Naturally Clean: The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe & Healthy, Non-Toxic Cleaning

by Jeffrey Hollender, Geoff Davis, Meika Hollender

Compelling evidence links the chemicals in household products to cancer, asthma, allergies, multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome—also known as environmental illness—hormonal disruption, reproductive and developmental disorders, and other conditions. Yet cleaning products are exempt from the full ingredient disclosure on product labels as required for food and personal care products and enter the marketplace with little or no testing for potential health risks. Naturally Clean explains the dangers of traditional cleaners and provides illuminating statistics that illustrate how the chemicals found in almost every home are known or likely to cause a host of serious health problems. The book’s easy-to-understand introduction discusses basic household chemistry, concepts of toxicity and types of toxic exposure, and the difference between natural, organic, and synthetic chemicals. A room-by-room guide provides tips • A healthier kitchen
• Keeping your bedrooms safe
• Mold, mildew, and soap spotless bathrooms
• Special precautions for cleaning children’s rooms Naturally Clean also features a comprehensive product selection guide that analyzes over 300 natural and traditional everything from laundry products through oven cleaners, disinfectants, spot removers, carpet cleaners, and bathroom cleaners. This handy, easy-to-use reference rates the household cleaning products found on the shelves of natural food and grocery stores, providing Seventh Generation’s pick of your healthiest and safest options. A resource guide tells readers where to find additional information, and an at-a-glance glossary helps understand key terms. Royalties from the sale of Naturally Clean will benefit the Children's Health Environmental Coalition (www.checnet.org) in their efforts to educate parents about environmental toxins that can affect children's health. Jeffrey Hollender is president of Seventh Generation, Inc., the leading brand of natural household products, and author of the bestseller How To Make the World a Better Place . He speaks on social and environmental responsibility worldwide. Geoff Davis is a freelance writer and editor of Seventh Generation’s consumer newsletter Non-Toxic Times . Meika Hollender is an author who specializes in personal care products.

Genres: Nonfiction, Green, Reference, Environment

208 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2006

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather than being called "The Guide to Safe & Healthy, Non-Toxic Cleaning", this should have been called something like "How Everything You Breathe or Touch Is Totally Going to Make You Sick and Die Someday". I expected an introductory chapter or two on that topic, and then I expected the bulk of the book to give alternatives. But no, they went on and on about all the poisons we're living with, in our cleaning products, our personal care products, our furniture, our clothing, our food handling items, our appliances, and our very houses. What to do about all this? Well, they off-handedly gave a few recipes for natural cleaning products, but in that department they mostly referred people to "Better Basics for the Home" by Annie Berthold-Bond. But mostly the book was focused on just raising the reader's level of awareness on the issue.

I rated it as highly as I did because, although it was not the book I had expected to read, not the book I had gone looking for, it did succeed in raising my awareness. I had assumed that, living in America, Land of Regulations, the things in our everyday lives had been reasonably checked out and found to be safe to the best of our collective current knowledge. I had assumed that "Silent Spring" had ushered in a realization that chemicals can have effects beyond their primary, intended effects. I had assumed that, since we laugh at our ancestors who used arsenic and lead in their beauty regimens, we were taking care to use safer products.

Turns out I was wrong. According to this book, food products are regulated, drugs are regulated, and pesticides are regulated--but if a product is not in those categories, it's left up to the manufacturer. Which means that, in their own interests, manufacturers do enough testing to make sure it's not going to immediately make you sick, but beyond that, no one looks at it unless there's a specific lawsuit. There are zillions of different chemicals being used in the products we use, and even if someone wanted to, there is no time to test them all, let alone test the combinations that get mixed up when we use them together.

But of the chemicals (many derived from petroleum) that have been tested, there have been many negative findings, linked to cancer and malfunctionings in the immune system, hormone regulations, development, etc. We can't expect that doctors or any regulatory agency will "find these out" over the course of using them, either, because the nature of long-term low-level exposure means that it is mixed up with too many other factors, and in life (as opposed to the laboratory) we can never assign blame to one specific cause or another. But taken together, the worrisome increase in illnesses (especially in the developed world, and with some increases specifically corresponding to population segments having greater exposure to cleaning products) corresponds tidily to the increase in all these chemicals in our daily lives. And it's probably going to get worse before it gets better, because many of these chemicals are persistent, and don't break down over time (which means more and more of them are accumulating in our environment and in our bodies), or if they do break down, they sometimes change into other chemicals that sometimes have worse effects.

