Tunturi

I just.. ah uh, ok – this is not very good when I’m trying to be a rolemodel of kindness to nature… The consumer-soceity will be our death and decay since nobody thinks of the residues and everyone wants a fat salary. (Producers makes things break so that you can buy next months model – computers are a big problem, noticed?). Therefor we shouldn’t buy as much of the new ‘stuff’ and instead recycle and buy second-hand – yeah, so on, I do that!

But.. yesterday.. I found myself completely exhausted after running/walking whole FIVE km. That, my dear friends, has never happened before. Today I found out that since yesterday … I lost whole 1.1 kg. It’s amazing and it’s all thanks to … -drumroll-

TUNTURI T80

Yeah.. I have to have one of my own! Just one problem though.. one of these costs like.. 25.000 SEK – that’s like 2700$ .. I wish I had a job >_> Guess it’ll be terrain-jogging for quite a while if I try to save for one ;P

// Yours, SockFusion

Murdered by a Soap?

Hey hey ^__^

Lately, since the environment and health got me interested, I’ve started reading a lot more. A week ago when my mum and I were discussing health (a result of my changes of my own life), we talked about unhealthy factitious products that people eat regularly. Then she said something that made me think one step further. “What does this soap contain then?”

Yes, well..  *reading the declaration of content* …Here it says;

Result; Aqua, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Lauroyl Glutamate, Styrene/Acrylate Copolymer, PEG-150 Distearate, Parfum, Betaine, Citric Acid, CocoGlucoside, Propylene Glycol, Hippophae Rhamnoides (Seabucktorn) Extract, DMDM Hydantoin, Methylisothiazolinone, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate….

Yeah – Who the hell reads this!? Why is it even here?? Because the normal people that buy these .. they don’t even understand it! They don’t even know what they’re buying or washing their hands with!!

But ok, I understand some parts in it. There’s water in my soap, Aqua. There’s Salt, Sodium Chloride. It contains Citric Acid, just a weak organic acid found in fruits. And it SAYS it contains extract of ‘sea-bucktorn’ which is a fruit.. not sure how much that is though. Anyway, the rest then? what is, for example ‘DMDM Hydantoin’?

Well, this substance is a so called ‘antimicrobial formaldehyde releaser preservative’. It means that it’s a substance that preserves things by releasing ‘formaldehyde’ which kills or inhibits the microorganisms from growing. Yes good kill the microorganisms in my soap. Or.. what?? This is not just a substance that so smoothly scares away microorganisms. No, this substance is a bad one! It can cause irritation on skin, eyes and lungs and cause allergy to the products containing formaldehyde. That was just DMDM Hydantoin. Formaldehyde is an other story.. do you want to know what it’s classified as? then.. click here

Formaldehyde – Mummypresarvation and.. Substance in soap?

Are you aware of what your soap contains? Do you know what you’re washing your own hands with?

I didn’t – So as any curious naturesciencestudent, I looked it up. The most dangereous substance in my soap according to the EWG was the substance ‘Formaldehyde‘ that ‘DMDM Hydentoin’ releases to keep the product free from microorganisms.

The usage of this substance began long ago, while those mummies we see at the museums were still alive and walking (if the myths aren’t true, hope not). Or, more exactly when one died. Formaldehyde is an excellent preserver that replaces the blood in these bodies and makes them last for thousands of years, we still don’t know exactly how long.

Anyway, today the top usage is not mummification. Instead it is. EVERYWHERE. Yes! In your soap, in your walls (building materials), cosmetics, toothpaste, sunblock, maybe you’re even ‘cleaning’ you’re home with it! (I bet you are).

Now, Formaldehyde, CH₂O CAN be found naturally in our own bodies in very small amounts. It is required for the synthesis of DNA and amino acids (building protein). But what happens when we get too much of it? When there comes synthetic versions of this substance into our bodies? Well, according to me, these; ….

“In 1987, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classified formaldehyde as a probable human carcinogen under conditions of unusually high or prolonged exposure (1). Since that time, some studies of humans have suggested that formaldehyde exposure is associated with certain types of cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies formaldehyde as a human carcinogen” (National Cancer Institute)

….are no positive facts, right? If anything it can cause disturbance to our DNA. And studies have shown how it damages DNA.

(…) Formaldehyde caused the formation of cross-links between DNA and proteins, caused single-strand breaks in DNA, and inhibited the resealing of single-strand breaks produced by ionizing radiation. (…) formaldehyde could exert its mutagenic and carcinogenic effects by both damaging DNA and inhibiting DNA repair. (RC Grafstrom, AJ Fornace Jr, H Autrup, JF Lechner, CC Harris, 1983)

Luckily, this substance is not common as a free component in soap. But, there are many so called ‘releasers’ of the substance. DMDM Hydantoin is one example. Other releasers are;

• Quaternium-15
• Imidazolidinyl urea (Germall 115)
• Diazolidinyl urea (Germall II)
• DMDM Hydantoin (Glydant)
• 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3-diol (Bronopol)

As you probably see – the information is ‘limited’ on many of these. So how can we be using these without even knowing all their side-effects? But, to the conclusion of this, what we can say after doing a little research is;

• DMDM Hydentoin (and other substances) which my soap contains, releases the substance Formalhydene
• Formaldehyde is a Carcinogen, studies have shown it’s impact on human DNA, (damaging and inhibitation)
• A lot of other things in today everyday life contain Formaldehyde releases, therefore also Formaldehyde

Sad, don’t you think?

Ah well, that would have been a hell of excuse for not washing my hands when I was little!

// SockFusion