Category: News

Maid Brigade is proud to be expanding our blog to include our spokesperson and nationally acclaimed Green Living Expert and author Annie Bond.  Ms. Bond is a proven expert in the area of green and has been educating people on the topic for more than 20 years.  Ms. Bond hosts Maid Brigade's popular web series Green Clean TV (TM), which has helped to educate thousands of consumers about the health benefits of green living in general and green house cleaning in particular.

Lead in children's toys, milk with melamine, tainted peanuts, formaldehyde in furniture.....the list of hidden health dangers in common household products keeps growing with time.  Wouldn't you love to have a single source for this kind of information, so you can easily and conveniently inform yourself and protect your family?

Annie Bond will bring a relevant knowledge base to this blog and share valuable information about these types of environmental health news with our readers.  She will provide empowering tips to make a green difference in your home and we hope that you will follow this blog regularly to keep abreast of new information as it becomes available.

In a landmark liability case the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff in her suit against Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, the makers of Phenergan.  Diane Levine was injected with the anti-nausea drug as part of a migraine treatment.  The pharmaceuticals company was found negligent in not providing a warning on the package label that would alert doctors or patients as to the dangers of administering Phenergan by injection. The drug's label was approved by the FDA. 

The court's decision eliminates indemnity for manufacturers in spite of FDA label approvals.  "The question we must decide is whether the FDA's approvals provide Wyeth with a complete defense to Levine's tort claims, We conclude that they do not," Justice John Paul Stevens concluded in the court's majority opinion.

The label approval process is lengthy and expensive, so if companies discover a danger after the fact they are not likely to re-submit for approval.  (Wyeth attorney's argued they believed federal law prohibited them from alterning the FDA approved version of the label.)

The Wyeth case sets a precedent of ruling in favor of the consumer instead of big business in liability cases and could pave the way for legal suits involving consumer packaged goods, including house cleaning products.  Currently cleaning product manufacturers are protected from divulging their product ingredients on the FDA-approved package label even though more and more research suggests house cleaning chemicals bear ingredients that introduce health risks for humans and pets. 

This is a major win for consumers of not just pharmaceuticals but also house cleaning products.   David Frederick, Levine's attorney says the court's opinion "reaffirms the important role state laws play in promoting consumers safety and providing compensation for injuries."

This is also a major warning to consumers: read the label and pay attention to what it says, but pay attention to what it doesn't say also.  If you think your house cleaning products may not be safe, do some research.  We like the Household Products Database as a convenient online reference tool:

http://www.householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov

Source: (Reuters, Supreme Court rules against Wyeth in liability case, 2009-03-04)
 

A Good Resolution for 2009, Without Diets OR Exercise!

Howard Purdy introduced a very interesting topic a few days ago - reading product labels - and I would like to further that discussion.  Resolve to pay attention to product labels!

While house cleaning product labels can be nightmarish to read (is it my age or is the fine print getting finer?) here are five basic tips to help you decide whether you want a certain cleaning agent in your home:

1.  The GobbleDeeGook Factor - If you don't recognize or can't pronounce the product ingredients, you may want to eliminate the product from your home, or research further.  A handy on-line resource is the Household Products Database (http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov) where you can search by product or ingredient to learn more about its actual or potential health and environmental impacts.

2.  The Signal Word -  Each label bears a signal word (Caution, Warning, or Danger) that indicates the toxicity level for that house cleaning product.  The toxicity level is based on ingestion by a 180-pound male through swallowing, inhaling or absorbing through the skin.  For "Caution", one ounce to one pint may be harmful or fatal. For "Warning", one teaspoon to one ounce may be harmful or fatal. For "Danger", just a tast to one teaspoonful is fatal.

3.  Fragrance, the other F Word - Artificial fragrances in house cleaning products and air fresheners can cause headaches, nausea, disorientation, memory loss and other neurological issues.  Many fragrances, including natural ones, trigger asthma and allergy attacks as well.  Finally, artificial fragrances such as "orange", "citrus", "mountain fresh" and others contain phthalates to promote a lingering odor. Phthalates are widely recdognized as endocrine distruptors as well as suspected carcinogens. Without getting too scientific, endocrine disruptors mimic human hormones thereby throwing the body's natural hormone production off kilter and causing reproductive, developmental, and growth and behavior problems.

