Mike Bianucci

My point is simple
Just because a product says it is biodegradable in 28 days
Does not mean it is a good thing
What ingredients swimming around in this bottle are actually
becoming one with the earth?




What's Next?????


Formulated with cleaning agents derived from
natural sources


and you are saying to yourself.....what is the problem here
they are using natural sources for their cleaning agents
That's got to be good....right????


Wrong


I used to think the word DERIVED meant "comes from"
Don't ask me why
Just seemed Natural to think that way because of the way it is used
to describe things

Then I actually looked it up
and this is what I found
2 very interesting words

Copied
Imitative


Hmmmmmm

Let me think for a moment here


Would those cleaning agents be
Naturally Copied....oops sorry Derived
Or Synthetically Imitated....there I go again....I mean Derived

If I was to take an uneducated guess
I would say it would be the latter.

Just my 2 cents
but
If I was a company who really
was committed to
Being Natural


I would be using the words
Naturally Derived
To prove the point
I mean business


"Derived From" doesn't tell me squat
Except I should put it back on the shelf
And mosey along to something
Safer


Moral of this tale

Read the labels carefully
Don't fall prey to the words of the genius marketers
If the ingredients aren't listed....don't buy it
If you can't pronounce the ingredients...don't buy it
Do your homework
Know what to look for and what to avoid