When David Suzuki Speaks, I Listen.

When it comes to their children, every parent has something they get weird about, and it's usually  something that makes everyone else think "What???"  I'm not going to mention anyone's eccentricities in this blog (except my wife's).  The best cases are so unique that the parents would easily be able to identify their own behaviour, and they certainly don't consider it weird.

I have no idea what my thing is going to be...unless you consider the hundreds of "No Boys Allowed" signs I've been making weird.  But trust me, it's just common sense.  I do, however, know exactly what my wife's thing is going to be. 

It actually started when we first decided to have a baby.  It was little changes; my clothes started to smell differently after being washed (they had no scent actually); a different brand of shampoo in the shower.  For my wife, it's the chemicals that are in almost everything we use.  The change over to bio-healthy products came slowly.  First our cleaning supplies were all switched over to natural, green products.  Next were the detergents and then the shampoo and soaps were changed.  I knew I was in real trouble one morning when I went for my shower only to find that the soap had been removed and replaced by a scrub brush and fresh lemon.

All joking aside, it is pretty shocking if you actually do the research.  I'll make it easy for those reading my blog by supplying the website my wife uses:  Skin Deep Cosmetics Database  The site is run by the Environmental Working Group, who believe that consumers have the right to know exactly what is in the products they purchase; that manufacturers should be forced to list all ingredients in their products; and that proper warnings should be made available when necessary.  Each product on the site is given an all encompassing rating between 0 and 10, zero innocuous and 10 being instant cancer.  Additionally, the product is broken down by its ingredients, with each again, being assigned a value between 0 and 10 and a list of concerns.  Here's an example:  Johnson's and Johnson's Shea Coco Butter Baby Lotion.  It's for babies, so one would assume that the ingredients should be safe.  Just in case you didn't click on the link, I'll give you some of the details.  The overall product rating is a 5.  Looking further down the page you'll find the list of ingredients.  The highest rated (most toxic) ingredient is simply entered as fragrance (8), which contains a proprietary undisclosed mixture of chemicals.  This is a big one in a lot of products.  Anything that smells like a summer breeze, or a strawberry patch, or anything else delicious, more than likely contains this ingredient.  (The research including information on studies and scientific papers used to determine the toxicity rating is here:  Fragrance)  Now, just because one website says this stuff is bad, why should you stop using it?  It's just one website, some faceless corporation that's probably just trying to get your money...but this guy agrees:  David Suzuki ...ya, David "freakin" Suzuki.  How can you not trust this long time host of the Nature of Things, environmental activist, scientist, half-marathon running, Canadian?  You think he's out to get your money too?  This guy could buy you and your whole family!

Here's another example, Desitin Diaper Rash Ointment a highly popular diaper rash cream smeared right onto your baby's most sensitive skin.  Overall it scores a 6, but the ingredients list two chemicals with a red warning.  Once again, we've got fragrance with a score of 8 but even worse we've got BHA with a score of 10.  Here's the concerns with BHA:

Cancer, Endocrine disruption, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Ecotoxicology, Use restrictions

Now you are saying, "BHA?  That's the sound a sheep makes when you tell him a joke." or "BHA?  I've never heard of it."  But you know who has?  Ya... David Suzuki

Typically, my wife won't use a product that has not scored 2 or below.  She won't use any product that has fragrance or any individual ingredient that is 7 or above.  If a product is not listed in the EWG database then she'll take the time to enter the ingredients herself.  (The EWG database allows anyone to enter a product and it's ingredients for inclusion in their database).  I haven't, in most cases, noticed the product change over (though one brand of soap she bought left a film on my skin that itched incredibly badly).  So if this is her weird thing then I'm fine with it.  In fact, keeping our babies safe is not weird at all.