4. Antibacterials/Germicides - Germicides, insecticides and pesticides and other words including the root "cide" are all designed to kill.  Pesticides frequently include carcinogens and endocrine disruptors.  Seek a local exterminator or DIY store which offers healthier, non-toxic alternatives for bugs.  For germs, vinegar is a powerful disinfectant and antibacterial agent.  Also, please see posting on January 29 titled "Germ Free May Not Be Green - Take Triclosan" for more information on antibacterial soaps and other house cleaning or personal care products.

5. Green Certification - There are several organizations that review and certify house cleaning products to be green.  Green Seal, EcoLogo, Design for the Environment (DfE) are just a few.  While the standards and processes vary from program to program, using products that bear one of these certifications (as evidenced by a special seal on the label) is a better bet than one that does not.

If you keep these things in mind while roaming the grocery aisles (or cleaning our your closets and cupboards) you will be doing something very healthy for you, your family and your pets in 2009.  And not a single sit-up!
 

Everyone wants a clean home for themselves and their families.  Dust-free, clutter-free, germ-free - it's the healthier, greener thing to do, right?  Maybe not.  When it comes to antibacterial and antimicrobial additives we may be talking about cross-purposes.

Antibacterial soaps and other products commonly contain triclosan as the germ-fighting ingredient.  According to research published on Environmental Science & Technology's research website, triclosan has been proven to produce significant quantities of chloroform when mixed with chlorinated water.  Chloroform is a probable carcinogen in humans according to the EPA. 

Since children wash their hands in a sink, under a spiggot, they can very easily be mixing triclosan and chlorinated water. But it's not just antibacterial soaps. It's also toothpaste, lotions, sun block, deodorants and dishwashing fluid. Furthermore, skin is the largest organ on the body and skin is where about 3/4 of all chemical exposures occur.  Chemicals, even vapors, can be absorbed through the skin.  The more tender the skin, the more readily absorption can occur.

The potential hazards may also be introduced with antibacterial dish detergents as well.  Since chloroform is highly volatile, exposure could occur through vapor ingestion OR dermal ingestion.  And what residue is left on the dish that might leach into our dinner?

Further, many experts maintain that antibacterials and antimicrobials do more harm than good because they encourage super-resistant strains of germs.  And when antimicrobials enter the ground soil  and ground water (as they inevitably do through our sewer system) important soil microbes and other simple forms of life may be damaged as well.  So triclosan may pose an environmental as well as a health threat.

This is a somewhat controversial topic but it is interesting that the industry stakeholders put forth research that refutes the "suburban myth" yet the medical community believes that more research is necessary.  The American Medical Association has wanted the FDA to monitor and possibly regulate antimicrobials such as triclosan for nearly a decade now.  I don't want to be an alarmist, but it seems like triclosan or other antibacterial agents may be another example of a modern invention that is not enhancing or enriching our lives.  Until the jury is back, I think I'll stick to the "old fashioned" soaps and dish cleaning products in my home.

When you are doing your dishes and weekly house cleaning, or when you are asking little Bobby to wash up for dinner, please remember this blog and consider the potential risks to your family's health and the environment.  Maid Brigade introduced green house cleaning to help protect your family, but we also want to help consumers become aware of other potential health hazards that may be present in your home, because our house cleaning service takes the attitude that "it's about the customer, every time".
 

Over the holidays, Maid Brigade's green house cleaning and maid service was featured in the blog of eco-friendly luxury interior designer Tanya Shively. Shively, who designs or redesigns homes to be more green, recognized Maid Brigade for its Green Clean Certified(R) cleaning service.  Shively notes that green cleaning is important to protect the health of the family.  Green house cleaning is not just about protecting the planet.

Please check out her blog:

http://ecoinnovativedesign.blogspot.com/2008/12/resolutions-for-new-year-healthier.html

Maid Brigade wanted to know our maids are performing the greenest house cleaning possible in the industry so we hired an independent testing lab (QUEST, which stands for Quality Environmental Services and Technologies) to evaluate our entire cleaning system against three main competitors to determine how "clean" the house really was after each company had performed a regular cleaning visit. 

Particulate sensors were set up in the same locations in the same home to monitor air quality during and after four maid services (of which we were one) performed a regular house cleaning.

Our vacuum (the ProTeam Alpine and ProTeam Sierra) is a closed-cannister, multi-level filtration system - which is a lot of gobbledy-gook that basically means we take dust, dirt, dust mites, pollen and other respiratory irritants OUT of your home, instead of blowing these nasties around in the air. (Ever noticed how dust particles come OUT of a cloth vacuum bag on a traditional upright model?  They get sucked in, but then many of them are forced back out of a cloth bag - you can see them floating in the air if the lighting is just right in your home.)