I, for one, plan on increasing my efforts to look for places where glass, wood, or metal might do the job instead of plastic, where water, vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide might do what pre-mixed things in bottles are hyped to do, and where an aged item might do instead of a recently manufactured one (so the worst of it has had a chance to "air out").

Another thing I didn't particularly care for in the book was the fact that they didn't address the brand name (Seventh Generation) until the very end of the book. There was no Introduction saying "We at Seventh Generation have made it our mission to. . . and to that end, we feel it's important to share with you, the consumer, this information." I kept waiting for them to spring it on me: "the only way to fight this horror is to buy good cleaning products such as Seventh Generation Ultra-Cleanser". They didn't--when there were specific alternatives mentioned in the text, they were mostly DIY recipes. Then at the very end, they rated pre-packaged alternatives, and almost half of those that made the "approved" list happened to be Seventh Generation brand. No acknowledgment at that point that there might be any bias. The company was finally introduced in "About the Authors" at the very end.

I got this book from the library, but I considered buying it for my shelf at home because it lists specific chemicals and things to look for--but then I realized I am unlikely to bother with that level of detail when I am shopping, and I should just settle for my general rules outlined above.

[Bridget · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not impressed with this book. Chapters were short and felt like I was reading a series of blog posts for rich women wanting to feel better about buying expensive natural cleaners. While I am just as concerned about the environment as a human could be, from a scientific perspective it was alarmist and maddeningly unhelpful. Sure, saying that everything could be toxic is true. And yes: your point is taken that the cleaning industry is less regulated than other industries, and they get away with more. But the lack of nuance is startling. And anything with this statement makes me immediately question the scientific validity of everything else: "A discussion of the perils of genetic engineering the scope of our book." This biological engineer is sick and tired of the fatalist language applied to everything that has downsides. (which to be fair: everything has downsides).

Two of the other cleaning books I read were far more thorough about *how* to clean (and included recipes), so if that's what you're looking for, read those rather than this.

[Elisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want a good book on eco-green-healthy cleaning, this is one to look at. It gives good recipes for cleaning, using baking soda or vinegar (but never together). Opened my eyes to the dangers of household cleaners (which I already had an idea of...that's why I read the book!), and really sort of freaked me out. You can go crazy with this stuff and end up sitting in a stainless steel house, naked, or you can change small things to make your house healthier. Your call on that.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scary book. Tells you exactly how unregulated all of our household cleaners are and what the sources of toxins are in your home.

Tells you how to make your own cleaners from safer products which is pretty cool. I tried out one and it worked pretty well. I like that even though it was written by Seventh Generation people, it didn't just promote their products.

[Terina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I probably didn't look closely enough at the description of the book. I expected ideas on how to clean my house with non-toxic, natural products; something to reference when I needed to, for example, clean the house drains. This book educates the reader on which cleaners and ingredients are toxic, why, and what the effects are. It's a good book, just not what I was looking for or expecting.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives background information on the use of chemicals in household cleaners and products. Will scare you straight. Of big consequence, points how much we, as people, just don't know about so much of what we use. Provides some alternatives at the end. A good reference book with lots of follow up sources to check out.

[Jennifer]

Great. We only use no toxic in our home, when you read this you will never use bleach, lysol or those wipes again!

[Mags · Rating 5 out of 5]

It explains common toxic in daily household cleaning items, why you need to avoid. The author may be a chem major, yet he use simple daily common language.

[Sunshine Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one, I'll keep. There are enough good suggestions for tricky problems.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great explanations. Good product recipes. Discusses each issue in detail, offers historic and scientific background.

[Liz De Coster · Rating 1 out of 5]

80% woo, 10% fluff, 10% cleaning-related topics.

[Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!} · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.