Not only are our professional-grade vacuums superior to what most home owners can buy, but they are superior to our competitors'.  Three times more particulates were removed from the home with our cleaning system, Green Clean Certified(R), compared to our competitors'cleaning.

It's important to know that these air particulates can trigger asthma and allergy attacks, or worse.  Our vacuums remove 99.9% of them, and three times more than other professional house cleaning services.  To read more about this, you can follow this link to Maid Brigade's consumer education site:

http://greencleancertified.com/news/Study-Proves-Maid-Brigade-Improves-Indoor-Air-Quality

Not many people realize that the most polluted air is the air inside their own homes. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has concluded that indoor air quality is 7 times the pollution level than the air outdoors. Considering that people spend 90% of their time indoors and 60% in their own home should clearly demonstrate why we should be concerned.  The major source of contaminates in your home comes from common house cleaning chemicals used on a regular basis. The EPA has said that problems related to poor air quality lead to increases in illness, fatigue and respiratory problems. Children, infants and the elderly are more susceptible to harmful contaminates in the air. Over 4.8 million children in this country are affected by asthma and this number is growing.

Maid Brigade’s Green Clean Certified system will lower these harmful contaminates in the air in your home. All our house cleaning products meet the strict standards being set by organizations such as Green Seal, EPA and Design for the Environment. Our vacuums are certified by the Carpet and Rug institute and remove 99.9% of harmful airborne particulates.  Our Microfiber cloths and mops reduce the amount of house cleaning solutions used and are able to lift and trap dirt and moisture instead of just pushing it around like conventional cloth or paper towels. They are also color coded to prevent cross contamination between different areas of the house. Maid Brigade’s mission is to improve the overall quality of the air we breath for the health of our customers and employees.

I often get asked the question, "How can I tell if the house cleaning products I am using are bad for my family?"

It's a very good question because, under current FDA rules, the manufacturers of house cleaning products are not required by law to disclose the ingredients on the label.  Without going into too much detail, the "recipes" are considered proprietary, in other words, trade secrets. It's a little disconcerting that the government still allows this practice, in light of the existing and growing evidence that common chemicals are known or suspected to cause all sorts of health problems, from simple headaches to allergy and asthma attacks to memory loss, behavioral problems, mood swings, reproductive problems, kidney, liver and blood problems, even cancer.  BUt my point is not to rail on the government here.

My point is to help you find the information so that you can evaluate what's under your kitchen sink, to help protect your family's health. So....

There's a great website called the Household Products Database, where you can go and look up either chemicals or household products (including but not limited to house cleaning products) and learn whether a particular product or chemical is safe for your family.  You can find out what chemicals are in a particular product by scrolling through the info about a certain product until you get to the ingredients, or click on the link for the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet, published by the manufacturer).  Once you've found the ingredients, you can click on them to follow links to Health Studies, Toxicity reports and other research that may help you decide about the potential or real health risks to your family for a chemical ingredient.  Here's the link:

http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov

Many experts agree that the safest approach is to not buy products with ingredients you cannot pronounce.  It's true, but very limiting and often impractical.  The Household Products Database is a great source of info, for house cleaning products but many other products you may have at home.

Entrepreneur Magazine's December issue features Maid Brigade in an article titled "Opportunities: Green Scene" about earth-conscious franchises attracting like-minded entrepreneurs.

Our own Mary Ellen Hoffmann was quoted in the article, saying "We turned our whole marketing approach around to say, 'Yes, we're still a cleaning company, but we're just trying to do it better....We wanted to be good stewards of the earth [while focusing on] the health and safety of our employees and customers."  Hoffmann purchased her franchise long before Maid Brigade converted to our Green Clean Certified(R) service. But, she says "It's made my business more meaningful to me."

It's interesting that green cleaning is finally beginning to be covered in earnest by the media - they've been on a green frenzy for about two years now but green cleaning is just coming into focus for them, it seems, in the last six or eight months.  That's when we've gotten our major PR plugs.  The first was in the Wall Street Journal, back in March. Then, right on the heels of that, we got a terrific feature in Consumer's Digest.  We've got some great blog hits lately too on our green cleaning, which I've mentioned previously.  And now Entrepreneur.

This link wasn't working earlier (or any page on the Entrepreneur web site) but maybe by the time you read it their site will be back up?

Please check out the article when you have a moment:

www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2008/december/198614.html